Search results for ""canongate books""

It was a macabre ending for an unjust judge: his throat slit by a sharp knife; his body stuffed into a lobster pot and left beneath a powerful jet of water shooting up through the cliffs. When Mara investigates, she suspects five men who had received harsh sentences for minor crimes. But who was it who was seen that night by the elderly Fergus?

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Two murders, apparently unconnected: one victim shot to death in his office, the other brutally stabbed in what appears to have been a road rage incident . neither case solved.Six months later, following a desperate plea from a chief constable, Detective Superintendent Henry Christie finds himself travelling across the country to carry out an urgent review of the two killings. His investigations will plunge him into a terrifying world of murder and corruption and find him pitted against a well-organized group who seem to anticipate his every move.Henry Christie is about to discover just how bad life can be when some backs are against the wall .

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The headmistress of Cresacre Abbey School has asked Phineas Fox to establish whether an opera, to be performed as part of the school''s bicentenary celebrations, plagiarises an earlier work. During the course of his investigations, Phin discovers that curious legends about the school''s past still linger, including the fate of a group of nuns who disappeared without trace more than 200 years before. What exactly happened to them? And who is the mysterious Ginevra, the shadowy figure whose true identity has never been known .? As he delves further, Phin begins to unravel a series of interlocking secrets, each one more puzzling - and sinister - than the last.

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Presenting the Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington: Adventurer. Philosopher. Idiot.Karl Pilkington isn't keen on travelling. Given the choice, he'll go on holiday to Devon or Wales or, at a push, eat English food on a package holiday in Majorca. Which isn't exactly Michael Palin, is it? So what happened when he was convinced by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant to go on an epic adventure to see the Seven Wonders of the World?Travel broadens the mind, right? You'd think so...Find out in Karl Pilkington's hilarious travel diaries.'He is a moron. A completely round, empty-headed, part-chimp Manc.' RICKY GERVAIS

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In 1970 Jerry Della Femina wrote this gossip-filled, insider's account of working on Madison Avenueduring the golden age of advertising. It caused a sensation, became a bestseller and establisheditself as a cult classic. Years later, it inspired the multi-award-winning drama Mad Men.

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Chris Guthrie, torn between her love of the land and her desire to escape the narrow horizons of a peasant culture, is the thread that links these three works. In them, Gibbon interweaves the personal joys and sorrows of Chris' life with the greater historical and political events of the time.Sunset Song, the first and most celebrated book of the trilogy, covers the early years of the twentieth century, including the First World War. Chris survives, with her son Ewan, but the tragedy has struck and her wild spirit is subdued. In Cloud Howe, as the minister's wife, Chris learns to love again, and we witness the cruel gossip and high comedy of small village life until, once again, Chris suffers a terrible loss. Grey Granite focuses on her son Ewan and his passionate involvement with justice for the common man. For Chris, with her intuitive strength, nothing lasts - only the land endures.

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In his compelling prequel to The Successor, Kadare draws us into a land deprived of choice, a country under a reign of terror. The spellbinding Agamemnon's Daughter was written in Albania in the 1980s and smuggled into France a few pages at a time. It reveals a world where fear is an instrument of power, but the individual survives despite the odds.From the winner of the first Man Booker International Prize comes a searing story of love denied, then shattered under the chilling wheels of the state. Through the impeccably crafted, incisive tale of a thwarted lover's odyssey through a single day, we are given a true sense of how hard it can be to remain human in a world ruled by fear and suspicion.

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A tale of border warfare, military and erotic, set in the twenty-third century, where the women rule the kingdom and the men play war games. This is the fictional memoir of Wat Dryhope - edited, annotated and commented upon. History has come to an end, war is regulated as if it's all a game. But Wat, the History Maker himself, does not play entirely by the rules, and when a woman, Delilah Puddock, joins the fray, this 'utopian' history is further enlivened. Alasdair Gray cleverly plays with the notion and writing of history, as well as perennial modern debates on war, sexism and society - entertaining and thought-provoking, this is a delightful satire illustrated throughout by the author.

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Can you handle mornings without a brew? No? Multiply that. Imagine an entire population under a cloud of lethargy, unable to kick start their days. Now introduce coffee. Bingo. The brain moves into over-drive and it's time for empire building.So goes Stewart Lee Allen's crazy theory. Only thing is, after retracing coffee's journey to world domination - by train, rickshaw, cargo freighter and donkey - he has plenty of evidence to back it up.Stewart Lee Allen has filtered out the richest beans from coffee's hot and frothy history . . . serving up a steamy, high-energy brew that will stimulate you more than a triple-strength espresso.

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Following the death of her best friend, Erin has to get out of London. Returning home to Belfast, an au pair job provides a partial refuge from her grief and her volatile relationship with her mother. Erin spends late nights at the bar where her childhood friend Declan works. There Erin meets an American academic who is also looking to get lost. Parallel to this she reconnects with an old flame, Mikey. This brings its own web of complications. With a startlingly fresh and original voice - jarringly funny, cranky, often hungover - Lazy City depicts the strange, meandering aftermath that follows disaster.

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LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARA NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEARA NEW YORKER BOOK OF THE YEARA WASHINGTON POST BOOK OF THE YEARIt is 1921 and at Cassowary House in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Robert Hamlyn is a well-to-do lawyer and his steely wife Lesley a society hostess. Their lives are invigorated when Willie, an old friend of Robert's, comes to stay.Willie Somerset Maugham is one of the greatest writers of his day. But he is beleaguered by an unhappy marriage, ill-health and business interests that have gone badly awry. He is also struggling to write. The more Lesley's friendship with Willie grows, the more clearly she see him as he is - a man who has no choice but to mask his true self.As Willie prepares to leave and face his demons, Lesley confides secrets of her own, including how she came to know the charismatic Dr Sun Yat Sen, a revolutionary fighting to overthrow the imperial dynasty of China. And more scandalous still, she reveals her connection to the case of an Englishwoman charged with murder in the Kuala Lumpur courts - a tragedy drawn from fact, and worthy of fiction.From Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors is a masterful novel of public morality and private truth a century ago. Based on real events it is a drama of love and betrayal under the shadow of Empire.

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LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTIONA SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, NEW YORKER AND WASHINGTON POST BOOK OF THE YEARWillie Somerset Maugham is one of the greatest writers of the early twentieth century. But in 1921 he is beleaguered by an unhappy marriage, ill-health and business interests that have gone badly awry. He is also struggling to write.His friend Robert Hamlyn offers an escape in the Straits Settlements of Penang, where Robert''s steely wife Lesley learns to see Willie as he is - a man who has no choice but to mask his true self.As Willie prepares to leave, Lesley confides in him secrets of her own, including how she came to know the charismatic revolutionary Dr Sun Yat Sen. And more scandalous still, her connection to an Englishwoman charged with murder in the Kuala Lumpur courts - a tragedy drawn from fact, a

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Whilst these records were being conceived, rehearsed, recorded and produced, Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood made hundreds of images. These ranged from obsessive, insomniac scrawls in biro to six-foot-square painted canvases, from scissors-and-glue collages to immense digital landscapes. They utilised every medium they could find, from sticks and knives to the emerging digital technologies.The work chronicles their obsessions at the time: minotaurs, genocide, maps, globalisation, monsters, pylons, dams, volcanoes, locusts, lightning, helicopters, Hiroshima, show homes and ring roads. What emerges is a deeply strange portrait of the years at the commencement of this century. A time that seems an age ago - but so much remains the same.

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WINNER OF THE McILVANNEY PRIZESHORTLISTED FOR THE IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER 2023Glasgow is a city in mourning. An arson attack has left five dead. Tempers are frayed and sentiments running high.When three youths are charged the city goes wild. A crowd gathers outside the courthouse but as the police drive the young men to prison, their van is rammed by a truck, and the men are grabbed and bundled into a car. The next day, the body of one of them is dumped in the city centre. A note has been sent to the newspapers: one down, two to go.Detective Harry McCoy has twenty-four hours to find the kidnapped boys before they all turn up dead, and it is going to mean taking down some of Glasgow's most powerful to do it . . .

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A joyous and poignant book about the world of professional acting, the messiness of life and how every experience - good or bad - shapes who you are, from the New York Times bestselling author of Not My Father's Son

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This inspiring collection, curated by the host of the Poetry Unbound, presents fifty poems about what it means to be alive in the world today. Each poem is paired with Pádraig''s illuminating commentary that offers personal anecdotes and generous insights into the content of the poem.Engaging, accessible and inviting, Poetry Unbound is the perfect companion for everyone who loves poetry and for anyone who wants to go deeper into poetry but doesn''t necessarily know how to do so.Contributors include Hanif Abdurraqib, Patience Agbabi, Raymond Antrobus, Margaret Atwood, Ada Limón, Kei Miller, Roger Robinson, Lemn Sissay, Layli Long Soldier and more.

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In the wake of the 2011 tsunami, Ruth discovers a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore of her beach home in British Columbia. Within it lies a diary that expresses the hopes, heartbreak and dreams of a young girl desperate for someone to understand her. Each turn of the page pulls Ruth deeper into the mystery of Nao's life, and forever changes her in a way neither could foresee.Weaving across continents and decades, A Tale for the Time Being is an extraordinary novel about our shared humanity and the search for home.

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

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THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE 2020 AKUTAGAWA PRIZE'My oshi was on fire. Word was he'd punched a fan'High-school student Akari has only one passion in her life: her oshi, her idol. His name is Masaki Ueno, best known as one-fifth of Japanese pop group Maza Maza. Akari's dedication to her oshi consumes her days completely. She keeps a blog entirely devoted to him, religiously chronicling and analysing all his events. He is the spine of her life; she cannot survive without him. When Masaki is rumoured to have assaulted a female fan, facing waves of social media backlash, Akari's world falls apart.Offering a vivid insight into otaku culture and adolescence, Idol, Burning is a brilliantly gripping story of obsession, coming of age and the addictive, relentless nature of fandom culture.

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LONGLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2024LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023 A dazzling story of modern Nigeria and two families caught in the riptides of wealth, power, romantic obsession and political corruption.Eniola is tall for his age, a boy who looks like a man. His father has lost his job, so Eniola spends his days running errands for the local tailor and begging, dreaming of a big future.Wuraola is a golden girl, the perfect child of a wealthy family. Now an exhausted young doctor in her first year of practice, she is beloved by Kunle, the volatile son of family friends.When a local politician takes an interest in Eniola and sudden violence shatters a family party, Wuraola and Eniola's lives become unexpectedly intertwined. In this breathtaking novel, Ayobami Adebayo shines her light on Nigeria, the gaping divides in its society, and the shared humanity that lives in between.

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LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2023: the Observer, Guardian, Financial Times, Stylist, the Express and Oprah DailyAyòbámi Adébáyò, the Women's Prize-shortlisted author of Stay With Me, unveils a dazzling story of modern Nigeria and two families caught in the riptides of wealth, power, romantic obsession and political corruption.Eniola is tall for his age, a boy who looks like a man. His father has lost his job, so Eniola spends his days running errands for the local tailor, collecting newspapers and begging, dreaming of a big future.Wuraola is a golden girl, the perfect child of a wealthy family. Now an exhausted young doctor in her first year of practice, she is beloved by Kunle, the volatile son of family friends.When a local politician takes an interest in Eniola and sudden violence shatters a family party, Wuraola and Eniola's lives become intertwined. In this breathtaking novel, Ayòbámi Adébáyò shines her light on Nigeria, on the gaping divide between the haves and the have-nots, and the shared humanity that lives in between.

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A BEST SUMMER READING PICK FOR THE TIMES, THE DAILY MAIL, THE FT AND THE GUARDIANA 2024 BOOK OF THE YEAR PICK FOR BBC R4 OPEN BOOK, THE OBSERVER, GQ, GRAZIA, HERO, I-D, NYLONA semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country from LA to NY. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, beds down in a nondescript motel and immerses herself in a temporary reinvention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey.Miranda July''s second novel confirms the brilliance of her unique approach to fiction. With July''s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, All Fours tells the story of one woman''s quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic and domestic life of a 45-year-old fe

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WINNER OF THE BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY AWARD 2022A SUNDAY TIMES BEST PAPERBACK OF 2023 A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEKA FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2022: HEALTH AND WELLBEINGA WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2022: POPULAR SCIENCE---People who believe ageing brings wisdom live longer.Lucky charms really do improve an athlete's performance.Taking a placebo, even when you know it is a placebo, can still improve your health.Welcome to The Expectation Effect.David Robson takes us on a tour of the cutting-edge research happening right now that suggests our expectations shape our experience. Of course, you can't just think yourself thinner, happier or fitter, but using this book you can reframe many different facets of your life. These easy-to-use skills will help you on your way to becoming the person you want to be, living the life you want to live.

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A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2022: POPULAR SCIENCEAN iNEWS BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF 2022A TELEGRAPH BIG IDEAS BOOK 2022How we interpret emotions and act on them has been heavily gendered, as far back as Ancient Greek and Roman times, and - despite improvements in societal equality - continues to be today. In Hysterical, Dr Pragya Agarwal delves into history and science to determine the truth about our notions of innate differences between the male and female experience of emotions. She examines the impact this has on men and women - especially the role it has played in the subjugation of women throughout history - and imagines how a future where emotions are ungendered might look.

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION - the new novel from the Women's Prize for Fiction winner and Man Booker prize-shortlisted author of The Secret RiverIt is 1788. When twenty-one-year-old Elizabeth marries the arrogant and hot-headed soldier John Macarthur, she soon realises she has made a terrible mistake. Forced to travel with him to New South Wales, she arrives to find Sydney Town a brutal, dusty, hungry place of makeshift shelters, failing crops, scheming and rumours. All her life she has learned to fold herself up small. Now, in the vast landscapes of an unknown continent, Elizabeth has to discover a strength she never imagined, and passions she could never express.Inspired by the real life of a remarkable woman, this is an extraordinarily rich, beautifully wrought novel of resilience, courage and the mystery of human desire.

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'Ingenious' Daily Mail'A truly outstanding series' Booklist'No CCTV cameras, no overlooking houses, no passing traffic or pedestrians. That means no witnesses.'Bill Slider begins a nightmarish investigation when an unidentifiable victim is found in the no man's land beneath London's A40 flyover. Slider doesn't have much to go on. The victim, a smartly dressed businessman, has no ID in his pockets and no one has reported him missing. When the autopsy reveals old injuries and faded scars cover the man's body, the mystery only deepens. If he wants answers, Slider knows he must go into London's darkest corners.

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'Life, like a poem, is a series of choices' In her long-awaited debut memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, award-winning poet Maggie Smith explores in lyrical vignettes the end of her marriage and the beginning of a surprising new life. With the spirit of reflection and empathy she's known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness and narrative itself. It is a story about a mother's fierce and constant love for her children, and a woman's love and regard for herself. Above all, this memoir is an argument for possibility. Smith reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful.

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THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, SUNDAY POST AND iPAPER BESTSELLERAnd I have done more than just simply get bySo much more than escape or surviveThrough the galvanisation of love, time and patienceI''ll take hold of my story and thrive.After life that was seldom what life ought to beThrough laughter and love I''ll be wholeThis story is mine from the cover to spineAnd the narrative I will controlWhether she''s writing letters to her younger self, advocating for women''s rights or adapting fairy tales to process an abusive relationship, Len''s voice is bold, unashamedly frank and unmistakably hers. The poems in this collection, both funny and fiercely feminist, announce a formidable new talent. Moving deftly between English and Scots, poyums is as approachable as it is affecting.

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'Luminous' The Times'Beautiful' Caught by the RiverBringing together contemporary Scottish writing on nature and landscape, this inspiring collection takes us from walking to wild swimming, from red deer to pigeons and wasps, from remote islands to back gardens, through prose, poetry and photography.Edited and introduced by Kathleen Jamie, and with contributions from Amy Liptrot, Jim Crumley, Chitra Ramaswamy, Malachy Tallack, Amanda Thomson and many more, Antlers of Water urges us to renegotiate our relationship with the more-than-human world, in writing which is by turns celebratory, radical and political.

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A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2022: POLITICSSignificant strides have been made in recent years in the movement for LGBTQ+ rights, visibility and empowerment, but the conversation is far from over. After years of feeling the crushing dearth of information on bisexuality, psychological scientist and bestselling author Dr Julia Shaw dug deep and found a colourful and fascinating world that she is bringing out of the shadows. It is a personal journey that starts with her own openly bisexual identity, and celebrates the resilience and beautiful diversity of the bi community. In Bi: The Hidden Culture, History and Science of Bisexuality, Shaw explores all that we know about the world's largest sexual minority. From the hunt for a bi gene, to the relationship between bisexuality and consensual non-monogamy, to asylum seekers who need to prove their bisexuality in a court of law, there is more to explore than most have ever realised. This rigorous and fun book will challenge us to think deeper about who we are and how we love.

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Bird by Bird is the bible of writing guides - a wry, honest, down-to-earth book that has never stopped selling since it was first published in the United States in the 1990s. Bestselling novelist and memoirist Anne Lamott distils what she's learned over years of trial and error. Beautifully written, wise and immensely helpful, this is the book for all serious writers and writers-to-be.

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Figuring explores the complexities of love and the human search for truth and meaning through the interconnected lives of several historical figures across four centuries - beginning with the astronomer Johannes Kepler, who discovered the laws of planetary motion, and ending with the marine biologist and author Rachel Carson, who catalysed the environmental movement. Stretching between these figures is a cast of artists, writers, and scientists - mostly women, mostly queer - whose public contribution has risen out of their unclassifiable and often heartbreaking private relationships to change the way we understand, experience and appreciate the universe. Among them are the astronomer Maria Mitchell, who paved the way for women in science; the sculptor Harriet Hosmer, who did the same in art; the journalist and literary critic Margaret Fuller, who sparked the feminist movement; and the poet Emily Dickinson. Emanating from these lives are larger questions about the measure of a good life and what it means to leave a lasting mark of betterment on an imperfect world: Are achievement and acclaim enough for happiness? Is genius? Is love? Weaving through the narrative is a set of peripheral figures - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Darwin, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Herman Melville, Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt Whitman - and a tapestry of themes spanning music, feminism, the history of science, the rise and decline of religion, and how the intersection of astronomy, poetry and Transcendentalist philosophy fomented the environmental movement.

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In this masterful retelling of one of the greatest works of world literature, Alasdair Gray - in his last work - offers an original translation in prosaic English rhyme. Lyrical and modern, this complete edition brings all three parts of Dante's epic journey through Hell and Purgatory and on to Paradise together in a single volume for the first time.

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BuzzFeed's 33 Most Exciting New BooksBustle's 28 Most Anticipated Non-fiction Books of 2018Nylon's 50 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2018Huffington Post's 60 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2018Electric Literature's 46 Books to Read By Women of Colour in 2018For as long as Porochista Khakpour can remember, she has been sick. For most of that time, she didn't know why. A story of survival, pain and transformation, Sick examines the colossal impact of illness on one woman's life. It is a journey that took Porochista Khakpour from Tehran, the town of her birth, through the major cities of America, the country she came to call home, before she eventually found a diagnosis of late-stage Lyme disease.Sick explores what it means to feel at home in one's body, and also one's country. And what it means not to.

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In 1788 Daniel Rooke sets out on a journey that will change the course of his life. As a lieutenant in the First Fleet, he lands on the wild and unknown shores of New South Wales. There he sets up an observatory to chart the stars. But this country will prove far more revelatory than the skies above.Based on real events, The Lieutenant tells the unforgettable story of Rooke's connection to an Aboriginal child - a remarkable friendship that resonates across the oceans and the centuries.

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