Search results for ""Canongate Books""

This pamphlet is for anyone alarmed by the present British government. It argues that the component nations of the United Kingdom can become true democracies only by declaring themselves republics. The authors are Alasdair Gray, writer of fiction and pamphlets such as Why Scots Should Rule Scotland, and Adam Tomkins, Professor of Public Law in the University of Glasgow and author of Public Law and Our Republican Constitution. Both are committed republicans.

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Meet Harry Pickles, aged nine and a bit. Harry is the fastest boy runner in the world (probably), first son of Mo and Pa (the best-looking parents in the school car park), big brother to Daniel (who runs like a girl but is, in his own twerpy way, a star). His life is good. He's premier league. At least, that's the way it was before the school trip . . .Clare Sambrook's unforgettable first novel captures with startling truth and clarity the perspective of a confused nine-year-old. Poignant and personal, Hide and Seek resonates with authenticity and a brutal honesty that manages to be harrowing, life-affirming and funny.

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Clear Light contains 150 haiku bursting with Alan Spence's characteristic verve and wit. Mythic and mesmerising, inspiring and hilarious, these poems shed clear light on the delights, hardships, breakthroughs and frustrations of the world of the momentary. Simple in form, these haiku request a fresh look at the familiar and leave us reeling at how much in the world, from the exotic to the everyday, we have yet to observe.

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The Man with the Golden Arm tells the story of Frankie Machine, the golden arm dealer at a back street Chicago gambling den. Frankie reckons he's a tough guy in the Chicago underworld but finds that he's not tough enough to kick his heroin addiction. With consummate skill and a finely-tuned ear for the authentic dialogue of the backstreets, Algren lays bare the tragedy and humour of Frankie's world.Features the first UK publication of a foreword by Kurt Vonnegut and an afterword by Studs Terkel.

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Madame tells the story of a self-absorbed Polish teenager as he pursues intellectual maturity, and the woman of his dreams, his French teacher 'Madame', in the communist-dominated Warsaw of the early 1970s.Libera paces his exuberant young hero's fulminations, fantasies and discoveries beautifully, building a remarkably subtle characterisation of a free mind in a repressive culture. This is one of those rare novels which reminds us why we love books. A consummate literary entertainment.

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For generations of adventurers, from Mallory to Hilary, Norgay to Krakauer, Mount Everest and the world's greatest peaks have provided the ultimate testing ground. But as the public's fascination with mountaineering reaches an all time high, the question remains - why climb?In High Exposure, legendary rock climber, mountaineer and film-maker David Breashears answers with a captivating and intimate look at his life, during which he has scaled many of the world's highest peaks, including two successful ascents of Everest.

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The untimely death of Dougal Haston in 1977 robbed climbing of one of its most charismatic, controversial and enigmatic figures. A man of extremes, who managed to combine a rock star's lifestyle with a career at the cutting edge of world mountaineering, Haston remains a cult figure whose deeds have inspired generations of climbers world-wide.Connor traces the career of a great climber from his native Scottish hills to his startling feats on Everest and the world's other great mountains.This definitive biography, which draws on never before seen diaries, explores the agonised development of Haston the man.

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This extraordinary work is at one and the same time an account of a personal spiritual crisis and a hilarious spoof on academic learning, early Victorian values and materialism. In Sartor Resartus ('the tailor retailored') a fictitious editor retells the theories of an equally fictitious German professor who has come to the conclusion that human institutions and morals are only clothes to shield us from nothingness, clothes that can be changed as the whims of the age or fashion dictate.This radically deconstructive vision reveals the very highest symbols of belief for what they are - merely symbols. How to believe in anything after such an insight is a question even more acute today than it was in Carlyle's time, when he first asked it in this masterpiece of invention, parody and profound laughter.This Canongate Classics edition incorporates illustrations by Edmund Sullivan, reproduced as they appeared in the 1898 edition of the text. Also included is the notable Emerson preface to the original American edition and an incisive, specially commissioned introduction from Alasdair Gray.

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Tunes of GloryHousehold GhostsSilenceThis volume collects three of the very best works by James Kennaway, the brilliant young novelist and screenwriter who tragically died in a car crash at the early age of forty.Memorably filmed with Alec Guinness and John Mills, Tunes of Glory is a grippingly dramatic exploration of the glamour and the brutality of post-war army life as the tensions and conflicts in the officers' mess of a Highland regiment lead to shame and tragedy.Household Ghosts is a claustrophobic tale of family tension, love triangles and the persistence of the past-one of Kennaway's favourite themes. Set in a country house in Scotland the book is haunted, like the privileged family it describes, by the ghosts of Scotland's own turbulent history.Taken from completed drafts on the author's desk, Silence tells of the accidental meeting and the complex union between a white man and a black woman in times of racial tension and sexual violence. Set in a North American city in midwinter Kennaway's last and brilliantly succinct novel expands into a universal allegory of suffering and death.

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My son''s death will never make sense to me. But it has taught me that it''s possible to find meaning, collectively and individually, in the loss of what we love. And in finding them, transform. Resilience is a seed that we all bear inside us. It germinates in emergencies. It sets down roots in astonishing and unexpected ways. And if we notice it, and tend to it, it blooms.Liz Jensen''s son, a zoologist, conservationist and ecological activist, was twenty-five when he collapsed and died unexpectedly. She fell apart. As she grieved, forest fires raged, coral reefs deteriorated, CO2 emissions rose and fossil fuels burned.Your Wild and Precious Life is the story of how a mother rebuilt herself, reoriented her life and rediscovered the enchantment of the living world. Set against the backdrop of climate and ecological catastrophe, it''s an argument for agency, legacy and the wild possibility of hope after devastation.

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Rookie lawyer Grace Zulu does not give up easily. She escaped an arranged marriage to put herself through university. Now she''s got her first case.Her client is young Willbess ''Bessy'' Mulenga, who has been arrested for offences ''against nature''. Bessy works in a men-only bar, loves to dance, to wear dresses and live freely. But in 1990s Zambia, following your own identity can get you beaten, jailed or even worse. Grace is determined to get Bessy out of custody. Then her terrified, bruised client goes missing without a trace. She knows something bad has happened and that someone is trying to cover it up. Along with the most unlikely group of allies, Grace must take on powerful enemies at the highest levels - even risk her own safety - to get to the truth. The whole truth. A debut novel that soars with passion and humanity, The Lions'' Den is a moving story of prejudice, corruption, injustice, courage and solidarity. It shows us that no cause is ever a los

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A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2022: HUMOURWant to be a rocket-riding tech titan? You've come to the right school. Elon Musk's Billionaire School makes it simple to follow in Elon's footsteps and accumulate the wealth and power of a medium-sized nation in just 30 days. Capitalise on these easy lessons drawn from the lives, philosophies and business practices of the alpha billionaires who are shaping humanity's future, including Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and, of course, Elon himself. It's the complete, foolproof resource for your billionaire's journey - from founding your first startup through to becoming High-God-Emperor of Mars. Elon Musk's Billionaire School. Enrol today. Escape the planet tomorrow.

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The Sick Bag Song chronicles Cave's 22-city journey around North America in 2014. Racked by romantic longing and exhaustion, Cave teases out the significant moments - the people, the books and the music - that have influenced and inspired him, and drops them into his sick bag.The book began its life scribbled onto airline sick bags and later evolves into a restless contemporary epic, exploring love, loss, inspiration and memory.

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Brought up in a suffocating, emotionless home in the north of England, Clara finds freedom when she wins a scholarship and moves to London. There, she meets Clelia and the rest of the brilliant and charming Denham family; they dazzle Clara with their gift for life, and Clara longs to be part of their bohemian world. But while she will do anything to join their circle, she gives no thought to the chaos that she may cause . . .'Drabble presents characters who are not passively witnessing their lives (and ours); she is not a writer who reflects the helplessness of the stereotyped "sick society", but one who has taken upon herself the task, largely ignored today, of attempting the active, vital, energetic, mysterious re-creation of a set of values by which human beings can live' - Joyce Carol Oates

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She never presumed she herself would live out her natural life, so she wouldn't mind leaving this world through an untimely death.Hornclaw is a sixty-five-year-old female contract killer who is considering retirement. But while on an assassination job for the 'disease control' company she works for, Hornclaw makes an uncharacteristic error, causing a sequence of events that brings her past well and truly into the present. Threatened with sabotage by a young male upstart and battling new desires and urges when she least expects them, Hornclaw steels her resolve, demonstrating that no matter their age, the female of the species is always more deadly than the male.

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LONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITINGA WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023: NATURE AND TRAVELA COUNTRYFILE CHRISTMAS GIFT BOOKTwo days after the Winter Solstice in 2019 Kerri and her partner M moved to a small, remote railway cottage in the heart of Ireland. They were looking for a home, somewhere to stay put. What followed was a year of many changes. The pandemic arrived and their isolated home became a place of enforced isolation. It was to be a year unlike any we had seen before. But the seasons still turned, the swallows came at their allotted time, the rhythms of the natural world went on unchecked. For Kerri there was to be one more change, a longed-for but unhoped for change.Cacophony of Bone maps the circle of a year - a journey from one place to another, field notes of a life - from one winter to the next. It is a telling of a changed life, in a changed world - and it is about all that does not change. All that which simply keeps on - living and breathing, nesting and dying - in spite of it all. When the pandemic came time seemed to shapeshift, so this is also a book about time. It is, too, a book about home, and what that can mean. Fragmentary in subject and form, fluid of language, this is an ode to a year, a place, and a love, that changed a life.

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From a comic mastermind comes this brilliant collection of stories Three teenagers believe they are witches. A woman defaces a local billboard. A bored landlord tries to influence his son''s best friend. A cul-de-sac WhatsApp group discusses eggs at length. A heavily pregnant woman finds a way to time travel and a girl discovers joy on a stolen bicycle . . . Each tale paints a life in miniature and offers an escape chute from the mayhem of modern life.

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The remarkable new novel from the author of the multimillion-selling international sensation The Midnight Library''A beautiful novel full of life-affirming wonder and imagination'' BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH''What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don''t understand yet . . .''When retired Maths teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the Balearics Grace searches for answers about her friend''s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.

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'Extraordinary' Naoise Dolan'Seriously good' Louise NealonPICKED AS 'ONE TO WATCH' FOR 2022 BY IRISH TIMES, STYLIST AND IRISH INDEPENDENTDublin student life is ending for Sophie and her friends. They've got everything figured out, and Sophie feels left behind as they all start to go their separate ways. She's overshadowed by her best friend Grace. She's been in love with Finn for as long as she's known him. And she's about to meet Rory, who's suddenly available to her online.At a party, what was already unstable completely falls apart and Sophie finds herself obsessively scrolling social media, waiting for something (anything) to happen.None of This Is Serious is about the uncertainty and absurdity of being alive today. It's about balancing the real world with the online, and the vulnerabilities in yourself, your relationships, your body. At its heart, this is a novel about the friendships strong enough to withstand anything.

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A TIMES BEST CRIME BOOK OF THE YEARIn London, private investigator Dr Rayhana Crane is contacted by a woman who has received an unexpected letter from her estranged son Jason, not seen since he left to become a fighter for Islamic State. When his steps are traced back to the old stamping ground of her partner, Cal Drake, the former policeman goes undercover to infiltrate the sinister network which took Jason abroad.Meanwhile, Crane pursues a woman whose seemingly unconnected disappearance off the English coast is soon found to reveal a deadlier connection. As the two investigators delve deeper, they find themselves mired in a violent world where terror and organised crime intersect.

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A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2023 FOR FINANCIAL TIMES, TIME, VULTURE, LIT HUB, GOODREADS, RUMPUS, BUSTLE, READER'S DIGEST and moreBoth vilified and venerated, wolves abound through cultural folklore and literature. In this hauntingly lyrical and unflinching inquiry, Erica Berry untangles these depictions - alongside her own research of the wolf and experience as a woman - to try to understand how we navigate terror, vulnerability and violence in our fragile, often dangerous world.Luminously wise and unusually brave, Wolfish will stay with you long into the night.

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In The Keys to Kindness Claudia Hammond takes us on an eye-opening tour of kindness: what constitutes kindness (it's not what you think), effective strategies to build more of it into our lives and the benefits of being kind. She draws on the latest research from psychology and neuroscience, and her work in collaboration with the University of Sussex and the BBC, including the largest global survey ever undertaken into attitudes to kindness. The book is structured around the seven keys of kindness, including: There is more kindness in the world that you might think Being kind makes you feel good and that's OK Kind people can be winners Remember to be kind to yourself You are kinder than you think, but we could all be kinder still - with enormous benefits for our personal mental health and wellbeing. The Keys to Kindness sets out a prescription for a kinder life that you can adapt to your own circumstances, and explains how to use this guidance for ourselves, others and the world.

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It is the Swinging Sixties and Kelvin Walker has moved from Scotland to London to make his fortune. Through his wanton ambition, a megalomania surfaces that is unrelieved by his insensitive attempts at friendship and romance. Yet is he all bad, or are the true villains the establishment figures who he tricks and deceives? And, ultimately, does it matter?Gray's twist on the follies of religion, the media and the imperial British centre is as relevant now as ever.

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This is the story of a little boy called Alem who goes on an adventure. It's his birthday, but who knows where he can go to celebrate it?Maybe the bear, the fox, the treefrog or the bulldog know? But don't ask the dragon . . . or he will EAT you!

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At her husband's funeral, Heather Mallet is publicly accused of his murder. But did she really kill her husband, as many residents of the sleepy coastal town of Fethering believe? To get to the heart of the matter, local amateur sleuths Carole and Jude join the community choir and discover that amidst the clashing egos and petty resentments there lurk some decidedly false notes. At least one chorister would appear to be hiding a deadly secret - and it's up to Carole and Jude to unearth the truth.

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A BEST BOOK OF 2023 FOR THE TELEGRAPH, FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW SCIENTIST AND STYLIST A NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB MUST READ 2023You may be familiar with the idea of our body's biome - the bacterial fauna that populates our gut and can so profoundly affect our health. In We Are Electric we cross the next frontier of scientific understanding: discover your body's electrome.Every cell in our bodies - bones, skin, nerves, muscle - has a voltage, like a tiny battery. This bioelectricity is why our brains can send signals to our bodies, why we develop the way we do in the womb and how our bodies know to heal themselves from injury. When bioelectricity goes awry, illness, deformity and cancer can result. But if we can control or correct this bioelectricity, the implications for our health are remarkable: an undo switch for cancer that could flip malignant cells back into healthy ones; the ability to regenerate cells, organs, even limbs; to slow ageing and so much more.In We Are Electric, award-winning science writer Sally Adee explores the history of bioelectricity: from Galvani's epic eighteenth-century battle with the inventor of the battery, Alessandro Volta, to the medical charlatans claiming to use electricity to cure pretty much anything, to advances in the field helped along by the unusually massive axons of squid. And finally, she journeys into the future of the discipline, through today's laboratories where we are starting to see real-world medical applications being developed.The bioelectric revolution starts here.

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The first magical book in Matt Haig's festive series - now a major new film!BELIEVE IN THE IMPOSSIBLEYou are about to read the TRUE STORY of Father Christmas. If you believe that some things are impossible, you should put this book down right away. (Because this book is FULL of impossible things.)Are you still reading? Good. Then let us begin . . .

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After a decade of living with panic attacks and anxiety, Tim Clare made a promise to himself - he would try everything he could to get better, every method and medicine.His year of treatments took him from anti-depressants to hypnosis, running to extreme diets, ice baths to faecal transplants. At the end of it he discovers what helps him (and what doesn't), and what might help others. Most of all, he comes to rethink anxiety and encourages all of us to do the same.

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AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST OF 2021'Seductive . . . Gorgeous' The Times'A fresh perspective on an age-old tale' Irish Times'I am the queen of two crowns, banished fifteen years, the famed and gilded woman, bad-luck baleful girl, mother of three small animals, now gone. I am fifty-five years old. I am Lear's wife. I am here.'Word has come. Care-bent King Lear is dead, driven mad and betrayed. His three daughters too, broken in battle. But someone has survived: Lear's queen. Exiled to a nunnery years ago, written out of history, her name forgotten. Now she can tell her story.Though her grief and rage may threaten to crack the earth open, she knows she must seek answers. Why was she sent away in shame and disgrace? What has happened to Kent, her oldest friend and ally? And what will become of her now, in this place of women? To find peace she must reckon with her past and make a terrible choice - one upon which her destiny, and that of the entire abbey, rests.Giving unforgettable voice to a woman whose absence has been a tantalising mystery, Learwife is a breathtaking novel of loss, renewal and how history bleeds into the present.

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The Golden Treasury of Scottish Verse is a timeless collection of Scottish poetry. It contains over three hundred poems ranging from the early medieval period to the twenty-first century, and paints a full-colour portrait of Scotland's poetic heritage and culture.Edited and introduced by award-winning poets Kathleen Jamie, Don Paterson and Peter Mackay, and including poems by Robert Burns, Carol Ann Duffy, Sorley MacLean, Violet Jacob, William Dunbar, Meg Bateman, George Mackay Brown, Màiri Mhòr nan Òran, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jackie Kay, Liz Lochhead and many more, The Golden Treasury of Scottish Verse is a joyous celebration of Scotland's literary past, present and future.

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A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERStranger Than Kindness is a journey in images and words into the creative world of musician, storyteller and cultural icon Nick Cave.This highly collectable book invites the reader into the innermost core of the creative process and paves the way for an entirely new and intimate meeting with the artist, presenting Cave's life, work and inspiration and exploring his many real and imagined universes. It features full colour reproductions of original artwork, handwritten lyrics, photographs and collected personal artefacts along with commentary and meditations from Nick Cave, Janine Barrand and Darcey Steinke.Stranger Than Kindness asks what shapes our lives and makes us who we are, and celebrates the curiosity and power of the creative spirit.The book has been developed and curated by Nick Cave in collaboration with Christina Back. The images were selected from 'Stranger Than Kindness: The Nick Cave Exhibition', opening at the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen in June 2020.

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'Had me giggling all the way through . . . I loved it!' Jasbinder Bilan'Action-packed and bursting with fun' Sinéad O'HartWelcome to Little Snoddington, where nothing is normal and every day is magic . . .Nine-year-old Alfie Blackstack's parents have met a very unfortunate end. Now he's living in the SUPER CREEPY Switherbroom Hall with his mad-haired Aunt Gertie and warty Aunt Zita. The thing is, Alfie's aunts aren't just weird - they're WITCHES!When the circus arrives in town Alfie makes his first ever friend, the FEARLESS Calypso Fagan. But when Calypso's little sister Nova disappears, they must face the TERRIFYING Head Witch in a race to find Nova and stop the next Witch War.

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Mark Hodkinson grew up among the terrace houses of Rochdale in a house with just one book. Today, Mark is an author, journalist and publisher. He still lives in Rochdale but is now surrounded by 3,500 titles, at the last count.No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy is his story of growing up a working-class lad during the 1970s and 1980s. It's about the schools, the music, the people - but pre-eminently and profoundly the books and authors that led the way and shaped his life. It's about a family who didn't see the point of reading, and a troubled grandad who taught Mark the power of stories. It's also a story of how writing and reading has changed over the last five decades.

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Peter''s mother is dying. Born in England and having spent most of her adult life as a doctor in Zimbabwe, she now lies on a hospital bed in the partitioned living room of his sister''s London apartment, her accent having overnight become posher than the Queen''s. Unsentimental, fiercely stubborn and at times hilarious, she finally drops her guard, losing all fear of conflict to become the family provocateur.While confronting the revelations of what his family was - and wasn''t - and the stoicism that sometimes threatened to destroy them, Peter also mourns the ending of his long marriage. At this point of rupture and healing, Peter reflects on his family''s legacy of exile and their tenuous hold on home.In Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss and Occasional Wars, Peter Godwin considers, with both tenderness and candour, the life of émigrés, exiles and refugees, and grieves the many losses that make life both magnificent and unbearable. He brings us into the spac

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A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR: FICTION ''A trailblazer in the world of short-form prose'' New YorkerLydia Davis is a virtuoso at detecting the seemingly casual, inconsequential surprises of daily life and pinning them for inspection. In Our Strangers, conversations are overheard and misheard, a special delivery letter is mistaken for a rare white butterfly, toddlers learning to speak identify a ping-pong ball as an egg and mumbled remarks betray a marriage. In the glow of Davis''s keen noticing, strangers can become like family and family like strangers.Our Strangers is a fascinating collection that confirms the genius of a writer whose every attention is transformative.

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When a body is discovered in the water at the Falls of Lora, it looks like a straightforward suicide to DCI Christine Caplan. But when her superior officer alerts her to similarities with a locked case - and a legal minefield - she discovers that darker truths lurk beneath the surface.''Girl A'' was convicted of murdering three people when she was a child. Now she''s missing and a man is dead. The top brass are screaming for a quick resolution, and ''Girl A'' is a media sensation and a risk to herself as well as others. The clock is ticking for Caplan to bring her to justice - but the truth may be darker than even she fears . . .

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THE IRISH TIMES BESTSELLERAN IRISH TIMES FICTION BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2024In Barcelona, we meet a cast of characters who live turbulent inner lives. In a Spanish hotel room a marriage unravels as a young wife is haunted by a past love. A father travels to Paris to meet his scientist son and is exposed to his son''s true nature. A woman attends a reading by a famous author and comes to some painful realisations about her own marriage.The stories in Barcelona reveal the underlying disquiet of modern life and the sometimes brutal nature of humanity. Whether on city streets, long car journeys or in suburban rooms, we glimpse characters as they approach those moments of desperation - or revelation - that change or reshape fate.

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'One of the great American authors at work today' New York TimesONE OF THE NEW YORKER'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023It is 1951. The close-knit community of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, does not welcome those who are different.Jacob Hampton's wealthy parents disinherited him when he married Naomi, an uneducated hotel maid from out of town. They had bigger plans for him.Now Jacob has been called up to fight in Korea, leaving a pregnant Naomi behind. The only person he can entrust to take care of her is his lifelong friend, Blackburn Gant. Blackburn, who tends the local cemetery alone, is an outsider too, his appearance irrevocably altered by childhood disease. Slowly the two outcasts grow closer, their friendship blooming under small acts of kindness. Then, as they await news of Jacob's return, a terrible, shattering act of deception derails all their lives. But no secret can stay hidden for ever.Tender and luminous with truth, The Caretaker is a riveting story about the bonds of friendship, the contradictions of family and what it really means to love.

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I'm going to tell you everything. I'm gonna tell you the whole story.Sometimes all it takes is a single message. Maybe it's bad, like a rival top boy's been switched off. Or maybe it's good, like an opportunity you never thought you'd get. But opportunities mean risks, and debts, and you never want to owe anyone anything.Jaq's worked hard on the road since she was fourteen, bringing in money to keep her broken family afloat. Now she's built a good life near the top of the Summerhouse crew, with a beautiful home she shares with her girlfriend Becks and her heavily pregnant older sister Lauryn.But messages are coming in - good and bad - and Jaq has to make a choice: step back from the road and start a life she's never even considered. Or seize her opportunities and risk everything for life-changing money. Either way, Jaq will make enemies. And those enemies aren't going to let her go easily . . .

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For over thirty years, besides making music, David Byrne has focused his unique genius upon forms as diverse as the archaeology of music as we know it, architectural photography and the uses of PowerPoint. Now he presents his most personal work to date, a collection of drawings exploring the form of the tree diagram.Arboretum is an eclectic blend of science, automatic writing, self-analysis and satire. A journey through irrational logic - the application of scientific rigour and form to irrational premises, proceeding from careful nonsense to unexpected sense.The tree diagram is a form that might reveal more about yourself than you dreamed possible.

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It is the run-up to Christmas when two seven-year-old boys are abducted from the streets of Glasgow. For DI Colin Anderson the case is especially disturbing, because the boys look so much like his own young son Peter.When a simple house fire turns into a full-scale murder investigation, and with cold and flu season having taken many officers off the street, the force is stretched to breaking point. DS Costello's hunch is the crimes are connected, and a killer is ingeniously hiding his trail. As the squad continues to struggle working both cases, for DI Anderson the nightmare is about to get terrifyingly close to home.

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'Ingenious and original' Philip PullmanIf you knew a book was cursed, would you still read it?When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of The End of Mr. Y in a second-hand bookshop, she can't believe her eyes. She knows enough about its author, the outlandish Victorian scientist Thomas Lumas, to know that copies are exceedingly rare. And, some say, cursed.With Mr. Y under her arm, Ariel finds herself thrust into a thrilling adventure of love, sex, death and time-travel.

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In this dazzling collection, Nam Le takes us across the globe as he enters the hearts and minds of characters from all over the world. Whether it's the story of fourteen-year-old Juan, a hit man in Colombia; an ageing painter in New York mourning the death of his much-younger lover; or a young refugee fleeing Vietnam, crammed in the ship's hold with two hundred others, the result is unexpectedly moving and powerful. This is an extraordinary work of fiction that takes us to the heart of what it means to be human.

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LONGLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD'Thrillingly original' Naoise Dolan'Exquisite' Daily TelegraphTwenty years ago, Oona left the island of Inis for the very first time. A wind-blasted rock of fishing boats and turf fires, where girls stayed in their homes until they became mothers themselves, the island was a gift for some, a prison for others.The Island Child tells two stories: of the girl who grew up watching births and betrayals, storms and secrets, and of the adult Oona, desperate to find a second chance, only to discover she can never completely escape. As the strands of Oona's life come together, in blood and marriage and motherhood, she must accept the price we pay when we love what is never truly ours . . .

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