Search results for ""quercus publishing""

What has happened to Ingrid? Beautiful Ingrid inherits a fortune. She leaves her friends Julia and Ralph, who loves her, to marry the cold and intellectual Gil Grey and start a life amid the New York art scene. At 9 a.m. on September 11, 2001, she has a downtown appointment with her financial advisor. And is never seen again. A year later Ralph, heartbroken and sick, sends Julia to New York to piece together Ingrid's life away from them. Nothing will prepare Julia for what she ultimately discovers.

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We've all stood on a street corner and let the city's lights and sounds pass by. What do we hear when we listen to the sounds of the city? What traces do they leave in us? The city and the streets are the same as before, but the people who emerge in Echoes of a City have never been seen before. At the centre are Ewald and Maj Kristoffersen, but their fates are closely interwoven with the streets they live on. Down the road a couple has a butcher's shop. They have a son, Jostein, who goes deaf after a traffic accident. Jesper, Ewald and Maj's son, promises to be his ears in the world. The butcher couple and the widow Mrs Vik have a telephone, but not the Kristoffersen family. Jesper takes piano lessons, Mrs Vik meets the widower Olaf Hall who runs the second-hand bookshop at the cemetery. His stepson, Bjørn Stranger, is the one who saves Jostein's life when he gets run over.There are few - if any - who can conjure up a time and place in a way that makes it alive for us here and now like Lars Saabye Christensen.

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WINNER OF THE WINGATE PRIZE 2021SUNDAY TIMES "MUST READS" PICKECONOMIST "BEST BOOKS OF 2020" PICKKIRKUS REVIEWS "10 BOOKS TO LOOK FOR IN 2021" PICK"Boundless imagination and a vibrant style . . . a heroine of unforgettable grit" DAVID GROSSMAN"A story of great beauty and surprise" GARY SHTEYNGARTThe townsfolk of Motal, an isolated, godforsaken town in the Pale of Settlement, are shocked when Fanny Keismann - devoted wife, mother of five, and celebrated cheese-maker - leaves her home at two hours past midnight and vanishes into the night.True, the husbands of Motal have been vanishing for years, but a wife and mother? Whoever heard of such a thing. What on earth possessed her?Could it have anything to do with Fanny's missing brother-in-law, who left her sister almost a year ago and ran away to Minsk, abandoning their family to destitution and despair?Or could Fanny have been lured away by Zizek Breshov, the mysterious ferryman on the Yaselda river, who, in a strange twist of events, seems to have disappeared on the same night?Surely there can be no link between Fanny and the peculiar roadside murder on the way to Minsk, which has left Colonel Piotr Novak, head of the Russian secret police, scratching his head. Surely a crime like that could have nothing to do with Fanny Keismann, however the people of Motal might mutter about her reputation as a vilde chaya, a wild animal . . .Surely not.Translated from the Hebrew by Orr Scharf

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It is the final year of the twentieth century and King Sidi is dying . . .Mohamed has been the king's fool for thirty-five year, his closest counsel, privy to his deepest secrets and most intimate thoughts. It is an honoured position for which many would pay a hefty price. Something Mohamed understands only too well, for this closeness has indeed come at a terrible cost. The threat of imprisonment looms, even as the once-mighty monarch draws his final breaths.In the last days of this all-powerful tyrant of the twentieth century, his faithful court fool takes stock of the decades he spent in the Moroccan king's service. For the many years of corrosive love and loyalty have left certain indelible wounds . . .Translated from the French by Ben Faccini

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**THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO IS BACK!****The sixth in the Millennium series - more than 100 million copies sold worldwide**"Expertly told, the plot crackles with life" DAILY MAIL"Salander is centre stage . . . A pacy read" SUNDAY EXPRESS"Exciting and disturbing" LITERARY REVIEW"Salander and Blomkvist are just as compelling as ever" NEW YORK TIMES**********************************************************************************THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO HAS FRESH OUTRAGE TO AVENGEAs Salander follows the scorched trail of her twin sister to Moscow, Blomkvist fears for her safety.He should, perhaps, be more concerned for himself. The murder of a homeless man on the streets of Stockholm has drawn him into a conspiracy that scales the heights of Everest and plunges to the depths of Russia's criminal underworld.And now Lisbeth will face her nemesis. For the girl with the dragon tattoo, the personal is always political - and ultimately deadly. "A unique concoction that should leave Salander's legion of followers clamoring for more" Tom Nolan, Wall Street JournalTranslated from the Swedish by George Goulding

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A passenger liner runs aground on the muddy banks of the Río de la Plata. One by one, its passengers are abducted by Buenos Aires' criminal classes. As the kidnapping of three foreign businessmen sends stock markets into freefall, the job of solving the chaos falls onto the weary shoulders of Deputy Inspector Walter Carroza of the serious-crime squad. But top of his agenda is former Miss Bolivia Ana Torrente. Why are the bodies of the men who try to take her to bed always found minus a head?

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A masterful and subsersive retelling of the Biblical story of David and Bathsheba, by an award-winning novelist at the height of his powers'[A] fierce, sinewy novel' Howard Jacobsen'A wonderfully rich novel. Arditti brings Ancient Israel to life' Allan Massie, ScotsmanMichal is a princess, Abigail a wealthy widow, and Bathsheba a soldier's bride, but as women in Ancient Israel their destiny is the same: to obey their fathers, serve their husbands and raise their children. Marriage to King David seems to offer them an escape, but behind the trappings of power they discover a deeply conflicted man. The legendary hero who slew Goliath, founded Jerusalem and saved Israel is also a vicious despot who murders his rivals, massacres his captives and menaces his harem. Michael Arditti's masterly new novel centres on three fascinating, formidable women, whose voices have hitherto been silenced. As they tell of love and betrayal, rape and revenge, motherhood and childlessness, they not only present the time-honoured story in a compelling new light but expose a conflict between male ruthlessness and female resistance, which remains strikingly pertinent today.

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The hazards and secrets of the book trade and writing for television and the theatre are revealed and co-mingle with the joys of travel, family and entertaining. The alarums and excursions of an arson attack and the efforts to ease the lot of fellow writers imprisoned for their beliefs in democracy are eclipsed temporarily as Rosemary Friedman emerges from the valley of the shadow of death into which she is unexpectedly precipitated. With her skill and acute eye she takes us behind the scenes of the theatre (in which applause is the writer's personal laurel wreath) and lets us into the machinations of auditions, directors and stage managers and the dynamics of plays themselves in which every actor is expected to be 'dead letter perfect'. In summing up she concludes (with WS Gilbert) that life ' - is a joke that's just begun'.

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Olivia is thirty-two and living back home with her mother in Caprock, small-town Texas. Her therapist is a girl she went to high school with; her promising career in journalism has dwindled to nothing, and she spends her days hawking jewellery in a Mall following a favour from a friend. Life is back on an even-keel after her descent into drug abuse, but it's a far cry from the one she imagined ...Then, under pressure to take up a hobby, she decides to try urban exploration. Soon she's poking through derelict homes, churches and schools across North Texas. But Olivia knows her therapist would disapprove. What began as a harmless distraction soon becomes a lucrative business as she collects and sells antique fittings and fixtures online.Her new-found freedom starts to spiral out of control. Victimless trespass is fast evolving into criminal behaviour, and the path her rehabilitation is taking leads Olivia to question her own moral code. She's not supposed to withhold information from her therapist - yet she does.Nor is she supposed to be stashing money in a secret account when she owes so much to so many - and although she's supposedly prohibited from communicating with people from her past, old friends keep showing up, making demands and threats. To add to it all, her baby sister has turned up pregnant, the question of their absent fathers has once more been unearthed, and her prescribed medication is inducing an unnatural detachment that makes her feel as though she's not present in her own life.Tackling difficult subjects with a warmth and humour, and creating an unforgettable protagonist, Jen Waldo brings an electrifying tone to fiction - she is an astonishing new American voice who will stop you in her tracks.

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When Jessica, a grieving widow, inherits an antique mall from her mother she also inherits the stallholders, an elderly, amoral, acquisitive, and paranoid collection. When one of the vendors, a wily ex-con named Roxy, shoots her ex-husband, she calls on Jessica to help bury the body and soon Jessica is embroiled in cover-ups, lies, and misdirection. Into this mix comes Lizzie, Jessica’s late husband’s twelve-year-old daughter by his first marriage, who’s been dumped on Jessica’s doorstep by the child’s self-absorbed mother and it soon becomes apparent that Lizzie is as obsessed with material possessions as Jessica’s elderly tenants. Why Stuff Matters is a compelling ode to possession, why people like things and the curious lengths they will go to keep them. Returning to her fictional Caprock, Waldo turns her wry wit on the lives of those afraid to let go.

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Odysseas Anastasakos has spent the past 17 years living in exile in Boston. A fatal accident when he was 15 years old forced him to denounce his Grecian birthplace and led him in pursuit of a new life where he could escape the demons of his past. But on his first return to Greece in 17 years, Odysseas is confronted by a passionate love that will change everything. Two summers seventeen years apart; a past and a present that will determine the future of all those involved. A beautiful novel, vibrant with Greek flavours that captures one person's dilemma when deciding between honour and love, this story is universal and at the same time a deeply personal tale of a love that surpasses distance, dissolves differences and survives time.

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Lyrical and witty, moving and profound: the story of a good man fighting for his principles in a hostile world'An uncomfortable but very readable novel about the careless greeds of the way we live now' Helen Dunmore, Guardian'A Graham Greene for our time' Spectator'There are splendidly comic scenes worthy of Alan Ayckbourn' Ham and HighThe Francombe & Salter Mercury has served the residents of two South Coast resorts for over 150 years. Hit by both the economic decline and the advent of new technology, Duncan Neville, the latest member of his family to occupy the editor's chair, is struggling to keep the paper afloat. Duncan's personal life is in similar disarray as he juggles the demands of his elderly mother, disaffected son, harassed ex-wife and devoted secretary. Meanwhile, a childhood friend turned bitter rival unveils plans to rebuild the dilapidated pier, which, while promising to revive the town's fortunes, threaten its traditional ethos. Then Duncan meets Ellen, a recent divorcee, who has moved to Francombe with her two teenage children. By turns lyrical, witty and poignant, Widows and Orphans casts an unflinching eye over the joys and adversities of contemporary life and paints a masterful portrait of a decent man fighting for his principles in a hostile world.

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Berlin. A city where nightclubs stay open from Friday night till Monday morning. A city with an underbelly as dark and addictive as the 24-hour drugs, drinking, dancing and sex in filthy toilets that it serves up. Three young men, from different backgrounds, meet here by chance, struggling to find a future and to escape from the past. Tobias was violated as a child and tossed from one city to another by separated parents. Now he's got AIDS and can find only fleeting happiness with a new lover. Armand fled from his middle-class family home to live as a painter and set up house with a high-school sweetheart. Tugged between expectations, desire and responsibilities, he flees to give release his artistic soul. But at what cost? Franz was raised in a good, wealthy German family and believed he was capable of achieving anything he wanted. A job in a nightclub leads him into the Berlin underworld, where his life takes an unexpected turn and he is threatened with ruin. Berlin promises both escape and salvation for these three young men, in a stunning coming-of-age story by award-winning author Oscar Coop-Phane. With grace and affection, he depicts a cast of flawed characters whose lives spiral downwards, their lifestyles drawing them into a grimy abyss that threatens to eclipse them. A literary masterpiece, Tomorrow, Berlin is a compelling ode to youth and desire, and a stark reminder that escape can only ever be an illusion.

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I m a street prostitute. Not a call girl or anything. No, a real street whore, with stiletto heels and menthol cigarettes. Narrator Nanou gives a detailed account of her day, from the moment she wakes up with a foul taste in her mouth, in her sordid rented room, until the minute she crawls back into her bed at night to sleep. Interwoven with her story are portraits of her clients. Oscar Coop-Phane invents an astonishing cast of original and deeply human characters losers, defeated by the world around them who seek solace in Nanou s arms. Original and moving, this short book deftly paints a world of solitude and sadness, illuminated by precious moments of tenderness and acts of kindness.

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A multi-layered, multi-generational saga set in Louisiana in the days before Hurricane Katrina, and in a place called Afterworld. For the Duvalier family, sugar cane is both their blessing and their curse. Their story is rich, tragic and funny. It steams and heaves with sugar, sex, drink, deviance and depravity.

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1977. Poised between the secular values of socialism and the conservatism of a tenuously balanced government, Istanbul is a fractured city haunted by demons of its own making. Along with thousands of other left-wing activists, Oak's interest in politics leads him to join the annual May Day rallies. There he encounters Zuhal, a fearless girl with a gun. As battles rage between nationalists and socialists, Oak witnesses the violent suppression of dissident minorities by his fellow citizens. The bewitching Zuhal begins to shape his ideals, bringing him face to face with disillusionment, and death.

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'The Norwegian Chandler' Jo Nesbø'One of my very favourite Scandinavian authors' Ian RankinMORE THAN FIVE MILLION BOOKS SOLD WORLDWIDEAn unbearably tense thriller of revenge, murder, bereavement and the destructive force of passionIt is at their 'torture chamber', a hut in the pinewoods nearby, that Varg Veum, Private Investigator, first encounters the gang's pathetic but deadly ferocity. Eight-year-old Roar's bicycle had been stolen and not an adult in sight dared retrieve it. But that preliminary brush with youthful violence is nothing compared to what awaited Veum when he got to know Roar's blue-eyed, shy yet sensuous mother, Wenche Andresen, and her estranged husband, Jonas. Veum's attempts to break up Joker and his pack of young thugs by enlisting the help of the local youth club leader proves a dead end. But not so dead as the man who found lying prone with a knife in his back on the floor of Andresen's flat. Yours Until Death is an unbearably tense novel of revenge and murder about marriage, childhood, bereavement and the destructive force of passion. First published in Norwegian in 1979, it was described by the critic Nils Nordberg as 'one of the finest, most serious, most ambitious books in post-war Norwegian crime writing'.Translated from the Norwegian by Margaret Amassian

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Julian Monasterio has suffered three severe blows: his wife walking out on him; his mother dying; and his 6-year-old daughter displaying signs of psychological damage. Then his father's old pistol is stolen, and so begins much more than a straightforward murder novel. As the novel delves into the private and professional lives of its characters, the layers of the mystery are revealed. Linked to it all, is the slow love that develops between sad and lonely Julian and his daughter's young teacher, brought together by their love of his emotionally withdrawn daughter.

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'An excellent debut novel, definitely in my top ten of the year.' - Scott Pack, The Bookseller'Rhodes asks important questions about social justice, but also tells a compelling human story. An impressive debut' - Mary Fitzgerald, New Statesman, 20 October 2006'A-S-B-O - you think that makes you special. But it doesn't. It means you were stupid enough to get caught, that's all. I should have one. I should have the biggest ASBO there is. I want a poster with my face on.'When JB is served with an ASBO for joy-riding and sent to paint beach huts for the summer in Kent, it looks as if he has a chance to turn his life around. But then he encounters Moey and his gang, and his future seems to hang in the balance. Separated from his mother and under a strict curfew, only his attraction to Sal seems to give him a reason to keep going. But a storm is coming that threatens to shatter his hopes and destroy the relationship that could redeem him

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Yannis Loukas is editing his father's autobiography. Going through the family archives, he discovers the manuscript of an aspiring novelist named Loukas Matthaiou. While reading it, Yannis feels as if someone has put to paper his innermost thoughts. But who was the writer of this amazing story and what happened to him? Following in the tracks of this elusive stranger, Yannis' life takes an unforseen turn. He finds that everyone who met Matthaiou was profoundly affected by his charismatic personality. Driven by his quest to find Matthaiou, Yannis must first unravel the codes in his writing.

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Clutching his vodka and his memories, he seeks refuge on an island in the Cyclades. There by chance he meets a young woman who reactivates love's vocabulary. His survival instinct faintly reappears through the distorting mirror of alcohol. Yet the craving is an irresistible, clever adversary that shows no mercy. He is drawn by his love to places that affect his emotional world ever more forcefully. Moving from Paris and Munich to London and a mountain village in central Greece, he meets a young woman and it becomes clear that the greatest magic is to be found in reality, not the bottle.

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London, 1732. William Hogarth is called to a murder scene. A woman lies dead, her unborn child ripped from her body. It is a warning. Hogarth painted the future King leaving her bed. He must destroy the painting to survive. But her killers made one mistake. They left the Prince's son alive. Centuries later, one man holds proof of this line of succession and keeps a watchful eye on the Prince's heir. The legacy is a terrible burden, but also an incredible opportunity. During a flight in a private jet, when a fellow passenger speaks of having gained possession of proof of this, the Royal Family's darkest secret, everything changes. Within hours of the flight, three of the seven passengers have been silenced. Who killed them? Why? To keep the secret or expose it? Where is the proof? As the body count rises, Alex Connor ratchets up the tension is this page-turning thriller that brings history into the present with devastating consequences.

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'BRILLIANT AT CAPTURING THE MURDEROUS CHARMS OF RURAL FRANCE ' MirrorMillions of fans worldwide have discovered the world of Bruno, Chief of Police, and the lovely Perigord town that he looks after. Yet even in the depths of rural France, murder is never far away.Spanish separatists, angry local activists and a mystery corpse: Bruno has his work cut out in this exciting mystery, part of the internationally bestselling series.Life in the Dordogne isn't full of the charming peace that you might imagine. In St Denis a summit in a local château is threatened by Basque separatists, animal rights campaigners are causing havoc and it's about to get worse. A local archaeological team unearths a well-preserved skeleton. Yet it's a lot more recent than they'd hoped - boasting a Swatch on its wrist and a bullet-hole in its skull. Meanwhile, an influx of visitors makes St Denis unusually crowded, and the solution to the murder appears to lie with one of these outsiders. Bruno must think fast and keep his wits about him, especially if the answer lies a little closer to home.

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Munich, in the late thirties, the first years of fascism - the last before the war: Kathie is desperate to leave her sheltered village life and sets out for the city, determined that she'll get by, one way or another. She is dark-haired, buxom and pretty, like the women who recently disappeared without a trace. Young women are being found around Munich, abused and murdered. Josef Kalteis has been arrested, but is he really responsible for all those misdeeds? Did they execute the wrong one while the murderer is still on the loose? Spellbound by the magnetizing story of the dead women, the reader follows young Kathie. Somewhere in between her naive search for luck and existential concerns, occasional prostitution and the desire for true love, she is in grave danger. Andrea Maria Schenkel has again created a novel based on real events, in which the story is told through several voices and documentation, including interrogation logs, witness statements and the dark thoughts within the murderer's mind.

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France, early summer 1794. The French Revolution has been hijacked by the extreme Jacobins and is in the grip of The Terror. While the guillotine relentlessly takes the heads of innocents, two vast French and British fleets meet in the mid-Atlantic following a week of skirmishing. After fierce fighting, both sides claim victory. In The Glorious First of June Sam Willis not only tells, with thrilling immediacy and masterly clarity, the story of an epic and complex battle, he also places it within the context of The Terror, the survival of the French Revolution and the growth of British sea-power.

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Team Jamie or Team Jinx? Which handsome hunk will Lucky choose - once she's dealt with the demon assassin on her trail, that is?Lucky's always known about her own psychic powers - after all, her closest friend is a ghost - but she knows nothing of her long-dead family . . . until a daemonic assassin brings a message that drags both Kayla and Lucky down to the Underlands - and into the political fight for the daemon king's throne. Lucky's determined to find her way home, but Jinx and Jamie have both marked her - and now she's not sure she even wants to escape the loving attentions of her handsome winged Guardian and her devilishly charming horned Deathbringer.And if she stays, she might just find out who she really is . . .'Reads like the Sookie Stackhouse series combined with the sinister undertones of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere' says Booklist.

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THE NEW NOVEL FROM THE BOLLINGER SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF ENGLAND'S LANE.'There's a lot of brilliantly observed detail... it's very funny and very sharp' Michael PalinGeorge is a fashion mad Beatles fan, selfish and cruel. Why his girlfriend Dorothy loves him is a mystery to her and to his best friend Sammy. When George callously chucks her he cannot anticipate that his life, post 1964, will never be the same. And forty-four years later, when George is sixty-four, rich and successful, his past will catch up with him and his family.'Connolly unfolds a rich and compelling drama of life that is anything but everyday' Daily Mail'It is Connolly's skill to get the reader to laugh at what should make you cry or at least wince' Times Literary Supplement

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"In our evermore hectic and overwhelming world, Stories for Kids Who Dare to be Different is refreshing proof that dreams do come true and that it is ok to be different. An inspiring read for any young person, particularly those struggling to find their place in the world." Megan Hine_______Björk, Dr Seuss, Whoopi Goldberg, Andy Warhol, Ellen MacArthur, Greta Gerwig, Andrea Bocelli, Hua Mulan ... these are men and women who all dared to be different. Boys will be boys and girls will be girls - or so the meaningless saying goes. Because what if you're a girl and you like cage fighting? Or you're a boy and you love ballet? And what if you've always dreamed of being a scientist but you can't see anyone who looks or sounds like you, and who has left a legacy - in the form of microscopes and Bunsen burners - for you to follow? This is the book for children who want to know about the lives of those heroes who have led the way, changing the world for the better as they go. Following the runaway success of Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different, parents asked for a celebration of role models of both genders for boys and girls within the same book. Stories for Kids Who Dare to Be Different is the answer. These are the extraordinary stories of 100 famous and not-so-famous men and women, every single one of them an inspiring pioneer and creative genius in their own way, who broke the mould and made their dreams come true. Like Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different, this is a beautifully illustrated, evocative and inspirational book of amazing stories of amazing people, that will delight sons and daughters, nephews and nieces, and give them the courage to be themselves.*For tales of even more brilliant people who have dared to be different, STORIES FOR BOYS WHO DARE TO BE DIFFERENT 2 is out now!*

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'A dazzling talent' Malcolm GladwellWhen Adam Gopnik and his soon-to-be-wife, Martha, left the comforts of home in Montreal for New York, the city then, much like today, was a pilgrimage site for the young, the arty, and the ambitious. But it was also becoming a city of greed, where both life's consolations and its necessities were increasingly going to the highest bidder. At the Strangers' Gate builds a portrait of this particular moment in New York through the story of this couple's journey--from their excited arrival as aspiring artists to their eventual growth into a New York family. Gopnik transports us to his tiny basement room on the Upper East Side, and later to SoHo, where he captures a unicorn: an affordable New York loft. He takes us through his professional meanderings, from graduate student-cum-library-clerk to the corridors of Conde Nast and the galleries of MoMA. Between tender and humorous reminiscences, including affectionate portraits of Richard Avedon, Robert Hughes, and Jeff Koons, among many others, Gopnik discusses the ethics of ambition, the economy of creative capital, and the peculiar anthropology of art and aspiration in New York, then and now.

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'Gripping and atmospheric' - Sunday Times A breath-taking missing persons thriller set under the menacing peaks of the Pyrenees Five years after their disappearance, the village of Monteperdido still mourns the loss of Ana and Lucia, two eleven-year-old friends who left school one afternoon and were never seen again. Now, Ana reappears unexpectedly inside a crashed car, wounded but alive. The case reopens and a race against time begins to discover who was behind the girls' kidnapping. Most importantly, where is Lucia and is she still alive?Inspector Sara Campos and her boss Santiago Bain, from Madrid's head office, are forced to work with the local police. Five years ago fatal mistakes were made in the investigation conducted after the girls first vanished, and this mustn't happen again. But Monteperdido has rules of its own.'Addictive, atmospheric and haunting, one of the best books you'll read this year' - Jo Spain, internationally bestselling author of The Confession

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'Vivid, compelling, and thought-provoking. Utterly original' Will Dean, author of Dark Pines 'At last a book that has it all. So beautifully written. I loved it' Amazon Reviewer**********An afterlife of your own design - what could go wrong? Isobel designs artificial 'heavens' for her clients, created from the memories they treasure most. She works for Oakley Associates, London's most prestigious firm of its kind. Her heavens are renowned for their beauty and perfection.But Isobel crosses an ethical line when she falls for Jarek, a new - and married - client. Then, in the wake of his wife's murder, Isobel uncovers a darker and deadlier side of the world she works in. As her life starts falling apart, Isobel realises that nothing is as perfect as it seems, not even heaven itself...**********'Wow! I started this book mid afternoon and finished it at 1:15 am. I just could not put it down' Amazon Reviewer'An elegant tale of love and loss, memory and murder, set in an edgy near-future' Daily Mail

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Elsie Barker is desperate for a new start after her husband leaves her. When her friend Izzy, herself planning an escape from her abusive boyfriend, tells her about the jobs going for women as narrowboat crew on the canals between London and Coventry, she jumps at the chance.Their new boss, Dorothy, is kind and fair, but it's clear she has a secret of her own. Their crew is completed by Tolly, searching for a new vocation now that her dream job has been snatched away. The work is hard, but the girls forge close friendships that will see them through the darkest times.What none of them could have predicted, though, is just how much working on the canals will change their lives. Could it really be that what started as a means of escape will end up giving each of them everything they ever wanted?

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'This story is a delight to read, a heart-melting Christmas story about the sweetest little dog bringing healing and happiness to a family who needs him as much as he needs them' Amazon Reviewer.A puppy for Christmas. A friend for life. When Teddy runs away from home a week before Christmas, he's far too excited to worry about what lies ahead. But all too soon Teddy realises just how cold and scary the world really is, and what was supposed to be the perfect adventure now seems like a terrible mistake. Then Teddy is discovered on a snowy doorstep by the Woods family. With their kind hearts and cosy cottage, this is the family Teddy is desperate to have. But Emily is ill, her parents are stressed and, with Christmas around the corner, raising and training a well-meaning but unruly puppy is hardly a priority. Will Teddy find the family of his dreams this Christmas?

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Be it for breakfast, lunch or dinner, this book will show you how to cook in a totally new way. Discover 100 easy, innovative, inspiring recipes that don't involve conventional oven cooking - instead you'll find a wealth of clever shortcuts and simple alternative techniques for transforming fresh ingredients into vibrant and nutritious meals.The no-cook philosophy is about far more than just assembly. You'll be surprised and delighted at the variety of gorgeous food you can magic up without even turning on the oven, including dips, soups, noodles and slaws, cheats' pizzas and pasta dishes, simple sushi and ceviche, no-cook interpretations of familiar kitchen classics, and foolproof no-bake desserts. Many of these recipes are naturally much healthier than their oven-cooked counterparts, since there's no frying in oil or basting in butter, but instead plenty of fresh ingredients, simply prepared and assembled, and in some cases kept raw, thereby retaining their natural nutrients and antioxidants. Not forgetting that a no-cook approach helps keep your kitchen cooler and your energy bills that little bit smaller. So whether you're a curious cook in search of new ideas, a kitchen novice with a fear of the oven, or a busy parent seeking weeknight-ready meals, these smart, delicious, no-cook recipes are the answer you've been waiting for.

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What readers are saying about The Love Factory:'The first time I've wanted to start re-reading a book from the moment I finished it''Like Sex and the City on acid''Anna [is] a heart-capturing protagonist''a warm, inclusive, big-hearted book'You can control want, but desire controls youWhen literary writer Anna falls on hard times, she tries her hand at erotic fiction to make money, and faces an uncomfortable truth. Though she's a wife and mother of two, her stories fail to fly because she's never experienced true sexual desire. Even her Sicilian grandmother - wearer of diamante sunglasses and knock-off Louis Vuitton - knows more than she does about real passion. Anna turns to her friends for inspiration. As secrets and desires are revealed, she discovers more about the people close to her than she ever knew. When one of them suggests she borrow an alter ego to banish her inhibitions, a new world opens up, and The Love Factory - a group of writers penning ever more successful sexy stories - is born. Yet Anna knows that she can't rely on borrowed passion and an alter ego forever. For her tales to truly sizzle, she needs to find a true love of her own.

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Blackmail, espionage and a mass murderer from his wartime past await Bernie Gunther on the French Riviera.'A brilliantly twisting tale of espionage and betrayal' Sunday TimesThe French Riviera, 1956. A world-weary Bernie Gunther is working under a false name as a hotel concierge. His attempts to keep his nose clean go horribly awry when a wartime acquaintance sucks him into a blackmail plot involving Somerset Maugham, one of the most famous British writers of the 20th century, and the notorious Cambridge Spies. All of them have dark pasts and plenty to hide - ideal candidates for a seasoned blackmailer.

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The great pulp writer Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian, also introduced Solomon Kane to the world: a sombre man who dedicated his life to battling evil in all its forms.Now Markus Heitz brings Solomon Kane's daughter Aenlin to life: join the young adventuress as she follows in her father's footsteps to battle dark forces, gunpowder, steel and magic - in the Dark Lands! 1629. Despite the relentless conflict of the Thirty Years' War raging in Europe, Aenlin Kane is determined to explore the legacy of her famous father.Aenlin may never have met Solomon Kane, but she shares with him the need to fight for good wherever she can. She and her friend Tahmina, a Persian mystic, have been recruited for a secret mission for the West India Company: they will be part of a motley crew fighting their way behind enemy lines to the southern German town of Bamberg, where the stakes are already burning, ready to immolate those falsely accused of witchcraft.Hidden by the turmoil of war, demons are openly walking the earth. Soloman Kane once fought such evil with rapier, pistols and his indomitable will. Now Aenlin is preparing to face those demons - and like her father, she will let nothing stand in her way.

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A man stands bewildered on a deserted beach on the Hebridean Isle of Harris. He cannot remember who he is. The only clue to his identity is a folded map of a path named the Coffin Road. He does not know where this search will take him.A detective from Lewis sits aboard a boat, filled with doubt. DS George Gunn knows that a bludgeoned corpse has been discovered on a remote rock twenty miles offshore. He does not know if he has what it takes to uncover how and why.A teenage girl lies in her Edinburgh bedroom, desperate to discover the truth about her scientist father's suicide. Two years on, Karen Fleming still cannot accept that he would wilfully abandon her. She does not yet know his secret.

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Lucky's being wooed by Jinx, the sexy Deathbringer and Jamie, the gorgeous Guardian, so the daemon world isn't too bad.But before Lucky can really start to enjoy her new life in the Underlands, Kayla's men are slain and Kayla herself is kidnapped by the Sicarii, assassins-for-hire members of a death-cult.Lucky's nemesis Henri le Dent has somehow escaped the Chambers of Rectification and court torturer Amaliel Cheriour is also missing . . . and daemon princess Kayla is just bait to catch Lucky.For Lucky's own powers are growing, and Amaliel has his own nefarious paln to use her. But first, he has to get past her Guards, not to mention Lucky herself . . .'Check it out', says The Reading Agency. Amazon Rising Star Tingey is 'perfect for fans of Laini Taylor, Deborah Harkness and Anne Bishop.'

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DI Mark Tartaglia spends a night in a west London hotel with a woman he has just met. When he is called out to the same hotel the next morning to investigate a murder, he realises it must have taken place while he was there. If things weren't already complicated enough, the investigation takes a new and horrifying turn when he recognises the young female victim. Still reeling from the shock, he learns that another case he has been investigating - the body of a homeless man found in a burnt-out car - is also not what it seems. Tests reveal that the corpse has been assembled from the body parts of four different people. Under mounting pressure from the media and unsure where his loyalties lie, Tartaglia must solve this new macabre puzzle before the Jigsaw Killer strikes again.

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Curated by award-winning editor Stephen Jones and illustrated by bestselling writer and artist Clive Barker, author of THE BOOKS OF BLOOD, welcome to HORROROLOGY: 'a dozen bone-chilling tales by modern masters' (Barry Forshaw, Independent).'Stephen Jones knows horror . . . he's become one of the best guides to its shifting landscape' says Kirkus, and in HORROROLOGY, a follow-up to the bestselling A BOOK OF HORRORS, he has enticed terrifying storytellers including Clive Barker (THE SCARLET GOSPELS), Joanne Harris (A POCKETFUL OF CROWS), Kim Newman (ANNO DRACULA), Muriel Gray (THE TRICKSTER) and Michael Marshall Smith (HANNAH GREEN AND HER UNFEASIBLY MUNDANE EXISTENCE), amongst many others. A dozen all-new stories from some of the best talents in the field, they present 'a gamut of fear and sombre wonders demonstrating how horror writing can be both entertaining and challenging' (Maxim Jakubowski, Lovereading). Be warned: you are about to discover the true meanings of fear!

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NINE YEARSIt is almost a decade since Duluth said goodbye to its innocence. The city creeps ever closer to the tenth anniversary of the year in which it found itself both gripped by murder and united in terror; and during which the pillar of its community, DS Jonathan Stride, had his home and heart torn to ribbons by the claws of cancer.NINE LIVESCat Mateo, an orphan with a knack of landing on her feet, has bid farewell to a life on the streets. This once-stray teenager owes her rescue to Detective Stride, the father figure she holds close to her heart. But Cat holds something else to her chest - a secret: the sheer power of which she could not possibly comprehend.A secret that, once out of the bag, will not just viciously scratch at Duluth's still-healing wounds, but will make DS Jonathan Stride wave goodbye to his convictions about the events nine years before, and say hello to his darkest fears.

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A STORM'S WRATH. AN ASSASSIN'S RETURN. As a fierce tropical storm swirls toward the Florida coast, the state's powerful political circles are experiencing turbulence of their own. The leading candidate for governor, Diane Fairmont, has received a death threat that promises to repeat a massacre from ten years before. Bad weather and bad blood await Detective Cab Bolton - who must withstand the malevolent cyclone in order to stop this murderous cycle.

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Hong Kong, August 2017. On the eve of a crisis summit for world economic leaders, two Chinese Methodist ministers are killed in an apparently motiveless execution in Hong Kong's financial district. Luck makes Detective Alex Soong one of the first officers at the scene. Yet Soong begins to suspect his involvement to be more than incidental, and the crime itself more than a senseless assassination: an instinct that is proven correct when Soong is contacted by a mysterious figure, and more massacres follow. With the eyes of the world's media fixed on Hong Kong, Soong must race to intercept his tormentor, and thwart a conspiracy born from one of the bloodiest confrontations of China's past, which now threatens to destroy a fragile world order.

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London, 1939. Mary and Jack. In love, unmarried and happy. Until the outbreak of the Second World War. Jackie, ever the lad, is bent on escaping conscription, but the contacts he makes drag him ever deeper into a dangerous criminal underworld. Yet it is Mary who undertakes the most surprising transformation. Despite striving for normality, she must confront a set of choices that will lead to a backstreet abortion and an unexpected vocation. With every tone and cadence of this novel, from wireless to air-raid siren, Connolly conducts with masterful hand and compassionate grace the voices of a once hopeful working class couple - now blitzed, battered and breaking into a desperate new dawn.

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Eva was once a legendary fashion designer until, mysteriously, she retired. Now widowed, she lives with her family in Salix House, the home she's owned and loved for forty years. When the family announces it's time to sell, Eva is deeply reluctant. The house contains memories and secrets that are part of her, although she never shares them. Megan is a fashion journalist working in London who interviewed Eva for a magazine. Torn apart by the brutal end of a love affair, Megan is drawn back to Salix House and Eva. Decades apart in age, the two women share a bond. Both are hiding something, but perhaps together they can confront their fears, their past pain and their uncertain futures - and discover the truth of Salix House's secrets.

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An action-packed, post-apocalyptic adventure for fans of The Walking Dead, World War Z and Feed. The dead don't always die. Those who rise again are the Walkin' . . .Thomas is thirty-two. He comes from the small town of Barkley. He has a wife there, Sarah, and a child, Mary; good solid names from the Good Book. And he is on his way home from the war, where he has been serving as a conscripted soldier. Thomas is also dead - he is one of the Walkin'. And Barkley does not suffer the wicked to live.

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Four lives are about to come crashing together . . .Devastated by the murder of his sister in Soho seven years ago, Mark Davis travels to London to carry out an act of violence that he believes will avenge her death. PhD student Stella is returning to London with her partner Paula to visit a fertility clinic. But Stella is hiding a secret that could tear their lives apart. Recovering alcoholic Seb has left his wild days behind him. As he helps his wife prepare to launch her restaurant in Soho, he feels that his life is finally back on track. But a chance encounter with a stranger brings back tragic memories and puts his family in serious danger. Kerstin Engel is a brilliant but troubled research analyst. Haunted by the events of 7/7 when she narrowly escaped death, she has spent the last seven years carrying out a self-imposed penance. But an unseen enemy lies in wait and threatens to destroy her career and her mind. As crowds gather in Soho to mark the restaurant launch, a terrifying sequence of events brings these characters together and the last days of summer to a shocking end.

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