Search results for ""penguin books""

Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2006 and winner of the 2006 Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, The History of Love explores the lasting power of the written word and the lasting power of love. Published as a Penguin Essential for the first time. 'When I was born my mother named me after every girl in a book my father gave her called The History of Love. . . 'Fourteen-year-old Alma Singer is trying to find a cure for her mother's loneliness. Believing she might discover it in an old book her mother is lovingly translating, she sets out in search of its author.Across New York an old man called Leo Gursky is trying to survive a little bit longer. He spends his days dreaming of the love lost that sixty years ago in Poland inspired him to write a book. And although he doesn't know it yet, that book also survived: crossing oceans and generations, and changing lives. . . 'Wonderfully affecting...brilliant, touching and remarkably poised' Sunday Telegraph'A tender tribute to human valiance. Who could be unmoved by a cast of characters whose daily battles are etched on out mind in such diamond-cut prose?' Independent on Sunday'Devastating...one of the most passionate vindications of the written word in recent fiction. It takes one's breath away' Spectator

Read more less

'I am most grateful for two things: that I was born in North Korea, and that I escaped from North Korea.'Yeonmi Park was not dreaming of freedom when she escaped from North Korea. She didn't even know what it meant to be free. All she knew was that she was running for her life, that if she and her family stayed behind they would die - from starvation, or disease, or even execution. This book is the story of Park's struggle to survive in the darkest, most repressive country on earth; her harrowing escape through China's underworld of smugglers and human traffickers; and then her escape from China across the Gobi desert to Mongolia, with only the stars to guide her way, and from there to South Korea and at last to freedom; and finally her emergence as a leading human rights activist - all before her 21st birthday.'Clear-eyed and devastating' Observer

Read more less

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERFrom one of our greatest voices in modern philosophy, author of The Course of Love, The Consolations of Philosophy, Religion for Atheists and The School of Life - an accessible and eye-opening exploration of our relationship with 'the news''His gift is to prompt us to think about how we live and how we might change things' The Times'De Botton analyses modern society with great charm, learning and humour. His remedies come as a welcome relief' Daily Mail'Like all classic de Botton, there are plenty of insightful observations here, peppered with some psychology, a dash of philosophy, a big dollop of commonsense' Scotsman 'The news' occupies a range of manic and peculiar positions in our lives. We invest it with an authority and importance which used to be the preserve of religion - but what does it do for us?Mixing current affairs with philosophical reflections, de Botton offers a brilliant illustrated guide to the precautions we should take before venturing anywhere near the news and the 'noise' it generates. Witty and global in reach, The News will ensure you'll never look at reports of a celebrity story or political scandal in quite the same way again.

Read more less

This book will give you many hours of your life back.'Timely and necessary . . . a must-read' Cal Newport, author of Digital MinimalismScheduling doctor's appointments. Planning a party. Buying a present. Filling out paperwork. These are the kind of secretarial and managerial tasks necessary to run a life and a household. Elizabeth Emens was a working mother with two young children, swamped like so many of us, when she realised that 'life admin' was consuming her. Desperate to survive and to help others along the way, she gathered favourite tips and tricks, admin confessions, and the secrets of admin-happy households.Drawing on her research and writing in a wholly original manner, she shows how admin affects our lives; how we might reduce, redistribute and even prevent it; what 'admin personalities' we might have; and how to deal with it in relationships. The Art of Life Admin teaches us all how to do less of it, and to do it better.Examples from the book:1) Find ways to make things end. For instance, try writing No Need to Reply (NNR) on texts and emails. Save others time; they might even return the favour.2) Start bypassing the to-do list when you face real-time admin requests. Email someone the information she wants while she's still standing there - so it never goes on your to-do list. 3) Spend your Admin Savings Time well. If you save yourself an hour, spend that hour doing something you really want - or need - for yourself.***'Reading The Art of Life Admin is like sitting down with a friend who knows exactly how it feels to be drowning in your To Do list, and throws you a very welcome lifeline to help you to make your way out'Brigid Schulte, author of the New York Times bestseller Overwhelmed'Every so often you come across a book that really does profoundly change how you see the world. This is just such a book - it will, by force of its own genius, reprogram your life and give you new tools for seeing things as they actually are'Tim Wu, author of The Attention Merchants'Emens maps the political, psychological and practical landscape of "admin hell" with humour and hopefulness. This intelligent, witty book will shed new light on everyone's to-do list'Dr Clare Carlisle Tresch, King's College London

Read more less

In this thrilling collection of stories, John Wyndham, author of the acclaimed classics The Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos, conducts ten experiments along the theme of 'I wonder what might happen if . . .'There's the story of the meteor, which holds much more than meets the eye. In Chronoclasm a man is pursued by his own future. We meet a robot with an overactive compassion circuit.And what happens when the citizens of the future turn the past into a giant theme park?'One of the few authors whose compulsive readability is a compliment to the intelligence' Spectator

Read more less

In Berlin Now, and on the 25th Anniversary of the fall of the Wall, a legendary Berliner tells the inside story of the city.Over the last five decades, no other city has changed more than Berlin. Divided in 1961, reunited in 1989, it has morphed over the last twenty-five years into Europe's most vibrant melting-pot of artists, immigrants and entrepreneurs. Pieces of the wall are collected around the world. Blending memoir, history, anecdote and reportage, this legendary Berliner takes us behind the scenes - from wrenching stories of life under the Stasi, to the difference between East and West Berliners' sex-lives, to a present-day investigation of its arts scene, night-life, tumultuous politics and hidden quirks - revealing what makes Berlin the uniquely fascinating place it is.Peter Schneider makes the city come alive. He knows his stuff and shares it beautifully, elegantly, generously and informatively. Berlin has found its bard'Breyten Breytenbach, author of 'Notes from the Middle World'Praise for The Wall Jumper:'Marvelous . . . creates, in very few words, the unreal reality of Berlin' Salman Rushdie, New York Times Book Review 'Schneider's description of the Berlin wall from both sides . . . is the ultimate depiction of this structure. Nothing more need be said' Werner Herzog'Wonderful' Ian McEwanPeter Schneider was born in Lübeck, Germany, in 1940, and has lived in Berlin on and off since the 1960s, when he was a key spokesperson for its radical student movement. Renowned as a novelist and essayist, he is now the author of more than twenty books, including the Penguin Modern Classic The Wall Jumper. He has taught at many universities, including Stanford, Princeton and Harvard, and written for many international newspapers, including Der Spiegel, The New York Times, Le Monde and La Repubblica.

Read more less

A dazzling and intricate tale from Elif Shafak, Booker-shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World - chosen for the Duchess of Cornwall's online book club The Reading Room'There were six of us: the master, the apprentices and the white elephant. We built everything together...'Sixteenth century Istanbul: a stowaway arrives in the city bearing an extraordinary gift for the Sultan. The boy is utterly alone in a foreign land, with no worldly possessions to his name except Chota, a rare white elephant destined for the palace menagerie.So begins an epic adventure that will see young Jahan rise from lowly origins to the highest ranks of the Sultan's court. Along the way he will meet deceitful courtiers and false friends, gypsies, animal tamers, and the beautiful, mischievous Princess Mihrimah. He will journey on Chota's back to the furthest corners of the Sultan's kingdom and back again. And one day he will catch the eye of the royal architect, Sinan, a chance encounter destined to change Jahan's fortunes forever.Filled with all the colour of the Ottoman Empire, when Istanbul was the teeming centre of civilisation, The Architect's Apprentice is a magical, sweeping tale of one boy and his elephant caught up in a world of wonder and danger.'A gorgeous picture of a city teeming with secrets, intrigue and romance' The Times'Exuberant, epic and comic, fantastical and realistic . . . like all good stories it conveys deeper meanings about human experience' Financial Times'Fascinating. A vigorous evocation of the Ottoman Empire at the height of its power' Sunday Times'Intricate, multi-layered, resplendent, vividly evoked, beautifully written' Observer*** ELIF SHAFAK'S NEW NOVEL, THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY, IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW ***

Read more less

An Ice-Cream War is William Boyd's sparkling debut novel on the grimly comic side of conflict, published as a Penguin Essential for the first time.'What do you think would happen if I shot an elephant in the balls?''I think it would hurt a great deal.'Millions die on the Western Front but in East Africa a quite different war is being waged - one with little point and which is so ignored that it will carry on after the Armistice because no one bothers to tell both sides to stop.As the conflict sweeps up natives and colonials, so those left at home and those fighting abroad find themselves unable to escape the tide of history bearing down on them.

Read more less

'Majestic. Truly gripping' Andrew RobertsThe Battle of the Atlantic was the single most important - and longest - campaign of the Second World War. If Britain lost this vital supply route it lost the war. In Jonathan Dimbleby's brilliant and dramatic new account we see how this epic struggle for maritime mastery played out, from the politicians and admirals to the men on and under the sea and their families waiting at home. Filled with haunting and hair-raising stories of chases, ambushes, sinkings, stalkings, disasters and rescues, The Battle of the Atlantic is a monumental work of history as it was lived and fought.'Recounts the horror and humanity of life on those perilous oceans' Independent'Dimbleby moves with skill from scene to scene, eavesdropping on the great statesmen like Churchill, the merchant seamen who carried out their orders, the U-boat commanders who tried to sink them and the families of those who lost their lives at sea' Mail on Sunday

Read more less

Take your passion and make it happen with The Idea In You by Martin Amor and Alex PellewDo you have an idea in you? A hobby, a project, a product ... something that could change your life?The Idea in You is a bulletproof system for finding the right idea and shaping it in to a success - on your own terms.With advice from the people behind the likes of Pizza Pilgrims, Parkrun and Decoded, The Idea in You will show you what to expect, how to think and what to do when launching your own venture.Making your idea happen is possible - and it will be one of the most inspiring and energizing experiences of your life.What are you waiting for?'A wonderfully inspirational book that will help unleash your ideas on the world' Michael Acton Smith, creator of Moshi Monsters'Every great business starts with an idea . . . this book will help you find yours' Richard Reed, co-founder Innocent Drinks'It seems to me that many could-be creators simply lack support in their lives, someone genuine who listens to their ideas and pushes boundaries to make it all seem possible. Alex and Martin must recognize this, too, because their book is a generous offer of encouragement and spirit, a drum beat that stirred my creative confidence' Zach Klein, co-founder of Vimeo

Read more less

Murder Inc. is the latest blockbuster by Ireland's most respected crime writer and journalist, Paul Williams. Murder Inc. is the definitive account of how organized crime exploded in Limerick from the 1990s and in the noughties. It describes the depravity and decadence of the gangs, their deadly rivaliries, and their reigns of terror over the community in which they lived. Finally, Williams traces the faultlines that eventually led to the implosion of the gangs and their defeat.Drawing on his vast inside knowledge of the criminal underworld, an unparalleled range of contacts and eye witness interviews, Paul Williams provides a chilling insight into the mobsters and events that corroded entire neighbourhoods and devastated countless lives.

Read more less

'Ireland's finest comic creation since Father Ted' Hot PressI was a rugby player with a great future behind me. A 35-year-old father-of-five with an expanding waistline, who was trying to survive the bloody battlefield we call life. My son was locked in a violent turf war with a rival Love/Hate tour operator, my daughter was in love with a boy who looked like Justin Bieber, and my old dear was about to walk up the aisle with a 92-year-old billionaire who thought it was still 1936.I was, like, staring down the barrel of middle age with the contentment of knowing that I was the greatest Irish rugby player who no one in Ireland had ever actually heard of. Until a chance conversation with an old Jesuit missionary made me realize that it wasn't enough.I was guided, as if by GPS, to a muddy field in - let's be honest - Ballybrack. And there I finally discovered my destiny - to keep a struggling Seapoint team in Division 2B of the All Ireland League. Or die trying.'Hides a heart of darkness beneath the layers of craic and great gas and great story-telling and human warmth. Ross O'Carroll-Kelly is Ireland!' Irish Times'A cracking and hilariously witty read' Irish Independent'Book after book, Ross O'Carroll-Kelly delivers the goods ... Howard is in a league of his own' Sunday Business Post

Read more less

THE MILLION-COPY NO.1 BESTSELLER'Enormously powerful' Guardian'Hilarious, sophisticated, compulsive' The Times___________________'I am in a car park in Leeds when I tell my husband I don't want to be married to him any more. . . 'London GP Katie Carr always thought she was a good person. With her husband David making a living as 'The Angriest Man in Holloway', she figured she could put up with anything. Until, that is, David meets DJ Goodnews and becomes a good person too. A far-too-good person who starts committing crimes of charity like taking in the homeless and giving their kids' toys away. Suddenly Katie's feeling very bad about herself, and thinking that if charity begins at home, then maybe it's time to move. . . This laugh-out-loud novel, from the bestselling author of About a Boy and High Fidelity, will have you gripped from start to finish and will appeal to fans of David Nicholls and Jonathan Coe, as well as readers in need of a moral compass everywhere.___________________'Pins you in your armchair and won't let go . . . How to be Good? How to be bloody marvellous, more like' Mail on Sunday'It does exactly what it says on the cover. Hornby's prose is artful and effortless, his spiky wit as razored as a number-two cut' Independent'The writing is so funny, and the set-pieces so brilliant . . . Hornby's best book since Fever Pitch' Lynn Truss, The Times

Read more less

DISCOVER 2,000 YEARS OF SCOTTISH HISTORY TOLD BY THOSE WHO LIVED IT - FROM THE ROMAN INVASION TO THE SNP PARLIAMENTARY VICTORY IN 2007.Featuring writing from Tacitus, Mary Queen of Scots, Oliver Cromwell, David Livingston and Billy Connolly. ______________Scotland's history is wide and vast. Depending on the lens applied, it can be seen as an unrelenting tale of oppression and poverty or a glowing roll-call of innovation, exploration and entrepreneurship. In fact, it's all of the above. In Scotland: An Autobiography, Professor Rosemary Goring shows Scotland's history as it happened by those who were there - from criminals, servants, house-wives, poets, journalists and nurses to politicians, novelists, prisoners, comedians, sportsmen and even queens. It is the good and the bad. The everyday and the key historical moments. A vivid, panoramic and engrossing account, she has created a living history and the perfect read for anyone not only seeking to understand Scotland's past but also its heart and soul. ______________'History caught on the hoof and the wing by those who were actually there - a brilliant selection' Andrew Marr'An unqualified triumph, superb, a real page-turner . . . what a stirring, dramatic, poignant story it has been' Alexander McCall Smith, Spectator 'Fascinating and very valuable. Goring gives us vivid snapshots of Scottish life and history from Neolithic times . . . should find a place in every Scottish home' Allan Massie, Scotsman

Read more less

The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis is the complete collection of short fiction from the world-renowned Lydia Davis.WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2013.'Big rejoicing: Lydia Davis has won the Man Booker International prize. Never did a book award deliver such a true match-winning punch. Best of all, a new audience will read her now and find her wit, her vigour and rigour, her funniness, her thoughtfulness, and the precision of form, which mark Davis out as unique.Daring, excitingly intelligent and often wildly comic [she] reminds you, in a world that likes to bandy its words about, what words such as economy, precision and originality really mean. This is a writer as mighty as Kafka, as subtle as Flaubert and as epoch-making, in her own way, as Proust. A two-liner from Davis, or a seemingly throwaway paragraph, will haunt. What looks like a game will open to deep seriousness; what looks like philosophy will reveal playfulness, tragicomedy, ordinariness; what looks like ordinariness will ask you to look again at Davis's writing. In its acuteness, it always asks attentiveness, and it repays this by opening up to its reader like possibility, or like a bush covered in flowerheads.She's a joy. There's no writer quite like her' Ali Smith'What stories. Precise and piercing, extremely funny. Nearly all are unlike anything you've ever read' Metro'I loved these stories. They are so well-written, with such clarity of thought and precision of language. Excellent' William Leith, Evening Standard'Remarkable. Some of the most moving fiction - on death, marriage, children - of recent years. To read Collected Stories is to be reminded of the grand, echoing mind-chambers created by Sebald or recent Coetzee. A writer of vast intelligence and originality' Independent on Sunday'A body of work probably unique in American writing, in its combination of lucidity, aphoristic brevity, formal originality, sly comedy, metaphysical bleakness, philosophical pressure and human wisdom' New Yorker'Davis is a high priestess of the startling, telling detail. She can make the most ordinary things, such as couples talking, or someone watching television, bizarre, almost mythical. I felt I had encountered a most original and daring mind' Colm Toibin, Daily TelegraphLydia Davis is the author of one novel and seven story collections, the most recent of which was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and was named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government for her fiction and her translations of modern writers including Maurice Blanchot, Michel Leiris and Marcel Proust.

Read more less

THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER - REISSUED WITH A NEW FOREWORD FOR THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY 'Magnificent, vivid, moving, superb' Max Hastings, Sunday Times ______________This is the closest you will ever get to war - the taste, the smell, the noise and the fear The Normandy Landings that took place on D-Day involved by far the largest invasion fleet ever known. The scale of the undertaking was awesome and what followed was some of the most cunning and ferocious fighting of the war. As casualties mounted, so too did the tensions between the principal commanders on both sides. Meanwhile, French civilians caught in the middle of these battlefields or under Allied bombing endured terrible suffering. Even the joys of Liberation had their darker side. Antony Beevor's inimitably gripping narrative conveys the true experience of war. He lands the reader on the beach alongside the heroes whose stories he so masterfully renders in their full terrifying glory. ______________ 'A thrilling story, with all Beevor's narrative mastery' Chris Patten, Financial Times 'Beevor's D-Day has all the qualities that have made his earlier works so successful: an eye for telling and unusual detail, an ability to make complex events understandable, and a wonderful graphic style' Ian Kershaw, Guardian, Books of the Year 'D-Day's phenomenal success is both understandable and justified' James Holland 'D-Day is a triumph . . . on almost every page there's some little detail that sticks in the mind or tweaks the heart. This is a terrific, inspiring, heart-breaking book' Sam Leith, Daily Mail

Read more less

In Living to Tell the Tale Gabriel Garcia Marquez - winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature and author of One Hundred Years of Solitude - recounts his personal experience of returning to the house in which he grew up and the memories that this visit conjured. 'My mother asked me to go with her to sell the house'Gabriel Garcia Marquez was twenty-three, a young man experimenting with his writing when this mother asked him to come back with her to the village of his grandparents and the memories of his Colombian childhood.In the first part of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's memoir, the Nobel Prize-winning author returns to the atmosphere and influences that shaped his formidable imagination and formed the basis of his world-famous, and much-loved, fiction.'A treasure trove, a discovery of a lost land we knew existed but couldn't find. A thrilling miracle of a book' The Times'A marvellous journey. Never less than a miracle' Sunday Times'Márquez writes in this lyrical, magical language that no one else can do' Salman Rushdie

Read more less

Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez,, author of the One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, portrays a food company violating a small Colombia town in his vivid and powerful novel Leaf Storm. 'Suddenly, as if a whirlwind had set down roots in the centre of the town, the banana company arrived, pursed by the leaf storm'Drenched by rain, the town has been decaying ever since the banana company left. Its people are sullen and bitter, so when the doctor - a foreigner who ended up the most hated man in town - dies, there is no one to mourn him. But also living in the town is the Colonel, who is bound to honour a promise made many years ago. The Colonel and his family must bury the doctor, despite the inclination of their fellow inhabitants that his corpse be forgotten and left to rot.'The most important writer of fiction in any language' Bill Clinton'Márquez is a retailer of wonders' Sunday Times'An exquisite writer, wise, compassionate and extremely funny' Sunday Telegraph

Read more less

ONE OF THE GREATEST SPY STORIES OF ALL TIME Nothing can stop an enemy from picking wireless messages out of the free air - and nothing did. In England, Room 40 was born . . .In January 1917, with the First World War locked in terrible stalemate and America still neutral, German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmerman gambled the future of the conflict on a single telegram.But this message was intercepted and decoded in Whitehall's legendary Room 40 - and Zimmerman's audacious scheme for world domination was exposed, bringing America into the war and changing the course of history.The story of how this happened, and the incalculable consequences are thrillingly told in Barbara Tuchman's brilliant exploration.

Read more less

Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August is a spellbinding history of the fateful first month when Britain went to war.War pressed against every frontier. Suddenly dismayed, governments struggled and twisted to fend it off. It was no use . . .Barbara Tuchman's universally acclaimed, Pulitzer prize-winning account of how the first thirty days of battle determined the course of the First World War is to this day revered as the classic account of the conflict's opening. From the precipitous plunge into war and the brutal and bloody battles of August 1914, Tuchman shows how events were propelled by a horrific logic which swept all sides up in its unstoppable momentum.'Dazzling' Max Hastings'Magnificent' Guardian'Fascinating, splendid, glittering. One of the finest works of history' New York Times'A brilliant achievement' Sunday Telegraph

Read more less

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2016 SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2016 Plunge into this hypnotic tale of female sexuality and power - from the author of Swimming Home and The Man Who Saw Everything 'Propulsive, uncanny, dreamlike. A feverish coming-of-age novel' Daily Telegraph 'A triumph of storytelling' Literary Review_________________________________'Today I dropped my laptop on the concrete floor of a bar built on the beach. My laptop has all my life in it and knows more about me than anyone else. So what I am saying is that if it is broken, so am I . . .'Two women arrive in a village on the Spanish coast. Rose is suffering from a strange illness and the doctors are mystified. Her daughter Sofia has brought her here to find a cure with the infamous and controversial Dr Gomez - a man of questionable methods and motives. Intoxicated by thick heat and the seductive people who move through it, both women begin to see their lives clearly for the first time in years. Through the opposing figures of mother and daughter, Deborah Levy explores the strange and monstrous nature of womanhood. Dreamlike and utterly compulsive, Hot Milk is a delirious fairy tale of feminine potency, a story both modern and timeless._________________________________'Perfectly crafted. So mesmerising that reading it is to be under a spell' Independent on Sunday 'Hot Milk treads a sweaty, sun-drenched path into the history books. A properly great novel' Romola Garai 'Hot Milk is an extraordinary novel, beautifully rich, vividly atmospheric and psychologically complex... Every man and woman should read it' Bernardine Evaristo 'Hypnotic... This novel has a transfixing gaze and a terrible sting that burns long after the final page is turned' Observer 'Terrific, sizzling with heat and sexuality . . . You devour it in one sitting' Radio Times

Read more less

Can't and Won't is the new collection from Lydia Davis, one of the greatest short story writers alive.WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2013Lydia Davis has been universally acclaimed for the wit, insight and genre-defying formal inventiveness of her sparkling stories.With titles like 'A Story of Stolen Salamis', 'Letters to a Frozen Pea Manufacturer', 'A Small Story About a Small Box of Chocolates', and 'Can't and Won't', the stories in this new collection illuminate particular moments in ordinary lives and find in them the humorous, the ironic and the surprising.Above all the stories revel in and grapple with the joys and constraints of language - achieving always the extraordinary, unmatched precision which makes Lydia Davis one of the greatest contemporary writers on the international stage.Praise for Lydia Davis: 'What stories. Precise and piercing, extremely funny. Nearly all are unlike anything you've ever read' Metro'To read The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis is to be reminded of the grand, echoing mind-chambers created by Sebald or recent Coetzee. A writer of vast intelligence and originality' Independent on Sunday'Among my most favourite writers. Read her now!' A. M. HomesLydia Davis is the author of Collected Stories, one novel and six short story collections, the most recent of which was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and was named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government for her fiction and her translations of modern writers, including Gustave Flaubert and Marcel Proust. She won the Man Booker International Prize in 2013.

Read more less

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZESHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZEFrom the bestselling author of UNDERLAND, THE OLD WAYS and THE LOST WORDS'Few books give such a sense of enchantment; it is a book to give to many, and to return to repeatedly' Independent Words are grained into our landscapes, and landscapes are grained into our words. Landmarks is about the power of language to shape our sense of place. It is a field guide to the literature of nature, and a glossary containing thousands of remarkable words used in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales to describe land, nature and weather.Travelling from Cumbria to the Cairngorms, and exploring the landscapes of Roger Deakin, J. A. Baker, Nan Shepherd and others, Robert Macfarlane shows that language, well used, is a keen way of knowing landscape, and a vital means of coming to love it.'Enormously pleasurable, deeply moving. A bid to save our rich hoard of landscape language, and a blow struck for the power of a deep creative relationship to place' Financial Times'A book that ought to be read by policymakers, educators, armchair environmentalists and active conservationists the world over' Guardian

Read more less

'I love India and her no-nonsense, honest and utterly hilarious guide to navigating the post-45 years' Marian Keyes, Mail on Sunday'A route map for the midlifer woman. Knight tackles every issue - beauty, menopause, laser eye surgery . . . she is not held back by the fear of laying down the law' The TimesHappy, confident, in control, ready to do and enjoy everything that comes your way - you're definitely In Your Prime. But too many of us allow mid-life's little nuisances to dictate how and who we are. So let India Knight tell you how to deal with the obstacles while living life to the full.Whether it is coping with ageing parents, divorce, dating, teenagers, wavering libidos or your saggy bits, India dispenses perfect tips. She'll instruct you how to drink, dress and party gracefully (or disgracefully), but above all she'll show that happiness is the one thing you deserve.This is the book that will tell you how to live the rest of your life.

Read more less

The Accidental Woman is a wickedly funny novel from bestseller Jonathan CoeFor Maria, nothing is certain. Her life is a chain of accidents. Untouched by friendship, unimpressed by devoted Ronny and his endless marriage proposals, she lives in a world of her own, but not of her own making. Even as she stumbled on through university, work, marriage and motherhood, Maria finds it hard to see what all the fuss is about.Will our heroine ever be able to control the direction of her life, or will it end, as it began, by accident? What does chance next have in store for her?From the author of the award-winning The Rotters' Club and What a Carve Up!, The Accidental Woman will be enjoyed by readers of Nick Hornby and William Boyd and centres on a quirky and highly individual woman who is still struggling to find her place in life. 'The Accidental Woman has a cocky individual voice of its own. . . here's precocious, rebellious talent' Mail on Sunday'Slyly parodies the clichés of most first novels' Guardian'A convincing stuffy of the random impetuses by which human lives tend to be governed. It is also very funny' SpectatorJonathan Coe's novels are filled with biting social commentary, moving and astute observations of life and hilarious set pieces that have made him one of the most popular writers of his generation. His other titles, What a Carve Up! (winner of the 1995 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), A Touch of Love, The Rotters' Club (winner of the Everyman Wodehouse prize), The Closed Circle, The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim, The House of Sleep (winner of the1998 Prix Médicis Étranger), and The Rain Before it Falls, are all available in Penguin paperback.

Read more less

And the Ass Saw the Angel - Nick Cave's classic Gothic novel, in its full and original formOutcast, mute, a lone twin cut from a drunk mother in a shack full of junk, Euchrid Eucrow of Ukulore inhabits a nightmarish Southern valley of preachers and prophets, incest and ignorance. When the God-fearing folk of the town declare a foundling child to be chosen by the Almighty, Euchrid is disturbed. He sees her very differently, and his conviction, and increasing isolation and insanity, may have terrible consequences for them both...In 2009 Cave released a cut-down version of his novel but this reissue restores the full uncut text, as first published in 1989.Compelling and astonishing in its baroque richness, Nick Cave's acclaimed first novel is a fantastic journey into the twisted world of Deep Southern Gothic tragedy. This book will be adored by readers of Will Self, William Faulkner and Falnnery O'Connor, as well as fans of the cult rock star everywhere.An explosion of linguistic brio and Gothic grotesquery, horrifying, funny and tragic' Michel Faber, Guardian'As if a Faulkner novel had been crossed with Whistle down the Wind and then narrated by a stoned blues musician ... heady' Daily TelegraphNick Cave was born in Australia in 1957. He moved to London with his band The Birthday Party in 1990 and four years later he formed The Bad Seeds, with whom he has made 15 studio albums. In recent years he has made two albums with his other band, Grinderman. In 1999 he curated and directed the Meltdown Festival at London's South Bank Centre. He has also written the soundtrack for a number of successful films including The Assassination of Jesse James, Lawless and The Proposition. His novel And the Ass Saw the Angel was an international bestseller, Time Out's Book of the Year, and was reissued in the Penguin Essential series. His second novel The Death of Bunny Monroe was published in 2009. He lives in Brighton with his family.

Read more less

What is modern art? Why do we either love it or loathe it? And why is it worth so much damn money? Join Will Gompertz on a dazzling tour that will change the way you look at modern art forever. From Monet's water lilies to Van Gogh's sunflowers, from Warhol's soup cans to Hirst's pickled shark, hear the stories behind the masterpieces, meet the artists as they really were, and discover the real point of modern art. You will learn: not all conceptual art is bollocks; Picasso is king (but Cézanne is better); Pollock is no drip; Dali painted with his moustache; a urinal changed the course of art, why your five year-old really couldn't do it. Refreshing, irreverent and always straightforward, What Are You Looking At? asks all the basic questions that you were too afraid to ask. Your next gallery trip is going to be a little less intimidating and a lot more interesting.

Read more less

In The Organized Mind, New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin offers practical solutions to the problems of information overload. ___________________________________________________Overwhelmed by demands on your time? Caught in an unproductive spiral of emails and multitasking?You're not alone. When we're deluged with information our creativity plummets, our decision making suffers and we grow absent-minded. Nowadays, we drown in our inboxes, forever juggle several tasks at once and try to make complex decisions ever more quickly. This is information overload. Combining the latest neuroscience with everyday examples, Daniel Levitin explains how to take back control of your life - from your home to your business to your children - all through organization. You'll discover life-changing facts about: - How to make the most of your brain's daily processing limit - Why pressing Send or clicking Like are addictive - Why daydreaming is your brain at its most productive - What the most successful people keep in their drawer - Why multitasking is a bad way to do nearly everything In a world where information is power, The Organized Mind holds the key to harnessing that information and making it work for you.'A comprehensive account of the way we think about organizing everything from our possessions to our friends' - Financial Times'The perfect antidote to the effects of information overload' - Scott Turow, New York Times bestselling author of Identical and Innocent

Read more less

WINNER - IBA Crime Fiction Book of the YearBy the author of the No. 1 Bestselling Strange Sally Diamond 'Truly excellent . . . strongly recommended' Sophie Hannah__________'I expected more of a reaction the first time I hit her.'Oliver Ryan is a handsome and charismatic success story.He lives in the suburbs with his wife, Alice, who illustrates his award-winning children's books and gives him her unstinting devotion. Their life together is one of enviable privilege and ease – enviable until, one evening after supper, Oliver attacks Alice, leaving her fighting for her life.Everyone around Oliver quickly realises that they didn't know him at all. Only he knows the lengths to which he has gone to get the life he so desired. But even he is in for a shock when the past catches up with him.A gripping page-turner, Unravelling Oliver is perfect for fans of Shari Lapena's The Couple Next Door.__________'Incredibly brilliant' Marian Keyes'Compelling, clever and dark . . . you'll gobble it up in one go' Heat Magazine'An ambitiously structured and compelling "whydunnit"' Daily Mail 'The compulsion to continue reading never wanes . . . a persistently satisfying read' Sunday Times

Read more less

Beautifully packaged reissue of one of Muriel Spark's best loved novels, The Girls of Slender Means'Long ago in 1945 all the nice people in England were poor, allowing for exceptions'In the May of Teck Club - a London hostel 'three times window shattered since 1940 but never directly hit' - the young lady residents do their best to act as if the war never happened. They practice elocution, and jostle one another over suitors and a single Schiaparelli gown. But behind the girls' giddy literary and amorous peregrinations they hide some tragically painful secrets and wounds.'You girls are my vocation . . . I am dedicated to you in my prime''Reading the novel as a young woman was a random gift; rereading it today is to encounter the rarest of fiction and to appreciate the early and enduring genius of Muriel Spark' Carol Shields, Guardian'One of Spark's most evocative novels' Anne TaylorMuriel Spark was born and educated in Edinburgh. She was active in the field of creative writing since 1950, when she won a short-story writing competition in the Observer, and her many subsequent novels include Memento Mori (1959), The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), The Girls of Slender Means (1963) and Aiding and Abetting (2000). She also wrote plays, poems, children's books and biographies. She became Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1993, and died in 2006.

Read more less

A selection of the most popular and relevant essays from Adam Phillips, the man New Yorker called 'Britain's foremost psychoanalytic writer''Phillips's prose is poetic in the best sense: it is muscular, resonant, and thrums with a dark music that is all its own' John BanvilleIn the twenty essays gathered here, ranging across his entire oeuvre, psychoanalyst Adam Phillips offers a vivid introduction to his discipline as well as his own unique thinking. Investigating subjects as diverse as desire, family, happiness, tickling, forgetting and even boredom, Phillips proves himself to be not only one of our most engaging writers but also a fascinating and provocative guide to our obsessions as human beings.

Read more less

The definitive biography of an extraordinary novelist, by acclaimed literary biographer Claire Harman'There was no possibility of taking a walk that day . . .' With these words Charlotte Brontë began Jane Eyre and changed English literature irrevocably.Claire Harman's landmark biography provides a bold new view of one of Britain's best loved writers, uncovering an inner life that touched the furthest extremes of human emotion. Harman shows us an intense and troubled young woman from an astonishingly creative family, whose early works were produced in total secrecy. Struggling against the conventional limitations of both life and literature, Charlotte created a new kind of heroine which both shocked and inspired her Victorian contemporaries. Love, loss, ambition and heartbreak: the anonymous author poured everything into her ground-breaking books, but lived it first.'Harman [is] a master-storyteller in her own right. Her account of Bronte's life is a level-headed, highly readable and always intelligent. A delight from start to finish' Sunday Times 'Subtle, measured. Full of insight into Bronte's fiery intellect as well as the tragic intensity of her experience' Helen Dunmore, Observer 'Three rounds of applause... a superb retelling of Charlotte's story' Mark Bostridge, Spectator

Read more less

History has pictured Elizabeth I as Gloriana, an icon of strength and power -- and has focused on the early years of her reign. But in 1583, when Elizabeth is fifty, there is relentless plotting among her courtiers -- and still to come is the Spanish Armada and the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. We have not, until now, had the full picture.This gripping and vivid portrait of her life and times -- often told in her own words (and including details such as her love of chess and marzipan) -- reveals a woman who was insecure, human ('You know I am no morning woman'), and unpopular even with the men who fought for her. This is the real Elizabeth, for the first time.

Read more less

Jane Austen is the definitive biography of one of Britain's best-loved novelists, from the acclaimed author of Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self, Charles Dickens: A Life and The Invisible Woman'As near perfect a life of Austen as we are likely to get: intelligent, feeling, suggestive' Carmen Callil, Daily Telegraph'Tomalin has written a biography that reflects Austen's own exacting standards, a book that radiates intelligence, wit and insight' Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times'Of all the Austen biographies, this is the best ... leaves the reader with a much deeper appreciation of the circumstances and motivation behind the creation of those six perfect novels' Harpers & Queen'I cannot think that a better life of Jane Austen then Claire Tomalin's will be written for many years.' Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday'A perfect biography: detailed, witty, warm. Tomalin involves us so deeply that Austen's final illness and death come almost as a personal tragedy to the reader' Dirk Bogarde, Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year

Read more less

COMPLETELY REVISED AND UPDATED EDITION -- THE ESSENTIAL HISTORY OF THE TROUBLES'Compellingly written and very even-handed. By far the clearest account of what happened in the Northern Ireland conflict and more importantly why it happened' Irish News'Extraordinarily well-balanced, sane, comprehensive and rich in sober understatement' Glasgow Herald__________________________First published two decades ago, Making Sense of the Troubles is widely regarded as the most 'comprehensive, considered and compassionate' (Irish Times) history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Written by a distinguished journalist and a teacher of history in Northern Ireland, it surveys the roots of the problems from 1921 onwards, the descent into violence in the late 60s, and the three terrible decades that followed.In this fully revised and updated version, McKittrick and McVea take into account the momentous events of the ten years that followed their first publication, including the disbanding of the IRA, Ian Paisley's deal with the Republicans and the historic power-sharing government in Belfast.__________________________'An updated reissue of a collaborative study published 12 years ago to rave reviews as a frank, accurate and authoritative narrative of events which should be required reading for anyone hoping to understand what had been going on in the North' Irish Independent'I would strongly advocate that it be made compulsory reading for everyone in Northern Ireland because for the first time it is our history, all of it warts and all, presented in a clear and understandable way' Irish News

Read more less

The Poetry of Sex - a raucous, highly enjoyable anthology by acclaimed poet Sophie Hannah We've been at it all summer, from the Canadian border to the edge of Mexico . . .Romance and poetry seem to go hand in hand but - implicit, explicit, nuanced or starkly frank - sex itself has long been a staple subject for poets. In fact a great deal of erotic poetry rejects the distinction. It's hard to imagine a more fruitful subject for poets than sex, in all its glorious manifestations: from desire and hope, through disappointment and confusion, to conclusion and consequence. And little has changed over the centuries, as Sophie Hannah's anthology vividly demonstrates, from Catullus pleading with Lesbos to Walt Whitman singing the body electric. Moods and attitudes may vary but the drive persists as does the desire to write about it.Sophie Hannah's selection ranges from ancient Rome to modern New York, from gay to straight, but her principle has been to go low on the sugar and high on the excitement. The result is a raucous, highly enjoyable anthology.From Shakespeare to Carol Ann Duffy, this book is essential reading for poetry lovers and romantics everywhere. It is a perfect counterpart to the The New Penguin Book of Love Poetry and a wonderful companion to Sophie Hannah's own Selected Poems.'Sophie Hannah is among the best at comprehending in rhyming verse the indignity of having a body and the nobility of having a heart' Guardian'A shrewd and accurate observer of the world around her, and of her own life, she is often very funny' The Oldie'The brightest young star in British poetry' IndependentSophie Hannah has published five collections of poetry. Her fifth Pessimism for Beginners was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Award in 2007. Her Selected Poems is published by Penguin (revised edition, 2013). She is also the writer of bestselling psychological crime fiction, most recently The Carrier. Her novels have been translated into 24 languages. Born in Manchester, she now lives in Cambridge with her husband and children, and is a Fellow Commoner of Lucy Cavendish College.

Read more less

'When I opened my eyes and sat up in bed Nora was shaking me and a man with a gun in his hand was standing in the bedroom doorway.'Ex-detective Nick Charles attracts trouble like a magnet. He thinks his sleuthing days are over, but when Julia Wolf, a former acquaintance, is found dead, her body riddled with bullets, Nick - along with his glamorous wife, Nora - can't resist making a few enquiries. Clyde Miller Wynant, Julia's lover and boss, has disappeared. Everyone is after him, but Nick is not convinced Wynant is the murderer - and when he finds a junked-up hoodlum with a careless attitude to guns in his bedroom, it's only the beginning of his troubles.

Read more less

Two Caravans is the hilarious and engaging second novel from bestselling author Marina Lewycka. A field of strawberries in Kent... And sitting in it are two caravans - one for the men and one for the women. The residents are from all over: miner's son Andriy is from the old Ukraine, while sexy young Irina is from the new: they each other warily. There are the Poles, Tomasz and Yola; two Chinese girls; and Emauel from Malawi. They're all here to pick strawberries in England's green and pleasant land. But these days England's not so pleasant for immigrants. Not with Russian gangster-wannabes like Vulk, who's taken a shine to Irina and thinks kidnapping is a wooing strategy. And so Andriy - who really doesn't fancy Irina, honest - must set off in search of that girl he's not in love with. 'Immensely appealing. All but sings with zest for life...could hardly be more engaging, shrewd and winningly perceptive' Sunday Times 'Extremely funny, closely observed insights, scenes of farce, tragedy and horror' The Times Literary Supplement 'Hilarious and horrifying, Two Caravans is funny, clever and well observed' Guardian Bestselling author Marina Lewkyca has received great critical acclaim since the publication of her hilarious first novel A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian in 2005, which was the winner of the Bollinger Everyman Prize for Comic Fiction 2005, winner of the Saga Award for Wit 2005, shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2005 and longlisted for the Booker prize 2005. Her other humorous novels We Are All Made of Glue and Various Pets Alive and Dead are also available from Penguin. Two Caravans is published as Strawberry Fields in the USA and Canada.

Read more less

The Peripheral by William Gibson is a thrilling new novel about two intertwined futures, from the bestselling author of Neuromancer'Wild, richly satisfying . . . big-screen, popcorn-chewing thrills. What a glorious ride' GuardianIn the near future in a broken down rural America, Flynne Fisher scrapes a living as a gamer for rich players. One night, working a game set in a futuristic but puzzlingly empty London, she sees a death that's unnervingly vivid. Soon after she gets word that it isn't a game after all - the future she saw is all too real, she's the only witness to a murder and someone from that unreal tomorrow now wants her dead.The story of a young woman caught between two worlds, The Peripheral interweaves two futures - pre-apocalypse USA and post-apocalypse London - to tell a story which gets right to heart of the way we live now.'A tightly plotted, tautly paced novel that unfolds with the dream logic of a fairy tale' The Times Literary Supplement'Frightening plausible. Not just a unique and brilliantly talented SF novelist but a social and psychological visionary. A wonderful addition to a brilliant oeuvre' The Times'Superb . . . frantic with imagination' Ned Beauman, Observer'Fast-moving, accessible, instantly gripping, so laden with cliffhangers you become afraid he'll run out of cliffs' SFXAccording to the Guardian, in terms of influence Gibson is 'probably the most important novelist of the past two decades'. The Peripheral, which marks a return to the futurism of Neuromancer, will be adored by Gibson readers and will also appeal to fans of Ender's Game, Looper and Source Code.

Read more less

'As enlightening about crime in modern society as any book I have read' The Times'A richly researched, supremely sane discussion of the causes of and ways of preventing crime. From bobbies on the beat (they don't reduce crime), to the idea that "prison works" (it doesn't), Gash's important book may well change your attitude to criminality and the justice system' GuardianThere are two myths about crime. In one, the criminal act is a selfish choice, and tough punishment the only solution. In the other, the system is at fault, and perpetrators will change only when society reforms. Both these narratives are wrong. Interweaving conversations and stories of crime with findings from the latest research, Tom Gash dispels the myths that inform our views of crime, from the widespread misconception that poverty causes crime, to the belief that tough sentencing reduces it. He examines the origins of criminal behaviour, the ebb and flow of crime across the last century, and the effectiveness of various government crack-downs - and in doing so reveals that crime is both less rational and much easier to reduce than many believe. Can we suspend our knee-jerk reactions, let go of cherished myths and embrace the truth about crime?

Read more less

'The most moving Holocaust diary published since Anne Frank' Daily TelegraphFirst they led us to the baths, where they took from us everything we still had. Quite literally there wasn't even a hair left. I didn't even recognize my own mother till I heard her voice . . .In 1941, aged 12, Helga Weiss, her mother and father were forced to say goodbye to their home, their relatives and all that they knew, and were interned in the Nazi concentration camp of Terezín. For the next three years, Helga documented her experiences there, and those of her friends and family, in a diary. Then they were sent to Auschwitz, and the diary was left behind, hidden in a wall.Helga was one of a tiny number of Jewish children from Prague to survive the holocaust. After she returned home, she eventually managed to retrieve her diary and completed the journal of her experiences. The result is one of the most vivid first-hand accounts of the Holocaust ever to have been recovered. 'Anne Frank's diary finished when her family was rounded up for the camps: in Helga's Diary, we have a child's record of life inside the extermination factories. Shines a light into the long black night that was the Holocaust' Daily Express 'Resounds with a ferocious will to endure conditions of astonishing cruelty. Displays a rare capacity to remain keenly observant and to find the right words for transmitting . . . memory into history' New Statesman 'A moving testimony to courage and endurance. Remarkable . . . what is so compelling is the immediacy and unknowingness' Financial Times

Read more less

The Colour of Milk is the new novel by Orange longlisted author and playwright Nell Leyshon.'this is my book and i am writing it by my own hand'The year is eighteen hundred and thirty one when fifteen-year-old Mary begins the difficult task of telling her story. A scrap of a thing with a sharp tongue and hair the colour of milk, Mary leads a harsh life working on her father's farm alongside her three sisters. In the summer she is sent to work for the local vicar's invalid wife, where the reasons why she must record the truth of what happens to her - and the need to record it so urgently - are gradually revealed.'Haunting, distinctive voices... Mary's spare simple words paint brilliant pictures in the reader's mind . . . Nell Leyshon's imaginative powers are considerable' Independent'Brontë-esque undertones . . . a disturbing statement on the social constraints faced by 19th-century women' FT'A small tour de force - a wonderfully convincing voice, and a devastating story told with great skill and economy' Penelope Lively'I loved it. The Colour of Milk is charming, Brontë-esque, compelling, special and hard to forget. I loved Mary's voice - so inspiring and likeable. Such a hopeful book' Marian Keyes'Brilliant, devastating and unforgettable' Easy LivingNell Leyshon's first novel, Black Dirt, was longlisted for the Orange Prize, and shortlisted for the Commonwealth prize. Her plays include Comfort me with Apples, which won an Evening Standard Award, and Bedlam, which was the first play written by a woman for Shakespeare's Globe. She writes for BBC Radio 3 and 4, and won the Richard Imison Award for her first radio play. Nell was born in Glastonbury and lives in Dorset.

Read more less

*** CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS AUTHOR OF THE YEAR 2022***Dive into the blissfully funny No. 1 bestseller about three women who find themselves criss-crossing the line between success and failure, happiness and sadness, sanity and madness, from the No. 1 bestselling author of Grown Ups'Totally addictive . . . a real page turner' SUNDAY EXPRESS'Brilliantly written and fabulously well-observed' INDEPENDENT___________'Dammit,' she realized. 'I think I'm having a nervous breakdown.'Lisa Edwards' career as a hot-shot magazine editor is destined for high-rise New York, when suddenly she's blown off-course into the delights of low-rise Dublin. But what on earth can she do about it?Ashling Kennedy, Lisa's super-organized assistant, is good at worrying. Too good. She's even terrified of a little bit of raw fish . . .Clodagh Kelly is Ashling's best friend and has done everything right: beautiful kids and a husband come prince - everything in fact that Ashling has ever wanted. She should be happy. But she isn't.Three women on the verge of happiness and even closer to a complete breakdown . . .Which way will they fall?___________'Keyes has given romantic comedy a much-needed face-lift. Chatty and warmhearted, Keyes's talent is to tell it how it is' Independent'Laden with plots twists, jokey asides and nicely turned bits of zeitgeisty observational humour' Guardian'The voice of a generation' Daily Mirror

Read more less

*** CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS AUTHOR OF THE YEAR 2022***Discover the gorgeously funny and heartwarming bestseller about final chances from the No 1. bestselling author of Grown Ups'Moving, relatable and infinitely tender' INDEPENDENT'Plenty of heart, lots of laughs, and a fantastic twist in the tail' COSMOPOLITAN___________'Love is blind, there was no doubt about it. In Tara's case it was also deaf, dumb, dyslexic, had a bad hip and the beginnings of Alzheimer's . . .'Tara, Katherine and Fintan have been best friends since they were teenagers. Now in their early thirties, they've been living it up in London for ten years.But what have they to show for a decade of hedonism?Sure, Tara's got a boyfriend - but only because she's terrified of spending five minutes alone. Katherine, on the other hand, has a neatness fetish that won't let anyone too close to mess up her life.And Fintan? Well, he has everything. Until he learns that without your health, you've got nothing . . .All three are drinking in the last chance saloon and they're about to discover that if you don't change your life, life has a way of changing you . . .'A comforting doorstopper of a read that's as addictive as solitaire' Daily Mail___________Praise for Marian Keyes'An outstanding writer and chronicler of our times' Independent on Sunday'Mercilessly funny' Times'The voice of a generation' Daily Mirror

Read more less

Ghost Children is a compassionate and gritty examination of love and loss from one of Britain's most-loved writers, Sue TownsendHow can she leave the past behind when he won't let her? Seventeen years ago Angela Carr aborted an unwanted child. The child's father, Christopher Moore, was devastated by the loss and he retreated from the world. Unable to accept what had happened between them both went their separate ways. However, when Christopher makes a horrifying discovery whilst out walking his dog on the heath he finds that he is compelled to confront Angela about the past. As they start seeing each another again can they avoid the mistakes of the past? And will their future together be eclipsed by those mistakes of yesterday? 'Gripping and disturbing. Utterly absorbing' Independent 'Bleak, tender and deeply affecting. Seldom have I rooted so hard for a set of fictional individuals' Mail on Sunday 'Leaves one gasping for more' Daily Telegraph 'Engrossing, memorable and moving' Guardian 'Startling and raw' Observer

Read more less

'A magnificent opus ... extraordinary, spellbinding ... this book does what no other on autism has done' Ann Bauer, Washington Post*Pulitzer finalist 2017*The stunning history of autism as it has been discovered and felt by parents, children and doctorsNearly seventy-five years ago, Donald Triplett of Forest, Mississippi became the first child diagnosed with autism. In a Different Key tells the extraordinary story of the world his diagnosis created - a riveting human drama that takes us across continents and through some of the great social movements of the twentieth century.The history of autism is, above all, the story of families fighting for a place in the world for their children. It is the story of women like Ruth Sullivan, who rebelled against a medical establishment that blamed "refrigerator mothers" for causing autism, of fathers who pushed scientists to dig harder for treatments, of parents who forced schools to accept their children. But many others played starring roles too: doctors like Leo Kanner, who pioneered our understanding of autism, scientists who sparred over how to treat autism, and those with autism, like Temple Grandin and Ari Ne'eman, who explained their inner worlds and championed a philosophy of 'neurodiversity'. This is also a story of fierce controversy: from the question of whether there is truly an autism 'epidemic', and whether vaccines played a part in it, to scandals involving 'facilitated communication', one of many treatments that have proved to be blind alleys. And there are dark turns too: we learn about experimenters feeding LSD to children with autism, or shocking them with electricity to change their behaviour; and the authors reveal, for the first time, that Hans Asperger, discoverer of the syndrome named after him, may have cooperated with the Nazis in sending disabled children to their deaths.By turns intimate and panoramic, In a Different Key takes us on a journey from an era when families were shamed and children were condemned to institutions, to one in which parents and people with autism push not simply for inclusion, but for a new understanding of autism: as difference rather than disability.

Read more less

The Thief is Clive Cussler's fifth historical thriller featuring detective Isaac Bell.A bold kidnapping aboard an ocean liner sends detective Isaac Bell across America in a deadly game of cat and mouse . . .Leaving England aboard the liner Mauretania, Isaac Bell, chief investigator at the legendary Van Dorn Detective Agency, stumbles on and thwarts a kidnapping. The two victims, who have fled Europe carrying a secret invention, fear that a foreign power wishes to steal it before they can bring it to America.Bell and the Van Dorn Agency offer to protect them.And it isn't long before Bell is fighting skullduggery in the middle of the Atlantic. In New York City, as well as across the country as he and the inventors head for California, the deadly chase is on. On their trail is the murderous agent known only as the 'Acrobat', instructed to steal this world-changing invention - and kill anyone in his way . . .Bestseller Clive Cussler - author of the Dirk Pitt novels Crescent Dawn and Atlantis Found - has legendary super-sleuth Isaac Bell protect a top-secret invention with the power to shape the course of history. The Thief is the fifth novel in the Isaac Bell series, following The Race.Praise for Clive Cussler:'The Adventure King' Daily Express'The guy I read' Tom Clancy

Read more less

A vivid, seminal portrait of early 1980s Britain: a period that changed Britain foreverThe early 1980s in Britain were a time of hope, and of dread: of Cold War tension and imminent conflict, when crowds in the street could mean an ecstatic national celebration or an inner-city riot. Here, Andy Beckett recreates an often misunderstood moment of transition, with all its potential and uncertainty: the first precarious years of Margaret Thatcher's government. By the end of 1982, the country was changing, leaving the kinder, more sluggish postwar Britain decisively behind, and becoming the country we have lived in ever since: assertive, commercially driven, outward-looking, often harsher than its neighbours.

Read more less