Search results for ""faber faber""

Do you want to know why Harold Pinter is a figure of such influence and importance in the theatre? Are you studying his plays and looking for help with interpretation? Or do you teach Pinter and need a reliable guide to the plays? The Faber Critical Guide to Harold Pinter gives this and much more, including an introduction to the distinctive features of the playwright's work, a detailed analysis of each of the classic plays and comments on performance.

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'A truly majestic work of scholarship, thought and literary imagination.' Jan Morris, The Times 'Shot through with crystalline brilliance.' Washington Post 'Fascinating.' Sunday Times When Captain Scott died in 1912 on his way back from the South Pole, his story became a myth embedded in the national imagination. Everyone remembers the doomed Captain Oates's last words: 'I'm just going outside, and I may be some time.' Francis Spufford's celebrated and prize-winning history shows how Scott's death was the culmination of a national enchantment with vast empty spaces, the beauty of untrodden snow, and perilous journeys to the end of the earth.Winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the Writers' Guild Non-Fiction Book of the Year and the Banff Mountain Book Prize.

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'Deliciously ingenious' Daily Mail'Smartly entertaining' Washington PostIf you're on the list you're marked for death...The envelope is unremarkable. There is no return address. It contains a single, folded, sheet of white paper.The envelope drops through the mail slot like any other piece of post. But for the nine complete strangers who receive it - each of them recognising just one name, their own, on the enclosed list - it will be the most life altering letter they ever receive. It could also be the last, as one by one, they start to meet their end.But why?What readers are saying:'It gripped me from start to finish.''Prepare to be blown away.''Another fast paced edge of your seat masterclass.''What an absolutely wild ride.''Best Peter Swanson murder mystery I've read.''An absolute winner . . . A must read for lovers of a good t

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Every so often a thriller appears that offers more to the reader than just entertainment. White Crocodile is just that. When emotionally damaged mine-clearer Tess Hardy travels to Cambodia to find out the truth behind her ex-husband's death, she doesn't know much about the country or its beliefs. On arrival, she finds that teenage mothers are going missing, while others are being found mutilated and murdered. As local superstitions breed fear, Tess is drawn into a web of lies that stretches from Cambodia to another murder in England, and a violent secret twenty years old.

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'Beautifully textured ... Anne Tyler by way of Sally Rooney' New York Times'A coming-of-age story inextricably bound with a love story' MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD'Smart, funny, exhilirating' LILY KINGEager to clean up his act after his troubled early twenties, Owen has returned to Kentucky to take a job as a groundskeeper at a small college in the Appalachian foothills, one which allows him to enrol on their writing course.It's there that he meets Alma, a Writer-in-Residence, who seems to have everything Owen doesn't - a prestigious position, an Ivy League education, and published success as a writer. They begin a secret relationship, and as they grow closer, Alma, from a supportive, liberal family of Bosnian immigrants, struggles to understand Owen's fraught relationship with his own family and home.Exploring the boundaries between life and art, and how our upbringings affect the people we can become, Groundskeeping is at heart a love story - a novel about two very different people navigating the turbulence of an all-consuming relationship, and the complications which can ruin it.

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'No one else casts such a shrewd and gimlet eye on contemporary life.' - William BoydComic, dark and insightful, What Happened? is Hanif Kureishi's new collection of essays and fiction. No topic is too fringe or too mainstream for this insatiable-and much-loved-author. From social media to the ancient classics, from appraisals of David Bowie to Georges Simenon to Keith Jarrett, this is the latest literary 'event' in a unique body of work that displays Kureishi's characteristic boundless curiosity and wit. What Happened? is as much about the very fact of Kureishi's catholic appetite for culture as his observations and insights themselves, and any new book in his oeuvre is a justification for celebration.

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Don Paterson's latest collection of poetry starts from the premise that the crisis of mid-life may be a permanent state of mind. Zonal is an experiment in science-fictional and fantastic autobiography, with all of its poems taking their imaginative cue from the first season of The Twilight Zone (1959-1960), playing fast and loose with both their source material and their author's own life. Narrative and dramatic in approach, genre-hopping from horror to Black Mirror-style sci-fi, 'weird tale' to metaphysical fantasy, these poems change voices constantly in an attempt to get at the truth by alternate means. Occupying the shadowlands between confession and invention, Zonal takes us to places and spaces that feel endlessly surprising, uncanny and limitless.

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Bluebell and her siblings are beginning a new school year. Suddenly everyone is freaking out. Twig has taken up violent team sports, poor Jas is being bullied by the ghastly Cupcake Crew and Blue has a big decision to make.There are fights and crying fits. Halloween parades gone wrong and secret graffiti artists. Confusing friendships and life-changing choices. But there is also laughter and above all, there is love - and that's what being a family is all about.

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'Superb.' The Guardian 'A page-turner.' Jonathan Lethem 'Utterly unique, addictively readable.' Pandora Sykes'Intriguing, elegant and seductive.' Jessica Moor'You can't put it down.' Kevin WilsonAfter the sudden death of her mother, Ava finds herself headed cross-country to live with the only relative she has left. But Lane, her grandmother, doesn't seem to have much room in her heart for a teenage girl, barely acknowledging Ava between obsessive painting sessions. The only other person who comes around is Lane's assistant, Oliver, who's dealing with issues of his own. As the summer goes on, Ava begins to get a sense that something is very wrong in her grandmother's house. Why was Lane estranged from Ava's mother, and is she now losing her mind? Could the danger lie with Oliver? Or, is there something darker in their past, something which could come back to destroy them all?

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Introduced by Claire-Louise Bennett, experience one new mother's psychological journey in this lost 1930 foremother of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar.'Astonishing and moving. A pretty amazing book.' Tessa Hadley'Extraordinary. A fascinating and unexpected delight.' Lucy Ellmann'Haunting and evocative, this is a timeless portrayal of madness.' Catherine Cho'A startling, luminous and magnetic novel about the complexity of motherhood.' Yiyun Li'With its deep musicality, Coleman's unforgettable voice was years ahead of its time.' Sinéad GleesonThe only thing to do is to put hammers in the porridge and when there are enough hammers we shall break down the windows and all of us shall dance in the snow. Some days, Marthe Gail believes she is God; others, Jesus Christ. Her baby, she thinks, is dead. The red light is shining. There are bars on the window. And the voices keep talking. Time blurs; snow falls. The doctors say it is a breakdown; that this is Gorestown State Hospital. Her fellow patients become friends and enemies, moving between the Day Room and Dining Hall, East Hall and West Side, avoiding the Strong Room. Her husband visits and shows her a lock of her baby's hair, but she doesn't remember, yet - until she can make it upstairs, ascending towards release ...Shocking and hilarious, tragic and visceral, this experimental portrait of motherhood and mental illness written in 1930 has never felt more visionary.

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Seascapes and landscapes, snowy-capped hills.Colourful tulips and gold daffodils. His art was incredible, vibrant and loud.Enough to make Pablo Picasso feel proud!When Blanksy the cat discovers a talent for painting murals he uses it to draw bigger and bigger crowds to help his friend Pete the busker become rich. But will money really make Pete happy?An entertaining story with fabulous illustrations by award-winning illustrator Allen Fatimaharan.

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'Order her book. That's an order.' Miranda Hart'Brimming with wit and honesty' Nina Stibbe'Fantastically entertaining' Marina Hyde'I absolutely bloody loved this book. Funny, relatable, easy to read, deep, shallow and everything in between.' Philippa PerryOne of Stylist's Best Memoirs for Summer 2021Multi-award-winning television writer and producer Georgia Pritchett knows a thing or two about anxiety.From worrying about the monsters under her bed as a child (Were they comfy enough?), to embracing womanhood, (One way of knowing you have crossed from girlhood to womanhood is that men stop furtively masturbating at you from bushes and start shouting things at you from cars. It's a beautiful moment) worry has accompanied her at every turn.This memoir is a joyful reflection on just how to live - and sometimes even thrive (sometimes not) - with anxiety.'Incredibly funny - if you're a super-sensitive, anxious person, you will relate HARD. Whilst laughing hysterically.' Caitlin Moran'I am SO excited about this book!' Richard Osman'Georgia Pritchett is a singularly hilarious person. Her book is a delightful and perfect reflection of her. It's tenderness sneaks up on you and really packs a punch. What a magnificent read!'' Julia Louis Dreyfus

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Was there ever such a husband?A classic find from the Faber archive and a sure hit on Father's Day!The story of a man who creates more trouble for himself than he could ever have expected, will bring a smile to every dad's face. It's also a hilarious fable to read to children - as you would expect from a story that features a dad getting stuck in a chimney due to a cow falling off a roof . . .

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SHORLISTED FOR THE DIVERSE BOOK AWARDSLONGLISTED FOR THE ONDAATJE PRIZELONGLISTED FOR THE DIVERSE BOOK AWARDS'Dazzling' Cosmopolitan'I deeply admire This One Sky Day - and also, not so secretly, bitterly envy it...' MARLON JAMES'Gorgeous' Financial Times'Haunting' Independent'Wonderfully fearless' New Statesman'Stunning' KEI MILLERDawn breaks across the archipelago of Popisho. The world is stirring awake again, each resident with their own list of things to do:A wedding feast to conjure and cookAn infidelity to investigateA lost soul to set freeAs the sun rises two star-crossed lovers try to find their way back to one another across this single day. When night falls, all have been given a gift, and many are no longer the same.The sky is pink, and some wonder if it will ever be blue again.What readers are saying'Brimming with and life and love and just absolutely gorgeous writing. a one-of-a-kind novel.''I couldn't put it down and I will be recommending it to everyone.''A story luxuriously and confidently told, which is sumptuous from sentence to sentence. There is both literal and literary magic here.''This book is bursting at the seams with beauty! Magic! Love! Imagination! It is a burst of colour and flame.''It's hard to explain, but if you love getting lost in a story, this could be one for you.'

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From the winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction'Powerful . . . truly a living and breathing thing.' Financial Times'McBride is on blistering form.' Sinéad Gleeson'Nothing else feels so fresh, so radically new.' Garth Greenwell'An emotionally enchanting novel that gets deep under the skin.' DazedA woman enters an Avignon hotel room. She's been here once before - but while the room hasn't changed, she is a different person now.Forever caught between check-in and check-out, she will go on to occupy other hotel rooms, from Prague to Oslo, Auckland to Austin, each as anonymous as the last. There, amid the open suitcases, the matchbooks, cigarettes, keys and room-service wine, she will negotiate with memory, with the men she sometimes meets, and with what it might mean to return home.

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Twelve years ago, Amores Perros erupted in the cinemas across the world and announced the arrival of Mexican film-makers. The film-makers profiled in that book have now come of age and have made a decisive impact on the international cinema scene The last few years Mexican film-makers winning the Best Director Oscars 5 times, and Best Picture 4 times: Alfonso Cuaron with Gravity and Roma.Alejandro Inarritu with Birdman and The RevenantGuillermo del Toro with The Shape of WaterThis revised edition of The Faber Book of Mexican Cinema brings this astounding story up to date, as well as profiling the next generation, waiting in the wings.

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'Sexy-but-literary' Sunday Times'Complex and psychologically taut' Observer 'Sensual and unsettling' The Scotsman '[A] literary psychological smoulderer' Metro Desire. Deception. Destruction. Devotion.Ella is 26, lonely, hungry and far from home. Lonnie is also 26, but rich, talented and beautiful - with a husband and son to match.Their fates intertwine the day Ella is hired as the family's nanny. She finds herself mesmerised by Lonnie's girlish affection and disregard for the normal boundaries of friendship and marriage, but soon resentment grows too.Crackling with sensuality and suspense, Madeline Stevens's debut novel is a dizzying thriller in which roles are confused and reversed and nothing is ever quite as it seems.

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**SOON TO BE A MAJOR APPLE TV+ SERIES STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN**'A real triumph of storytelling and suspense.' Daily Mail'A very special kind of twisted genius.' SARAH HILARY'Complex, hard-hitting and unflinching' Irish Times'Aching, thoughtful, and compulsively readable.' Vanity FairA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERCleo Sherwood disappeared eight months ago. Aside from her parents and the two sons she left behind, no one seems to have noticed. It isn't hard to understand why: it's 1964 and neither the police, the public nor the papers care much when Negro women go missing.Maddie Schwartz - recently separated from her husband, working her first job as an assistant at the Baltimore Sun - wants one thing: a byline. When she hears about an unidentified body that's been pulled out of the fountain in Druid Hill Park, Maddie thinks she is about to uncover a story that will finally get her name in print. What she can't imagine is how much trouble she will cause by chasing a story that no-one wants her to tell.What readers are saying:***** 'A twisty, thrilling, mesmerising ride. I couldn't put it down!'***** 'It was a delight reading this book. I enjoyed the insight into each character. The mystery was always there, but with a different twist.'***** 'It really grabbed me. . . more than a simple detective novel.'***** 'The absolute best Lippman to date. . . This novel grabbed me in the first pages and didn't let go.'

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'He's the real deal...' JOE HILL'Another read in one sitting from the best-selling Swanson.' METRO'A brilliantly original premise, delivered with panache.' CLARE MACKINTOSHOn the eve of his college graduation, Harry is called home by his step-mother Alice, to their house on the Maine coast, following the unexpected death of his father.But who really is Alice, his father's much younger second wife? In a brilliant split narrative, Peter Swanson teases out the stories and damage that lie in her past. And as her story entwines with Harry's in the present, things grow increasingly dark and threatening - will Harry be able to see any of it clearly through his own confused feelings?

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'An edge-of-your seat tale' O, the Oprah Magazine'Equal parts love story, tragedy and murder mystery' Entertainment WeeklyFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SUNBURN AND DREAM GIRLA classic story of murder and mystery, in which one man's disappearance echoes through the lives of his wife, daughters - and mistress.Fourth of July, 1976. Bambi's world implodes when her husband Felix, newly convicted and facing prison, mysteriously vanishes, leaving her and their daughters behind.Though Bambi has no idea where Felix - or his money - might be, she suspects one woman does: his devoted young mistress, Julie. When Julie herself disappears ten years to the day that Felix went on the lam, everyone assumes she's left to join her ­old lover - until her remains are found in a secluded wooded park.Now, twenty-six years after Julie went missing, Roberto 'Sandy' Sanchez, a retired Baltimore detective working cold cases for some extra cash, is investigating her murder. What he discovers is a tangled web of bitterness, jealousy, resentment and greed - with the enigmatic Felix Brewer at the centre.Felix Brewer left five women behind. Now there are four. Does at least one of them know the truth?'A true mystery. . . Lippman has crafted an excellent story' 5* reader review'This is one of the most artfully plotted mysteries I've read, and on top of that, nicely written with a great sense of character and voice.' 5* reader review'Excellent mystery, could not put it down!' 5* reader review

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The third heartfelt installment in this beautifully-crafted, sassy new series that will make you laugh and cry.It's hard being the normal one in such a crazy family. Bluebell, Twig and Jas have been sent to stay with Grandma for the summer. The countryside is how Bluebell remembers it - full of fun and adventure. But this year, it feels different somehow.There is sobbing and shouting. There are cantering horses and night-time dares. Confusing boys and grandmas to look after. But there is also laughter and more than this, there is love - and that's what being a family is all about.

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The fifteenth century experienced the longest and bloodiest series of civil wars in British history. The crown of England changed hands violently five times as the great families of England fought to the death for the right to rule.Some of the greatest heroes and villains in history were thrown together in these chaotic years. Yet efforts were made to maintain some semblance of peace and order, as chivalry was reborn, the printing press arrived, and the Renaissance began to flourish. Following on from Dan Jones's bestselling The Plantagenets, The Hollow Crown is a vivid and engrossing history of these turbulent times.

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"I don't pretend to be an ordinary housewife." So said Elizabeth Taylor, and therein lay her secret.From her days as a youthful minx at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to her post-studio reign as America's lustiest middle-aged movie queen, Taylor has defined the very essence of Hollywood stardom. Marching through the decades swathed in mink, discarding husbands nearly as frequently as she changed her diamond necklaces, Taylor dominated the headlines as no other star before or since. From America's sweetheart to America's homewrecker and then back again, she uncannily reflected (and at times predicted) the always shifting cultural zeitgeist. How to Be a Movie Star is a different kind of book about Elizabeth Taylor: an intimate look at a girl who grew up with fame, who learned early - and well - how to be famous.

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Nineteen-year-old Luisa McKenzie has failed her Scottish Highers and finds herself back at primary school - working as a teaching assistant, a role she never envisaged or wanted. Her old friends have all left town and she spends her days perched in the classroom's Home Corner, answering questions about God and Death and the colour of the sky.Increasingly disillusioned and reflecting on paths not taken, Luisa begins to ask her own questions about life and the so-called adult world. As her end-of-year review looms, it looks like she may not even be able to hold down this unsatisfactory job much longer and, with the discovery of an uncomfortable secret, her take on reality slowly begins to unravel . . .The Home Corner is a funny, tender novel about feeling adrift when facing the 'real world' for the first time. It explores the way we create our own identities in the light of other people's, and queries the distinctions that are made between the absent and the present, the real and the imagined.

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When Roberta, Peter and Phyllis's father is taken away and they move to a tiny cottage in the countryside, the only advantage is the nearby railway. Join them on their adventures as they befriend all those who work with the trains, prevent a railway disaster and try to discover the truth behind their father's disappearance.The Railway Children, a much-loved children's classic, was first published in 1906 and has never been out of print.

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T. S. Eliot's career as a successful stage dramatist gathers pace throughout the fascinating letters of this volume. Following his early experimentation with the dark comedy Sweeney Agonistes (1932), Eliot is invited to write the words of an ambitious scenario sketched out by the producer-director E. Martin Browne (who was to direct all of Eliot's plays) for a grand pageant called The Rock (1934). The ensuing applause leads to a commission from the Bishop of Chichester to write a play for the Canterbury Festival, resulting in the quasi-liturgical masterpiece of dramatic writing, Murder in the Cathedral (1935). A huge commercial success, it remains in repertoire after eighty years.Even while absorbed in time-consuming theatre work, Eliot remains untiring in promoting the writers on Faber's ever broadening lists - George Barker, Marianne Moore and Louis MacNeice among them. In addition, Eliot works hard for the Christian Church he has espoused in recent years, serving on committees for the Church Union and the Church Literature Association, and creating at Faber & Faber a book list that embraces works on church history, theology and liturgy. Having separated from his wife Vivien in 1933, he is anxious to avoid running into her; but she refuses to comprehend that her husband has chosen to leave her and stalks him across literary society, leading to his place of work at the offices of Faber & Faber. The correspondence draws in detail upon Vivien's letters and diaries to provide a picture of her mental state and way of life - and to help the reader to appreciate her thoughts and feelings.

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There's this monstrous idiot - this monstrous elected idiot - who keeps telling his fellow-idiots to throw my books on a bonfire and beat me up in the street. Stefan is a successful author - widely read, universally admired, and translated into every language.

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I think the local community's supportive. Yeah, of like, good stuff. Bric-a-brac sales and choral singing and local elections and swingers' parties, not you and me messing about with a drum kit.Joe, Ross and Ellie used to be in a band. They were pretty good too, making waves across a rugged patchwork of pubs and clubs. They even had a song on Radio 2. But that was all a long time ago and the songs, the stories, the secrets are long since buried. Time has thrown the three friends far from their younger selves.Back together for one night only to play a benefit gig in their home town, they find a community reeling from a poisoning and a pandemic. And as they rehearse the old songs, the stories and secrets must also be excavated.The Band Back Together premiered in a touring production by Farnham Maltings in March 2024.

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A classic seaside psychological thriller from author of Waterstones Thriller of the Month, Uncle Paul: ''Britain''s Patricia Highsmith'' and the ''grandmother of psycho-domestic noir'' (Sunday Times)''Brilliant ... So witty and clever.'' Elly Griffiths''Fremlin packs a punch.'' Ian Rankin''Splendid ... Got me hooked.'' Ruth Rendell''A master of suspense.'' Janice HallettFOUND IN FLAT was all she could see of the headline, but it was enough: enough to freeze her hovering hand ...Milly Barnes has just arrived in the seaside town of Seacliffe. Between windswept walks on the beach, she settles into lodgings and finds work as a Daily Help. Except this isn''t her real name - ''Milly'' is on the run from her past life, escaping a nightmare marriage. Abandoned by her first husband for another woman, she took revenge by marrying Gilbert: but this proved a terrible mistake. Trapped in a

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''Almost as miraculous as the songs it exists to celebrate.'' PETE PAPHIDES''The only ABBA book that the world will ever need.'' TONY PARSONS''Writing perfection on musical perfection: book heaven.'' CAITLIN MORANThrough exclusive interviews and over a decade of deep research, renowned music journalist Jan Gradvall explores the secrets to ABBA''s success.More than half a century after their songs were recorded, ABBA still make people the world over dance and sing their hearts out. After interviewing the four members for an article in 2013 at which time the band had not been interviewed for over thirty years Jan Gradvall was granted unique access to them for the next decade. In The Book of ABBA, the band share their thoughts and opinions more openly than ever before, while Jan reveals the context in which their sound developed and shows how the story of ABBA is also the story of Sweden and the globalisation of pop culture.From t

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The hilarious guide to the countryside you never knew you needed, from up-and-coming TikTok-and Instagram-hit comedian Killian Sundermann.Welcome to the countryside! A place of rolling hills, winding rivers and natural beauty. Or is it? Killian Sundermann is here to give us his deeply uninformed, highly opinionated tips for country living.He weighs in on everything from his favourite stone walls, to mountain climber''s emotional issues and his generalised beef with farmers. After reading this c***''s guide to the countryside, you'll never see nature in the same way again.

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- Is this Paradise?- Holiday Heaven.- I remember it all being brighter, somehowEmma and Amy return to the seaside caravan park where they spent their teenage summers. Yet the park has changed, and their childhood now seems a distant memory.Two Sisters is a story about who we were when we were sixteen, who we became when we grow up, and the gap between these expectations. It opened at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in February 2024.

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Both a love song to Italy and a criticism of class and patriarchy in England at the time, this illustrated edition is an exquisite, tumultuous romance.''One doesn''t come to Italy for niceness,'' was the retort; ''one comes for life. Buon giorno! Buon giorno!''Lucy''s rigid, middle-class life is meticulously mapped out for her. Boredom and monotony await, along with a perfectly respectable marriage to her perfectly respectable fiancé, Cecil Vyse. But an indulgent holiday to Florence changes the course of her life forever. Through scenic picnics and jovial dinners, Lucy learns that her life need not be reduced to polite conversation, nor does she need to adhere to the restrictive expectations dictated by outdated notions of propriety. For the first time, Lucy and her painfully conventional cousin Charlotte, are introduced to an eclectic cast of characters. The esteemed novelist Eleanor Lavish is flamboyant and hopelessly romantic. The charming M

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'God save all here.'Summer, 1847. People are getting used to the corpses lying by the road and along the ditches. For John Mitchel - lawyer, journalist, activist, politician - the word 'famine' will forever conjure the hollowed faces of Ireland's dead, the liquid Irish of the past now mute on their tongues.Propelled by disgust at the injustice, Mitchel will do all he can to fight for the destitute, the starved, the forgotten. His odyssey will take him all the way to America - that land of promise - but it will draw him into a terrible paradox. He is trying to save lives - in doing so, will he betray the very people he is trying to protect?In Fanatic Heart, Booker Prize winner Thomas Keneally takes on one of the most controversial figures of the fight for Irish independence to wrestle with the conflicts at the centre of a complicated legacy. 'One of the world's greatest writers.' Spectator'He writes with tenderness and pathos.' Irish Times'A grand master of historical fiction.' Mail on Sunday'He succeeds, with touches of brilliance, in bringing to life characters in more detail than history ever possibly could.' Sydney Morning Herald

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** AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW **** SOON TO BE A MAJOR HBO SERIES STARRING JODIE COMER **'Made me laugh and think too much (the right amount?) about sex and death and honesty.' MONICA HEISEY 'Utterly addictive. . . I laughed so hard it ached.' GILLIAN ANDERSON'Juicy, salacious and compelling. Trauma shouldn't be this fun.' SARA PASCOEGreta liked knowing people's secrets. That wasn't a problem. Until she met Big Swiss.Big Swiss. That's Greta's nickname for her - she is tall, and she is from Switzerland. Greta can see her now: dressed top to toe in white, that adorable gap between her two front teeth, her penetrating blue eyes. She's a head-turner: including the heads of infants and dogs.Well that's how Greta imagines seeing her; they haven't actually ever met in person. Nor has Greta actually ever been to Switzerland.Greta and Big Swiss are not in the same room, or even the same building. Greta is miles away, sitting at a desk in her own house, wearing only headphones, fingerless gloves, a kimono, and legwarmers, transcribing this disembodied voice.What Greta doesn't know is that she's about to bump into Big Swiss in the local dog park. A new - and not entirely honest - relationship is going to be born.A relationship that will transform both of their lives. . .Readers are obsessed with Big Swiss:'This thing is a riot. I laughed out loud regularly. I've never read anything quite like it.''This book is f u n n y''The premise is bizarre but brilliant! I am ready to move to Hudson, NY to meet these folks!'' I haven't read a book this engrossing for a long time.''The blend of real and wit made for a wonderfully sublime experience.'

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Prince unravels the mysteries behind the life of a true musical genius. Through years of research and interviews with ex-Revolution members such as Wendy and Lisa, this is an account of a pop maverick whose experiments with rock, funk, techno and jazz revolutionised pop. With reference to 35 years of released and unreleased recordings, Prince remains the go-to book on the great man.

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POETRY BOOK SOCIETY CHOICE''To describe Paul Muldoon''s influence on contemporary poetry is like trying to assess the influence of The Beatles on post-war music: it''s to be seen and heard in the work of almost every British and Irish poet since the 1970''s.'' Irish PostSince his debut, New Weather (1973), Paul Muldoon has created some of the most original and memorable poetry of the past half-century. Joy in Service on Rue Tagore sees him writing with the same verve and distinction that have consistently won him the the highest accolades.Here, from artichokes to zinc, he navigates an alphabet of image and history, through barleymen and Irish slavers to the last running wolf in Ulster. The search involves the accumulated bric-a-brac of a life, and a reckoning along the way of gains against loss. In the poet''s skilful hands, ancient maps are unfurled and brought into focus the aggregation of Imperial Rome and the dis

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A profound, luminous masterpiece by one of Ireland's greatest playwrights.This edition was published in 2023 with a beautifully redesigned text and cover, to coincide with the National Theatre' revival. It is 1936 and harvest time in County Donegal. In a house just outside the village of Ballybeg live the five adult Mundy sisters; their older brother, a missionary priest returned from Uganda; and the youngest sister's seven-year-old son, Michael. Over the course of two days in the family's life, Brian Friel evokes not only the interior world of a group of human beings trapped in their domestic situation, but the wider landscape - public and private, Christian and pagan - of which they are nonetheless a part.'There is no doubting we are in the thrall of as masterly a dramatist as the theatre possesses.' The Times

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And then it started, little by little it started, until they were married five years later and his real life began.''Exquisite ... A super-abundantly gifted, big-hearted novelist.'' Ian McEwan''A writer whose work shines with intelligence and originality.'' Don DeLilloThe life of Sy Baumgartner noted author, and soon-to-be retired philosophy professor has been defined by his deep, abiding love for his wife. Now Anna is gone, and Baumgartner is trying to live with her absence. But Anna's voice is everywhere still, in every spiral of memory and reminiscence, in each recalled episode of the passionate forty years they shared.Rich with feeling, wit and an eye for beauty in the smallest, most transient episodes of ordinary life, Baumgartner is a luminous work a tender final masterpiece from one of the world''s greatest writers.''A master.'' The TimesWhat readers are saying:**

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Jamie McKendrick's Drypoint depicts the turbulent present with incisive detail while often taking us back to an equally conflictual Biblical or classical world. Acute and stoical in tone, these poems transport us by bus or ferry or ghostly Rolls Royce to the cobbled streets of Ferrara, the once-Greek port of Smyrna, the bombed acres of Liverpool and Mariupol, and to places not to be found on any map, places where North was south, being lost like this'.Like his immigrant muntjac' the poet disregards walls and fences and breaks through the borders of our ruled enclosures'. The presence of translations from poets ancient and modern is another example of the way space and time are here collapsed and reconfigured in a language rich with associations, historical and vernacular.

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Joseph K has a comfortable job in financial services and barely notices the growing chaos all around on the walk to work: the homelessness, the food banks, the anger, the protests, the relentless rise of the cost of living. Until one day, K is arrested. No one will explain what the charges are, but they must be answered.Emily White's adaptation of The Trial weaves the nightmare of arrest and injustice into a funny and physical take on Franz Kafka's classic.The play premiered at the Swansea Grand Theatre, in a production by National Theatre Wales, in March 2023.

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New Weather was Paul Muldoon's first book of poems. When it appeared in 1973, Seamus Heaney described its author as 'unusually gifted, endowed with an individual sense of rhythm, a natural and copious vocabulary, a technical accomplishment and an intellectual boldness that mark him as the most promising poet to appear in Ireland for years'. While the promise has been amply fulfilled, this new paperback edition gives Muldoon's many, more recent admirers the opportunity to see what a versatile and substantial artist he was from the outset.

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'Spellbinding, fast-paced and deeply romantic.' Aiden Thomas'A blast of heart-racing magic you won't want to miss.' Andrew Joseph White'Story alchemy unlike any other.' A. R. Capetta'A thrilling, expansive adventure.' Elana K. Arnold'Standout fantasy.' Publisher's WeeklyThree young alchemists embark on a quest leading them towards unexpected love and unimaginable power - the debut YA fantasy from the bestselling and award-winning Kacen Callender.Ash Woods isn't supposed to perform alchemy - he'll be arrested if anyone ever finds out. But when he's caught by the condescending Ramsay Thorne, instead of handing him over to the reds, Ramsay surprises Ash by making him an offer: Ramsay will keep Ash's secret if he helps her find the legendary Book of Source, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power.As Ash and Ramsay work together and their feelings for each other grow, Ash discovers their mission is more dangerous than he imagined, pitting them against influential and powerful alchemists - Ash's estranged father included. Ash's journey takes him through the cities and wilds across New Anglia, forcing him to discover his own definition of true power and how far he and other alchemists will go to seize it.Fans of Cemetery Boys and Iron Widow will love this LGBTQ+ romantasy reminiscent of A Deadly Education meets Six of Crows.

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This is poetry for our times. The Forward Book of Poetry is the indispensable annual guide to contemporary poetry. In bringing together the best new work published in the UK and Ireland, as chosen by the jury of the annual Forward Prizes, this anthology offers a vital overview of the literary landscape to seasoned poetry lovers and new readers alike.

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They wanted revenge, they wanted people to be held accountable in a world where that just didn't happen. It was like expecting a rotten tree to bear fruit.Akwaeke Emezi's exhilarating new novel follows five people over the course of a heady weekend which will brutally upend all of their lives.When Kalu drops Aima at Lagos Airport, it marks the end of their four-year relationship. Shattered and broken open, he thinks that's the last he will see of his girlfriend. But Aima is drawn back into the city - to the scandalous, decadent nightlife of her best friend.As Kalu grieves, his friend offers him an exclusive invitation to one of his sordid, global parties - a way for Kalu to escape, if only for a night. Kalu knows it will offer every possible indulgence and something even more precious: time with the man he loves, but whose actions will plunge them all into a whirling descent that pulls in everyone connected to them.

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Well yes and no. It's sexy, but pedestrian. Hieronymus Bosch in Smethwick. Hetty and I found a little alcove with our Sauvignon.Four couples gather in a suburban London home for a night of wine, cheese, and more intimate pleasures. Some are curious newcomers, some are old hands, but one guest takes them all by surprise. Thus an evening full of promise is poised to go beyond anyone's expectations. Terry Johnson's The Sex Party premiered at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London, in November 2022.

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