Search results for ""canongate books""

Once upon a time in a frozen city . . . strangers fall in love, wishes come true, and lives will never be the same againWhen his parents split up, and his dad leaves home, a ten-year-old boy begs the sky to help him. The next day an ice storm covers his city. When the power goes out and the temperature drops, people must turn to each other to survive. But for one neighbourhood the catastrophe brings surprising new beginnings. Julie, the dancer who lives across the street, helps Boris, an eccentric Russian mathematician, save his fish from the cold weather. And the urbane Michel and Simon open their door to Alexis, their embittered neighbour, and his son. But will the ice storm bring the boy's parents back together? Hilarious and heartwarming, Fish Change Direction in Cold Weather reminds us that happy endings might still be possible.

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In this, his atmospheric final work of fiction, the Nobel Prize-winning author of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich introduces an unforgettable set of characters whose day-to-day lives are transformed under the pressures of Soviet rule. These stories confirm Solzhenitsyn's position alongside Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and Gogol as one of Russia's great writers.

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Private investigators Lily Raynor and Felix Wilbraham have to hunt down an escapee from a French asylum, in this new, gripping World''s End Bureau Victorian mystery from critically-acclaimed author Alys Clare.London, April 1882. When cool-headed Phyllida visits the World''s End Investigation Bureau to offer a curious case concerning her fiancé, proprietor Lily Raynor is intrigued - and privately excited. For accepting the case means taking an unexpected trip abroad, to France.Phyllida''s fiancé, Wilberforce, is currently in an asylum in Brittany, after a tragic incident which resulted in the death of his father. Did he kill him on purpose - or was it an accident?Wilberforce''s innocence looks increasingly in doubt when another murder happens at the asylum - and the evidence points to Wilberforce being the culprit. Phyllida fears for Wilberforce''s wellbeing, but she can''t marry a murderer! With the engagement hanging in the balance, Phyl

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Legendary master thief and conman Gideon Sable must pull off an impossible heist to save his partner''s life in this fast-paced supernatural thriller from New York Times bestselling British fantasy author Simon R. GreenGideon Sable specializes in stealing the kind of things that can''t usually be stolen. But these days the legendary master thief is officially retired from the caper game. Now, instead of pulling off elaborate heists with his crew of supernatural specialists, he runs a magical shop in the heart of London with his partner Annie Anybody. Still, he can''t resist occasionally going out in the night to steal things when Annie''s not looking. For old times'' sake - and for the joy of the con.But after one of his late-night illicit jaunts, Gideon returns to the shop to find that while he''s been stealing, someone else has been hard at work . . . stealing from him. I have taken Annie Anybody, reads the note on the coun

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After living in China for five years, and learning the language, Peter Hessler decided to undertake an even more complicated endeavor: he acquired his Chinese driving licence. An eye-opening challenge, it enabled him to embark on an epic journey driving across this most enigmatic of countries. Over seven years, he travelled to places rarely explored by tourists, into the factories exporting their goods to the world and into the homes of their workers. Full of extraordinary encounters and details of life beyond Beijing, it is an unforgettable, unique portrait of the country that will likely shape all our lives in the century to come.

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Twice Voted Scotland's Favourite Book'Left me scorched' Ali Smith'Unforgettable' GuardianFaced with a choice between a harsh farming life and the world of books and learning, Chris Guthrie chooses to remain in her rural community, bound by her intense love of the land. But everything changes with the arrival of the First World War and Chris finds her land altered beyond recognition.One of the greatest and most heartbreaking love stories ever told,, Sunset Song offers a powerful portrait of a land and people in turmoil.

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A major mix-up at Blandings Castle, in which Galahad introduces yet another imposter to Lord Emsworth's residence and the Empress of Blandings gets sloshed in her sty. Formidable comic characters designed to interrupt Lord Emsworth's peace include his overbearing sister Lady Hermione Wedge who comes complete her own meddling secretary, and Dame Daphne Winkworth who has her eye on becoming the next Countess. As ever the stage is set for Gally to try and restore order to the ensuing chaos! Latest recording from the popular Blandings saga of novels. Abridged to 5 hours worth of hilarious listening entertainment.

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Right Ho, Jeeves sees Bertie Wooster blithely attempting to assume the role of Jeeves himself as a matters-of-the-heart adviser. Very unwise: from Gussie Fink-Nottle's romance with Madeline Bassett, to Tuppy Glossop and his stop/go engagement to Angela Travers, the young master succeeds only in making a bally mess of everyone's love-lives.Toss into the mixing-bowl hot-headed chef Anatole, perpetually resigning from, returning to and re-resigning from the employ of Bertie's long-suffering Aunt Dahlia; and, shimmering over all, the lateral-thinking genius that is Jeeves. Here is more from the wonderously engaging world of Wodehouse, where laughter and inspired idiocy whirl together in warm-hearted celebration of great comic writing. Enjoy? Right ho!Narrator Martin Jarvis is an award-winning actor and Wodehouse reader.

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Things are never dull in the O'Connell family. Still, Fiona, squeezed between her quiet brother and her mischievous line-dancing twin sisters, thinks life in their tenement flat is far less interesting than Emily Bronte's. But tragedy is not confined to Victorian novels. And life for Fiona in this happy domestic setup is about to change forever. Following the devastating events of a single day, her family can never be the same. But perhaps, new relationships will develop - built on a solid foundation of love.Moving, funny and ultimately heart-warming, Being Emily is a wonderful novel about one young girl trying to find her place in the world amid the turmoil that only your own family can create.

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Gerda Persson has lain dead for three days. Her life seems to have been quite ordinary. Until the freezer in her home is opened. It is full of books, neatly stacked and wrapped in clingfilm, a thick layer of ice covering them - all by the same prize-winning author, all with handwritten dedications to Gerda.What story do these books have to tell? And what is their connection to a young boy found abandoned in an amusement park? Shadow is an utterly compelling novel of dark family secrets, murder and betrayal, which will keep you gripped until its final thrilling revelations.

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An unwelcome blast from the past puts Patrick and Ingrid back in harm''s way . . .Nicholas Haldane was dead, but he wouldn''t lie down. And now Julian Hardy, the man who hired him in a bid to destroy Richard Daws, a top official in the National Crime Agency, is out of prison and has changed his surname to Mannering.Patrick Gillard, working for the agency but within the Avon and Somerset force with his wife Ingrid Langley, receives a request from MI5, for whom he used to work, to investigate Mannering. They are then called in when his cleaner makes a shocking discovery.Meanwhile, an enigmatic couple calling themselves Simon and Natasha Graves turn up in the village, intent on pestering Patrick''s recently widowed mother. Could there be a connection to Mannering?Patrick and Ingrid are soon embroiled in a deeply personal and disturbing case.

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June, 1914. Following three, seemingly unrelated suicides, DI Silas Quinn knows he must uncover the link between the three men if he is to discover what caused them to take their own lives. The one clue is a card each victim was carrying, depicting a crudely-drawn red hand. To find out what it means, Quinn must revisit his own dark past.

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The Courage Consort, possibly the seventh best-known a cappella vocal ensemble in Britain, are given two weeks in a Belgian chateau to rehearse their latest commission, the monstrously complicated Partitum Mutante. But can the piece be performed? Does it matter that its composer is a maniac best known for attacking his wife with a stiletto shoe at the baggage reclaim of Milan airport? Can the five members of the Consort endure their own sexual tensions and wildly differing temperaments? And what is the inhuman voice that calls out to them from the woods at night?The esoteric world of avant-garde classical music is the unlikely setting for a story of rare power - perhaps the most moving Michel Faber has yet written.

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Published originally in two volumes in 1890, this extraordinary study of primitive myth and magic, collected from sources around the world, led Frazer to identify parallel patterns of ritual, symbols and belief across many centuries and many different cultures. Frazer's learning inspired a whole generation of ethnographers and comparative anthropologists, and had a particularly powerful effect on many other thinkers and writers such as Sigmund Freud, D H Lawrence, Joyce, Yeats and T S Eliot.

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The story of the song that foretold a movement and the Lady who dared sing it.Billie Holiday's signature tune, 'Strange Fruit', with its graphic and heart-wrenching portrayal of a lynching in the South, brought home the evils of racism as well as being an inspiring mark of resistance.The song's powerful, evocative lyrics - written by a Jewish communist schoolteacher - portray the lynching of a black man in the South. In 1939, its performance sparked controversy (and sometimes violence) wherever Billie Holiday went. Not until sixteen years later did Rosa Parks refuse to yield her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Yet 'Strange Fruit' lived on, and Margolick chronicles its effect on those who experienced it first-hand: musicians, artists, journalists, intellectuals, students, budding activists, even the waitresses and bartenders who worked the clubs.

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An Unfortunate Woman, An Unforgettable Journey was the final book written by Richard Brautigan before his death in 1984 and lay unpublished for sixteen years.Originally written in the 160 pages of a loose-leaf notebook, the narrator of the book is trying to come to terms with the death of a friend by going on a personal odyssey which zigzags through time and landscapes, from Oakland to Hawaii, and the wilds of Montana.An Unfortunate Woman, An Unforgettable Journey walks a fine line between fiction and memoir, between dark introspection and a lust for life, and in the last pages in particular, marks a gut-wrenching, intense, and ultimately tragic exit from fiction and life itself for the troubled author.

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When two bodies are found brutally murdered at a building site in Battersea, DS Cal Drake is first to the scene. He sees an opportunity: to solve a high-profile case and to repair his reputation after a botched undercover operation almost ended his promising career in the Violent Crimes Unit. Assigned to work with the forensic psychologist Dr Rayhana Crane, and on the hunt for an elusive killer, Drake's investigations lead down the dark corridors of the past - to the Iraq war and the destruction both he and Crane witnessed there. With a community poised on the brink of violence, Crane and Drake must put their lives on the line to stop the killer before vengeance is unleashed.

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Simon Camish, a resentful insecure barrister in a stifling marriage, would not have particularly noticed Rose Vassiliou had he not been asked to drive her home one night after a dinner party. Now, separated from her Greek husband, Rose lives alone with her three children. Despite all the efforts and sneers of her friends, she refuses to move from her crumbling house in a decaying neighbourhood to which she has become attached. Gradually drawn further and further into her affairs, Simon becomes aware that Rose is a woman of remarkable integrity and courage. 'Though I have admired Miss Drabble's writing for years, I will admit that nothing she has written in the past quite prepared me for the depth and richness of this book' - Joyce Carol Oates

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Laisve is a refugee in a destroyed city-island, hunted in Raids and haunted by the spirits of her drowned mother and brother. She dives into the river and finds herself travelling between times and waterways in a race to rescue the future - and past - of other lost children. A Lenape Nation iron-walker, a Dominican nun, a scarred acrobat and a piebald man are risking their lives constructing a colossal monument to freedom for a young and bustling nation. But exactly what - and whom - will that liberty represent? As Laisve drifts into their histories, she schools seekers in the ways of dreams, love and the ultimate aim of liberty - to free the next generation from the chains of this one.

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A middle-aged novelist devoid of inspiration alights on material in the form of an obsessive pet-shop worker from Cincinnati. A pregnant mother of two finds herself increasingly in thrall to her help, Nat. For Joad, the discovery of a haunting type-written document in an old desk in need of restoration is overwhelming. And when Roxanne rescues her sister from an institution, she comes to realise how vulnerable they both are.Each of the seven stories in Total is a full world, painted with vivid strokes. From the comforting mundanities of motherhood to a technologically infected near future that mirrors our present with dark prescience, each life captured in this collection is unforgettable.Deftly navigating the fault lines of relationships - new, established or remembered - Total is a powerful collection of brilliantly imaginative stories, and eloquent proof of Rebecca Miller's writing prowess.

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The New York Times bestsellerWhat is impeachment? How does it work? And why is it so urgent to impeach Donald Trump?No one is above the law. This belief is fundamental to how the American system of government is meant to function - as fundamental as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - held sacred by Democrats and Republicans alike. But as celebrated Supreme Court lawyer and former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal argues in Impeach, if President Trump is not held accountable for repeatedly asking foreign powers to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, this could very well mark the end of US democracy. Impeachment should always be a last resort, explains Katyal, but the founders, core principles, and the Constitution leave no choice but to impeach President Trump - before it's too late.This clear and direct book explains what impeachment is, why it's in the U.S. constitution and why Donald Trump has left Congress and the American people with no choice but to remove him from office.

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Bitter Crop is an unconventional portrait of arguably America''s most eminent jazz singer. Acclaimed biographer Paul Alexander shrewdly focuses on the last year of her life - with relevant flashbacks to provide context - to evoke and examine the persistent magnificence of Holiday''s artistry when it was supposed to have declined, in the wake of her drug abuse, relationships with violent men, and run-ins with the law. During her lifetime and after her death, Billie Holiday was often depicted as a down-on-her-luck junkie severely lacking in self-esteem. Relying on interviews with people who knew her and new material unearthed in private collections and institutional archives, Bitter Crop limns Holiday as a powerful, ambitious woman who overcame her flaws to triumph as a vital figure of American popular music.

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'Captivating from the very first page' Jennifer EganShortlisted for the Fiction category in the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean LiteratureDiscovered amidst a tangle of sea grape trees by the childless Rachel Fisher, baby Moshe's provenance is a thing of myth and mystery; his unusual appearance, with blueish, translucent skin and duo-toned hair, only serves to compound his mystique.Equally feared and ridiculed by peers as he grows up, he finds a surprising kindred soul in the striking and bold Arrienne Christie, but their complex relationship is fraught with obstacles that tear them apart as powerfully as they are drawn together.Beginning in the late 1950s, four years before Jamaica's independence from colonial rule, A Tall History of Sugar's epic love story sweeps between a rural Jamaica, scarred by the legacies of colonialism, and an England increasingly riven by race riots and class division.

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A sensitive innocent, Hendrickje Stoffels escapes the harsh realities of her garrison home-town to take up a servant's role in Rembrandt's household. She soon becomes his lover and closest confidante, and plays witness to the highs and lows of the great artist's life. But Hendrickje is fated to discover the hypocrisy and greed of society in Amsterdam's Golden Age.In sensuous prose, Matton paints a powerful fictional portrait of this impassioned relationship through the eyes of a remarkable woman.

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Ten slices from the life of Bobby Gold: by night, the security chief of a mobbed-up New York City nightclub, by day, a reluctant bonebreaker and enforcer for Eddie Fish - his old college roommate, and best friend. Emerging from the 'gladiator school' environment of an upstate prison with an imposing physique and a reputation for skilled brutality, Bobby's a lonely, guilt-ridden child inside a hulking body. He views the grim work of coercion, assault and even murder as jobs to be done with a craftsman's work ethic and with a minimum of force. However, the technician's pride in a job done well is failing him, his friend and protector Eddie is getting flakier and flakier and worst of all, he's falling in love with Nicole, a reckless and self-destructive female line-cook who"s been around the block a few times.Following on from his two superb novels, Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo, Anthony Bourdain has produced another stunning book of crime fiction.

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Rick Gekoski is a writer, rare-book dealer and academic. He has written several widely praised non-fiction books including Staying Up, Tolkien's Gown, Outside of a Dog and Lost, Stolen or Shredded. His debut novel Darke was published in 2017 when Gekoski was 72 years old and was shortlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award.

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