Search results for ""canongate books""

A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICKOne relentlessly hot summer, six children explore the scorched wheat fields that enclose their tiny Italian village. When the gang find a dilapidated farmhouse, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano makes a discovery so momentous that he dare not tell a soul. It is a secret that will force Michele to question everything and everyone around him, and will bring his innocent world toppling down. An unputdownable thriller, I'm Not Scared has become a contemporary classic in Italian literature, read and celebrated the world over.

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A life in the spotlight will keep anyone hidden.Julia Pastrana is the singing and dancing marvel from Mexico. She is heralded across nineteenth-century Europe as much for her talent as for her unusual looks. Yet few can see past her freakish appearance to the ambitious woman within. Orphans of the Carnival sweeps us from the music halls of Vienna to an attic in modern-day South London, playing out an epic tale of grit, love, music and the triumph of the human spirit pushed to extremes.

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It's 4 a.m. and Cathy Mason is watching dawn break over the Lovelace estate. By the end of the day, her community will be a crime scene. By the end of the week, her city will be on fire.In this gripping thriller, a death at police hands has repercussions far beyond one family plunged into grief. When violence grips Cathy's estate, the dead man becomes a useful tactic (or an urgent threat) in political games at the highest level. So while lives are at risk on Cathy Mason's estate, across London in Westminster, careers are being made, or ruined. From a Home Secretary's attempts to unseat a Prime Minister, to a new Met Police Commissioner fighting for his job, to families torn apart, Ten Days shows what happens when politics, policing and the hard realities of living in London explosively collide.

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From the author of the international bestseller GO THE FUCK TO SLEEP comes a book about the other great parental frustration: getting your little angel to eat something that even vaguely resembles a normal meal. Profane, loving and deeply cathartic, YOU HAVE TO FUCKING EAT breaks the code of child-rearing silence, giving new, old, grand- and expectant parents a much-needed chance to laugh about a universal problem.**(You probably shouldn't read it to your children.)

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'Timeless, funny and utterly absorbing' HILARY MANTELIn April 1925 at the age of fifteen, Jean Lucey Pratt started a journal that she kept until just a few days before her death in 1986, producing over a million words in 45 exercise books. What emerges is a portrait of a truly unique, spirited woman and writer. Never before has an account so fully, so honestly and so vividly captured a single woman's journey through the twentieth century.

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TRUE HONOUR IS ENDLESS.1935. Norfolk. War is looming in Great Britain and the sprawling country estate of Alderberen Hall is shadowed by suspicion and paranoia. Alderberen's newest resident, Delphine Venner, is determined to uncover the secrets of the Hall's elite society, which has taken in her gullible mother and unstable father.As she explores the house and discovers the secret network of hidden passages that thread through the estate, Delphine unearths a world more dark and threatening than she ever imagined. With the help of head gamekeeper Mr Garforth, Delphine must learn the bloody lessons of war and find the soldier within herself in time to battle the deadly forces amassing in the woods . . .

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Richard Brautigan's wonderfully zany, hilarious episodic novel set amongst the rural waterways of America.Here's a journey that begins at the foot of the Benjamin Franklin statue in San Francisco's Washington Square, wanders through the wonders of America's rural waterways and ends, inevitably, with mayonnaise. With pure inventiveness and free-wheeling energy, the counterpoint to all those angry Beatniks, Brautigan tells the story of rural America, and the hunt for a bit of trout fishing. Funny, wild and sweet, Trout Fishing in America is an incomparable guidebook to the delights of exploration - of a country and a mind.

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Jesse and Lee share a house owned by a very nice Chinese dentist, where it rains in the hall. They move to cabins on the cliffs at Big Sur where the deafening croaks of frogs can be temporarily silenced by the cry, 'Campbell's Soup'. Ultimately, we learn how the frogs are permanently silenced . . . and dreams disperse around a fire into 186,000 endings per second. In anticipating flower power and the ideals of the Sixties, Brautigan's debut novel was at least a decade before its time and remains a weird and brilliant classic.

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Feilamort can remember very little of his childhood before he became a choir boy in the home of the Laird and his French wife. Feilamort has one of the finest voices in the land. It is a gift he believes will protect him . . . Deirdre has lived in the castle all her short life. Apprentice to her mother, she embroiders the robes for one of Scotland's finest families. She can capture, with just a few delicate stitches, the ripeness of a bramble or the glint of bronze on a fallen leaf. But with her mother pushing her to choose between a man she does not love and a closed world of prayer and solitude, Deirdre must decide for herself what her life will become.When the time comes for Feilamort to make an awful decision, his choice catapults himself and Deirdre head-first into adulthood. As the two friends learn more about Feilamort's forgotten childhood, it becomes clear that someone close is intent on keeping it hidden. Full of wonder and intrigue, and told with the grace and charm for which Anne Donovan is so beloved, Gone Are the Leaves is the enchanting story of one boy's lost past and his uncertain future.

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Why is it good to be grumpy if you want to avoid getting ripped off? Why do we think coins are bigger than they really are?Why is it a mistake to choose the same lottery numbers every week? Join award-winning psychologist and BBC Radio 4 presenter Claudia Hammond as she delves into big and small questions around the surprising psychology of money. Funny, insightful and eye-opening, Mind Over Money will change the way you think about the cash in your pocket and the figures in your bank account forever.

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Gray argues that a truly independent Scotland will only ever exist when people in every home, school, croft, farm, workshop, factory, island, glen, town and city feel that they too are at the centre of the world. Independence asks whether widespread social welfare is more possible in small nations such as Norway and New Zealand than in big ones like Britain and the U.S.A. It describes the many differences between Scotland and England. It examines the people who choose to live north of the border. It shows Scotland's relevance to the rest of the world. It attempts to conjure a vision of how a Scots parliament might benefit the people of this small but dynamic nation. And it tells how democracy will only truly succeed when every person believes that their vote will make a difference.

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The first in the enchanting new Magical Menagerie mystery series where things are not always what they seem. Georgie Johansen returns to the charming, coastal town of Twilight Cove and quickly finds herself in a whirlwind of romance, magic and murder! It''s been years since screenwriter Georgie Johansen last visited her Aunt Olivia''s farm in the coastal town of Twilight Cove and things have certainly changed. First of all it''s now an animal sanctuary, and then there''s the new farmhand who''s as mysterious as he is handsome. Her first day on the farm, Georgie encounters the eccentric Dorothy Shale, an older woman who lives in a cabin in the woods. There are rumours that Dorothy''s a witch, but Georgie doesn''t believe that. Although, Dorothy does have an unusual magical presence around her . . . When Dorothy ends up murdered, suspicion falls on Georgie - she was the one who found the poor woman''s body, and being new in town doesn''t help with the sus

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Armchair travellers and foodies, rejoice! Booklist Starred Review on Murder on the Spanish SeasSagarine Pfister is a great cook but has been blacklisted by almost every restaurant in Chicago. She gets her chance at Louie''s, a below-average restaurant, the only place that will give her a job.Things change when she finds head chef Louie Ferrar dead in the walk-in freezer of his restaurant. But instead of closing the place down, the owner, Russian gang boss Anatoly Morzov, not only offers her Louie''s job, but also the position as his personal chef. Sagarine agrees, and while she knows she''s playing with fire, the chance to turn out extraordinary food at both the restaurant and for Morzov''s extravagant private parties is just too tempting.While the Chicago P.D. searches for Louie''s killer, the FBI pressures Sagarine to inform on the gang. She has no choice, but things take another dangerous turn when she falls for one of Morzov''s lieutenants. As Saga

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Octogenarian former sheriff Bill Gastner and Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman investigate a puzzling double murder in this twisty, page-turning instalment in the critically acclaimed Posadas County mystery seriesIf you haven''t yet discovered these wonderful mysteries, you are in for a treat! Anne Hillerman, New York Times bestselling authorThe morning after his eighty-seventh birthday bash, former Posadas County sheriff Bill Gastner drives past a couple of vehicles stopped on the highway shoulder. It''s not an unusual sight: a sheriff''s patrol unit, emergency lights ablaze, pulled in behind a pickup truck. The female deputy hasn''t radioed for backup. But there''s something about the scene that makes him feel uneasy.The next day, Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is called to a rather more dramatic and disturbing roadside scene, with the same truck the star of the show. But this time, its occupant is in no fit state to talk - hi

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Eccentric antiques dealer and amateur sleuth Vivian Borne finds herself in jail - again! - when a podcast star is found dead in her hotel room in this new Trash ''n'' Treasures cozy mystery - one of the funniest cozy series going (Ellery Queen Magazine)When popular podcaster Nicole Chatterton wants an interview for Killers Caught, true-crime author Vivian Borne is overjoyed. Finally, some recognition for the sleuthing skills the septuagenarian antiques dealer and her daughter Brandy have demonstrated, solving countless crimes in their small hometown of Serenity, Iowa!Dolled up and dressed to the nines, Vivian figures the interview is going swimmingly . . . until Nicole turns the tables, accusing the mother/daughter duo of committing the very crimes they solved. Shocked and affronted - and with a spiteful tirade captured by the cameras - Vivian breaks off the interview, ejecting the rude podcaster from the premises of the Trash ''n'' Treasu

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Superb. . .a fast-moving and gripping plot Publishers Weekly Starred Review of The Merchant MurderersMarch, 1557. Jack Blackjack is back in London and enjoying a sedentary life - after his treacherous voyage back to his beloved city the previous year, he desires nothing more than the simple pleasures - women, wine, beer and more women.But his new parish of St Helen''s has different ideas for him. . . a week after first laying eyes on the tempting Miss Rachel Nailor, she turns up horribly dead on the church vestry floor. . . and someone is trying to frame him for her murder!A fellow Lady Elizabeth sympathiser, it appears Rachel Nailor was a woman with many secrets. But was she murdered in a fit of lustful rage, or was it part of a wider political play? Who would want Rachel dead - and Jack hanged for it? The suspects are plenty and Jack is running out of time. With his master breathing down his neck, and old foes crawling o

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Trouble hits an animal feed store in a small Texas town, leading Chief of Police Samuel Craddock to uncover jaw-dropping secrets stretching back thirty years as he grapples to solve a deadly mystery.Chief of Police Samuel Craddock is perplexed by increasingly troubling events at Granger''s Feed Store. The shop''s owner, Melvin Granger, recently had a stroke, and his son, Mark, has moved back to the small Texas town of Jarrett Creek to look after him and run the business. But it seems that some town folk are against Mark''s plans to renovate and modernize the popular animal feed store . . . Could a devastating fire be linked to an attack on Mark and the threatening phone calls he''s been receiving?When the mummified body of a man originally from Jarrett Creek is found in the scorched shop, Craddock''s investigation takes a sudden deadly turn. Who is determined to stop the renovation at any cost, and why? As Craddock investigates, he unearths explosive se

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Dr Claire Roget''s patient may have told her last lie, but can the truth about her death be uncovered?Poppy Kelloway was a liar. Forensic psychiatric Claire Roget''s patient made up ''facts'' that damaged families, destroyed relationships and even resulted in a suicide. Poppy left a trail of human misery in her wake, but when she''s found murdered in her home by her two teenage sons, the savage nature of the attack is shocking, as is the discovery of a torn appointment card for her next meeting with Claire. Could there be a connection between the murderer and Claire''s clinic, and is she in danger? Claire and Detective Sergeant Zed Willard must navigate dangerous minds and a terrible betrayal in their quest to uncover the chilling truth.

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Will the truth pull them under? A twisty, gripping mystery from a multi-award-winning master of suspense that you won''t be able to put down . . .Tabitha Muir returns to her childhood home in the remote hills of Hiskith in Scotland after twenty years away. She''s lost her job, her house, and custody of her son after a divorce, and thinks this must be rock bottom - but worse is to come. An unplanned explosion at the dam on the loch and the suspicious death of her beloved cousin Davey force Tabitha to confront her past demons. Is Davey''s death just another dark episode in the Muir family''s scandalous history? As Davey''s closest friends, Gordo and Barrett, help Tabitha try to answer the many questions around Davey''s demise, Tabitha discovers that nothing she thought she knew about herself and those around her is true . . . The trio are about to bring Hiskith''s darkest secrets to the surface, but will the truth destroy them?

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Don''t give up, Erin. I''m waiting for you. Find me.What happened to Gina Washington? Twelve-year-old Erin''s world was turned upside down twenty years ago when her mother suddenly vanished and never returned.Arriving at the Seafarer''s Rest B&B in the coastal resort of Pacific Grove in California for a much-needed vacation, Erin is stunned to learn that her mother stayed at the inn shortly after disappearing all those years ago, and makes a disturbing discovery in the grounds. Did Gina lay clues in the hope that Erin would one day try to find her? Drawn into a life-changing quest to unravel the truth, Erin uncovers deception, conspiracy and passion. But as she finally starts to find answers to the many questions around her mother''s disappearance, Erin''s own life is in grave danger . . .

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Washington, D.C.-based photojournalist Sophie Medina is not a murderer - but someone is determined to make sure she goes down for a crime she did not commit in this gripping mystery.When billionaire philanthropist and art collector Robson Blake hires Sophie Medina to take photographs for him, she doesn''t expect to show up and find her client dead. It seems he was the victim of a burglary gone wrong. But why was his state-of-the-art security system turned off . . . and why, in a house full of priceless Old Masters, is the only thing missing a beautiful but insignificant Ukrainian religious icon?Before long, Sophie finds herself in the crosshairs of a D.C. homicide detective who suspects she knows more than she is saying about Blake''s murder - and he''s not wrong. To Sophie''s mixed delight and horror, she''s recently learned she has a half-brother . . . who might also be an international art thief, with eyes on Blake''s collection.As the police get cl

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Ellen Curtis - professional declutterer, amateur sleuth and woman of a certain age - investigates the puzzling death of a TV personality who''s past his primeProfessional declutterer Ellen Curtis doesn''t need to like her clients to help them sort their homes out. Aging TV personality and curmudgeon Humphrey Carter might have a chip on his shoulder the size of England about the decline of his career, but a job''s a job.But when Ellen arrives the morning after Humph''s eightieth birthday party, primed and ready to tackle his study - no matter his protests - she gets the shock of her life. Humph''s dead . . . and all signs point to him having taken his own life.Did the egotistical chat show host really die by suicide? His wife is adamant he''s been murdered, and the more Ellen looks, the more dirt on Humph she digs up . . . and the more suspects she uncovers. Can she track down a killer - if there even is one? And, just as importantly, can

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I know my husband is dead. I just don''t know whether I killed him . . .Charles and I were law students when I fell for him. He was handsome, charming, sure of himself - and he deigned to look at me. We had a dream-come-true courtship, wedding, and honeymoon, all orchestrated and paid for by his wealthy parents. Then he brought me home . . . And I woke up.Nineteen months and a baby later, I''m standing in our pristine living room, looking at Charles lying in a pool of blood. I don''t remember how I got here. The police are bound to think I killed him. But I didn''t . . . did I?

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Paul was the most influential figure in the early Christian church. In this epistle, written to the founders of the church in Rome, he sets out some of his ideas on the importance of faith in overcoming mankind's innate sinfulness and in obtaining redemption. With an introduction by Ruth Rendell.

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'They call me Jax, though my real name's EvaThe whole of the Jackson Five rolled into one serious divaNo.1 on the guest list, top of the chartsWhen I make my grand entrance, the sea of sequins parts...'From Hamburg to Jo'burg, Oslo to Soho, Patience Agbabi follows her critically acclaimed debut collection R.A.W., with Transformatrix, an exploration of women, travel and metamorphosis. Inspired by 90s poetry, 80s rap and 70s disco, Transformatrix is a celebration of literary form and constitutes a very potent and telling commentary on the realities of late twentieth century Britain. It is also a self-portrait of a poet whose honesty, intelligence and wit manages to pack a punch, draw a smile and warm your heart all at once.

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The poetry of the Makars marked an extraordinary flowering of Scottish culture and the Scots language in the 15th and early 16th centuries. This magnificent anthology, introduced, edited and annotated by J.A. Tasioulas, makes available for the modern reader the complete poems of both Henryson and Dunbar, as well as Gavin Douglas's The Palis of Honoure. Old Scots words are glossed and medieval and classical references are explained to make this the most approachable collection of major poems in a period which forged a nation's cultural and political sense of itself, from the moral subtlety of Henryson, to the wild flytings of Dunbar, to the democratic humanism of Gavin Douglas.

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A figurehead of the early Christian church, Paul sets out some of his thoughts on strife and division, spirituality, the bond of marriage and hopes for his own immortality in this book. With an introduction by Fay Weldon

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The Scottish Enlightenment is one of the great achievements of European culture. In philosophy, law, economics, politics, linguistics and the physical sciences, Scots were key players in changing the way the world was viewed. And this explosion of activity still reverberates. It was the age of David Hume, Thomas Reid and Adam Smith, of Adam Ferguson, James Hutton and Sir John Sinclair. In his authoritative introduction, Alexander Broadie emphasises not only the diversity of intellectual discussion taking place in this small country located on the outer edge of Europe, but also the European dimension of this Scottish movement.After the general introduction, the anthology is arranged thematically - Human Nature, Ethics, Aesthetics, Religion, Economics, Social Theory and Politics, Law, Historiography, Language and Science. These sections gather together well-known and lesser-known writings of the time. Much of the material has not been reprinted since the 18th century. Those with an interest in the Scottish cultural tradition will find many things to hold their attention in this unique book.

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Treasure Island/The Black Arrow/The Treasure of Franchard/Will o' the Mill/The Sire de Malétroit's Door/The House of Eld/The Song of the MorrowStevenson is one of the world's great storytellers. From the gripping opening of Treasure Island, to the unforgettable portrait of Richard III in The Black Arrow, his gift for driving narrative and marvellously paced prose holds the attention of the reader from beginning to end.This volume is designed to showcase the full range of Stevenson's talents as a writer of adventure. Included are not only some of his most famous works but also lesser known gems from The New Arabian Nights and Fables.

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In writing Just Duffy, a novel set amidst the urban decay of Lanarkshire, Robin Jenkins has created a modern-day Confession of a Justified Sinner. Convinced of his own rectitude, appalled at the moral squalor around him, Duffy declares war on society. Ridiculous, yet horrifying at the same time, his campaign builds to a terrifying conclusion. Beset with ambiguity, Duffy is a ferocious indictment of Calvinistic moral certainty, of a struggle for good which results in only evil and destruction. The deeply ironic title bears witness to the mismatch of Duffy's aspiration against his own insignificance.The themes of this novel are central to all Jenkins' work. In its stark simplicity Just Duffy lays claim to being one of his most significant and powerful novels. Its inexorable drive and power bear witness to a modern Greek tragedy played out on a Scottish stage.

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A leech, a pirate, a predator, an anti-Christ, a public benefactor and the fisherman's friend; such is Gillespie Strang in this remarkably powerful Scottish novel. Gillespie is the harsh prophet of the new breed of Scottish entrepreneur, prepared to use any means to achieve his insatiable ambition amongst the nineteenth-century fishing communities of the west coast.John MacDougall Hay (1881-1919) was born and raised in Tarbert, Loch Fyne, on which he based the setting for Gillespie. A Church of Scotland minister, his knowledge of such communities and his sombre vision of good and evil shape this, his finest novel.

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'Half Scotland sniggered and the other half scowled, when in letters to the Scotsman and the Glasgow Herald, I put forward my suggestion that prisoners in Scottish jails be allowed to wear their kilts as their national birthright if such be their wish.'From his origins as an illegitimate child in the slums of Glasgow, Fergus Lamont sets out to reclaim his inheritance and to remake his identity as soldier, poet and would-be aristocrat.Covering the years from the turn of the century to the Second World War, Fergus's unforgettable voice recounts a tale of vanity, success and betrayal which shines its own sardonic light on Scotland and the cultural and political issues of the day.At odds with his origins and unsettled in his aristocratic pretensions, Fergus Lamont reaches middle age before he is offered at least the hope of redemption in a love affair with an island woman.How it turns out and what he learns too late, adds a tragic dimension to the scathing humour of this, Robin Jenkins's most searching exploration of the modern Scottish psyche.

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'Wonderful' Kate Atkinson'Highly original' The Times'Witty and moving' Mail on SundayMasha Edelman yearns for a life on the stage and to escape her strict religious family. Miles away, in a safe suburban neighbourhood, family man Leslie Senzatimore longs to be a hero. They have little idea of what lies ahead for them. Through a cosmic sleight of hand enters Jacob, a man who has travelled a long way through time, and is determined to make his mark on the lives of these two strangers. What follows is a rollicking, sparkling story of kinship, freedom and belonging.

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The audio edition of Matthew's Gospel from the widely acclaimed modern literary classic The New Testament in Scots. Tom Fleming's reading brings out the poetry, wit and humanity of William Lorimer's translation in a way which speaks to everyone.

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Winner of the Arthur C Clarke Award 2012Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011Women are dying in their millions. Some blame scientists, some see the hand of God. As she watches her world collapsing, Jessie Lamb decides she wants to make her life count.Would you let your daughter die if it would save the human race? The Testament of Jessie Lamb is the story of one daughter's heroism and one father's love.

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In Paris, two couples form an intimacy that will change their lives forever. As they discover the clubs and cafés of the eleventh arrondissement, the four become inseparable, united by deeply held convictions about dating strategies, tunnelling in P.O.W. films and, crucially, the role of the Styrofoam cup in American thrillers. Experiencing the exhilarating highs of Ecstasy and sex, they reach a peak of rapture - but the come-down is unexpected and devastating. Dyer fixes a dream of happiness - and its aftermath. Erotic and elegiac, funny and romantic, Paris Trance confirms Dyer as one of Britain's most original and talented writers.

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The Crimson Petal and the White is one of the best-loved novels of recent years. Now a major BBC TV drama, it captured hearts and left readers desperate for more. In The Apple, Faber returns to Silver Street to find it still teeming with life, and conjures further tantalising glimpses of Sugar, Clara, Mr Bodley and many other favourites.

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Hours from now, Rachel Massey will become a mother. Terrified and excited, there is nothing she wants more. But motherhood is not as she had imagined. The sleepless nights turn to weeks, the weeks to months, and while Rachel loves her son as much as any mother, she can't escape the feeling that something has gone terribly wrong. Honest, uplifting and often shocking, Go To Sleep is a powerful and heart-wrenching story.

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