Search results for ""Author Marina""

Abseits etablierter Galerien und großer Museen brodelt es. Täglich eröffnen neue Kunsträume in Hinterhäusern, leerstehenden Gebäuden oder Privatwohnungen. Manche dieser Räume bleiben jahrzehntelang bestehen, andere sind temporär angelegt oder wandern von Stadt zu Stadt. »SPACES« präsentiert diese subkulturelle Entwicklung und versammelt die Räume und Projekte in einem Städteguide: ein Führer für alle Reisenden, die einen Blick in die Ateliers und auf die Experimentierbühnen der zeitgenössischen Kunst werfen möchten und gern durch unbekannte Stadtviertel streifen. Graphisch reduzierte Stadtkarten und ein Register dokumentieren den Standort der Spaces und dienen der geographischen Orientierung. In der aktuellen erweiterten Ausgabe des herausragend gestalteten Buches werden über 240 Kunsträume aus 40 Städten vorgestellt.

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A critical look at female queerness through the lens of first-generation culture. In Tanto Tanto, a queer daughter of immigrants highlights the struggles she faces in romantic relationships amidst a culture of oppressive, culturally sanctioned heteronormativity. Exploring the consequences of queer love in both contemporary American and Luso-American societies, Tanto Tanto unsettles ideas about the privileged queer body, romantic love, queer motherhood, femininity, gender identity, sex, and more. This collection makes visible and troubling what is often overlooked, misunderstood, and romanticized in “American” homosexuality.

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A breakout, genre-blurring novel from one of the most exciting new voices of Latin American's feminist gothic. Across two different time periods, two women confront fear, loneliness, mortality, and a haunting yearning that will not let them rest. In the nineteenth century, a vampire arrives from Europe to the coast of Buenos Aires, on the run from the Church. She must adapt, intermingle with humans, and, most importantly, be discreet. In present-day Buenos Aires, a woman finds herself at an impasse as she grapples with her mother's terminal illness and her own relationship with motherhood. When she first encounters the vampire in a cemetery, something ignites within the two women and they cross a threshold from which there's no turning back. Thirst plays with the boundaries of genre while exploring the limits of female agency, the consuming power of desire, and the fragile vitality of even the most immortal of creatures.

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Featured in Stylist’s ‘Can’t Miss’ Books of 2023 Sometimes I think that carrying — other people, the continuity of history, generational identity, the emotional load of the everyday — is the main thing that women do. In Marina Benjamin’s new set of interlinked essays, she turns her astute eye to the tasks once termed ‘women’s work’. From cooking and cleaning to caring for an ageing relative, A Little Give depicts domestic life anew: as a site of paradox and conflict, but also of solace and profound meaning. Here, productivity sits alongside self-erasure, resentment with tenderness, and the animal self is never far away, perpetually threatening to break through. Drawing on the work of figures such as Natalia Ginzburg, Paula Rego, and Virginia Woolf, Benjamin writes with fierce candour of the struggle to overwrite the gender conditioning that pulls her back into ‘the mud-world of pre-feminism’ even as she attempts to haul herself out. From her upbringing as the child of immigrants with fixed traditional values, to looking after her mother and seeing her teenager move out of home, she examines her relationships with family, community, her body, even language itself. Ultimately, she shows that a woman’s true work may lie at the heart of her humanity, in the pursuit both of transformation and of deep acceptance.

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An intense, lyrical, witty, and humane exploration of a state we too often consider only superficially. At once philosophical and poetical, Insomnia ranges widely over history and culture, literature and art, exploring a threshold experience that is intimately involved with trespass and contamination: the illicit importing of day into night.

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L'Atalante is the work of French director Jean Vigo. It is a study of romantic love, told in a style influenced by surrealism, but still Vigo's own. This text is part of the 'BFI Film Classics' series. Each volume in the series presents a personal commentary on the film, together with a brief production history and a detailed filmography, notes and bibliography.

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Diversity in Action: Managing Diverse Talent in a Global Economy examines one of the most important and topical issue related to diversity management, namely implementing effective strategies for managing diverse talent groups. Highlighting both theoretical issues regarding diversity management and their practical implications, Marina Latukha’s wide ranging collection investigates how different management practices focusing on diverse talent groups are realised in order to provide systematic assessments on existing diversity challenges. Diversity in Action uniquely features diversity within diversity as the main topic within its analysis. Content covers different types of employees in its focus of diversity management practices in global economies. Groups explored in relation to human resource and talent management practices include but not limited to management of different generations and migrants and diaspora’ representatives employed in modern organizations. There is also discussion of gender-focused initiatives to present the dialog about female talent management and the way it influences organizational results. Diversity in Action highlights the latest development in relation to strategies and practices on diversity management, providing specific examples of how different talent diverse groups should be involved in organizational business processes and effectively managed.

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'A gripping story of the unravelling of a mother's secrets as her daughter searches for answers to a decades-old mystery of a local girl's disappearance. Evocative, suspenseful and beautifully written. I couldn't put it down.' Adrienne Chinn 'I was hooked from the very first page. The emotional layers of this beautifully written book are woven together seamlessly. Absolutely superb!' Clare Marchant 'An absolutely fascinating tale of a fractured family, and the hurts and secrets that they carry. McCarron's observations and characterizations are sublime.' Jenni Keer A gripping and emotional story of family and the secrets we keep from the ones we love. For fans of Kristin Hannah and Delia Owens. When you're lost sometimes the only way to look forward is to look back... Three women. Two generations apart. One secret they share. Maine, 1997. As the people of Fort Meadow Beach celebrate the Fourth of July, four-year-old Daisy Wright disappears and is never seen again. Maine, Present Day. Fired from her job and heart-broken, Peyton Winchester moves back home for the summer. Bored and aimless, she finds a renewed sense of purpose when an ad for a journalism course reminds her of a path not taken. Returning to life in her hometown brings back all kinds of memories – including Daisy's vanishing when she was a young girl herself. As Peyton begins her search for the truth, new discoveries begin to intertwine Daisy's past and her present with irreversible consequences. Readers love The Shimmer on the Water: 'Magic... I felt like gnawing on my arm to get to the end! And what an ending it was. Loved it... Arresting book. Marina McCarron's writing has me absolutely hooked!' Goodreads 5* Review 'Wow what a fantastic read... A great story which will keep you gripped from the beginning. I really loved it and highly recommend this book.' NetGalley 5* Review 'Mesmerizing... Tons of family drama, and the disappearance of a little girl. Highly recommend!' Tara Leigh Books, 5* Review 'Riveting... A young girl who vanished, but it was also about a family with so many secrets... Captured my attention and reeled me in until the end... Amazing... Took me down a path with twist, turns, and unbelievable things happening.' NetGalley 5* Review 'An incredible, dual timeline family saga. It kept me gripped the whole time... Eualla's story really pulled at my heart... I thoroughly enjoyed this book.' @thesapphiccelticbookworm, 5* Review 'Absolutely loved this book... A great read with strong characters and a fabulous story.' NetGalley 5* Review 'Intriguing... Great characters... Brilliantly interwoven. Highly recommended.' NetGalley 5* Review 'Loved it and will strongly recommend!' Goodreads 5* Review

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In this witty and revelatory investigation of the so-called dismal science, University of British Columbia professor Marina Adshade skips the usual widgets and uncovers how the market comes to bear on our most intimate decisions: sex, dating, courtship, love, marriage, even breaking up. The science of ‘sexonomics’ is born: How much money does an ugly guy need to have to attract as many women via an online dating site as a hot man? Is modern marriage just an opportunity to consume more goods and services? Does raising the price of beer reduce risky sex? Why does a spike in the sale of sex toys predict an upcoming recession, while an increase in the number of breast lifts indicates a perkier economy is on the way? Which comes first: a prosperous nation or a promiscuous one? Once you read Dirty Money, you’ll never look at your money – or your relationships – the same way again

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Works of early Irish authors include a strong biblical component, but indicate that independent thought is accepted. Scarcity of scientific data, a real interest in the physical world, and the need to validate the scriptures encouraged seventh-century Irish scholars toward critical reflection on scientific matters. Their world-view was based onmaterials drawn from the Bible, on earlier Christian works and on personal reflection and contemplation. This volume looks at the Irish contribution to the development of western thought in the early middle ages. MARINA SMYTHis librarian of the Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame, and teaches early medieval cultural history.

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Follow the story of a little girl as she learns to slow down, be patient and appreciate that some things in life are worth waiting for. When you’re little, the world can seem like a truly slow-moving place. Waiting for school to finish, staring at the clock, wishing it would move. Joining seemingly never-ending queues, urging them to speed up. Staring longingly at a hot cake baking in the oven. Jumping into bed, lying down and drifting off to sleep. Waiting can seem to last a lifetime. And then, as soon as you wake up… the race begins – hurry up, let’s get a move on – we’re going to be late! This book is all about a little girl learning to be patient. As she slowly opens her eyes to the wonder of nature, she uncovers that some things are really worth waiting for. Animals wake from hibernation, seeds bloom into flowers, trees turn into forests and snails form beautiful, glittering trails.<

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The forgotten story of a surprising anti-imperial, nationalist project at the turn of the twentieth century: a grassroots movement of Russian Jews to racialize themselves.In the rapidly nationalizing Russian Empire of the late nineteenth century, Russian Jews grew increasingly concerned about their future. Jews spoke different languages and practiced different traditions. They had complex identities and no territorial homeland. Their inability to easily conform to new standards of nationality meant a future of inevitable assimilation or second-class minority citizenship. The solution proposed by Russian Jewish intellectuals was to ground Jewish nationhood in a structure deeper than culture or territory—biology.Marina Mogilner examines three leading Russian Jewish race scientists— Samuel Weissenberg, Alexander El’kind, and Lev Shternberg—and the movement they inspired. Through networks of race scientists and political activists, Jewish medical societies, and imperial organizations like the Society for the Protection of the Health of the Jewish Population, they aimed to produce “authentic” knowledge about the Jewish body, which would motivate an empowering sense of racially grounded identity and guide national biopolitics. Activists vigorously debated eugenic and medical practices, Jews’ status as Semites, Europeans, and moderns, and whether the Jews of the Caucasus and Central Asia were inferior. The national science, and the biopolitics it generated, became a form of anticolonial resistance, and survived into the early Soviet period, influencing population policies in the new state.Comprehensive and meticulously researched, A Race for the Future reminds us of the need to historically contextualize racial ideology and politics and makes clear that we cannot fully grasp the biopolitics of the twentieth century without accounting for the imperial breakdown in which those politics thrived.

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It was a terrible crossing. The worst yet. There weren''t enough boats. I had to stab my way up the gangplank. It was pitch black and the ferryman hadn''t an eye in his head.In a house, a young mother watches over her sleeping baby. But in this dark and dangerously funny play, nothing is as it seems.Audrey or Sorrow is a shape-shifting, time-bending deep dive into a world of unimaginable loss. It exemplifies Marina Carr''s work: storytelling that pushes the boundaries of love, power and desire.Draw coal. Coal is a beautiful thing. Someday we''ll all be coal. A Landmark Productions and Abbey Theatre co-production, it opened at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in February 2024.

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This third richly varied collection of plays by Marina Carr was published to coincide with the Royal Shakespeare Company's premiere of Hecuba at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in September 2015.Sixteen Possible Glimpses imagines sixteen fleeting moments in Anton Chekhov's short life and work. Phaedra Backwards retells the Phaedra myth to discover what shaped her. The Map of Argentina offers a meditation on love and what happens when it is denied, or pursued and hunted down. Hecuba was written in reaction to the bad press this Trojan queen receives, and reimagines how she may have suffered and reacted. Indigo is a dark and passionate romance amongst fairies, demons, ghouls and every sort of fantastic creature out of folklore and myth.

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On Raftery's Hill'This is a play that howls to be seen; its courage is matched only by its dramatic power.' Sunday IndependentAriel'An astonishing piece of theatre. Interweaving themes drawn from Irish, Greek and biblical myth, she spins a tale of power that is honest, emotional, dark and true . . . Die to see it.' Irish ExaminerWoman and Scarecrow'Drama doesn't come much richer or stranger than this death-bed lament. Ravishing in its dense, literary language, it is as visceral as it is intellectual. It lingers not only in the ear and brain, but in the imagination and the gut. An extraordinary brew, bittersweet and totally intoxicating.' The TimesThe Cordelia Dream'A brave piece and clearly charged with deep feeling. . . This is certainly unsettling territory and Carr boldly goes for it.' Financial TimesMarble'An extraordinary play that lures us in with a promise of the recognisable only to drag us screaming into the soaring, magnificent possibilities of love and the destruction that it wreaks.' Irish Independent

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A luminous memoir of post-war childhood, adventure and loss on the banks of the Nile. ‘Wonderful – a brave, inventive, touching distillation of memory and imagination’ JENNY UGLOW Inventory of a Life Mislaid follows Marina Warner’s beautiful, penniless young mother Ilia as she leaves southern Italy in 1945 to travel alone to London. Her husband, an English colonel, is still away in the war in the East as she begins to learn how to be Mrs Esmond Warner, an Englishwoman. With diamond rings on her fingers and brogues on her feet, Ilia steps fearlessly into the world of cricket and riding. But, without prospect of work in a bleak, war-ravaged England, Esmond remembers the glorious ease of Cairo during his periods of leave from the desert campaign. There, they start a bookshop, a branch of W. H. Smith’s. But growing resistance to foreign interests, especially British, erupts in the 1952 uprising, and the Cairo Fire burns the city clean. Evocative and imaginative, at once historical and speculative, this memoir powerfully resurrects the fraught union and unrequited hopes of Warner’s parents. Memory intertwines richly with myth, the river Lethe feeling as real as the Nile. Vivid recollections of Cairo swirl with ever-present dreams of a city where Warner’s parents, friends and associates are still restlessly wandering.

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A luminous memoir of post-war childhood, adventure and loss on the banks of the Nile. ‘Wonderful – a brave, inventive, touching distillation of memory and imagination’ JENNY UGLOW Inventory of a Life Mislaid follows Marina Warner’s beautiful, penniless young mother Ilia as she leaves southern Italy in 1945 to travel alone to London. Her husband, an English colonel, is still away in the war in the East as she begins to learn how to be Mrs Esmond Warner, an Englishwoman. With diamond rings on her fingers and brogues on her feet, Ilia steps fearlessly into the world of cricket and riding. But, without prospect of work in a bleak, war-ravaged England, Esmond remembers the glorious ease of Cairo during his periods of leave from the desert campaign. There, they start a bookshop, a branch of W. H. Smith’s. But growing resistance to foreign interests, especially British, erupts in the 1952 uprising, and the Cairo Fire burns the city clean. Evocative and imaginative, at once historical and speculative, this memoir powerfully resurrects the fraught union and unrequited hopes of Warner’s parents. Memory intertwines richly with myth, the river Lethe feeling as real as the Nile. Vivid recollections of Cairo swirl with ever-present dreams of a city where Warner’s parents, friends and associates are still restlessly wandering.

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7 Deaths of Maria Callas is an opera project created by Marina Abramović premiering at the Bayerische Staatsopera in Munich 2020. In collaboration with an all star creative team and through a mix of narrative opera and film, Abramović re-creates seven iconic deaths from Callas’ most important roles throughout her career, followed by an interpretive recreation of Callas’ actual death played by Abramović on stage. This book serves as a companion to the live performance and provides a behind the scenes look into the different elements that make up this conceptual and dynamic homage to the classic and iconic singer.

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How do you find a book when you can't recall the title…or the author? This homage to a common reader's dilemma is a gift the booklover in your life won't soon forget. Readers know all too well the comedy and tragedy of forgetting the name of a must-find book. Inspired by this torturous predicament, artist Marina Luz creates paintings of books based on the descriptions we use when we can't remember their titles—mining Internet book-search forums for the quirky, vague, and often hilarious language we come up with in these moments. This volume collects dozens of these imaginary books into a library all their own: Titles like "Cat, Possibly Named Henry," "It Was All a Dream," or "Something-Something, Beverly Hills" inspire dreaming up their contents, often as entertaining as trying to guess the real book behind them. A celebration of book love unlike any other, this petite book is a clever gift for bibliophiles that will spark knowing smiles. PERFECT GIFT FOR BOOKLOVERS: The collection will spark recognition for everyone who has encountered this phenomenon (so, virtually every reader) and especially those who have worked in a bookstore, who know intimately well how often this dilemma arises. This impulse-priced delight is an excellent way to make book-loving friends feel seen. A UNIQUE APPRECIATION OF BOOK LOVE: This is a loving tribute to the wonderful and bizarre ways that books leave impressions on our souls, if not always perfectly in our memories. It's a fun and fresh appreciation of bibliophilia that still delivers long after the first read. Perfect for: • Bibliophiles • Booksellers • People seeking gifts for the booklovers in their life

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Winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 1997. 'Carr's harrowing play has the scale and anguish of myth, and the immediacy of a contemporary anecdote.' Independent on SundayThere's a wolf tooth growin in me heart and it's turnin me from everywan and everthin I am.Portia Coughlan lives life in monstrous limbo, haunted by a yearning for her spectral twin brother lying at the bottom of the Belmont river, unable to find any love for her wealthy husband and children, seeking solace in soulless affairs, deeply afraid of what she might do.Portia Coughlan premiered on the Abbey Theatre's Peacock Stage, Dublin, in April 1996 and transferred to the Royal Court Theatre, London, in May that year. It was revived at the Almeida Theatre, London, in October 2023.'Taut and haunting, funny and sad . . . Carr plays with time and place to resonant, ultimately devastating effect.' The Stage'One of the most important Irish plays of the twentieth century.' Arts Review'Marina Carr goes to a deep place that has not just to do with society now but that touches an inner tragedy of existence. The female quality of her writing comes through not only in the way she writes about women, it's in the physicality in her writing. She is right in there with the cycles of life, with the blood and the dirt.' Joyce McMillan, New York Times

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Bursting with inspiring activities, the revised and expanded Meet the Artist series of activity books introduces children to internationally renowned artists in a fun and engaging way. Every book includes a brief introduction to the artist’s life followed by a series of activities that explore prominent themes in the artist’s work. Featuring beautiful reproductions of key artworks, and illustrated by a leading contemporary illustrator, every book in the Meet the Artist series encourages children to use art as an avenue for exploring ideas and expressing their own experiences through art-making. Born in 1887, Georgia O’Keeffe was a trailblazing artist known for her magnified paintings of flowers, bones, and desert landscapes. Today she is regarded as an American icon and pioneer of twentieth-century art.

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The third unforgettable historical love story set in Italy from Marina Fiorato, author of the bestseller THE GLASSBLOWER OF MURANO. For fans of Philippa Gregory, Sarah Dunant and Alison Weir.Florence looks like gold and smells like sulphur . . .In the colourful world of fifteenth-century Italy, Luciana Vetra is young and beautiful, a part-time model and full-time whore. When she is asked to pose as the goddess Flora for Sandro Botticelli's painting La Primavera, she is willing to oblige - until the artist abruptly sends her away without payment. Affronted, she steals an unfinished version of the painting - only to find that someone is ready to kill her to get it back.As friends and associates are murdered around her, Luciana turns to the one man who has never tried to exploit her beauty, Brother Guido della Torre, a novice at the monastery of Santa Croce. Fleeing Florence together, Luciana and Guido race through the nine great cities of Renaissance Italy, desperately trying to decode the painting's secrets before their enemies stop them.

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The fourth unforgettable historical love story set in Italy from Marina Fiorato, author of the bestseller THE GLASSBLOWER OF MURANO. For fans of Philippa Gregory, Sarah Dunant and Alison Weir.The Palio: Siena's famously dangerous and hard-fought horse race. A year of planning, ten riders, three circuits of the piazza - and all over in a single moment. But this year, for two of the women watching, far more than the coveted prize is at stake. For Pia of the Tolomei, the most beautiful woman in Siena, the Palio is her last hope of escaping a violent marriage. For Violante de Medici, it marks the start of what her enemies intend to be her last month as governess of the city. Isolated in her palace, surrounded by conspirators, she must find the courage to uncover a plot that threatens her very existence. The trumpets sound. And into the piazza rides an unknown horseman, clad in the colours of the Tower contrada. What he does during the race will not only change the lives of Pia and Violante, but alter the course of the Medici dynasty itself. Alive with all the colour and rich historical detail that marks Marina Fiorato's work, Daughter of Siena is a dramatic and compelling story of treachery, courage and the power of love.

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SHORT LISTED FOR THE 2021 CHRISTOPHER BLAND PRIZE'The Lost Homestead is a memoir of Wheeler's mother and her family, which turns out to be so much more than that... it takes the reader into the contested history of India and Pakistan in the 1940s, and explores the impact of partition and division (from the Punjab to Berlin) on the lives of individuals.' - MARY BEARD'Deeply touching.' - Daily Mail'A personal, sometimes harrowing history of partition... a writer well worth reading.' - The Times'A deeply personal story of identity and a highly relatable journey for many in the diaspora... Wheeler taps a rich vein of personal history... Evocative... Gripping.' - Financial Times'A timely read given the current reassessment of colonialism . . . a charming memoir that weaves the story of India independence and the tragedy of the partition with that of her mother's own escape from an unhappy marriage.' - Christina Lamb, Sunday Times'A personal, sometimes harrowing history of partition . . . by narrating partition with a focus on her mother's family, the Singhs, she has made the abstractions of history suddenly more real: they are given names, faces and feelings . . . offers valuable insights, especially since Gandhi and Jinnah were also products of London's inns of court . . . [Marina Wheeler is] a writer well worth reading.' - Tanjil Rashid, The Times'A family journey, a political drama, a historical legacy - magnificently portrayed with courage, humanity and a gentle power.' - Philippe Sands, author of East West Street and The Ratline'A wonderful memoir, gripping, elegant, warm and insightful - a triumph. An intimate and inspiring portrayal of how a woman made her own world as nations and empire were made and unmade.' - Dr Shruti Kapila, Lecturer in Modern History, University of Cambridge'This book is more than a family memoir - it is an insightful glimpse into the way small worlds are forever changed by the impersonal currents of history.' Shashi Tharoor, author of Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India***On 3 June 1947, as British India descended into chaos, its division into two states was announced. For months the violence and civil unrest escalated. With millions of others, Marina Wheeler's mother Dip Singh and her Sikh family were forced to flee their home in the Punjab, never to return. As an Anglo-Indian with roots in what is now Pakistan, Marina Wheeler weave's her mother's story of loss and new beginnings, personal and political freedom into the broader, still highly contested, history of the region. We follow Dip when she marries Marina's English father and leaves India for good, to Berlin, then a divided city, and to Washington DC where the fight for civil rights embraced the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi. The Lost Homestead touches on global themes that strongly resonate today: political change, religious extremism, migration, minorities, nationhood, identity and belonging. But above all it is about coming to terms with the past, and about the stories we choose to tell about ourselves.

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First published in hardback as Kit.An unforgettable historical romance based on an astonishing true story from international bestseller Marina Fiorato - perfect for fans of Poldark and The Scandalous Lady W. Dublin 1702. Irish beauty Kit Kavanagh has everything she could want in life. Newly married, she runs a successful alehouse with her beloved husband Richard. The wars that rage in Europe over the Spanish throne seem a world away.But everything changes on the night that Richard simply disappears. Finding the Queen's shilling at the bottom of Richard's tankard, Kit realizes that her husband has been taken for a soldier.Kit follows Richard's trail across the battlefields of Italy in the Duke of Marlborough's regiment. Living as a man, risking her life in battle, she forms a close bond with her wry and handsome commanding officer Captain Ross. When she is forced to flee the regiment following a duel, she evades capture by dressing once more as a woman. But the war is not over for Kit. Her beauty catches the eye of the scheming Duke of Ormonde, who recruits her to spy upon the French. In her finery she meets Captain Ross once again, who seems just as drawn to the woman as he was to the soldier.Torn between Captain Ross and her loyalty to her husband, and under the orders of the English Crown, Kit finds that her life is in more danger now than on the battlefield.

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'A rich jewel of a story, full of desire and danger' - Julie Cohen. A dark tale of love and obsession, perfect for fans of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock and The Wicked Cometh. London, 1853. Annie Stride has nothing left to live for - she is a penniless prostitute, newly evicted from her home and pregnant. On the night she plans to cast herself from Waterloo Bridge into the icy waters of the Thames, her life is saved by Francis Maybrick Gill, a talented pre-Raphaelite painter - and her world is changed forever.Francis takes Annie as his artist's muse, elevating her from fallen woman to society's darling. With her otherworldly beauty now the toast of London, her dark past is left far behind. But Annie's lavish new life is not all it seems - and there are some who won't let her forget where she came from...'A thrilling tale of love, lust and revenge' The Lady'A captivating gothic blend of mystery and romance' Sunday Mirror'Exquisite...this is historical fiction at its best' - Book Literarti Reviews'Gothic, dark [and] rich with atmosphere' - Louise Loves books'A glorious story of art and passion' - Tea Party Princess'Dazzling' Goodreads Reviewer'Captivating' Goodreads Reviewer

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Are you ready for a weekend away at the Hotel of Seduction?Grace has won the man of her dreams - and her fantasies. Brooding, sensual, wealthy and handsome, their days and nights are filled with pleasure. But can this enigmatic man truly love her?Together they have set up a secret, exclusive hotel for adventurous couples, designed to open their guests' eyes to the darker, deeper side of desire. But one of the visitors has an agenda, and David is becoming distracted by a new arrival.As they explore the delights on offer, Grace realises this is a test: if she fails, she will lose David to his next passing fancy. If she succeeds, she will secure his love for ever, and he will finally invite her into his world . . .Take some time away and allow yourself to be seduced by the Hotel of Seduction.

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Brought up as a Christian, Marina Nemat's peaceful childhood in Tehran was shattered when the Iranian Revolution of 1979 ushered in a new era of Islamic rule. After complaining to her teachers about her Maths lessons being replaced by Koran study, Marina was arrested late one evening. She was taken to the notorious prison, Evin, where interrogation and torture were part of the daily routine. Aged sixteen, she was sentenced to death. Her prison guard snatched her from the firing squad bullets but exacted a shocking price in return: marriage to him and conversion to Islam. Marina lived out her prison days as his secret bride, spending nights with him in a separate cell. Marina struggled to reconcile her hatred towards Ali and her feelings of physical repulsion with the fact that he had saved her life. When Ali was murdered by his enemies from Evin, and saved Marina's life for a second time, her feelings were complicated even further. At last she was able to return home, to her family and her past life, but silence surrounded her time as a political prisoner and the regime kept her under constant surveillance. Marina's world had been changed forever and she questions whether she will ever escape Iran and its regime or be free of her memories of Evin.

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'Her bravest work of performance art to date . . . Rawly intimate' ObserverThis memoir spans Marina Abramovic's five decade career, and tells a life story that is almost as exhilarating and extraordinary as her groundbreaking performance art. Taking us from her early life in communist ex-Yugoslavia, to her time as a young art student in Belgrade in the 1970s, where she first made her mark with a series of pieces that used the body as a canvas, the book also describes her relationship with the West German performance artist named Ulay who was her lover and sole collaborator for 12 years. Abramovic has collaborated with stars from Lady Gaga to Jay-Z, James Franco and Willem Dafoe. Best known for her recent pieces 'The Artist is Present' and '512 Hours', this book is a fascinating insight into the life of one of the most important artists working today, and the woman who has been described as 'the grandmother of performance art'.

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Phantasmagoria explores ideas of spirit and soul since the Enlightenment; it traces metaphors that have traditionally conveyed the presence of immaterial forces, and reveals how such pagan and Christian imagery about ethereal beings is embedded in a logic of the imagination, clothing spirits in the languages of air, clouds, light and shadow, glass, and ether itself. Moving from Wax to Film, the book discusses key questions of imagination and cognition, and probes the perceived distinctions between fantasy and deception; it uncovers a host of spirit forms -- angels, ghosts, fairies, revenants, and zombies -- that are still actively present in contemporary culture. It reveals how their transformations over time illuminate changing idea about the self. Phantasmagoria also tells the accompanying story about the means used to communicate such ideas, and relates how the new technologies of the Victorian era were applied to figuring the invisible and the impalpable, and how magic lanterns (the phantasmagoria shows themselves), radio, photography and then moving pictures spread ideas about spirit forces. As the story unfolds, the book features many eminent scientists and philosophers who applied their considerable energies to the question of other worlds and other states of mind: they staged trance séances in which mediums produced spirit phenomena, including ectoplasm. Phantasmagoria shows how this often surprising story connects with some of the important scientific discoveries of a fertile age, in psychology and physics, and continues to influence contemporary experience.

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'Lively . . . a joy to read' - The TimesShortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prizeFrom the bestselling author of A Short History of Tractors in UkrainianNorth London in the twenty-first century: a place where a son will swiftly adopt an old lady and take her home from hospital to impersonate his dear departed mother, rather than lose the council flat.A time of golden job opportunities, though you might have to dress up as a coffee bean or work as an intern at an undertaker or put up with champagne and posh French dinners while your boss hits on you.A place rich in language - whether it's Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian, Swahili or buxom housing officers talking managementese.A place where husbands go absent without leave and councillors sacrifice cherry orchards at the altar of new builds.Marina Lewycka is back in this hilarious, farcical, tender novel of modern issues and manners.

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Lentils, free love, radical politics and family truths . . . Various Pets Alive and Dead is the wonderfully funny fourth novel from Marina Lewycka, author of the bestselling A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian.For twenty years Doro and Marcus lived in a commune, convinced lentils and free love would change the world. They didn't. What they did do was give their children a terror of radicalism, dirt, cooking rotas and poverty. Their daughter Clara wants nothing less conformist than her own, clean bathroom. Their son Serge hides the awkward fact that he's a banker earning loadsamoney. So when Doro and Marcus spring a surprise on their kids - just as the world is rocked in ways they always wished for - the family is forced to confront some thorny truths about themselves . . .'Wonderfully funny . . . a dizzy, eye-watering treat . . . Lewycka is somewhere between Hilary Mantel in her satirical mode and Sue Townsend' Independent'Thank heavens for Marina Lewycka whose Various Pets Alive and Dead me laugh at least once in every chapter . . . The warmth of its tone, its zest, its blend of quirky, humane comedy and intellectual seriousness make this a novel to treasure' New Statesman'Marina Lewycka's latest novel is wonderfully funny with moments of pure farce in the best tradition of social satire . . . this inventive and witty book fizzes along from beginning to end' Daily ExpressMarina Lewycka was born in Kiel, Germany, after the war, grew up in England and lives in Sheffield. Her first novel, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, longlisted for the Man Booker and won the Bollinger Everyman Prize for Comic Fiction and the Waverton Good Read Award. Her second novel, Two Caravans, was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Two Caravans and Marina's third novel, We Are All Made of Glue, are all available in Penguin

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Using real stories, expert opinion, politics, psychology and the author’s own insights, Forgiveness explores the messy, complex and gripping subject of forgiveness. 'Cantacuzino's gift for empathy shines through her conversations... She tackles her complex [message] with clear prose and an open heart... This nuance feels like a cool breeze in a heatwave. If there is a message here, it's to listen more, think more and preach less'Sunday Times ‘This is an utterly memorable book – beautifully written, fascinating in its insights, and extraordinarily moving. We all need to forgive, and this book, through its recounting of the stories of people who have something really significant to forgive, will be an inspiration to help us reach a state of forgiveness. This is a book that will stay with the reader for a very long time’Alexander McCall SmithI forgive you. Three simple words behind which sits a gritty, complex concept that is so often relevant to our ordinary, everyday lives. These words can be used to absolve a meaningless squabble, or said to someone who has caused you great harm. They can liberate you from guilt, or consciously place blame on your shoulders. Marina Cantacuzino seeks to investigate, unpick and debate the limits and possibilities of forgiveness, exploring the subject from every angle – presenting it as an offering, never a prescription. Through real stories, expert opinion and the author’s experiences, the reader gets to better understand what forgiveness is and what it most definitely isn’t, how it can be an important element in breaking the cycle of suffering, and ultimately how it might help transform fractured relationships and mend broken hearts.Forgiveness is a blueprint for how to live a more harmonious, richer life. 'Tender, valuable, and often beautiful, Forgiveness shows how we can get tabled up in hate, and how we might cut ourselves free' Gavin Francis

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