Search results for ""pushkin press""

'The classic literal-metaphorical journey' GuardianA classic meditation on artistic creation and the quest for spiritual transcendence from the Nobel Prize-winning author of SiddharthaIn the aftermath of the Great War, a band of artists embarks on a journey traversing space and time. Each is on a different quest, but all are united in a vow of secrecy. Years later, a writer tries to set down an account of the voyage, thereby breaking his vow - only to find words, memories, and his very sense of self beginning to slip from his grasp.A kaleidoscopic narrative reeling between despair and elation, Hermann Hesse's novel is a profound meditation on creativity and spiritual transcendence. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe. Translated by Hilda Rosner.Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was born in was born in Württemberg, Germany.

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A millionaire is killed. A golden statuette of a Buddha goes missing. A penniless student, who is afflicted by dream-like fits, is arrested and accused of murder. Slipping between the menacing dream world of the student's fevered imagination, and the dark back alleys of the Paris underworld, The Buddha's Return is part detective novel, part philosophical thriller, and part love story. In typically crisp, unfussy prose, Gazdanov's delicately balanced novel is an irresistibly hypnotic masterpiece from one of Russia's most talented émigré writers. Gaito Gazdanov (1903-1971) joined the White Army aged just sixteen and fought in the Russian Civil War. Exiled in Paris from the 1920s onwards, he eventually became a nocturnal taxi-driver and quickly gained prominence on the literary scene as a novelist, essayist, critic and short-story writer, and was greatly admired by Maxim Gorky, among others. His 1949 novel The Spectre of Alexander Wolf was published by Pushkin Press to great acclaim in 2013.

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'A master storyteller' - Elizabeth Strout The power of money threatens young love in this charming story of romantic misadventure by one of the greatest authors of America's Gilded AgeNick Lansing and Susy Branch are young and attractive, but penniless. Gracefully moving through New York high society, they have the right connections but none of the wealth. When they inconveniently fall in love, Susy devises a plan. They will marry and spend a year flitting across Europe, staying in the homes of their rich friends and living off honeymoon gifts until either one of them meets a better, richer prospect.But jealous passions and troubled consciences soon cause their idyll to crumble. Told with Edith Wharton's trademark wit, Glimpses of the Moon is a tartly amusing story of social climbing and romantic misadventure from one of our greatest writers.Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, ha

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'One of my favourite books by one of my favourite Argentinian authors' Samanta Schweblin, author of Fever Dream 'Diamantine, intense and violent' Times Literary Supplement Dazzling and hallucinatory, the stories in this collection recall the masters of magical realism - but with Sara Gallardo's distinctive slant. An old man wakes up one morning to find that his beloved garden is floating away, with him on board. A young woman moves to Buenos Aires, bringing with her a replacement head. A meek German missionary leaves Paraguay for the Pampas, unprepared for what he will discover there. Resplendent with otherworldly imagery and beguiling prose, Land of Smoke presents a uniquely compelling voice in Latin American literature. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe. Translated by Jessica Sequeira Sara Gallardo was a celebrated and prize-winning Argentinian writer, born in Buenos Aires in 1931. Her first book was published in 1958, and by the time she died in 1988, she had published novels, short stories, children's books, and essays. Written after the death of her second husband, Land of Smoke is the first of her books to be translated into English.

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'One never tires of reading and re-reading his best works. Akutagawa was a born short-story writer' Haruki Murakami 'The quintessential writer of his era' David Peace These are short stories from an unparalleled icon of modern Japanese literature. Sublimely crafted and shotthrough with a fantastical sensibility, they offer dazzling glimpses into moments of madness, murder and obsession. A talented and spiteful painter is givenover to depravity in pursuit of artistic brilliance. In the depths of hell, arobber spies a single spider's threadbeing lowered towards him. When abody is found in an isolated bamboogrove, a kaleidoscopic account ofviolence and desire begins to unfold. Vividly translated by BryanKaretnyk, this mesmerising collection brings together a seriesof essential works from themaster of the Japaneseshort story. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe. Translated by Bryan Karetyn Ryunosuke Akutagawa was one of Japan's leading literary figures in the Taisho period. Regarded as the father of the Japanese short story, he produced over 150 in his short lifetime. Haunted by the fear that he would inherit his mother's madness, Akutagawa suffered from worsening mental health problems towards the end of his life and committed suicide aged 35 by taking an overdose of barbiturates.

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The life of the great Portuguese explorer who dared to sail beyond the horizon The Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) is one of the most famous navigators in history-he was the first man to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and led the first voyage to circumnavigate the globe, although he was killed en route in a battle with natives in the Phillipines. In this biography, Zweig brings to life the Age of Discovery by telling the tale of one of the era's most daring adventurers. In typically flowing and elegant prose he takes us on a fascinating journey of discovery ourselves. Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was born in Vienna, into a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family. He studied in Berlin and Vienna and was first known as a poet and translator, then as a biographer. Zweig travelled widely, living in Salzburg between the wars, and was an international bestseller with a string of hugely popular novellas including Letter from an Unknown Woman, Amok and Fear. In 1934, with the rise of Nazism, he moved to London, where he wrote his only novel Beware of Pity. He later moved on to Bath, taking British citizenship after the outbreak of the Second World War. With the fall of France in 1940 Zweig left Britain for New York, before settling in Brazil, where in 1942 he and his wife were found dead in an apparent double suicide. Much of his work is available from Pushkin Press.

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Adalbert Stifter's Rock Crystal is a Christmas story and a story about the heart of the ice, the crystal. The charm of this quasi-fairy tale is made even more poignant by the knowledge of the author's eventual suicide. This seemingly simple fable of two children lost in an icy landscape is eloquent in its innocence, but is implicit with an unremitting consciousness of the fragility of life and the inevitability of death. This is a wintry story of village life in the high mountains, but also a parable of belief and faith. The Rock Crystal of the title are shards of ice of the glacier that dominates the landscape that Adalbert Stifter describes. Translated from the German by Elizabeth Mayer and Marianne Moore, Adalbert Stifter's Rock Crystal is published by Pushkin Press. 'A tale of almost unendurable suspense' — New York Review of Books Adalbert Stifter (1805-1868) was an Austrian writer, painter and poet closely associated with the Biedermeier movement in European art. Following his studies at the University of Vienna, he was highly regarded as a tutor among aristocratic families. The success of his first story The Condor in 1840 inaugurated a steady writing career, culminating in Der Nachsommer, praised by Nietzsche as one of the two great novels of 19th century Germany. He was especially notable for the vivid natural landscapes depicted in his writing, and has long been popular in the German-speaking world, influencing writers such as Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann and W.G. Sebald.

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Stefan's Zweig's Letter from an Unknown Woman and other stories contains a new translation by the award-winning Anthea Bell of one of his most celebrated novellas, Letter from an Unknown Woman , the inspiration for a classic 1948 Hollywood film by Max Ophüls, as well as three new stories, appearing in English for the first time. A famous author receives a letter on his forty-first birthday. He doesn't know the sender, but still the letter concerns him intimately. Its story is earnest, even piteous: the story of a life lived in service to an unannounced, unnoticed love. In the other stories in this collection, a young man mistakes the girl he loves for her sister; two erstwhile lovers meet after an age spent apart; and a married woman repays a debt of gratitude. All four tales, newly translated by the award-winning Anthea Bell, are among Zweig's most celebrated and compelling work-expertly paced, laced with empathy and an unwaveringly acute sense of psychological detail. Contents Letter from an Unknown Woman (Brief einer Unbekannten) A Story Told in Twilight (Geschichte in der Dämmerung) The Debt Paid Late (Die spät bezahlte Schuld) Forgotten Dreams (Vergessene Träume) 'Stefan Zweig's time of oblivion is over for good... it's good to have him back ' — Salman Rushdie, The New York Times 'One hardly knows where to begin in praising Zweig's work.' — Ali Smith, TLS Book of the Year 2008 Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was born in Vienna, into a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family. He studied in Berlin and Vienna and was first known as a poet and translator, then as a biographer. Zweig travelled widely, living in Salzburg between the wars, and was an international bestseller with a string of hugely popular novellas including Letter from an Unknown Woman, Amok and Fear. In 1934, with the rise of Nazism, he moved to London, where he wrote his only novel Beware of Pity. He later moved on to Bath, taking British citizenship after the outbreak of the Second World War. With the fall of France in 1940 Zweig left Britain for New York, before settling in Brazil, where in 1942 he and his wife were found dead in an apparent double suicide. Much of his work is available from Pushkin Press.

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'A scintillating book' TLS 'Her company is a delight' Tatler 'Part memoir, part social history... sumptuous and unsparing' Financial Times A brilliantly witty memoir telling the story of a young woman's determined struggle for freedom The Orient Express hurtles towards the promised land, freeing Banine from her past. Escaping her ruined homeland and forced marriage, she aspires to a dazzling future in Paris. As a chic Parisienne she mingles with émigrés, artists and writers-and even contemplates love. But freedom brings challenges. Swept along by the forces of history, can Banine keep up? Filled with vivacious wit and a lust for life, this companion to Days in the Caucasus is a paean to bittersweet dreams and the quest for happiness. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe Translated by Anne Thompson-Ahmadova Banine (1905-1992) was born Umm El-Banu Assadullayeva, into a wealthy family in Baku, then part of the Russian Empire. Following the Russian Revolution and the subsequent fall of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Banine was forced to flee her home country-first to Istanbul, and then to Paris. In Paris she formed a wide circle of literary acquaintances including Nicos Kazantzakis, André Malraux, Ivan Bunin and Teffi and eventually began writing herself. Parisian Days continues the story that began with Days in the Caucasus, which is also available from Pushkin Press.

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A renowned feel-good classic of comic writing from "arguably the greatest writer of comic prose ever," gorgeous hardcover gift edition (The New York Times)“Mr. Wodehouse’s idyllic world can never stale. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in” – Evelyn WaughIntroducing two of the greatest characters created by the undisputed master of English comic prose, this is quite simply one of the funniest books ever written.Whether attempting to stay on the right side of his ghastly Aunt Agatha, evade the clutches of the forbidding Honoria Glossop, or simply having a punt on the length of local curates’ sermons, Bertie Wooster can always rely on his gentleman’s gentleman, Jeeves, for sound advice and an ingenious wheeze to get him out of a tight spot.“You don’t analyze such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendor.” – Stephen Fry“Wodehouse is the funniest writer—that is, the most resourceful and unflagging deliverer of fun—that the human race, a glum crowd, has yet produced.” – The New Yorker

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The stories in this collection are rich, tangled, and suffused with mystery and wonder. In the narrowing, winding city streets, strange figures roam. Great flocks of birds soar over rooftops, obscuring the sun. Cockroaches appear through cracks and scuttle across floorboards. Individuals careen from university buildings to dimly lit parlour rooms, through strange shops and endless storms. Crowded with moments of stunning beauty, the stories in this collection showcase Schulz's darkly modern sensibility, and his status as one of the great transformers of the ordinary into the fantastical.

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It all happened so quickly. First, animals became infected with the virus and their meat became poisonous. Then governments initiated the Transition. Now, 'special meat' - human meat - is legal. Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans - only no one calls them that. He works with numbers, consignments, processing. One day, he's given a gift to seal a deal: a specimen of the finest quality. He leaves her in his barn, tied up, a problem to be disposed of later. But she haunts Marcos. Her trembling body, and watchful gaze, seem to understand. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost - and what might still be saved.

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On November 14, 1960, at the age of six, Ruby Bridges became the first black child to integrate an all-white school in New Orleans. Escorted by federal marshals past angry segregationist protesters, young Ruby attended William Frantz Elementary and earned a place in civil rights history. Sixty years later, Ruby has written an impassioned letter to young people engaging in the fight for racial equality. Her words, a call to action imbued with love and grace, are paired with black-and-white photographs from then-and now. This Is Your Time will inspire readers as the struggle for liberty and justice for all continues, and the powerful legacy of Ruby Bridges endures.

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She's one of the stars of the shore this summer; one of the girls who doesn't care what she's drinking or what pill she's taking; who ties perfectly knotted cherry stems with her tongue; her family is rich and she's untouchable. Except her parents' marriage is in brutal collapse and her brother is violently lashing out, the community around her wracked with suspicion and guilt. As her identity unravels, she circles back to the night that a local girl drowned, and no one tried to save her. Daringly experimental, Machine is a kaleidoscopic interrogation of gender, class and privilege, an unforgettable rendering of youth spinning out of control.

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In this darkest of fairy tales, a young woman sets off to pick berries in the depths of the forest, but can't find her way home again. Or perhaps she has fled or abandoned her family. Or perhaps she's been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the dense woods of the north. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman who offers her help. Then everything changes. On a journey that will take her to the depths of the witch-haunted woods, through a deep well wet with the screams of men, and on a living ship made of human bones, our heroine may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along.

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Once upon a time there was and there wasn't a woman who went to the woods. In this dark fairy tale, a young woman sets off to pick berries in the depths of the forest, but can't find her way home again. Or perhaps she has fled or abandoned her family. Or perhaps she's been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the dense woods of the north. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman who offers her help. Then everything changes. On a journey that will take her to the depths of the witch-haunted woods, through a deep well wet with the screams of men, and on a living ship made of human bones, our heroine may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along.

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LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION Mixing business and family is a recipe for disaster 'A warm, moving multi-generational family saga, with a blackly comic streak that will make you snort your tea' Sam Baker, The Pool Bedtime Book Club The popular Beijing Duck House has been serving devoted regulars for decades. Yet behind the staff's professional smiles simmer tensions, heartaches and grudges from years of bustling restaurant life. When disaster strikes, two of the younger generation find themselves in a dangerous game that means tragedy for the Duck House. And soon, their families are forced to finally confront the conflicts and loyalties playing out beneath the red and gold lanterns.

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With its delicious food, warm jazz, and stunning views of Manhattan, Edward's home was a much-needed refuge for reporter Isabel Vincent. Her recently widowed ninety-something neighbour would prepare weekly meals for her, dinners Isabel would never cook for herself - fresh oysters, juicy steak, sugar-dusted apple galette. But over long, dark evenings where they both grieved for their very different lost marriages, Isabel realised she was being offered a gift greater than crisp martinis and perfect lamb chops. As they progressed from meals à deux to full dinner parties with an eclectic New York crowd, she saw that Edward was showing her how to rediscover the joy of life. For even a shared bowl of chowder could transform loneliness and anxiety into friendship, freedom, and a pure, simple pleasure Isabel had not known she could find again.

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A distinctive murder mystery with an unforgettably spiky protagonist, for fans of The Twyford Code, Magpie Murders and Can You Ever Forgive Me?________Meet Agatha Dorn, cantankerous archivist, grammar pedant, gin aficionada and murder mystery addict. When she discovers a lost manuscript by Gladden Green, the Empress of Golden Age detective fiction, Agatha's life takes an unexpected twist. She becomes an overnight sensation, basking in the limelight of literary stardom. But Agatha's newfound fame takes a nosedive when the 'rediscovered' novel is exposed as a hoax. And when her ex-lover turns up dead, with a scrap of the manuscript by her side, Agatha suspects foul play.Cancelled, ostracised and severely ticked off, Agatha turns detective to uncover the sinister truth that connects the murder and the fraudulent manuscript. But can she stay sober long enough to catch the murderer, or will Agatha become a whodunit herself?______

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'The solution is one of the most original that I've ever read' Anthony Horowitz 'This book is an unmissable triumph' Tom Mead, Publishers Weekly 'It's a budding Sherlock's dream' Crime Scene______A BESTSELLING AND INTERNATIONALLY-ACCLAIMED MASTERPIECE An eccentric artist is found brutally murdered in a room locked from the inside. His diaries reveal dabblings in alchemy and astrology, and a macabre plan to kill and dismember seven women in an occult ritual. Then, shortly after his death, the artist's bloody project is carried out, as if from beyond the grave... Decades later, astrologer and amateur detective Kiyoshi Mitarai sets out to solve these notorious crimes. His investigation leads him across the country towards a dark, shocking truth. But can you unravel the mystery of the Tokyo Zodiac Murders before he does?

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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 LiteratureIn 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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The Akutagawa Prize-winning stories from one of the most highly regarded and provocative contemporary Japanese writers: part of our Japanese novella series, showcasing the best contemporary Japanese writing

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A heady, rapturous novel of love and self-discovery in the south of France written by famed publisher Helen Wolff, based on her early life with Kurt WolffIn a giddy rush, a young woman and her older lover escape the rising fascism of 1930s Berlin for a summer vacation on the Côte d'Azur. As they drive along stunning bays and linger over sumptuous meals, they are enchanted by each other. But their harmony soon falters, and the woman decides she must leave in search of a cottage of her own near Saint-Tropez. There, amid the vineyards and lemon trees, she will forge startling new connections and pass an unforgettable summer of independence and freedom.Background for Love is an autobiographical novel by the great publisher Helen Wolff, who together with her husband, Kurt Wolff, set up Pantheon Books in America after fleeing Nazi Germany. In the fascinating companion essay, historian Marion Detjen, the author's great-niece, delves into the basis of the novel i

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After a lifetime of writing a novel every year, Storm Jameson turned to memoir with the ambition 'to write without lying'. The result was an extraordinary reckoning with how she had lived: her childhood in Whitby, shadowed by a tempestuous, dissatisfied mother; an early, unhappy marriage and her decision to leave her young son behind while she worked in London; a tenaciously pursued literary career,always marked by the struggle to make money; and her lifelong political activism, including as the first female president of English PEN, helping refugees escape Nazi Germany. In a richly ironic, conversational voice, Jameson tells of the great figures she knew and events she witnessed: encounters with H.G. Wells and Rose Macaulay, and travels across Europe as fascism was rising. Throughout, she writes with electric candour and immediacy about her own motivations and psychology. Reissued with an introduction by Vivian Gornick, Journey from the North is one of the great literary memoirs:

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Emil Sinclair is a troubled young outsider. But everything changes when he meets Max Demian, a mysterious and charismatic older student, who reveals the glittering possibilities that lie beyond conventional thinking and ordinary life. Under the intoxicating influence of his new mentor, Emil sets out on a journey of spiritual fulfilment, as he wrestles with the boundaries between illusion and truth, purity and corruption. Teeming with psychological insight, Demian is a profound and enduring exploration of adolescent awakening from Nobel Prize-winner Hermann Hesse.

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A modern masterpiece, voted the greatest Dutch novel of all time _______________ 'I work in an office. I take cards out of a file. Once I have taken them out, I put them back in again. That is it.' Twenty-three-year-old Frits - office worker, daydreamer, teller of inappropriate jokes - finds life absurd and inexplicable. He lives with his parents, who drive him mad. He has terrible, disturbing dreams of death and destruction. Sometimes he talks to a toy rabbit. This is the story of ten evenings in Frits's life at the end of December, as he drinks, smokes, sees friends, aimlessly wanders the gloomy city streets and tries to make sense of the minutes, hours and days that stretch before him. Darkly funny and mesmerising, The Evenings takes the tiny, quotidian triumphs and heartbreaks of our everyday lives and turns them into a work of brilliant wit and profound beauty.

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the author of When We Cease to Understand the World: a dazzling, 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 Haddon John von Neumann was a titan of science. A Hungarian wunderkind who revolutionized every field he touched, his mathematical powers were so exceptional that Hans Bethe - a Nobel Prize-winning physicist - thought he might represent the next step in human evolution. After seeking the foundations of mathematics during his youth in Germany, von Neumann emigrated to the United States, where he became entangled in the power games of the Cold War; he designed the world's first programmable computer, invented game theory, pioneered AI and digital life, and helped create the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He was the darling of the military industrial complex, but when illness unmoored his mind, his work pushed further into areas beyond human comprehension and control. The MANIAC places von Neumann at the center of a literary triptych about the dark foundations of our modern world and the nascent era of AI. It begins with Paul Ehrenfest, an Austrian physicist and close friend of Einstein, who fell into despair when he saw science and technology become tyrannical forces; it ends a hundred years later, in the showdown between the South Korean Go Master, Lee Sedol, and the AI program AlphaGo. Braiding fact with fiction, Benjamín Labatut takes us on a journey to the frontiers of rational thought, where invention outpaces human understanding and offers godlike power, but takes us to the brink of Armageddon.

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At 17, Nan wants to leave the family farm and go to study. Caught between her powerful mother and yielding, drunken father, she absorbs the tensions of their divided household and dotes on her new gelding, a gift from her father. When a sudden accident leaves the horse blind, Nan's mother insists he must be put down, initiating a power struggle that brings the family's conflicts explosively to the fore. First published in 1938, The Crazy Hunter is an electrifying short novel - sharply observed, psychologically astute and morally complex. Written in lush, entrancing prose, it is the finest work by a significant modernist writer.

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Book 3 in the critically acclaimed cosy murder mystery series set in contemporary India, featuring the wise and gentle detective Harith Athreya - perfect for fans of Richard Coles, Ian Moore and Janice Hallett 'Athreya is a fine detective with a curious mind' New York Times 'An impressive force in the world of whodunnits' CrimeReads ________________ ISOLATION Detective Harith Athreya is taking a well-earned break at a boutique hill in the Himalayan footfills. But his holiday is cut short when mysterious bloody handprints appear on the walls around the resort. INCRIMINATION When a guest falls to her death, the hotelier casts suspicion on five young people who checked in at the same time as the victim but who all claim not to know her - or each other. INTRIGUE Does one of these guests have something to do with the tragedy? Harith Athreya must get to the bottom of the case before the murderer strikes again... ________________ PRAISE FOR THE HARITH ATHREYA MYSTERIES 'Hugely engaging' Sunday Times 'A slice of sheer pleasure... a proper, thorny puzzle' Observer 'Like stepping back into the Golden Age of the classic mystery' Rhys Bowen 'Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie [and] Arthur Conan Doyle' Harini Nagendra

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'A mesmerising debut. Dark, twisted and bracingly empathetic' Diana Reid, author of Love and Virtue Winner of the 2017 Hankyoreh Literary Award ---------------- Who is Jina? The stupid woman who ruined a young man's promising career? The weird loner whose university boyfriend thinks she has a victim complex? The naïve country girl who ignored a friend's cry for help? The survivor? To answer these questions, Jina will have to return to Anjin University and the toxic culture that destroyed the lives of many female students - including one, Ha Yuri, who died tragically and mysteriously not long before she left. ---------------- PRAISE FOR ANOTHER PERSON 'Immaculately crafted, shocking and moving' Sang Young Park, author of the International Booker-longlisted Love in the Big City 'Dark Academia the way I like it... smart and full of suspense' Hanna Bervoets, author of We Had to Remove This Post 'Sharp social commentary and amazing, complex female characters. An unusual, unpredictable thriller' Simone Campos, author of Nothing Can Hurt You Now

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A spellbinding, darkly poetic literary novel that plunges us into the inner life of America's first female serial killer 'This fascinating, off-kilter novel about a female serial killer is an unexpectedly thrilling read' Karl Ove Knausgaard Seventeen-year-old Brynhild is in a fever - she can't quiet the screaming world inside her. When an intense affair ends brutally, she flees Norway for America at the end of the nineteenth century in search of a new life. Changing her name first to Bella, later to Belle, she is driven from any potential refuge by an unbearable tension that won't let her keep still. As Belle seeks release in a series of men, her yearning for an all-consuming love erupts into violence. In this breathtaking novel, Victoria Kielland imagines her way into the tumultuous inner life of the Norwegian woman who became Belle Gunness - America's first known female serial killer. Written in prose of wild, visceral beauty, My Men is a radically empathetic and disquieting portrait of a woman capable of ecstatic love and gruesome cruelty.

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In these tense, macabre stories, bodies fall from the sky, perfect nails conceal grisly secrets and violence pulses behind gleaming façades. From hellish visions to obsessive relationships, acclaimed author Agustina Bazterrica takes us to the dark heart of human desires and fears. Shocking, brutal, yet glinting with sharp humour, Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird is a breathtaking dive into human monstrousness from a master of contemporary horror.

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'A rich, surprising and devastating story of a female institution long-forgotten' Marj Charlier, author of The Rebel Nun A heretical text, a vengeful husband, a forbidden love... It's 1310 and Paris is alive with talk of the trial of the Templars. Religious repression is on the rise, and the smoke of execution pyres blackens the sky above the city. But sheltered behind the walls of Paris's great beguinage, a community of women are still free to work, study and live their lives away from the domination of men. When a wild, red-haired child clothed in rags arrives at the beguinage gate one morning, with a sinister Franciscan monk on her tail, she sets in motion a chain of events that will shatter the peace of this little world-plunging it into grave danger.

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When Charles Swann first lays eyes on Odette de Crécy, he is indifferent to her beauty. Their paths continue to cross in the drawing rooms and theatres of Parisian high society, and the seeds of desire in Swann begin to flourish. What follows is a journey through self-delusion, jealousy and delirious fantasy, which will take Swann far from the sedate comfort of his society life. A standalone novella from Proust's monumental masterpiece, Swann in Love is a sublimely witty and poignant story of the illusions of love and desire. Full of the rich social satire and penetrating insight that distinguish Proust's style, it is the perfect introduction to one of the world's great novelists.

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In this uproariously funny memoir, Ludwig Bemelmans uncovers the fabulous world of the Hotel Splendide, the luxury New York hotel where he worked as a waiter. With equal parts affection and barbed wit, he records the everyday chaos that reigns behind the smooth facades of the gilded dining room and banquet halls. In hilarious detail, Bemelmans sketches the hierarchy of hotel life and its strange and fascinating inhabitants: from the ruthlessly authoritarian maître d'hôtel Monsieur Victor to the kindly waiter Mespoulets to Frizl the homesick busboy. Illustrated with his own charming line drawings, Bemelmans' tales of a bygone era of extravagance are as charming as they are riotously entertaining.

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA ILP JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER A TEXAN COURTOOM THRILLER THAT CRACKLES WITH TENSION AND HIGH-STAKES GAMBITS - 'EVERYTHING I LOVE IN A THRILLER', WOODY HARRELSON 'Compelling and fast-moving' LISA BALLANTYNE 'Razor-sharp, reminiscent of the best Grisham' KIA ABDULLAH 'The finest legal thriller since Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent... Do not miss it' Daily Mail ________________ Big business. Bad blood. Betrayal. James Euchre lives an easy life as a local attorney in a small Texan town, making plenty of money from corporate cases. But when his mentor is killed and one of his clients is arrested for murder, James is forced to defend the man who allegedly killed his friend. The deeper James goes into the case, the more he fears that he'll fail to save an innocent client's life - or worse, wind up freeing a guilty man... ________________ 'A spectacular courtroom drama' Michelle King, co-creator of The Good Wife and The Good Fight 'A terrific legal thriller' New York Times 'A courtroom thriller with a dazzling cinematic quality' Booklist 'Everything a legal thriller should be. A cunningly crafted courtroom drama, with a top drawer cast of characters' Rob Scragg 'A brilliant, cinematic story as big as Texas' Criminal Element

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In these stories of the surreal mundanity of office life and obscure tensions at sea, Melville's darkly modern sensibility plunges us into a world of irony and mystery, where nothing is as it first appears. A lawyer hires a new copyist, only to be met with stubborn, confounding resistance. A cynical lightning rod salesman plies his trade by exploiting fears in stormy weather. After boarding a beleaguered Spanish slave ship, an American trader's cheerful outlook is repeatedly shadowed by paralyzing unease.

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For fifteen years, after his first visit to the country in1876, Nietzsche was repeatedly and irresistibly drawn back to Italy's climate and lifestyle. It was there that he composed his most famous works, including Thus Spake Zarathustra and Ecce Homo. This classic biography follows the troubled philosopher from Rome, to Florence, via Venice, Sorrento, Genoa, Sicily and finally to the tragic denouement in Turin, the city in which Nietzsche found a final measure of contentment before his irretrievable collapse. Endlessly fascinating and highly readable, Nietzsche in Italy will enthral anyone interested in Nietzsche's relationship with the country that enriched his soul more than any other.

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Some girl dies. Film editor Marissa has read better loglines for films, but still jumps at the chance to travel to a small island to work with the legendary - and legendarily demanding - director Tony Rees. But she soon discovers that on this set, nothing is as it seems. There are rumours of accidents and indiscretions, of burgeoning scandals and perilous schemes. In the midst of this chaos, Marissa is herself drawn into an amateur investigation of the real-life murder that is the movie's central subject. The only problem is, the killer may still be on the loose. And he might not be finished.

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On a crisp September morning, trouble comes to the Gorbatovs' farm. Having fled revolution and civil war in Russia, the family has worked tirelessly to establish themselves as crop farmers in Provence, their hopes of returning home a distant dream. While young Ilya Stepanovich is committed to this new way of life, his step-brother Vasya looks only to the past. With the arrival of a letter from Paris, a plot to lure Vasya back to Russia begins in earnest, and Ilya must set out for the capital to try to preserve his family's fragile stability. The first novel by the celebrated Russian writer Nina Berberova, The Last and the First is an elegant and devastating portrayal of the internal struggles of a generation of émigrés. Appearing for the first time in English in a stunning translation by the prize-winning Marian Schwartz, it shows Berberova in full command of her gifts as a writer of masterful poise and psychological insight.

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1930s Leningrad. As a mood of fear cloaks the city, Investigator Vasily Zaitsev is called on to investigate a series of bizarre and seemingly motiveless murders. In each case, the victim is curiously dressed and posed in extravagantly arranged settings. At the same time, one by one precious old master paintings are going missing from the Hermitage collection. As Zaitsev sets about his investigations, he meets with suspicion at practically every turn, and potential witnesses are reluctant to provide information. Soon Zaitsev himself comes under suspicion from the Soviet secret police. The embittered detective must battle increasingly complex political machinations in his dogged quest to uncover the truth.

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We turn to Machiavelli at every tumultuous period in history - he is the one who knows how to philosophize in dark times. In fact, since his death in 1527, we have never stopped reading him, always to pull ourselves out of a torpor. But what do we really know about this man? Is there more to his work than that term for political evil, Machiavellianism? It was Machiavelli's luck to be disappointed by every statesman he encountered - that was why he had to create his paper Prince. Today, the question that remains is not why he wrote, but for whom - for princes or for those who want to resist them? What is the art of governing? Is it to take power, or to keep it? In this timely book, Patrick Boucheron undoes many of our assumptions about Machiavelli, showing how his rich, complex thought is key to understanding his time, and may be crucial to interrogating our own.

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A glimpse of post-war France through the eyes and words of 14 (mostly) expatriate journalists including Mavis Gallant, James Baldwin, A.J. Liebling, S.N. Behrman, Luc Sante, Joseph Mitchell, and Lillian Ross; plus, portraits of their editors William Shawn and New Yorker founder Harold Ross. Together: they invented modern magazine journalism. Includes an introductory interview by Susan Morrison with Anderson about transforming fact into a fiction and the creation of his homage to these exceptional reporters.

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Everyone has secrets. Especially the king. When a gruesomely mutilated body is found on the squalid streets of Paris in 1759, the Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths is called to the scene. The body count soon begins to rise and the Inspector falls into a web of deceit that stretches from criminals, secret orders, revolutionaries and aristocrats to very top of society. In the murky world of the court of King Louis XV, finding out the truth will prove to be anything but straightforward.

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Every week, the comic book artist Riad Sattouf has a chat with his friend's daughter, Esther. She tells him about her life, about school, her friends, her hopes, dreams and fears, and then he works it up into a comic strip. This book consists of 52 of those strips, telling between them the story of a year in the life of this sharp, spirited and hilarious child. The result is a moving, insightful and utterly addictive glimpse into the real lives of children growing up in today's world.

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Rembrandt's life has always been an enigma. How did a miller's son from a provincial Dutch town become the greatest artist in the world? With his formative years shrouded in mystery, the only remaining evidence of Rembrandt's life as a young man is his work. Deeply rooted in the turbulent changes that his hometown was undergoing, Rembrandt's early paintings tell a fascinating story of artistic evolution against the backdrop of the widening horizons of Leiden's cultural and commercial life during the Dutch Golden Age. Leiden's good fortune facilitated Rembrandt's. But who was that young man inventing himself as the city around him grew and prospered? How did Rembrandt become Rembrandt? To find out, Leiden native Onno Blom immersed himself in the world, the country, the city and the house in which Rembrandt was born in 1606 and where he spent the first twenty-five years of his life. The result is a fascinating portrait of the artist as a young man, rich in local and biographical detail, and restless in its efforts to seek out the roots of his genius.

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