Search results for ""quercus publishing""
Quercus Publishing No Picnic on Mount Kenya
A rediscovered mountaineering classic and the extraordinary true story of a daring escape up Mount Kenya by three prisoners of war.When the clouds covering Mount Kenya part one morning to reveal its towering peaks for the first time, prisoner of war Felice Benuzzi is transfixed. The tedium of camp life is broken by the beginnings of a sudden idea - an outrageous, dangerous, brilliant idea.There are not many people who would break out of a P.O.W. camp, trek for days across perilous terrain before climbing the north face of Mount Kenya with improvised equipment, meagre rations, and with a picture of the mountain on a tin of beef among their more accurate guides. There are probably fewer still who would break back in to the camp on their return.But this is the remarkable story of three such men. No Picnic on Mount Kenya is a powerful testament to the human spirit of revolt and adventure in even the darkest of places."The history of mountaineering can hardly present a parallel to this mad but thrilling escapade" - Saturday Review"A most extraordinary prisoner-of-war and escape story" - New Yorker"A mad venture and a gallant tribute to man's deep yearning for freedom" - Kirkus Reviews"The book crackles with the same dry humour as its title. It contains the prison-yard bartering and candlelight stitching that mark a classic jailbreak yarn; the encounters with wild beasts in Mount Kenya's forest belt are as gripping, and the descriptions of sparkling glaciers as awe-inspiring, as any passage in the great exploration diaries of the early 20th century" - The Economist
£12.99
Quercus Publishing The Rock Blaster
An early gem from the creator of the Kurt Wallander series, charting the life of a principled man through tragedy, heartbreak, true love and the battle for a nation's soul."A very engaging portrait . . . There is a powerful lack of sentimentality to the telling of the story [and] a lovely and genuinely moving love story at the heart of the book." Liam Heylin, Irish ExaminerAt 3 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon in 1911, Oskar Johansson is caught in a blast in an industrial accident. The local newspaper reports him dead, but they are mistaken.Because Oskar Johansson is a born survivor.Though crippled, Oskar finds the strength to go on living and working. The Rock Blaster charts his long professional life - his hopes and dreams, sorrows and joys. His relationship with the woman whose love saved him, with the labour movement that gave him a cause to believe in, and with his children, who do not share his ideals.Henning Mankell's first published novel is steeped in the burning desire for social justice that informed his bestselling crime novels. Remarkably assured for a debut, it is written with scalpel-like precision, at once poetic and insightful in its depiction of a true working-class hero.Translated from the Swedish by George Goulding
£9.04
Quercus Publishing Soldiers of Salamis
The International Bestseller of the Spanish Civil War - Winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction PrizeIn the final moments of the Spanish Civil War, fifty prominent Nationalist prisoners are executed by firing squad. Among them is the writer and fascist Rafael Sanchez Mazas. As the guns fire, he escapes into the forest, and can hear a search party and their dogs hunting him down. The branches move and he finds himself looking into the eyes of a militiaman, and faces death for the second time that day. But the unknown soldier simply turns and walks away. Sanchez Mazas becomes a national hero and the soldier disappears into history. As Cercas sifts the evidence to establish what happened, he realises that the true hero may not be Sanchez Mazas at all, but the soldier who chose not to shoot him. Who was he? Why did he spare him? And might he still be alive?Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean
£9.99
Quercus Publishing Echoes of the City
A jewel of modern Norwegian literature now hailed as Lars Saabye Christensen's crowning achievement - an intricate and utterly compelling narrative."With its tonal nuance and quietly amusing melancholy, Echoes of the City confirms him as one of Norway's finest writers" Guardian"[A] profoundly resonant novel" T.L.S.Christensen is one of Scandinavia's finest and most celebrated storytellers, who has devoted the best part of his career to writing about the city of his birth. As Oslo slowly emerges from a period of crippling austerity, Echoes of the City shows how small, almost imperceptible acts of kindness and compassion, and tiny shifts in fortune, can change the lives of many.At the centre of the novel are Maj and Ewald Kristoffersen and their son Jesper, their lives closely entwined and overlapping with their neighbours' on Kirkeveien. When the butcher's son Jostein is knocked down in a traffic accident and loses his hearing, Jesper promises to be his ears in the world. The arrival of a long-awaited telephone is a major event for Maj and Ewald, and meanwhile their neighbour, recently widowed Fru Vik, tentatively takes up with the owner of the bookshop near the cemetery. The bar at Hotel Bristol becomes a meeting place for all of them - for Ewald and his advertising colleagues, for Fru Vik and her suitor, to the piano playing of hapless Enzo Zanetti, an immigrant down on his luck, who enables Jesper to discover his true passion.The minutes of the local Red Cross meetings give an architecture to the narrative of so many lives and tell a story in themselves, bearing witness to the steady recovery of the community. Echoes of the City is a remarkably tender observation of the rhythms and passions of a city, and a particular salute to the resilience of its women. Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett
£14.99
Quercus Publishing Sanctuary
THE NEW AWARD-WINNING INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER BY THE AUTHOR OF THE MOUNTAIN"Can be compared (with no fear of hyperbole) to Stephen King and Jo Nesbø" - Massimo Vincenz, La Repubblica."D'Andrea piles on the action and the atmosphere with the panache of a seasoned writer" Marcel Berlins, The Times.Marlene Wegener is on the run. She has stolen something from her husband, something priceless, irreplaceable.But she doesn't get very far. When her car veers off a bleak midwinter road she takes refuge in the remote home of Simon Keller, a tough mountain man who lives alone with his demons. Here in her high mountain sanctuary, she begins to rekindle a sense of herself: tough, capable, no longer the trophy on a gangster's arm.But Herr Wegener does not know how to forgive, and in his rage he makes a pact with the devil. The Trusted Man. He cannot be called off, he cannot be reasoned with and one way or another he will get the job done.Unless, of course, he's beaten to it . . .Translated from the Italian by Howard Curtis and Katherine Gregor
£10.99
Quercus Publishing Madeleine
"Immersive, nuanced, impeccably researched" IAN RANKIN"Beautifully written and moving" ALLAN MASSIE"Poignant, nostalgic and redolent of the smell of France" SIMON BRETTFamily history has always been a mystery to Will Latymer. His father flatly refused to talk about it, and with no other relatives to consult, it seems that a mystery it shall always remain. Until of course, Will meets Ghislaine, his beautiful French cousin, in a chance encounter that introduces him to his grandmother, Madeleine, shut away in a quiet Breton manor with her memories and secrets.Before long, Will has been plunged headlong into the life of Madeleine's great love, his longlost grandfather, Henry Latymer. Reading Henry's old letters and diaries for the first time, Will discovers an idealistic young man, full of hopes and optimism - an optimism that will gradually be crushed as the realities of life under the Vichy regime become glaringly clear.But the more Will delves into Madeleine and Henry's past, and into France's troubled history, the darker the secrets he discovers become, and the more he has cause to wonder if sometimes, the past should remain buried.
£16.99
Quercus Publishing Abigail
A teenage girl's difficult journey towards adulthood in a time of war."A school story for grownups that is also about our inability or refusal to protect children from history" SARAH MOSS"Of all Szabo's novels, Abigail deserves the widest readership. It's an adventure story, brilliantly written" TIBOR FISCHEROf all her novels, Magda Szabó's Abigail is indeed the most widely read in her native Hungary. Now, fifty years after it was written, it appears for the first time in English, joining Katalin Street and The Door in a loose trilogy about the impact of war on those who have to live with the consequences. It is late 1943 and Hitler, exasperated by the slowness of his Hungarian ally to act on the "Jewish question" and alarmed by the weakness on his southern flank, is preparing to occupy the country. Foreseeing this, and concerned for his daughter's safety, a Budapest father decides to send her to a boarding school away from the capital. A lively, sophisticated, somewhat spoiled teenager, she is not impressed by the reasons she is given, and when the school turns out to be a fiercely Puritanical one in a provincial city a long way from home, she rebels outright. Her superior attitude offends her new classmates and things quickly turn sour.It is the start of a long and bitter learning curve that will open her eyes to her arrogant blindness to other people's true motives and feelings. Exposed for the first time to the realities of life for those less privileged than herself, and increasingly confronted by evidence of the more sinister purposes of the war, she learns lessons about the nature of loyalty, courage, sacrifice and love.Translated from the Hungarian by Len Rix
£9.99
Quercus Publishing White Shadow
The sequel to the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted The Unseen"A gifted writer, stylish, laconic and imaginative" Paul Owen, TLS"A beautiful sequel to The Unseen, set around the remote & unforgiving island of Barrøy during WWII. A note-perfect combination of taciturnity, austerity, passion and weather. Sublime" - Rónán Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry PaulNo-one can be alone on an island . . . But Ingrid is alone on Barrøy, the island that bears her name, while the war of her childhood has been replaced by a new more terrible war and Norway is under the Nazi boot.When the bodies from a bombed troopship begin to wash up on the shore, Ingrid cannot know that one will be alive and warm enough to erase a lifetime of loneliness.She cannot know what she will suffer in protecting her lover from the Germans and their Norwegian collaborators, nor the journey she will face, wrenched from her island once more, to return home.Or that, amid the suffering of war, among refugees fleeing famine and scorched-earth retreats, she will be given a gift whose value is beyond measure.Reviews for The Unseen"Easily among the best books I have ever read" Eileen Battersby, Irish Times"The Unseen is a blunt, brilliant book" Tom Graham, Guardian"The Unseen is a towering achievement that would be a deserved Booker International winner" Charlie Connolly, New EuropeanTranslated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw
£10.99
Quercus Publishing The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles
'A compact and compelling novel by an iconic Norwegian writer...[and] thanks to Don Bartlett and Don Shaw's crisp translation, we see it obliquely' - IndependentSet in Finland in 1939, this is the story of one man who remains in his home town when everyone else has fled, burning down their houses in their wake, before the invading Russians arrive. Timo remains behind because he can't imagine life anywhere else, doing anything else besides felling the trees near his home. This is a novel about belonging - a tale of powerful and forbidden friendships forged during a war, of unexpected bravery and astonishing survival instincts. The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles is not a novel about war, but about the lives of ordinary people dragged into war, each of whom only wants to find the path back home. Roy Jacobsen uses the dramatic natural landscape of light and darkness, fire-blazing heat and life-robbing cold to spectacular effect.
£9.99
Quercus Publishing The Border - A Journey Around Russia: SHORTLISTED FOR THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020
A journey along the seemingly endless Russian border - from North Korea in the Far East through Russia's bordering states in Asia and the Caucasus, crossing the Caspian Ocean and the Black Sea along the way."Erika Fatland [is] shaping up to be one of the Nordics' most exciting new travel writers" National Geographic**SHORTLISTED FOR THE STANFORDS DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020**"A hauntingly lyrical meditation to the contingencies of history" Wall Street Journal"[An] impressive mix of history, reportage and travel memoir" Washington PostThe Border is a book about Russia and Russian history without its author ever entering Russia itself; a book about being the neighbour of that mighty, expanding empire throughout history. It is a chronicle of the colourful, exciting, tragic and often unbelievable histories of these bordering nations, their cultures, their people, their landscapes.Through her last three documentary books - one about terrorism in Beslan, one about the 2011 terror attacks in Norway and one about post-Soviet Central Asia - social anthropologist Erika Fatland has established herself as a sharp observer and an outstanding interviewer at the forefront of Nordic non-fiction.Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson
£27.00
Quercus Publishing A Summer of Murder: A Black Forest Investigation II
The second of the Black Forest Investigations - "Its plot bristles with invention" Guardian It has been a long dry summer in the Black Forest idyll of Kirchzarten. When the local fire brigade is called to a burning farm shed, a volunteer is killed as a weapons cache beneath it explodes. The small community is shocked to the core. Louise Bonì, back with Freiburg Kripo after a period of withdrawal, is assigned to the task force dealing with the case.The meagre evidence they gather points to a possible connection with German neo-Nazis or illegal arms dealers from the former Yugoslavia, but the appearance of secret service agents marking out the forest suggests more is at stake. Acting as her partner in the case is Thomas Ilic, whose allegiances are as conflicted as Bonì's. Who is in fact working for whom? In the most challenging case of her career - and one that puts her in mortal danger - Bonì must to overcome the ghosts of her past that continue to haunt her. Oliver Bottini is a fresh and exciting voice in the world of crime fiction; the Rhine borderlands of the Black Forest are a perfect setting for his beautifully crafted mysteries.Praise for ZEN AND THE ART OF MURDER - now shortlisted for the CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER: "Surprising and genuinely shocking" Joan Smith, Sunday Times"Gripping" Sebastian Shakespeare, Tatler"An atmospheric, original story that will keep you hooked to the final heart-rending revelations" Crime ReviewTranslated from the German by Jamie Bulloch
£10.30
Quercus Publishing The Mountain: The Breathtaking Italian Bestseller
A CURSED PLACE. A COLD CASE. A KILLER WHO LEFT NO TRACE.The huge International bestseller.Gripping, unputdownable and packed with twists, The Mountain is a thriller that you will never forget."Can be compared (with no fear of hyperbole) to Stephen King and Jo Nesbø" - Massimo Vincenz, La Repubblica.Jeremiah Salinger blames himself. The crash was his fault. He was the only survivor. Now the depression and the nightmares are closing in. Only his daughter Clara can put a smile on his face. But when he takes Clara to the Bletterbach - a canyon in the Dolomites rich in fossil remains - he overhears by chance a conversation that gives his life renewed focus. In 1985 three students were murdered there, their bodies savaged, limbs severed and strewn by a killer who was never found. Salinger, a New Yorker, is far from home, and these Italian mountains, where his wife was born, harbour a close-knit, tight-lipped community whose mistrust of outsiders can turn ugly. All the same, solving this mystery might be the only thing that can keep him sane.Translated from the Italian by Howard Curtis
£10.99
Quercus Publishing Alex: The Heart-Stopping International Bestseller
SHE'S RUNNING OUT OF TIME Alex Prévost - kidnapped, beaten, suspended from the ceiling of an abandoned warehouse in a wooden cage - is in no position to bargain. Her abductor's only desire is to watch her die. HE WANTS ONLY ONE THINGApart from a shaky police report, Commandant Camille Verhœven has nothing to go on: no suspect, no leads. If he is to find Alex, he will have to get inside her head. ESCAPE IS JUST THE BEGINNING Resourceful, tough, beautiful, always two steps ahead - Alex will keep Verhœven guessing till the bitter end. And before long, saving her life will be the least of his worries.
£9.99
Quercus Publishing About the Size of the Universe
A modern saga spanning the whole of the 20th century, by one of Iceland's most celebrated writers.At the beginning of this story there is death, and yet it is a celebration of life - the passion between a man and a woman, forbidden love, violence, sorrow, betrayal. Happiness and misfortune are passed down from one generation to the next. The sorrow over what was and what might have been weighs heavily on the characters and at the end of this chain, for now, stands Ari, on his way to his dying father, with a score still to be settled. The raw beauty of life is written into the dramatic Icelandic landscape, and into a society that has undergone great transformation within a century. In language both archaic and lyrical, and yet entirely contemporary and full of humour, Jón Kalman Stefánsson proves himself one of the finest European writers of his generation.A companion volume to Fish Have No Feet (longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2017).Translated from the Icelandic by Philip Roughton
£10.99
Quercus Publishing The Black Notebook
A writer discovers a set of notes in his notebook and sets off on a journey through the Paris of his past, in search of the woman he loved forty years previously.Set in the Montparnasse district of Paris, the author, Jean, retraces his nocturnal footsteps around the left bank during France's period of decolonisation during the 1960's. He tries to remember what brought him into contact with a gang that frequented the hotel Unic in the area. His quest through seedy cafés and cheap hotels becomes an enquiry into a woman, Dannie, whom Jean loved and who once tried to admit to a terrible crime. Over the course of several voyages between past and present, we meet various shady characters, and discover that Dannie may have killed "someone". As his memories overlap with the discovery of an old vice squad dossier, Jean reinvestigates the closed case of a crime where he could well be the last remaining witness.Translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti
£9.04
Quercus Publishing A Foolish Virgin
It is the middle of the roaring twenties, and Gittel is living The Hague with her parents, whose blazing rows are the traditional preserve of Sundays and public holidays. What luck, then, that Gittel is Jewish, and must submit to "the double helping of public holidays that is the lot of Jewish families".After every matrimonial slanging match, Gittel's mother runs off to her parents' home in Antwerp - with her daugher in tow. Much to her delight, Gittel makes the acquaintance of the well-to-do Mardell family, who allow her to practise on their Steinway. Gittel feels that she is taken seriously by Mr Mardell, the head of the household, and by thirty-year-old Lucie, whom she adores. When these friendships turn out to be nothing but an illusion, Gittel learns her first lessons about trust and betrayal. Her second comes soon after, when her father, whose talents for business leave much to be desired, attempts to make a quick killing in Berlin on the eve of the Wall Street Crash.Though this intimate portrayal of familial strife is set in the shadow of the Holocaust, Simons says little about the horror that awaits her characters, yet she succeeds in giving the reader the sense that the novel is about more than a young girl's loss of innocence. In a fluid, almost casual style, she has written a masterly and timeless ode to a relatively carefree interlude in a dark and dramatic period.Translated from the Dutch by Liz Waters
£9.04
Quercus Publishing The Pyre: The Return of Ravana Book 1
'David Hair hasn't just broken the mould. He's completely shattered it' - Bibliosanctum One deathless Demon King. Six ghostly queens. And only four twenty-first century young men and women to stand against a centuries-old evil . . . The first in award-winning author David Hair's series The Return of Ravana. Mandore, Rajasthan, 769 AD: the evil sorcerer-king, Ravindra-Raj, has devised a deadly ritual. He and his seven queens will burn on his funeral pyre, and he will rise again with the powers of Ravana, Demon-King of the epic Ramayana. But things go wrong when a court poet rescues the beautiful, spirited Queen Darya, ruining the ritual - and Ravindra's plans. Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 2010: At the site of ancient Mandore, Vikram, Amanjit, Deepika and Rasita meet - and are forced to accept that this is not the first time they have come together to fight the deathless king. Now Ravindra and his ghostly brides are hunting them down. As vicious forces from the past come alive, Vikram needs to unlock truths that have been hidden for centuries, if they are to win this ancient battle . . . for the first and last time. 'Riveting! Like its reincarnated heroes, I was drawn again and again to David Hair's gripping, blood-soaked tale' - Chris Bradford, author of Young Samurai
£9.99
Quercus Publishing Ottoman Odyssey: Travels through a Lost Empire: Shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR**Alev Scott's odyssey began when she looked beyond Turkey's borders for contemporary traces of the Ottoman Empire. Their 800-year rule ended a century ago - and yet, travelling through twelve countries from Kosovo to Greece to Palestine, she uncovers a legacy that's vital and relevant; where medieval ethnic diversity meets 21st century nationalism, and displaced people seek new identities.It's a story of surprises. An acolyte of Erdogan in Christian-majority Serbia confirms the wide-reaching appeal of his authoritarian leadership. A Druze warlord explains the secretive religious faction in the heart of the Middle East. The palimpsest-like streets of Jerusalem's Old Town hint at the Ottoman co-existence of Muslims and Jews. And in Turkish Cyprus Alev Scott rediscovers a childhood home. In every community, history is present as a dynamic force.Faced by questions of exile, diaspora and collective memory, Alev Scott searches for answers from the cafes of Beirut to the refugee camps of Lesbos. She uncovers in Erdogan's nouveau-Ottoman Turkey a version of the nostalgic utopias sold to disillusioned voters in Europe and the U.S. And yet - as she relates with compassion, insight and humour - diversity is the enduring, endangered heart of this fascinating region.
£9.89
Quercus Publishing Play of Shadows
Swordplay, magic, intrigue and friendships stronger than iron: the first volume in the new swashbuckling fantasy series set in the universe of THE GREATCOATS.Damelas Chademantaigne picked a poor night to flee a judicial duel. He has precious little hope of escaping the wrath of the Vixen, the most feared duellist in the entire city, until he stumbles through the stage doors of the magnificent Operato Belleza and tricks his way into the company of actors. An archaic law provides a temporary respite from his troubles - until one night a ghostly voice in his head causes Damelas to fumble his lines, inadvertently blurting out a dreadful truth: the city''s most legendary hero may actually be a traitor and a brutal murderer. With only the help of his boisterous and lusty friend Bereto, a beautiful assassin whose target may well be Damelas himself, and a company of misfit actors who''d just as soon see him dead, this failed grandson of two Greatcoats must som
£18.00
Quercus Publishing Ill Be Seeing You
A World War 2 saga to warm the heart. Three women become friends when working in their local picture house. When life is so tough for everyone, a trip to the pictures is the perfect way to escape, to dream of romance and hope for the good things peace will bring.
£18.89
Quercus Publishing The Therapist: From the mind of a psychologist comes a chilling domestic thriller that gets under your skin.
From the mind of a psychologist comes a chilling domestic thriller that gets under your skin."Creepy, compelling and very well written" Harriet TyceAt first it's the lie that hurts.A voicemail from her husband tells Sara he's arrived at the holiday cabin. Then a call from his friend confirms he never did. She tries to carry on as normal, teasing out her clients' deepest fears, but as the hours stretch out, her own begin to surface. And when the police finally take an interest, they want to know why Sara deleted that voicemail.To get to the root of Sigurd's disappearance, Sara must question everything she knows about her relationship.Could the truth about what happened be inside her head?"A wonderful storyteller" Chris Whitaker "Wonderfully creepy, twisty and compelling" Karen Hamilton"Masterfully paced and hauntingly written" Anna Bailey"Gets under your skin" Jo Spain"I couldn't put it down" Sarah WardTranslated from the Norwegian by Alison McCullough
£13.49
Quercus Publishing Trapped: The grittiest thriller you'll read this year
A gripping gangland thriller sees heroine crime boss Kerry Casey in jail - for fans of Kimberley Chambers, Martina Cole and Jessie KeaneKerry Casey is still reeling from the bombshell that her lover, undercover cop Vinny Burns, has gone missing in Spain. She's pregnant with his baby and will do anything to find him. One night, driving along a country road, Kerry and her Uncle Danny are ambushed by gunmen. In the confusion that follows, shots are fired and two men are murdered. Kerry and Danny can only look on as the bodies are dragged from their assailant's car and placed in their own.The police arrive in minutes. With cocaine, dead bodies and guns in the car, it looks like an open-and-shut case.Kerry's been framed. She is forced to wait out her fate inside a women's prison, still not knowing what has happened to Vinnie. On the outside the Casey gang are hunting down the men who did this to her and they will stop at nothing to find them.
£18.89
Quercus Publishing My Best Friend's Secret
How do you escape a past you can't remember?'Had me gripped from the start' 5* reader review'An outstanding debut' 5* reader review 'Such a mega page-turner' 5* reader reviewKate Sullivan has a beautiful home, a job she loves and a handsome fiancé: all she'd ever dreamed of since getting sober and painstakingly piecing her life back together.But a chance encounter with her old best friend Becky threatens Kate's newfound and fragile happiness. Kate remembers nothing of their last drunken night out, the night Becky broke off their friendship without warning or explanation.With Becky back in her life, Kate is desperate to make amends for the past. For the closure she craves, Kate needs to know what she did that ruined everything. But what if the truth is worse than Kate could have imagined?'A clever tale of how our demons shape our lives' ALEXANDRA SHULMAN'A cracking debut' IRISH INDEPENDENT'Gut-wrenching and powerful' CHARLOTTE DUCKWORTH'[An] emotional page-turner' WOMAN'S WEEKLY'Beautiful writing and devastating twists' MIRANDA SMITH'A real, clever page-turner. Dare I say addictive' TINA BAKER***Previously published as Closure***
£8.99
Quercus Publishing The Wanderer: The Sunday Times Thriller of the Month
"A beguiling read . . . A cold-case whodunnit [and] a Shadow of the Wind-style quest" - John Dugdale, Sunday Times"Bestselling writer Luca D'Andrea has concocted a fearsome witches' brew of myth, memory and mayhem" Sunday Times Crime ClubA haunting thriller drawing on myths, legends and fairy tales, set in a mysterious Italian valley - from Italy's bestselling answer to Stephen King."D'Andrea piles on the action and the atmosphere with the panache of a seasoned writer" Marcel Berlins, The TimesIt begins with a slap in the face.Out walking his St Bernard, Tony Carcano is confronted by a girl on a motorbike who shows him a photograph from his past. Of him posing with the body of a young woman. Smiling."Why were you laughing?"It's not the last Tony sees of Sybille Knapp, an orphan whose mother drowned herself in Kreuzwirt lake in 1999. That was the official verdict. Before long, Tony, a bestselling writer, is turning his imagination to working out what really happened.But Kreuzwirt is a sullen, silent community, loyal to the powerful Perkman family, who will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried. And there are other forces at work in this valley. Stories of an ancient evil. Whispers of a figure who stands between this world and the next.The Wanderer sings and his song is the wind.Translated from the Italian by Katherine Gregor
£17.09
Quercus Publishing Sleepless
THE MIND-BENDING NEW THRILLER FROM THE NO.1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF DEAR CHILD'Hausmann's novel has the feel of a nightmare, unfolding at breakneck speed' SUNDAY TIMESIt's been years since Nadja Kulka was convicted of a cruel crime. After being released from prison, she's wanted nothing more than to live a normal life: nice flat, steady job, even a few friends. But when one of those friends, Laura von Hoven - free-spirited beauty and wife of Nadja's boss - kills her lover and begs Nadja for her help, Nadja can't seem to be able to refuse. The two women make for a remote house in the woods, the perfect place to bury a body. But their plan quickly falls apart and Nadja finds herself outplayed, a pawn in a bizarre game in which she is both the perfect victim and the perfect murderer . . . Dark secrets past and present collide in this haunting novel of guilt and retribution from the internationally bestselling author of Dear Child.PRAISE FOR ROMY HAUSMANN:'Chilling' People Magazine'[A] tantalizingly disturbing debut . . . As enthralling as it is thought-provoking' New York Times'Hausmann is a force to be reckoned with. You can't stop reading' David Baldacci'Deliciously dark' Alice Feeney'Very compelling' Peter James'Disturbingly good' Lesley Kara
£13.49
Quercus Publishing The Invisible Web: A Black Forest Investigation V
A gripping and atmospheric Black Forest Investigation featuring Detective Inspector Louise Bonì."Oliver Bottini is one of the most sophisticated crime writers of modern times" Sunday TimesIn a Berlin hotel a man is beaten up, but it's more than a random assault and the attacker escapes undetected. When the trail leads to Freiburg, Chief Inspector Louise Bonì is sent to investigate. It's a complex case, a professional job. The victim is a secret service informer, the only witness knows more than she's saying, and the intelligence service is hovering in the background, refusing to cooperate. Industrial espionage appears to be at play, focused on the booming solar-energy sector."Taut writing and pacy events" Sunday Times Bonì's investigation is repeatedly obstructed, and again she has to rip up the police handbook in her attempt to find out how the different threads of the web tie together. But by the time she discovers the truth, it's already too late for one of those involved . . ."Bottini is a terrific storyteller" Sunday Express The fifth in the Black Forest Investigations featuring Louise Bonì - by the five-time winner of the German Crime Fiction AwardTranslated from the German by Jamie Bulloch
£18.00
Quercus Publishing Dark Music: The gripping new thriller from the author of THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB
A gripping new thriller from the bestselling author of THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB"A classic murder mystery . . . one Holmes himself would have loved to solve" Independent"Fans of dark Swedish crime will love this moody thriller" The Sun"A nerve-racking political thriller with the most exciting detective duo in a long time. Bring on their next case" Romy Hausmann, author of Dear Child"A rich, engrossing novel" Literary Review"Complex and dark" Irish IndependentThe launch of a new series inspired by Sherlock Holmes. A murder investigation brings together two unlikely allies in a race to uncover a shadowy international conspiracy.Professor Hans Rekke: born into a wealthy Stockholm family, world authority on interrogation techniques, capable of vertiginous feats of logic and observation . . . But he might just fall apart when the going gets tough, leading to substance abuse and despair.Micaela Vargas: community police officer, born to Chilean political refugees in a tough suburb, with two brothers on the shady side of the law.Vargas feels she has something to prove. She's tenacious and uncompromising, but she needs Rekke's unique mind to help her solve the case. Rekke has it all - wealth, reputation - but also a tendency to throw it all away. He needs Vargas to help him get back on an even keel so he can focus his mind on finding the killer before they're both silenced for good.Translated from the Swedish by Ian Giles
£18.00
Quercus Publishing Anything Could Happen: A gloriously romantic novel full of hope and kindness
'The book we all need - full of escapism, romance, hope and kindness' Milly Johnson'Gloriously romantic' Sun'I couldn't put it down' Jill MansellYour big secret is out. What next?For Lara and her daughter Eliza, it has always been just the two of them. But when Eliza turns eighteen and wants to connect with her father, Lara is forced to admit a secret that she has been keeping from her daughter her whole life.Eliza needs answers - and so does Lara. Their journey to the truth will take them on a road trip across England and eventually to New York, where it all began. Dreams might have been broken and opportunities missed, but there are still surprises in store...Anything Could Happen is a warm, wise, funny and uplifting novel about love, second chances and the unexpected and extraordinary paths life can take us down.'Captivating' Woman & Home'Tender, bittersweet and funny' Veronica Henry'Perfect' Prima'A star-crossed lovers story with so much heart and humour' Fiona Palmer'Full of extraordinary surprises' Woman's Own'A feel-good, uplifting book' Sheila O'Flanagan'Lovely!' Hello!'Romantic, uplifting and a total joy' Heidi Swain'A perfect rainy day read' Bella'Brimming with humour and hope - this book is a joy to escape into' Cathy Bramley'[A] warm hug of a novel' Irish News'A wonderful book about the What Ifs of love and loss' Laura Kemp'A captivating, humorous and warm-hearted story elevated to must-read status' Heat
£8.09
Quercus Publishing My Russia: War or Peace?
In his timely new book, Mikhail Shishkin, argues that Russia is not a 'riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma': we just don't know enough about it. So what is the real story behind Putin's autocratic regime and its invasion of Ukraine?In My Russia: War or Peace? Shishkin traces the roots of Russia's problems, from the 'Kievan Rus' via the Grand Duchy of Moscow, empire, revolution and Cold War, to the now thirty-year-old Russian Federation. He explores the uneasy relationship between state and citizens, explains Russian attitudes to people's rights and democracy, and proposes that there are really two Russian peoples: the disillusioned and disaffected, who suffer from 'slave mentality', and those who embrace 'European' values and try to stand up to oppression.Both deeply personal and taking a broader historical view, My Russia is a passionate, eye-opening account of a state entangled in a complex and bloody past, as well as a love letter to a conflicted country. Will Russia continue its vicious circle of upheaval and autocracy, or will its people find a way out of history - and how can we help?
£17.09
Quercus Publishing Hero Living: Seven Strides to Awaken Your Infinite Power
In Hero Living Rudy Reyes, the latest recruit in Channel 4's smash-hit SAS Who Dares Wins introduces his philosophy to life - part Homer, part Bruce Lee and part Spider-Man. He outlines various stages towards revealing your inner hero: recognising the hero's call, following the hero's path and returning from life's battlefield with the hero's hard-earned wisdom.Taking readers step-by-step through his tried and tested program, Rudy draws from his own heroic story of how he triumphed over harrowing childhood experiences of poverty and abandonment. Rather than giving up hope, he heeded the hero's call to live up to his full potential - first as a martial-arts champion, then as an elite warrior in the mountains of Afghanistan and on the sands of Iraq and finally in his post-Marines life as a personal trainer, actor, motivational speaker and now TV star.
£18.00
Quercus Publishing The Last Time I Saw You
When Olivia Berrington gets the call to tell her that her best friend from university has been killed in a car crash in New York, her life is turned upside down. Her relationship with Sally was an exhilarating roller coaster, until a shocking betrayal drove them apart. But if Sally really had turned her back, why is her little girl named after Olivia? As questions mount about the fatal accident, Olivia is forced to go back and unravel their tangled history. But as Sally's secrets start to spill out, Olivia's left asking herself if the past is best kept buried.
£7.19
Quercus Publishing The Moment
Paddington station, nine a.m., rush hour. As the crowds ebb and flow, time suddenly stands still for two people: Fern and Elliott, ex-lovers who parted twenty-five years before and never expected to see each other again. But here they are, face to face, and the connection is as powerful as it was the day they first met. Their lives have moved on - to marriage, children and divorce - yet neither has stopped regretting the day that drove them apart. Fern gives Elliott her number and they tentatively arrange to meet again that evening when both will be travelling back through the station. And, as the day ticks on, and the memories resurface, both Fern and Elliott reflect on the past. As their emotions go round in circles, so does the Paddington clock, counting down the minutes to eight p.m. - and the moment the future is in their hands.
£7.19
Quercus Publishing Soho, 4 a.m.
6 July 2005. Great Britain has just been announced as the next host of the Olympics. The euphoric crowds pour forth from Trafalgar Square into the waiting bars and restaurants of Soho. Dreams, drugs, debauchery . . . Soho is London's red light district, where any desire can be satisfied in the blink of an eye. But behind it all there is a permanent community of residents whose own sins are concealed by the partying and excess. Zoe, an aspiring model looking for her big break, will discover the sinister world behind the bright lights; artist Seb is hoping he can forget the past by drinking himself into oblivion, while his friend Ade is about to take extreme measures to save his livelihood and relationship. Meanwhile, Stella, Ade's girlfriend, wonders if this is the night to escape. Through the dark streets, these four ordinary people walk a dangerous, twisted path through London's greatest adult playground.Come the morning of 7 July, as jubilation turns to horror, will they have fallen into Soho's poisoned embrace while the nation's eyes are turned elsewhere?
£7.19
Quercus Publishing A Perfect Husband
'Tackles a difficult subject with a light touch to keep you turning the pages' VERONICA HENRYA perfect husbandTo their friends, Lily and Freddy have a great marriage. He taught her to love again after the death of her first husband. But when Freddy becomes tense and distracted, a life-changing truth is revealed.A terrible shockFreddy has built up massive gambling debts that threaten to destroy not only his life but Lily's as well.Should she go forward - or back?Her friends and family urge her to forget him and move on - easier said than done. Is her willingness to give him a second chance just down to loyalty? Or is the truth something altogether darker? 'Boyd is terrific at cutting to the quick of modern relationships' WOMAN & HOME
£8.99
Quercus Publishing Sigmund Freud: Essays and Papers (riverrun editions)
'Freud the writer is what Joan Riviere so elegantly presents to the English-Language reader'Lisa Appignanesi from her preface to Sigmund Freud: Essays and PapersThis collection focuses in on the set of Riviere's translations that made up the first library of Freud in English. Including his papers on metapsychology, applied psychoanalysis and technique, and within those broader categories are subjects as diverse as narcissism, love, paranoia and homosexuality. Riviere's great understanding of Freud's work is evident as we see his engrossingly direct arguments - the style that distinguished him from academics of his day - take shape in her talented translations. We are presented with Freud's various guises, both an essayist and master storyteller he brings to life the vagaries of his patients. Riviere was a major player in disseminating psychoanalysis into English, 'no less than the man she translated is she a figure to be hidden from history', in this collection the translator and the scientist come together in a rich, engrossing brew.
£9.89
Quercus Publishing Empire State: A nail-biting thriller set in the high-stakes aftermath of 9/11
'An espionage master' Charles CummingFormer spy Robert Harland returns in this nailbiting thriller set in the aftermath of 9/11The head of the US National Security Agency is assassinated in spectacular fashion at Heathrow.An airport employee and his family are found murdered in their council house in Uxbridge.In New York, a fashionable Upper East Side osteopath receives two postcards showing the Empire State Building.A group of migrant workers are brutally gunned down in Macedonia.The quest to find the link between these apparently random events is pursued by Robert Harland - drawn back to a world he thought he'd left behind - with a dual role for the UN and MI6.
£8.09
Quercus Publishing Tangled Lives
Annie Delancey is happily married with three grown children. But she guards a secret. Aged eighteen she had a baby boy, and gave him up for adoption. Out of the blue, she receives an official-looking letter from Social Services. Her son wants to make contact. As the son she has never known comes back into her life, his presence begins to expose the cracks in the family that Annie now has to try, desperately, to hold together.
£9.99
Quercus Publishing The Woman in Silk
Captain Hal Stirling is flown to England from Afghanistan after a roadside bomb renders him battered and broken. Once home, he retreats to his ancestral family seat of Stirling Towers - a gothic mansion that dominates the landscape near the remote Scottish Borders - for a Christmas of quiet recuperation. But on arrival he discovers that his mother, a fanatical spiritualist, has died and been hastily buried. Isolated from the insular local community, Hal finds himself at the mercy of his mother's two mysterious nurses, the harshest winter on record and, before long, the horrific visions; experiences he attributes to his heavy medication. Yet as the December weather deteriorates, so does Hal's certainty that his home is a place of safety. Who, or what, is trying to frighten him to death?
£8.99
Quercus Publishing Valse Triste
When Michelangelo, a young autistic child, goes missing, Commissario Sergio Striggio is put in charge of the investigation. Searches turn up nothing, but there is an interesting connection with the mother's past: when she was a child, her twin brother also went missing, never to be found. However, Striggio is finding it difficult to concentrate on the case. He is waiting for his father, Pietro, to come and stay. The idea of the visit is torturing him. He fears having to reveal that he is gay - most of all he fears that his partner, Leo, will reveal his sexuality to his father. Pietro, however, has other matters on his mind: he has news of a devastating diagnosis to share with his son.And when his life with Leo unexpectedly collides with his investigation into Michelangelo's disappearance, it seems that in the complicated web of the small town of Bolzano, the truth behind the mystery cannot hide for long.Valse Triste is one of those rare novels in which the quality of the writing is matched by the pace of the narrative. Fois' language is precise and poetic, and the reader is kept guessing by twist after twist.Translated from the Italian by Richard DixonRichard Dixon is a former barrister, and a literary translator from Italian. His previous translations include works by Umberto Eco and Giacomo Leopardi, and poetry by Franco Buffoni and Eugenio De Signoribus.With the support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union
£13.49