Search results for ""Author Joyce"

Ulysses is one of the foundational texts of modern literature, yet has a reputation for complexity and controversy. In Ulysses Unbound, Joyce expert Terence Killeen untangles this seemingly knotty classic to reveal the wonders beneath, in a clear and comprehensive guide which will provide new and vital insights for everyone from students to specialists.In this new edition, published to celebrate the centenary of Ulysses' first publication in 1922, Killeen seamlessly combines close literary analysis with a broad account of the novel's fascinating history, from its writing and publication to its long contemporary afterlife. We get under the skin of the text to discover the joys of Joyce's remarkable range of themes, styles and voices, as Killeen reanimates the real people who inspired many of the characters. Ulysses Unbound is an indispensable, illuminating and entertaining companion to one of the twentieth century's great works of art.With a foreword by Colm Tóibín

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Pharaoh.Icon.Enigma.Lost for three thousand years, misunderstood for a century.A hundred years ago, a team of archaeologists in the Valley of the Kings made a remarkable discovery: a near-complete royal burial, an ancient mummy, and golden riches beyond imagination. The lost tomb of Tutankhamun ignited a media frenzy, propelled into overdrive by rumours of a deadly ancient curse. But amid the hysteria, many stories - including that of Tutankhamun himself - were distorted or forgotten.Tutankhamun: Pharaoh, Icon, Enigma takes a familiar tale and turns on its head. Leading Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley has gathered ten unique perspectives together for the first time, including that of the teenage pharaoh and his family, ancient embalmers and tomb robbers, famous Western explorers and forgotten Egyptian archaeologists. It's a journey that spans from ancient Thebes in 1336 BCE, when a young king on a mission to restore his land met an unexpected and violent end, to modern Luxor in 1922 CE when the tomb's discovery led to a fight over ownership that continues to this day.Above all, this is the story of Tutankhamun, as he would have wanted to be remembered. Piecing together three thousand years of evidence and unpicking the misunderstandings that surround Egypt's most famous king, this book offers a vital reappraisal on his life, death and enduring legacy.

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'A wickedly funny, clever, but also tender and lyrical novel about Britain and Britishness and what we have become' RACHEL JOYCEIn Bournville, a placid suburb of Birmingham, sits a famous chocolate factory. For eleven-year-old Mary and her family in 1945, it's the centre of the world. The reason their streets smell faintly of chocolate, the place where most of their friends and neighbours have worked for decades. Mary will go on to live through the Coronation and the World Cup final, royal weddings and royal funerals, Brexit and Covid-19. She'll have children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Parts of the chocolate factory will be transformed into a theme park, as modern life and the city crowd in on their peaceful enclave.As we travel through seventy-five years of social change, from James Bond to Princess Diana, and from wartime nostalgia to the World Wide Web, one pressing question starts to emerge: will these changing times bring Mary's family - and their country - closer together, or leave them more adrift and divided than ever before?*****'A beautiful, and often very funny, tribute to an underexamined place and also a truly moving story of how a country discovered tolerance' Sathnam Sanghera, bestselling author of Empireland'A hugely impressive state-of-the-nation tale' Observer'This charming read is as warming, rich and comforting as a mug of hot chocolate' The Times

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Narcissistic mothers are an important motif in modernist literature. Tracing its appearance in the works of writers such as D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, this book questions the dichotomous image of either benevolent or suffocating mother, which has pervaded religion, art and literature for centuries. Instead of focusing on the mother-child dyad as characterized primarily by maternal domination and the child' s submission, Marie Géraldine Rademacher insists on the definitional nuances of the term "narcissism" and considers the political and socio-economic context of the time in shaping these women's narcissistic behavior. The study thus inspires a more positive (re)reading of the protagonists.

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Guiding readers through the disorienting dreamworld of James Joyce's last work, Kimberly Devlin examines Finnegans Wake as an uncanny text, one that is both strange and familiar. In light of Freud's description of the uncanny as a haunting awareness of earlier, repressed phases of the self, Devlin finds the uncanniness of the Wake rooted in Joyce's rewritings of literary fictions from his earlier artistic periods. She demonstrates the notion of psychological return as she traces the obsessions, scenarios, and images from Joyce's "waking" fictions that resurface in his final dreamtext in uncanny forms, transformed yet discernible, often to uncover hidden, unconscious truths. Drawing on psychoanalytic arguments and recent feminist theory, Devlin maps intertextual connections that reveal many of Joyce's most deeply felt imaginative and intellectual concerns, such as the self in its decentered relationship to language, the elusive nature of human identity, the anxieties implicit in mortal selfhood, the male subject in its opposition to the female sexual "other." She suggests that the Wake records Joyce's implicit interest in the psychological counterpart to Vico's theory of historical repetition: Freud's theory of the insistent internal return of earlier narratives. Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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In 1929, ten years before James Joyce completed "Finnegans Wake", Sylvia Beach published a strange book with a stranger title: "Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress". Worried by the confusion and attacks that constituted the general reception of his "Work in Progress" (the working title for "Finnegans Wake"), Joyce orchestrated this collection of twelve essays and two 'letters of protest' from such writers as Samuel Beckett, Stuart Gilbert, Eugene Jolas, Robert McAlmon, and William Carlos Williams. "Our Exagmination" represents an altogether unusual hybrid of criticism and advertisement, and since its first appearance has remained a touchstone as well as a point of contention for Joyce scholars. Eighty years later, Joyce's "Disciples Disciplined" reads the "Exagmination" as an integral part of the larger composition history and interpretive context of "Finnegans Wake" itself. This new collection of essays by fourteen outstanding Joycean scholars offers one essay in response to each of the original "Exagmination" contributions. From philosophically informed exegeses and new conceptions of international modernism to considerations of dance, film, and the flourishing field of genetic studies, these essays together exemplify an interdisciplinary criticism that is also a lively and ongoing conversation with that criticism's history.

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The main purpose of this book is to validate a reading of Joyce in negative terms. Central to the enquiry is an examination of the roles of irony and of indeterminacy. Irony, interpreted in metaphysical rather than merely rhetorical terms, is envisaged as deriving from two separate if related orientations, one associated with Friedrich Schlegel, the other with Gustave Flaubert. Insofar as Joyce's work (including "Ulysses") owes more to the latter than the former, it forgoes the genial humour central to Schlegel's theories, and embraces instead the ironic detachment and formal control of a Flaubertian perspective. Such irony (which entails a suspicion of sentiment and a related dehumanisation of character, as in some of the stories in Dubliners) becomes normative in Joyce, and along with a similarly deflationary parody pervades "Ulysses". In addition, a persistent indeterminacy is established as early as 'The Dead', so that it becomes impossible in that story to adjudicate between not just contradictory but mutually exclusive interpretations. Such indeterminacy is pushed to further extremes in "Ulysses", with its notorious proliferation of narrative perspectives. As a corollary to the work's encyclopaedic inclusiveness and quotidian particularism, every detail tends to assume the same significance as every other; the consequence being that (in Gyorgy Lukacs' famous formulation) we lose all sense of any 'hierarchy of meaning'. From that it is but a step to Franco Moretti's assessment that in "Ulysses" everyday existence remains 'inert, opaque - meaningless', and that in fact the whole point is to represent the meaningless precisely 'as meaningless'. Indeterminacy, in effect, ushers in the possibility of nihilism. The analysis of "Ulysses" culminates with the attempt (unavailing in both cases) to discover in either Bloom or Molly a genuine source of countervailing affirmation. The study concludes with a brief consideration of the polysemic vocabulary of "Finnegans Wake" as a logical extrapolation of the poetics of indeterminacy.

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A dysfunctional family reunites for the Christmas holiday from hell in this rediscovered festive classic with fangs for fans of Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Taylor and Stella Gibbons.'Literary comfort and joy. It got me out of mourning for the Cazelet Chronicles.' Meg Mason (author of Sorrow and Bliss)'A stylish and penetrating comedy of manners. My favourite Christmas book by far - and you can read it all year round.' Rachel Joyce (author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry)'A horribly delicious snapshot of post-war family life, in which tensions ensnare the reader in tinsel-covered barbed wire.' Janice Hallett (author of The Appeal) The fire is on, sherry poured, presents wrapped, and claws are being sharpened. In a seaside cottage perched on a cliff, one family reunites for Christmas. While snow falls, a tyrannical widowed matriarch presides over her unruly brood. Her niece tends to her whims, but fantasises about eloping; and as more guests arrive, each bringing their secret truths and dreams, the Christmas tree explodes, a brawl erupts, an escape occurs - and their 'midwinter madness' climaxes ...

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Pharaoh.Icon.Enigma.Lost for three thousand years, misunderstood for a century.A hundred years ago, a team of archaeologists in the Valley of the Kings made a remarkable discovery: a near-complete royal burial, an ancient mummy, and golden riches beyond imagination. The lost tomb of Tutankhamun ignited a media frenzy, propelled into overdrive by rumours of a deadly ancient curse. But amid the hysteria, many stories - including that of Tutankhamun himself - were distorted or forgotten.Tutankhamun: Pharaoh, Icon, Enigma takes a familiar tale and turns on its head. Leading Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley has gathered ten unique perspectives together for the first time, including that of the teenage pharaoh and his family, ancient embalmers and tomb robbers, famous Western explorers and forgotten Egyptian archaeologists. It's a journey that spans from ancient Thebes in 1336 BCE, when a young king on a mission to restore his land met an unexpected and violent end, to modern Luxor in 1922 CE when the tomb's discovery led to a fight over ownership that continues to this day.Above all, this is the story of Tutankhamun, as he would have wanted to be remembered. Piecing together three thousand years of evidence and unpicking the misunderstandings that surround Egypt's most famous king, this book offers a vital reappraisal on his life, death and enduring legacy.

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From the author of the world-wide bestseller, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: ' A beautiful novel, a tonic for the soul and a complete joy to read.' Joanna Cannon, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep.1988. Frank owns a music shop. It is jam-packed with records of every speed, size and genre. Classical, jazz, punk - as long as it's vinyl he sells it. Day after day Frank finds his customers the music they need. Then into his life walks Ilse Brauchmann.Ilse asks Frank to teach her about music. His instinct is to turn and run. And yet he is drawn to this strangely still, mysterious woman with her pea-green coat and her eyes as black as vinyl. But Ilse is not what she seems. And Frank has old wounds that threaten to re-open and a past he will never leave behind ...'Hits all the right notes...a love story that's as much about the silences between words as what is said - the spaces between people that can be filled with mystery, confusion and misunderstanding as well as hope." ObserverRACHEL JOYCE'S NEW NOVEL, MISS BENSON'S BEETLE, IS OUT NOW.

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From the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Number One New York Times bestselling author of Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton'A terrific writer' Zadie Smith'A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own' Hilary Mantel 'A novel to treasure' Sunday TimesOlive, Again follows the blunt, contradictory yet deeply loveable Olive Kitteridge as she grows older, navigating the second half of her life as she comes to terms with the changes - sometimes welcome, sometimes not - in her own existence and in those around her.Olive adjusts to her new life with her second husband, challenges her estranged son and his family to accept him, experiences loss and loneliness, witnesses the triumphs and heartbreaks of her friends and neighbours in the small coastal town of Crosby, Maine - and, finally, opens herself to new lessons about life.'A powerful storyteller immersed in the nuances of human relationships' Observer'She gets better with each book' Maggie O'Farrell 'Her writing is exquisite; her vision is boundless. What a sublime book.' Rachel Joyce'Glorious' The Times'A perfect novel' Financial Times

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'A rich, revolutionary novel...she writes with virtuosity and perfect confidence, insight and compassion' The TimesJeremy is a child-like, painfully shy bachelor who has never left home. He lives on the third floor of his mother's boarding house and spends his days cutting up coloured paper to make small collages - until the day his mother dies and the beautiful Mary Tell arrives to turn his world upside down.**ANNE TYLER HAS SOLD OVER 8 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE**'Anne Tyler takes the ordinary, the small, and makes them sing' Rachel Joyce'She knows all the secrets of the human heart' Monica Ali 'A masterly author' Sebastian Faulks'I love Anne Tyler. I've read every single book she's written' Jacqueline Wilson

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One morning, Rebecca wakes up and realises she has turned into the wrong person. Is she really this joyous and outgoing organiser of parties, the put-upon heart of her dead husband's extended family? What happened to her quiet and serious nineteen-year-old self, and what would have happened if she'd married her college sweetheart? Can someone ever recover the person they've left behind?**ANNE TYLER HAS SOLD OVER 8 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE**'Anne Tyler takes the ordinary, the small, and makes them sing' Rachel Joyce'She knows all the secrets of the human heart' Monica Ali 'A masterly author' Sebastian Faulks'I love Anne Tyler. I've read every single book she's written' Jacqueline Wilson

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When Mercy Garrett moves herself out of the family home, everyone determines not to notice.All she wants is space and silence. No clutter. Not even their cat, Desmond.But it turns out family life is impossible to escape - particularly when it's in your past. For Mercy it all begins in 1959, with a holiday to a cabin by a lake. It's the only one the Garretts will ever take, but its effects will ripple through the generations.The glorious Sunday Times bestseller follows one family's joys and heartbreaks, mistakes and secrets, from the 1950s right up to today'Gorgeous, charming, profound, and written with such lightness of touch' MARIAN KEYES'A perfect work of fiction' MEG MASON'She is and always will be my favourite author' LIANE MORIARTY'Exquisitely crafted, tender, hilarious, devastatingly precise, I loved this powerful meditation on the small and often unvoiced moments that can make up a life' RACHEL JOYCE'Anne Tyler really is the best... Her sheer brilliance makes it all seems so effortless' GRAHAM NORTON'A faultless novel, effortlessly profound. I read it in two sittings, totally immersed' VICTORIA HISLOP

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From the Booker longlisted author, and an Irish Times No.1 bestseller - a searing, jubilant novel about four generations of women and the stories that bind them.'Beautiful, compassionate ... Donal Ryan at his inimitable best.' MAGGIE O'FARRELL'One of the finest novelists writing today... a haunting, exquisite masterpiece.' RACHEL JOYCE___________This is a story about family, about all of the things it should be - and sometimes isn't.In Nenagh, County Tipperary, four generations of Aylward women live and love. The head of the family, Nana, is a woman who has buried two sons and whose life has been the family farm. Her daughter-in-law, Eileen, is estranged from her own parents, having 'shamed' them and given birth to Saoirse. And then there's Saoirse herself, eavesdropping on lives she cannot comprehend. It is only when they must battle for the inheritance of Dirt Island - a narrow strip of land adjacent to Eileen's childhood home - that they truly understand the roots that bind their lives together._________'The prose drips like honey off a spoon' SUNDAY TIMES'Beautifully poised, sad, poetic and human....I loved every single line.' IAN RANKIN'A generous mosaic of a novel about the staying power of love and pride and history and family' COLUM McCANN'His paragraphs are unnoticeably beautiful, his heart always on show' ANNE ENRIGHT'Endlessly surprising and incredibly moving' DAVID NICHOLLS'A life-enhancing talent' SEBASTIAN BARRY'I would struggle to think of any other Irish author working today who writes with as much compassion as Donal Ryan' LOUISE O'NEILL

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Who had the most commercial success in their lifetime, Ernest Hemingway or Agatha Christie? Whose work has the most adaptations, F. Scott Fitzgerald or Franz Kafka? Who courted the most scandal, Colette or James Joyce? Pit 32 of the world's greatest modern writers against each other with these beautifully illustrated cards. An ideal gift for the book lover in your life.

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'Tense and engrossing... readers who loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry will not be disappointed.' - Sunday Times'An instant classic.' - Daily Express'You will end up grinning dippily and recommending this wild, searching book to everyone you know.' - The Times'Brilliantly realized... a powerful study of grief, loss, guilt, depression, mental illness - and ultimately the power of love - which grips the reader on every page.' - Daily MailSummer, 1972: Two seconds have been added to the Atomic clock so as to counteract the irregularities in the Earth's rate of rotation. Eleven-year-old Byron has been told this but still struggles to understand. What might it mean? In the claustrophobic heat, he and his friend begin ‘Operation Perfect’, a hapless mission to rescue Byron’s mother from impending crisis.Winter, present day: As frost creeps across the moor, Jim cleans tables in the local café, a solitary figure struggling with OCD. His job is a relief from the rituals that govern his nights.Little would seem to connect them except that two seconds can change everything.If your world can be shattered in an instant, might time also put things right?

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The incredible Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller from the million-copy bestselling author of the phenomenon and­ 80-week Sunday Times bestselling The Salt Path'Beautiful, a thrill to read . . . you feel the world is a better place because Raynor and Moth are in it' The Times'Winn's writing transforms her surroundings and her spirits, her joy coming across clearly in her shimmering prose' i 'A beautiful, luminous and magical piece of writing' Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry _______ 'It was the land, the earth, the deep humming background to my very being' In 2016, days before they were unjustly evicted from their home, Raynor Winn was told her husband Moth was dying.Instead of giving up they embarked on a life-changing journey: walking the 630-mile South West Coast Path, living by their wits, determination and love of nature.But all journeys must end and when the couple return to civilisation they find that four walls feel like a prison, cutting them off from the sea and sky that sustained them - that had saved Moth's life.So when the chance to rewild an old Cornish farm comes their way, they grasp it, hoping they'll not only reconnect with the natural world but also find themselves once again on its healing path . . ._______'Confirms Raynor as a natural and extremely talented writer with an incredible way with words. This book gives us all what we wanted to know at the end of The Salt Path which is what happened next. So moving, it made me cry . . . repeatedly' Sophie Raworth, BBC'Brilliant, powerful and touching . . . will connect with anyone who has triumphed over adversity' Stephen Moss, author and naturalist'Unflinching . . . There is a luminous conviction to the prose' Observer'Notions of home are poignantly explored . . . wonderful' GuardianLONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2021**Nominated for the Holyer an Gof Memoir Award** Praise for The Salt Path 'An astonishing narrative of two people dragging themselves from the depths of despair along some of the most dramatic landscapes in the country, looking for a solution to their problems and ultimately finding themselves' Independent 'This is what you need right now to muster hope and resilience . . . a beautiful story and a reminder that humans can endure adversity' Stylist 'The landscape is magical: shapeshifting seas and smugglers' coves; myriads of sea birds and mauve skies. Raynor writes exquisitely . . . it's a tale of triumph; of hope over despair, of love over everything' The Sunday Times 'The Salt Path is a life-affirming tale of enduring love that smells of the sea and tastes of a rich life. With beautiful, immersive writing, it is a story heart-achingly and beautifully told' Jackie Morris, illustrator of The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane

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Discover the signature sartorial and literary style of fifty men and women of letters, including Maya Angelou; Truman Capote; Colette; Bret Easton Ellis; Allen Ginsberg; Patti Smith; Karl Ove Knausgaard; and David Foster Wallace; in this unique compendium of profiles-packed with eighty black-and-white photographs, excerpts, quotes, and fast facts-that illuminates their impact on modern fashion. Whether it's Zadie Smith's exotic turban, James Joyce's wire-framed glasses, or Samuel Beckett's Wallabees, a writer's attire often reflects the creative and spiritual essence of his or her work. As a non-linear sensibility has come to dominate modern style, curious trendsetters have increasingly found a stimulating muse in writers-many, like Joan Didion, whose personal aesthetic is distinctly "out of fashion." For decades, Didion has used her work, both her journalism and experimental fiction, as a mirror to reflect her innermost emotions and ideas-an originality that has inspired Millennials, resonated with a new generation of fashion designers and cultural tastemakers, and made Didion, in her eighties, the face of Celine in 2015. Legendary Authors and the Clothes They Wore examines fifty revered writers-among them Samuel Beckett; Quentin Crisp; Simone de Beauvoir; T.S. Eliot; F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald; Malcolm Gladwell; Donna Tartt; John Updike; Oscar Wilde; and Tom Wolfe-whose work and way of dress bears an idiosyncratic stamp influencing culture today. Terry Newman combines illuminating anecdotes about authors and their work, archival photography, first-person quotations from each writer and current designers, little-known facts, and clothing-oriented excerpts that exemplify their original writing style. Each entry spotlights an author and a signature wardrobe moment that expresses his or her persona, and reveals how it influences the fashion world today. Newman explores how the particular item of clothing or style has contributed to fashion's lingua franca-delving deeper to appraise its historical trajectory and distinctive effect. Legendary Authors and the Clothes They Wore is an invaluable and engaging look at the writers we love-and why we love what they wear-that is sure to captivate lovers of great literature and sophisticated fashion.

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The brilliant debut novel from Emilie Pine, author of the international bestseller Notes to SelfDublin, 7 October 2019One day, one city, two women: Ruth and Pen. Neither knows the other, but both are asking the same questions: how to be with others and how, when the world won't make space for you, to be with yourself?Ruth's marriage to Aidan is in crisis. Today she needs to make a choice - to stay or not to stay, to take the risk of reaching out, or to pull up the drawbridge. For teenage Pen, today is the day the words will flow, and she will speak her truth to Alice, to ask for what she so desperately wants.Deeply involving, poignant and radiantly intelligent, it is a portrait of the limits of grief and love, of how we navigate our inner and outer landscapes, and the tender courage demanded by the simple, daily quest of living.'Emilie Pine is one of the most important new voices in Irish Literature. Everything she writes is imbued with wisdom' David Park'Emilie Pine's debut novel is ambitious, poignant and playful, with a feminist nod to Joyce . . . it is as surprising and playful as it is ambitious and relevant' Irish Independent'This is an exciting, warm and engaging debut that signals, one hopes, even greater things to come' The Business PostWINNER OF THE KATE O'BRIEN AWARD

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The third and final novel in the delightful Top of the Dales series from bestselling author Gervase Phinn.'A worthy successor to James Herriot, and every bit as endearing.' - Alan TitchmarshChange is afoot in the usually sleepy village of Risingdale. Gerald Gaunt, headmaster of the primary school for over thirty years, is retiring. It is the end of an era and Gerald hopes that his replacement will work with him to secure a bright, happy future for the school. But Mr Smart has his own ideas about how things should be run, and things start to become fraught very quickly. On top of this, the teachers have plenty of other dramas to contend with. Still dealing with a class of children who seem to understand agriculture better than arithmetic, Tom Dwyer is pining over Janette, his one-that-got-away. Meanwhile, his colleague Joyce Tranter's new marital bliss is shattered by the arrival of her husband's avaricious, scheming nephew. And elsewhere in the village, Sir Hedley's long-cherished plans for his future are jeopardised by the arrival back in his life of his bitter, desperate ex-wife. Can the residents of Risingdale pull together and achieve happiness against the odds? With a lively cast of characters both old and new and countless laugh-out-loud moments, A Class Act is a warm, enchanting portrayal of life in a small Yorkshire village.Readers are loving the Top of the Dales series:'Loved it. So easy to read, lovely story, unforgettable characters.' - 5 STARS'Brilliant!' - 5 STARS'Could not put the book down. Gervase Phinn is an expert story teller.' - 5 STARS'Such a relaxing and calming read' - 5 STARS'I have been waiting for this sequel and it didn't disappoint.' - 5 STARS

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The third and final novel in the delightful Top of the Dales series from bestselling author Gervase Phinn.'A worthy successor to James Herriot, and every bit as endearing.' - Alan TitchmarshChange is afoot in the usually sleepy village of Risingdale. Gerald Gaunt, headmaster of the primary school for over thirty years, is retiring. It is the end of an era and Gerald hopes that his replacement will work with him to secure a bright, happy future for the school. But Mr Smart has his own ideas about how things should be run, and things start to become fraught very quickly. On top of this, the teachers have plenty of other dramas to contend with. Still dealing with a class of children who seem to understand agriculture better than arithmetic, Tom Dwyer is pining over Janette, his one-that-got-away. Meanwhile, his colleague Joyce Tranter's new marital bliss is shattered by the arrival of her husband's avaricious, scheming nephew. And elsewhere in the village, Sir Hedley's long-cherished plans for his future are jeopardised by the arrival back in his life of his bitter, desperate ex-wife. Can the residents of Risingdale pull together and achieve happiness against the odds? With a lively cast of characters both old and new and countless laugh-out-loud moments, A Class Act is a warm, enchanting portrayal of life in a small Yorkshire village.Readers are loving the Top of the Dales series:'Loved it. So easy to read, lovely story, unforgettable characters.' - 5 STARS'Brilliant!' - 5 STARS'Could not put the book down. Gervase Phinn is an expert story teller.' - 5 STARS'Such a relaxing and calming read' - 5 STARS'I have been waiting for this sequel and it didn't disappoint.' - 5 STARS

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To celebrate the centenary of the publication of Ulysses, the most important literary work of the twentieth century, eighteen artists, writers and thinkers respond to an episode each of the great modernist text. Each essayist is an expert in one of the subjects treated in the novel, but what brings them together is a common love of Ulysses. Joseph O'Connor considers the music-saturated Sirens episode and David McWilliams writes about the bigotry and violence of nationalism on display in Cyclops. Irish obstetrician Rhona Mahony responds to Oxen and the Sun, set in a maternity hospital, journalist Lara Marlowe examines the Aeolus episode, which takes place in a newspaper office, and Irish philosopher Richard Kearney reflects on the erudite musings of Stephen Dedalus as he walks along Sandymount strand. The Book About Everything counters the perception of Ulysses as the sole preserve of academics and instead showcases readers' responses to the book. It is a vivid, even eccentric collection, filled with life and Joycean spirit.

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NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING CHRISTINA HENDRICKS AND DAVID ARQUETTEA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'Marvelously optimistic about the future of books and bookstores and the people who love both' Washington PostA.J. Fikry, the grumpy owner of Island Books, is going through a hard time: his bookshop is failing, he has lost his beloved wife, and his prized possession - a rare first edition book has been stolen. Over time, he has given up on people, and even the books in his store, instead of offering solace, are yet another reminder of a world that is changing too rapidly.But one day A.J. finds two-year-old Maya sitting on the bookshop floor, with a note attached to her asking the owner to look after her. His life - and Maya's - is changed forever.Gabrielle Zevin's enchanting novel is a love letter to the world of books - an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.'Readers who delighted in Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows's The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Rachel Joyce's The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, and Jessica Brockmole's Letters from Skye will be equally captivated by this adult novel by a popular YA author about a life of books, redemption, and second chances. Funny, tender, and moving' Library Journal, starred review'This novel has humor, romance, a touch of suspense, but most of all love - love of books and bookish people and, really, all of humanity in its imperfect glory' Eowyn Ivey, author of The Snow Child

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From the pen of international multi-million copy seller Joanne Harris, Coastliners is a powerful novel of a hardy island community fighting the encroaching seas. Written with her characteristic vivid descriptions, expert characterisation and sensuous language, this is a real treat for fans of Victoria Hislop, Fiona Valpy, Maggie O'Farrell and Rachel Joyce.'A winning blend of fairy-tale morality and gritty realism' -- INDEPENDENT'Sensuous, evocative...you can almost feel the sand between your toes and taste the salty air' -- HEAT'I was hooked by page 2. Brilliantly written' -- ***** Reader review'This book kept me gripped from start to finish' -- ***** Reader review'Page turner to the last page' -- ***** Reader review*************************************************************************************************On the tiny Breton island of Le Devin, life has remained almost unchanged for over a hundred years. For generations, two rival communities have fought for control of the island's only beach.When Mado returns home to her village after a ten-year absence, she finds it threatened, both by the tides and by a local entrepreneur. Worse, the community is suffering from an incurable loss of hope. Taking up the fight to transform the dying village, Mado must confront past tragedies, including the terrible secret that still haunts her father.

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'Short but very special. ... funny, touching and quite beautiful.' Matt Cain'A powerful finale to her classic trilogy of heartbreak and healing.' Clare Chambers'An unforgettable story. It's beautiful all through, but the closing chapters are just astonishing, transcendent and hope-filled and life-affirming.' Donal Ryan'Just brilliant' Patrick Gale'Profoundly moving and deeply human, this story of self-discovery and forgiveness is essential reading. I loved every word.' Bonnie Garmus'Astonishingly powerful... Truly stunning' Ruth Jones......................................................................................................................................Ten years ago, Harold Fry set off on his epic journey on foot to save a friend. But the story doesn't end there. Now his wife, Maureen, has her own pilgrimage to make.Maureen Fry has settled into the quiet life she now shares with her husband Harold after his iconic walk across England. Now, ten years later, an unexpected message from the North disturbs her equilibrium again, and this time it is Maureen's turn to make her own journey.But Maureen is not like Harold. She struggles to bond with strangers, and the landscape she crosses has changed radically. She has little sense of what she'll find at the end of the road. All she knows is that she must get there.Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North is a deeply felt, lyrical and powerful novel, full of warmth and kindness, about love, loss, and how we come to terms with the past in order to understand ourselves and our lives a little better. Short, exquisite, while it stands in its own right, it is also the moving finale to a trilogy that began with the phenomenal bestseller The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and continued with The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy.This is a slender book but it has all the power and weight of a classic.

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A moving and inspiring anthology of masterful essays on stories that touch the hearts and minds of readers. “A writer,” Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow once said, “is a reader who is moved to emulation.” New York Times bestselling novelist and memoirist Andre Dubus III took that idea and invited acclaimed authors to write about short stories that altered their view of life and their place in it—short stories that, ultimately, made them want to write something substantial themselves. Here is Richard Russo on Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” Joyce Carol Oates on John Updike’s “A&P,” Tobias Wolff on Hawthorne’s “Wakefield,” Michael Cunningham on James Joyce’s “The Dead.” Readers will gain new insight into these masterfully written stories but also on the contributors’ own lives and work. The fifty contributors are T.C. Boyle, Russell Banks, Richard Bausch, Robert Boswell, Charles Baxter, Ann Beattie, Madison Smartt Bell, Ron Carlson, Lan Samantha Chang, Michael Cunningham, Junot Diaz, Anthony Doerr, Emma Donoghue, Stuart Dybek, Dagoberto Gilb, Julia Glass, Mary Gordon, Lauren Groff, Jennifer Haigh, Jane Hamilton, Ron Hansen, Paul Harding, Ann Hood, Pam Houston, Gish Jen, Charles Johnson, Phil Klay, Dennis Lehane, Lois Lowry, Colum McCann, Sue Miller, Rick Moody, Antonya Nelson, Bich Nguyen, Joyce Carol Oates, Stewart O’Nan, Peter Orner, ZZ Packer, Ann Patchett, Edith Pearlman, Jayne Ann Phillips, Kirstin Valdez Quade, Anna Quindlen, Ron Rash, Richard Russo, Dani Shapiro, Mona Simpson, Jess Walter, Tobias Wolff, and Meg Wolitzer. Reaching Inside will remind you why you fell in love with reading.

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As read on Radio 4, seven linked stories set in the Christmas holidays - all as funny, joyous, poignant and memorable as Christmas should be:A Faraway Smell of Lemon: The School Term has ended. It is almost Christmas but Binny, out last-minute shopping couldn't feel less like wishing glad tidings to all men. Ducking out of the rain she finds herself in the sort of shop she would never normally visit.The Marriage Manual: Christmas Eve. Two parents endeavour to construct their son’s Christmas present from a DIY kit and in the process find themselves deconstructing their marriage.Christmas at the Airport: A glitch in the system, travellers stranded and all sorts of lives colliding in the face of a sudden birth...The Boxing Day Ball: Maureen has never been out with the local girls before. Who knew that a disco in the Village Hall could be life-changing?A Snow Garden: Two little boys, dumped with their divorced father for his share of the Christmas holidays and none of them with a clue how to enjoy it. I'll Be Home for Christmas The most famous boy in the world comes home hoping to escape the madness with a normal family Christmas.Trees: As if Christmas wasn't wearing enough, now his elderly parent is asking for a hole in the ground … Father and son break old habits and plant a tree to mark the start of the new year.

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If you have ever stared a page that remains stubbornly blank; if you have ever wondered why writers write, or whether good writers are born or made; if you are a novelist, playwright, poet, or journalist, or simply delight in the written word, The Writer’s Quotebook is for you. Whether you keep it in your office, on your coffee table, next to your keyboard or your bed, this rich compendium of over one thousand quotations will inspire, invigorate, and illuminate the often challenging, sometimes humorous, but always fascinating task of those who bring words to life.From William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway to Doris Lessing and Joyce Carol Oates, more than five hundred published writers put pen to paper on what the literary life is all about. Selections come from seasoned professionals as well as those just establishing their voice, and they represent a variety of nationalities and genres. The book is divided into three sections. The first part is devoted to the creative process, including thoughts on where writers get their ideas, the role of inspiration, what kind of people write, and where talent comes from. In part two, the subject shifts to writing as a craft. Here, authors ponder the creation of protagonists and points of view, the writing of dialogue, setting and description, creating plots, and the anatomy of style. The final third of the book deals with the challenges and rewards that come with the writing life. Subjects in this section include the economic realities of writing, classes, conferences, and workshops, dealing with rejection and bad reviews, writing habits and rituals, despair, alcohol, suicide, and fame.Articulated with elegant metaphor, in straightforward prose, or with wry wit, the carefully selected and thoughtfully organized quotations come together to form a narrative that entertains, informs, and in the case of aspiring writers, shows the way to better writing.

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THE NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE SALT PATH AND THE WILD SILENCEJoin Raynor and Moth on their remarkable 1000-mile walk from Scotland to the South West Coast Path in this powerful account of our country's land, and the people that make it'An inspirational story of love and endurance' TELEGRAPH'Another heartwarming odyssey, this time on one of the wildest walks in Britain' GUARDIAN'Raynor Winn has done it again. An inspiration' ISABELLA TREE'A tale of remarkable resilience and nature writing at its best' iSome people live to walk. Raynor and Moth walk to live . . ._____________Raynor knows that her husband Moth's health is declining, getting worse by the day. She knows of only one cure: the healing power of walking.Embarking on a journey across the Cape Wrath Trail, over 200 miles of gruelling terrain through Scotland's remotest mountains and lochs, Raynor and Moth look to an uncertain future. Fearing that miracles don't often repeat themselves.But for all the physical struggle, there is healing. And so when their journey ends, they do what they know best: they keep walking . . .Their journey began in fear. But can it end in hope?From the glens of Scotland to the familiar shores of the South West Coast Path, this is the inspiring story of a thousand-mile journey and love letter to our land._____________'As well as a portrait of a telepathic marriage of true minds, and a snapshot of a fretful island, this is a soaring lament and a tub-thumping tirade - for all that is being lost, for all that may yet be saved' TELEGRAPH'An inspiring and beautifully written story of hope and healing . . . We, her readers, are privileged to walk alongside her' COUNTRYFILE'Fans of The Salt Path will love this moving continuation of Raynor and her husband Moth's journey . . . Alongside beautiful nature writing, there are thought-provoking observations on our countryside and the threat it is under' GOOD HOUSEKEEPINGPRAISE FOR RAYNOR WINN:'A beautiful, thoughtful, lyrical story of homelessness, human strength and endurance' GUARDIAN'An astonishing narrative' INDEPENDENT'A tale of triumph: of hope over despair; of love over everything' SUNDAY TIMES'The most inspirational book of this year' THE TIMES'A beautiful, luminous and magical piece of writing' RACHEL JOYCE'You feel the world is a better place because Raynor and Moth are in it' THE TIMES'An uplifting, illuminating read' DAILY MIRROR'Brilliant, powerful and touching' STEPHEN MOSS*No 1 Sunday Times bestseller May 2023*

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This captivating and charming novel from international multi-million copy seller Joanne Harris takes us back to the French village we first discovered in Chocolat. Seamlessly interweaving the past and the present, magic and memory, it is a sensual rollercoaster that will appeal to fans of Victoria Hislop, Fiona Valpy, Maggie O'Farrell and Rachel Joyce.'Thickly sensuous, wildly indulgent, magical escapism: Chocolat lovers will drink deeply' --GUARDIAN'Joanne Harris has the gift of conveying her delight in the sensuous pleasures of food, wine, scent and plants... Blackberry Wine has all the appeal of a velvety scented glass of vintage wine' -- DAILY MAIL'A wonderful story' -- ***** Reader review'A beautiful story... beautifully written and very atmospheric' ***** Reader review'I could NOT put this book down' ***** Reader review'A very good book, lots of warmth and light' ***** Reader review*******************************************************************Jay Mackintosh is trapped by memory in the old familiar landscape of his childhood, to which he longs to return.A bottle of home-brewed wine left to him by a long-vanished friend seems to provide the key to an old mystery. As the unusual properties of the strange brew take effect, Jay escapes to a derelict farmhouse in the French village of Lansquenet.There, a ghost from the past waits to confront him, and the reclusive Marise - haunted, lovely and dangerous - hides a terrible secret behind her closed shutters.Between them, a mysterious chemistry. Or could it be magic?

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This research monograph argues that Scott Fitzgerald consciously used a variety of Joycean devices in The Great Gatsby and these devices were the result of close readings of Joyce’s Dubliners and Ulysses. The monograph breaks new ground in Fitzgerald scholarship and has implications for Joyceans as well. This study sets out to prove that Fitzgerald modeled numerous elements of GATSBY on elements found in Joyce’s ULYSSES. FSF imitated Joyce’s use of the first letter in each of the parts of ULYSSES. There Joyce alluded to two matters (1)the first names of his characters and (2) the logical steps of a syllogism. Fitzgerald enriched this device. He developed three parts in his novel (3-3-3) and used the first and last letters of each of his 9 chapters for two purposes : to repay in a bold and playful way his debt to Joyce and to honor Ernest Renan, famed for his LIFE OF JESUS,and a source of burlesque techniques employed in Gatsby. This is just one example of a number of research issues raised by Tanner, a number new to Fitzgerald scholarship.Other chapters deal with FSF imitation of Joyce’s “Araby” in Fitzgerald’s story “Absolution”(a precursor to Gatsby), sources for Christian allusions and direct allusions to ULYSSES, the shadowing and doubling of characters ,patterns of imagery and numeracy in topics and theme. The work contains two appendices including a significant comparison of Trimalchio and THE GREAT GATSBY.

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In March 1971, Terence McKenna, his brother Dennis and a small gypsy-like band of friends set off for the Colombian Amazonas. Along the surreal way, they encounter a cast of remarkable characters - including a mushroom, a flying saucer, pirates from outer space, and James Joyce in the guise of poultry.One result of their adventures was McKenna's theory that psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in the stropharia cubensis mushroom, is the missing link in the development of human consciousness and langua

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Provocative new investigation into the shadowy figure of Gildas, his influence and representation. Gildas is an essential witness to the Christian culture of the British Isles in the opaque period after the decline and fall of the western Roman empire. His criticisms in De excidio Britanniae of the Britons in the context of spiritual and secular corruption and partition with pagan powers are a crucial source for understanding the transition to the medieval nations of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. But the ways in which this enigmatic ecclesiastical figure has been received over the centuries have shaped an ambivalent reputation. On the one hand, he is seen as a significant contributor to ecclesiastical reform; on the other, as a dour and unreliable chronicler lamenting an inevitable spiritual and political decline. This book seeks to refine and recuperate the image of Gildas. It does so by examining his self-image as presented in select surviving works, and subsequent representations as developed by the reception of these works - the legacy of Gildas - by church luminaries such as Columbanus, Gregory the Great, and Bede; in exploring how Gildas influenced perceptions of authority in the British Isles and on the continent, it puts this legacy into a wider context. Overall, the volume argues that as one of the earliest authorities to define and defend Christian kingship Gildas deserves to be seen as a significant contributor to the political and ecclesiastical development of the early medieval West.

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Introducing a beautifully-designed collection of sixteen short stories from some of the best English writers over two hundred years of our history.The Penguin Book of English Short Stories celebrates the shorter format through some of the most widely known writers of all time. Though many are known for their novels, they provide a mesmerizing, multi-faceted portrait of a country and its people. Some stories are classics, such as James Joyce's The Dead; others - like Mr Loveday's Little Outing by Evelyn Waugh - are relatively unknown and a joy to discover.Covering a wide range of genres and writers, each of these concise, evocative, subtle and satisfying stories is a little jewel, providing a small window into another world.Featuring short stories from classical English authors including Charles Dickens, Katherine Mansfield, H.G. Wells, Evelyn Waugh, Virginia Woolf and many more.

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A definitive edition of perhaps the greatest short story collection in the English languageJames Joyce’s Dubliners is a vivid and unflinching portrait of “dear dirty Dublin” at the turn of the twentieth century. These fifteen stories, including such unforgettable ones as “Araby,” “Grace,” and “The Dead,” delve into the heart of the city of Joyce’s birth, capturing the cadences of Dubliners’ speech and portraying with an almost brute realism their outer and inner lives. Dubliners is Joyce at his most accessible and most profound, and this edition is the definitive text, authorized by the Joyce estate and collated from all known proofs, manuscripts, and impressions to reflect the author’s original wishes.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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The first, shortest, and most approachable of James Joyce's novels, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man portrays the Dublin upbringing of Stephen Dedalus, from his youthful days at Clongowes Wood College to his radical questioning of all convention. In doing so, it provides an oblique self-portrait of the young Joyce himself. Exuberantly inventive in style, the novel subtly and beautifully orchestrates the patterns of quotation and repetition instrumental in its hero's quest to create his own character, his own language, life, and art. This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, published for the novel's centennial, is the definitive text, authorized by the Joyce estate and collated from all known proofs, manuscripts, and impressions to reflect the author's original wishes.

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