Search results for """ "Narrative Threads""

Book SynopsisI adored this book and can't recommend it highly enough Cathy HorynBeautifully executed Norma KamaliA visual feast Giles DeaconEntertaining, thought-provoking, and serious. Read it and learn. Colin McDowellClothes from our past shape who we are, and who we will be. Why do we hold on to certain garments and what do they tell us and others about our lives?Mark C. O'Flaherty asks 14 individuals who work with or use clothes in a unique way: how has fashion created something significant in your life? Through fascinating conversations, and photoshoots of their private collections, in New York, London and Milan, he constructs a portrait of each person through their intimate relationships with fashion, featuring The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas, Charlie Casely-Hayford, John Matheson (McQueen Vault), Sandy Powell, Stephen Jones, Carla Sozzani, Winn Austin, Carmen Haid, Susanne Bartsch, Karlo Steel, Karim Rashid, Steven Philip, and Desmond is Amazing.How have these people used faTrade ReviewA beautifully executed book. Rarely does such a high level of talent for photography and writing exist in one person. It exists in Mark C. O'Flaherty. * Norma Kamali *A wondrous insight into some of the most important and singular collections in the world. A visual feast, packed with insightful psychological interpretations. The developing plot of each chapter, studying the relationship between the subject, their chosen pieces, and the human condition is truly fascinating. * Giles Deacon *This isn’t simply a book about fashion collectors, though it is. This is a book about the daring creators of fashion during a magical period in the history of dress. O’Flaherty deftly weaves together the various narratives for an original account. I adored this book and can’t recommend it highly enough. * Cathy Horyn, ‘The Cut’, New York Magazine, USA *This is a very important book for anyone who cares about the strength and creativity of fashion. The “conversations” featured are entertaining, thought-provoking… And serious. Read it and learn. * Colin McDowell *A remarkable and heart-warming book: Mark C. O’Flaherty’s intimate portraits of diverse fashion collectors explores the relationship we have with fashion, expression, memory, and identity. The compendium surfaces big ideas about the cult of the brand, self-creation, and the psychology of collecting. * Harriet Quick *Mark C. O'Flaherty's book weaves us, in a tender way, through the emotional reasoning for holding on to garments from our past as we head into the future. * Suzy Menkes, podcaster and leading fashion authority *Narrative Thread provides unparalleled access to some of the world’s most extraordinary privately-owned collections, revealing the untold stories and hidden meanings behind fashion’s most significant garments. Alongside beautiful imagery, insightful conversations with the collectors offer thought-provoking perspectives on the significance of fashion and its impact on all our lives. * Andrew Groves, Westminster Menswear Archive, UK *Astounding. Reading this inspired me to rethink the story my clothes tell. * Amanda Harlech, from the Foreword *

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Book SynopsisIn The Dark Thread, scholars examine a set of important and perennial narrative motifs centered on violence within the family as they have appeared in French, English, Spanish, and American literatures. Over fourteen essays, contributors highlight the connections between works from early modernity and subsequent texts from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, in which incidents such as murder, cannibalism, poisoning, the burial of the living, the failed burial of the dead, and subsequent apparitions of ghosts that haunt the household unite “high” and “low” cultural traditions. This book questions the traditional separation between the highly honored genre of tragedy and the less respected and generally less well-known genres of histoires tragiques, gothic tales and novels, and horror stories. Published by University of Delaware Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.

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Book SynopsisThe words Caesarean Section, are powerful. They conjure up strong emotions. For some, feelings of doubt, shame and judgement. For others a sense of safety, relief, validation and reassurance. But they are rarely spoken of in the ecstatic tones with which we celebrate so-called natural, or vaginal birth. They are rarely called beautiful, or associated with an innate sense of feminine power. Can Caesarean birth also be magical? Mystical? Awe-inspiring? Knotting its way through history, culture, folklore and human experience throughout the world, Thread seeks to reframe the Caesarean Section on its journey through myth, magic and medicine.Journalist Hannah Marsh blends the medical with the mystical, charting the development of a now common procedure, once a dance between life and death: a last-ditch attempt to save a child whose mother lay dead or dying. Weaving in the arc of her own experience, a journalists insatiable curiosity, and the stories of women, contemporary, historical and mythical, who endured, sacrificed and drove developments, Thread is an unflinching but compassionate examination of a procedure that nowadays remains both pedestrian and miraculous.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the East Anglian Book of the Year 2015 Winner of the New Angle Book Prize 2017John Craske, a Norfok fisherman, was born in 1881 and in 1917, when he had just turned thirty-six, he fell seriously ill. For the rest of his life he kept moving in and out of what was described as a stuporous state'. In 1923 he started making paintings of the sea and boats and the coastline seen from the sea, and later, when he was too ill to stand and paint, he turned to embroidery, which he could do lying in bed. His embroideries were also the sea, including his masterpiece, a huge embroidery of The Evacuation of Dunkirk.Very few facts about Craske are known, and only a few scattered photographs have survived, together with accounts by the writer Sylvia Townsend Warner and her lover Valentine Ackland, who discovered Craske in 1937. So - as with all her books - Julia Blackburn's account of his life is far from a conventional biography. Instead iTrade ReviewOh, what a miraculous book this is: parochial, weird and inconclusive in a way that few books dare to be these days, and illustrated so generously, with something beautiful or interesting on every other page. Buy it, and let it take you out to sea, no sou’wester required. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *Wonderful… I lay down her book without knowing the cause of the “mental stupors” that defined Craske’s life, or understanding his relationship to his complicated family, but feeling I had inhaled the cold salt of the East Anglian coastline from which he sailed when he was well, and run my fingers across the bright wool of the embroideries he made when he was not. -- Helen Brown, 5 stars * Daily Telegraph *I believe I have already found my book of the year. Blackburn’s “biography”… almost defies the category… But it is so beautifully and hypnotically done that each page leaves you spellbound. Rarely can such an unusual telling so thoroughly, and so movingly, reflect the nature of the life being told. -- Lesley McDowell * Herald *I wish I could quote something from every page as that would convince you to read this book… This is a book to remind you that wonders lie scattered like jewels in the most ordinary places. -- Rachel Campbell-Johnston * The Times *It is hard to pin down what it is that makes Threads such a warmly attractive book… Julia Blackburn is an odd, sometimes even disconcerting writer, but she is an amazingly good one, too. The words she puts on paper do what written words should do: they make things real… She leaves her reader feeling grateful and happy. * Literary Review *A cleverly crafted book that is far more than the obvious sum of its parts… [A] truly delightful book. -- Honor Clerk * Spectator *[An] extraordinary book. -- Chloe Colchester * Oldie *A beautifully illustrated, wry, emphatic and deeply moving triumph. -- Dan Brotzel * Lady *A poignant meditation on creativity and grief. -- Dan Brotzel * Press *Subtle and absorbing book. -- 4 stars * UK Press Syndication *The book sounds like a haphazard collection of anecdotes, but is in fact a richly satisfying whole tied together by the autobiographical component. This is a book to be read slowly and savoured for the quality of Blackburn’s vision and her subtle, unadorned yet poetic prose. -- Vanessa Berridge, 5 stars * Sunday Express *[A] wonderfully eccentric biography. -- Peter Carty * Independent *A poignant meditation on creativity and grief. -- Kate Whiting * UK Press Syndication *Charming and unusual book. * Four Shires *Strange, engrossing…superbly illustrated. -- Caroline Jackson * Country Life *Craske remains as private a man as before…but Blackburn’s eloquent appreciation of his work and her sympathy with his sorrows make this remarkable book the best tribute he could have received. -- Claire Harman * Guardian *Her most glittering book to date. -- Ian Collins * Eastern Daily Press *This is biography with a difference. * Dovegreyreader Scribbles *Compelling and beautifully written. * Country & Town House *My favourite book of the year. -- Rachel Joyce * Observer *

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Book Synopsis''Victoria weaves an effortless tale that draws you in and makes you forget the world outside exists. She has the ability to make you step into the pages, to transport you to Thessaloniki as you live the story yourself. She writes in such a beautiful way and her characters have depth and credibility . . . Exceptional'' Real Reader Review, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐Dimitri Komninos is born as fire devastates Thessaloniki, where Christians, Jews and Muslims live side by side. Five years later, Katerina Sarafoglou loses her mother when their home is destroyed by the Turkish army. She flees across the sea, alone, to Thessaloniki. When she and Dimitri meet, their lives entwine with one another - and the city itself - even as war, fear and persecution divide its people. Ninety years later, a young Anglo-Greek hears his grandparents'' life story for the first time. Should he become the custodian of their legacy and make this city his home, keeping aTrade ReviewA sweeping, magnificently detailed and ambitious saga that wrestles with the turbulence of the period Hislop covers . . . All those who loved The Island, her hugely successful first novel, will fall on it * The Sunday Times *Hislop does her research and is very good at interweaving the lives of individuals into the backcloth of great events, giving the reader a history lesson that doesn't feel like one . . . Recommended * Daily Mail *Hislop's fast-paced narrative and utterly convincing sense of place make her novel a rare treat * Guardian *This is storytelling at its best and just like a tapestry, when each thread is sewn into place, so emerge the layers and history of relationships past and present * Sunday Express *Meticulously researched and compellingly told * Woman & Home *Oh what a tangled web she weaves! Hislop has done well to tell a story as diverse and tempestuous as Thessaloniki's with such lightness of touch * Spectator *It's an evocative exploration of the past's hold on a family, with an exquisite love story at its centre * Good Housekeeping *

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Book SynopsisA SUNDAY TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLERORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING FINALIST SHORTLISTED FOR THE WESTMINSTER BOOK AWARDS''One of the best memoirs I''ve read in years' SATHNAM SANGHERABeautifully written, emotional and deeply personal, yet universal One can''t help but be moved by this story of upheaval and transformation' SADIQ KHANAn extraordinary family memoir from acclaimed newsreader and journalist, Mishal Husain, uncovering the story of her grandparents'' lives amidst empire, political upheaval and partition.?I witnessed the dwindling glow of the British Empire. I saw small men entrusted with great jobs, playing with the destiny of millions'?The lives of Mishal Husain's grandparents changed forever in 1947, as the new nation states of India and Pakistan were born. For years she had a partial story, a patchwork of memories and anecdotes: hurried departures, lucky escapes from violence and homes never seen again.Decades later, the fragment of an old sari sent Mishal on a journey through time, using letters, diaries, memoirs and audio tapes to trace four lives shaped by the Raj, a world war, independence and partition.Mumtaz rejects the marriage arranged for him as he forges a life with Mary, a devout Catholic from an Anglo-Indian family, while Tahirah and Shahid watch the politics of pre-partition Delhi unfold at close quarters. As freedom comes, bonds fray and communities are divided, leaving two couples to forge new identities, while never forgetting the shared heritage of the past.Husain has written an arresting family memoir her explanation of partition is more level-headed than that of many professional historians' THE TIMESA spectacular achievement. It is an incisive and carefully researched historical account, and as moving and true a personal narrative' GUARDIAN?''[Husain] has managed to make such a complex story so accessible'' OBSERVERI was so moved by this stirring and deeply moving account that is at once a love story as well as a chronicle of one of the most cataclysmic events in South Asia' BARKHA DUTT''Like silks in the precious fragment of the heirloom sari of its title, Broken Threads is woven from rich sources. It is a beautiful book, informed and informative, cool and factual, poetic and elegiac'' FINANCIAL TIMESA deeply engrossing book I was completely gripped by it' INDIA KNIGHT

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Book SynopsisJessica Hemmings is Professor of Crafts and Vice-Prefekt of Research, HDK Academy of Design and Crafts, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Jessica is editor of The Textile Reader (Berg, 2012), In the Loop: Knitting Now (2010) and author of Warp and Weft: Woven Textiles in Fashion, Art and Interiors (Bloomsbury, 2012). She is a regular contributor of articles and reviews to publications including Crafts, Selvedge, and the Surface Design Journal.Trade ReviewIn the contemporary art world, artists are increasingly exploring what textiles can do and say ... If this kind of thing fascinates you, explore further with [Cultural Threads]. * Irish Times *[A] very readable and well-illustrated ... A very worthwhile book to explore. * The Journal for Weavers, Spinners & Dyers *Cultural Threads sits comfortably between the mainstream and The Academe, occupying an intriguing intersection between worlds and migration stories ... [It] is skillfully designed with large format eye-catching imagery … Collectively, such a text can develop new art audiences excited for the worlds of surface design and textile arts. * Surface Design Journal *I'm a huge fan of this beautifully presented and very readable book … The large format colour images throughout the book leave me feeling that I really do understand what other selected artists have created visually - and the text is intelligent and informative but not overly dense. * Fibre Forum e-bulletin (created on behalf of TAFTA) *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One: Artists’ Statements Julie Ryder: Reflections on Charles Darwin’s South Pacific (Australia) Jorge Lizarazo and Hechizoo: Colombian Voyages and Explorations (Colombia) Cecilia Vicuña: QUIPUing from Santiago, Chile to Sydney, Australia (Chile) Elaine Reichek: Revisiting a Postcolonial Kinderhood in America (USA) Mr Somebody & Mr Nobody: African Design Exported (South Africa) Chapter Two: Dutch Wax Resist Textiles: Roger Gerards, Creative Director of Vlisco, and Jessica Hemmings (National College of Art & Design, Dublin, Republic of Ireland) Chapter Three: An Imagined Africa: Stories told by Contemporary Textiles, Jessica Hemmings (National College of Art & Design, Dublin, Republic of Ireland) Chapter Four: Weaving, Tradition and Tourism in Ghana: “The End of Skill”, Mamle Kabu (Ghana) Chapter Five: Can Pakeha Make Customary Maori Art? A Conversation in New Zealand with Weaver Margaret White and Damian Skinner (New Zealand) Chapter Six: Crafting Difference: Art, Cloth and the African Diaspora, Christine Checinska (University of East London, UK) Chapter Seven: From Brixton to Mostar: Social Practice Through Textiles, Françoise Dupré (Birmingham City University, UK) Chapter Eight: A Post-Slavery Reading of Cotton: Lubaina Himid (University of Central Lancashire, UK) in conversation with Sabine Broeck and Alice Schmid (both of the University of Bremen, Germany) Chapter Nine: Contemporary Textile Imagery in Southern Africa: a Question of Ownership, Sarah Rhodes (Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, UK) Chapter Ten: Social Sutra: A Platform for Ethical Textiles in Partnerships Between Australia and India, Kevin Murray (Australia) Index

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Book SynopsisThe Golden Thread is an enthralling and accessible history of the cultural miracle that is the written word. It is an invention that has been used to share ideas in every field of human endeavour, and a motor of cultural, scientific and political progress.From the simple representative shapes used to record transactions of goods and animals in ancient Egypt, to the sophisticated typographical resources available to the twenty-first-century computer user, the story of writing is the story of human civilization itself. Ewan Clayton marks each step in the historical development of writing, and explores the social and cultural impact of every stage: the invention of the alphabet; the replacement of the papyrus scroll with the codex in the late Roman period; the perfecting of printing using moveable type in the fifteenth century and the ensuing spread of literacy; the industrialization of printing during the Industrial Revolution; the impact of artistic Modernism on the written word in the early twentieth century - and of the digital switchover at the century's close. The Golden Thread raises issues of urgent interest for a society living in an era of unprecedented change to the tools and technologies of written communication. Chief amongst these is the fundamental question: 'What does it mean to be literate in the world of the early twenty-first century?' The Golden Thread belongs on the bookshelves of anyone who is inquisitive not just about the centrality of writing in the history of humanity, but also about its future.Trade ReviewEwan Clayton has written a rich and highly accessible history of why we write as we do, and his timing is superb. To think we may lose all this is heartbreaking. -- Simon Garfield, author of Just My TypeWhether his topic is Roman inscriptions, the bookkeeping traditions of the East India Company, the first admission of handwriting as evidence in a court of law, the pitfalls of the paperless office, or the experience of copying sacred texts, Clayton writes with ingenuous charm and contagious enthusiasm, often illustrating his points with "calligraphic studies" of his own. * The Paris Review *Clayton's book is punctuated with illuminating details. At every turn he brings history alive by personifying it... His book is an ideal place from which to begin an exploration of that most sophisticated of technologies - writing. -- Jane Shilling * Daily Telegraph *A fascinating account of the changes and continuities in our use of the alphabet, from its origins in ancient Egypt through to blogs and social networks. * Financial Times *Fabulous... Clayton punctuates his history with wonderful anecdotes -- Stuart Kelly * Scotsman *A book no bibliophile should miss * Publishers Weekly, Starred Review *

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Book SynopsisFROM THE GLOBALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRINGBittersweet dazzling' GuardianDeeply pleasurable the ending made me cry' The TimesTold with a wealth of detail and narrative intensity' Penelope LivelyViolet is 38.The First World War took everything from her. Her brother, her fiancé and her future. She is now considered a surplus woman'.But Violet is also fiercely independent and determined. Escaping her suffocating mother, she moves to Winchester to start a new life a change that will require courage, resilience and acts of quiet rebellion. And when whispers of another world war surface, she must live with a secret that could change everythingTrade Review‘Bittersweet … dazzling’ Guardian ‘Tracy Chevalier shows once again her ability to illuminate ordinary lives and to pay attention to those most often ignored … movingly examines hidden depths beneath quiet exteriors’ Sunday Times ‘Writing with quiet but devastating empathy, Tracy Chevalier pinpoints Violet’s predicament as a single woman, her unexpected emotional crisis and her struggle to give her life depth and meaning. I loved it’ Daily Mail ‘A well-woven story of love … Chevalier has such a sure eye for details, whether she is describing the loveliness of the cathedral or the dismal interior of a 1930s boarding house. Reading this is deeply pleasurable’ The Times ‘I enjoyed A Single Thread enormously. Tracy Chevalier wonderfully evokes the social climate of the nineteen thirties – this is the intriguing story of a young woman facing the conventions and prejudices of the day, told with a wealth of detail and narrative intensity’ Penelope Lively ’Tracy Chevalier’s quietly moving story of a woman finding freedom in the 1930s is a gem’ Stylist ‘Evocative and beautifully written’ Sunday Express Magazine ‘I loved it. So compelling and warm and subtle, and very moving’ Bridget Collins, author of The Binding ‘Evocative, beautifully written’ Daily Mirror ‘Beautifully written … utterly immersive’ Red ‘Atmospheric … wonderful’ Good Housekeeping ‘I loved it! Enchanting and full of hope. Absolutely needed in this political climate’ Laura Purcell, author of The Silent Companions ‘A fierce and moving book about the great courage of a small life’ Sadie Jones ‘It’s a chance encounter that sets Violet on an unexpectedly rewarding path in this pleasant, leisurely paced novel’ i Paper ‘Absorbing, empathetic, poignant’ Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisA SUNDAY TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLERORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING FINALIST SHORTLISTED FOR THE WESTMINSTER BOOK AWARDS''One of the best memoirs I''ve read in years' SATHNAM SANGHERABeautifully written, emotional and deeply personal, yet universal One can''t help but be moved by this story of upheaval and transformation' SADIQ KHANAn extraordinary family memoir from acclaimed newsreader and journalist, Mishal Husain, uncovering the story of her grandparents'' lives amidst empire, political upheaval and partition.?I witnessed the dwindling glow of the British Empire. I saw small men entrusted with great jobs, playing with the destiny of millions'?The lives of Mishal Husain's grandparents changed forever in 1947, as the new nation states of India and Pakistan were born. For years she had a partial story, a patchwork of memories and anecdotes: hurried departures, lucky escapes from violence and homes never seen again.Decades later, the fragment of an old sari sent Mishal on a journey through time, using letters, diaries, memoirs and audio tapes to trace four lives shaped by the Raj, a world war, independence and partition.Mumtaz rejects the marriage arranged for him as he forges a life with Mary, a devout Catholic from an Anglo-Indian family, while Tahirah and Shahid watch the politics of pre-partition Delhi unfold at close quarters. As freedom comes, bonds fray and communities are divided, leaving two couples to forge new identities, while never forgetting the shared heritage of the past.Husain has written an arresting family memoir her explanation of partition is more level-headed than that of many professional historians' THE TIMESA spectacular achievement. It is an incisive and carefully researched historical account, and as moving and true a personal narrative' GUARDIAN?''[Husain] has managed to make such a complex story so accessible'' OBSERVERI was so moved by this stirring and deeply moving account that is at once a love story as well as a chronicle of one of the most cataclysmic events in South Asia' BARKHA DUTT''Like silks in the precious fragment of the heirloom sari of its title, Broken Threads is woven from rich sources. It is a beautiful book, informed and informative, cool and factual, poetic and elegiac'' FINANCIAL TIMESA deeply engrossing book I was completely gripped by it' INDIA KNIGHT

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Book SynopsisAn exploration of the intricacies of narrative theory. Considering a range of texts from Western literature over the past two centuries, Miller explores the way rhetorical devices and figurative language interrupt, break into, delay and expand storytelling.

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Book SynopsisFINALIST FOR THE 72ND NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARDS – BOOK CLUB CATEGORY ONE OF THE SUNDAY TIMES' BEST HISTORICAL FICTION BOOKS OF 2022 ‘Zimler is an honest, powerful writer’ The Guardian 'A memorable portrait of the search for meaning in the shadow of the Shoah.' – The Sunday Times From the acclaimed author of The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon and The Warsaw Anagrams comes an unforgettable, deeply moving ode to solidarity, heroism and the kind of love capable of overcoming humanity's greatest horror. Maybe none of us is ever aware of our true significance. Benjamin Zarco and his cousin Shelly are the only two members of their family to survive the Holocaust. In the decades since, each man has learned, in his own unique way, to carry the burden of having outlived all the others, while ever wondering why he was spared. Saved by a kindly piano teacher who hid him as a child, Benni suppresses the past entirely and becomes obsessed with studying kabbalah in search of the 'Incandescent Threads' - nearly invisible fibres that he believes link everything in the universe across space and time. But his mystical beliefs are tested when the birth of his son brings the ghosts of the past to his doorstep. Meanwhile, Shelly - devastatingly handsome, charming and exuberantly bisexual - comes to believe that pleasures of the flesh are his only escape, and takes every opportunity to indulge his desires. That is, until he begins a relationship with a profoundly traumatised Canadian soldier and artist who helped to liberate Bergen-Belsen - and might just be connected to one of the cousins' departed kin. Across six non-linear mosaic pieces, we move from a Poland decimated by World War II to modern-day New York and Boston, hearing friends and relatives of Benni and Shelly tell of the deep influence of the beloved cousins on their lives. For within these intimate testimonies may lie the key to why they were saved and the unique bond that unites them.Trade ReviewPraise for The Incandescent Threads 'A memorable portrait of the search for meaning in the shadow of the Shoah.' - The Sunday Times 'AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE.' - Acoriano Oriental 'Deep [and] moving [with] an enormous emotional charge.' - Time Out 'Six magnificent narratives that are tied together by absolutely wonderful characters.' - Diario de Noticias 'Benni and Shelly Zarco, cousins who carry their guilt for having survived the Holocaust, are unforgettable characters (and) Zimler invests them with an extraordinary emotional depth.' - Jornal de Noticias 'A beautifully intricate and interwoven novel about how to go on living after the Holocaust - and most poignantly, about how to cope with the guilt of having survived. Zimler writes poetically throughout, and his extremely compelling narrative also serves to alert readers to current threats.' - O Publico Praise for Richard Zimler Unforgettable, poetic and original' - Simon Sebag Montefiore 'Pacey and accessible... deeply moving' - The Observer 'Scrupulously researched... Fascinating' - The Independent 'Luminously written' - Historical Novel Society 'Remarkable' - Times Literary Supplement 'Compelling' - The Spectator 'Captivating' - Publishers Weekly 'A triumph of modern fiction... absolutely gripping' - Andrew Solomon

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Book SynopsisIn the midst of an epoch of memoirs, it is a rare joy to find a work that demonstrates both a compelling level of historical detail and offers a narrative driven by more than the facts alone -- just one of the reasons that newcomer Hilary Rudick''s stunning new family biography, Linking the Threads, is such a pleasure to read. In the early 20th Century, a young Lithuanian tailor flees his ancestral home and its burgeoning anti-Semitism and embarks for South Africa -- a land reminiscent of a young America featuring streets paved with gold. Having left his home as Doniyel he becomes Daniel and, though he finds a welcoming Jewish community in his new country, the traditions of his homeland often seem a distant and painful memory. As Daniel''s story evolves, Rudick displays a great sensitivity to the notion of home, the power of culture, and the heartbreak involved with losing and gaining family and friends. The narrative does not end there, however Rudick proceeds to recount the stories o

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Book SynopsisThreads is the first collection from Nathan Evans, each poem complemented by a bespoke photograph from Justin David.Trade Review"Two boldly transgressive poetic voices" – Marisa Carnesky; "Every page delighted me" – Neil Bartlett; "A winning blend of words and images, woven together with passion and wit." – Paul Burston

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Book SynopsisFrom an award-winning author comes a tale of a notorious double-murder, for readers of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, or Emmanuel Carrère's The Adversary. In 1982 Malcolm Macarthur, the wealthy heir to a small estate, found himself suddenly without money. The solution, he decided, was to rob a bank. To do this, he would need a gun and a car. In the process of procuring them, he killed two people, and the circumstances of his eventual arrest in the apartment of Ireland's Attorney General nearly brought down the government. The case remains one of the most shocking in Ireland's history. Mark O'Connell has long been haunted by the story of this brutal double murder. But in recent years this haunting has become mutual. When O'Connell sets out to unravel the mysteries still surrounding these horrific and inexplicable crimes, he tracks down Macarthur himself, now an elderly man living out his days in Dublin and reluctant to talk. As the two men circle one another, O'Connell is pushed into a confrontation with his own narrative: what does it mean to write about a murderer?Trade ReviewIn the gallery of criminals who have fascinated writers, the elegant Malcolm Macarthur is one of the most enigmatic. And in the pantheon of writers fascinated by criminals, Mark O'Connell proves himself among the most brilliant. It is one of the boundaries that cut humanity in two: those who have killed someone, those who have not. O'Connell roams around this boundary, in this grey area, from which he has brought a fascinating narrative -- Emmanuel Carrère, author of The AdversaryLike all great books, A Thread of Violence is the document of a great writer's obsession. Mark O'Connell draws the reader into a deeply engrossing story, and at the same time into a complex investigation of human brutality and of narrative writing itself. This is a superb and unforgettable book -- Sally RooneyA masterful, haunting book by an author at the height of his powers. Mark O'Connell asks us how much we can ever understand about the darkness that resides in other people, and in ourselves -- Ed CaesarA ridiculously good book. The prose is apparently knowing and smooth; the subject is anything but. Malcolm Macarthur, an infamous, ageing double murderer, exists on every page, in almost every sentence, and yet recedes continually out of reach. The effect on the reader is like being in the eye of hurricane - terrifyingly calm - the moral vortex at the heart of breathtaking violence. It's like watching dangerous dance, a folie a deux, between a deeply skilled and humane writer and a murderer with a high regard for his own etiquette. You want to chuck it across the room and then run after it and then carry on reading, as gripped as you were before -- Sam Knight, author of The Premonitions BureauStays with you for weeks. The eerie, tenuous relationship between journalist and killer lives in the legacy of Janet Malcolm and Truman Capote -- Caitlin DoughtyI read it at one sitting, so gripping was the account of Mark's conversations with a man who cannot call himself a murderer and yet killed two people utterly senselessly. The sensitivity of the work and the attention to language made this book one of the best of its kind and an example to others of how to do it -- Dr Gwen Adshead, Consultant forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist, and author of The Devil You KnowA Thread of Violence is nourished by a powerful moral intelligence and an enormous curiosity. Mark O'Connell circles the inner life of the murderer Malcolm Macarthur with subtlety and forensic care... Complex and disturbing as well as intriguing and compelling -- Colm ToíbínIn A Thread of Violence Mark O'Connell has investigated, with immense skill and insight, the mind of a double murderer, and in the process has shown the essential mysteriousness of such a mind-perhaps of any mind. The result is a beautifully wrought narrative that is at once frightening and thrilling. A masterly work -- John Banville[A] masterpiece -- Christopher Eccleston

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Book SynopsisWomen in the western democratic world have gained many freedoms in recent years. But in some respects, are as trapped by our cultural paradigm as ever. Reenlisted in epic and endless repeat versions of “happily ever after”, women have not been well served by the all-pervasive narratives they have been raised with. Part map, part workbook, part friend, Ariadne's Thread and The Myth of Happily Ever After provides an overarching narrative across everything women face when staying true to an inner thread of calling.

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Book SynopsisThe intensely moving tale of a young girl's experience of isolation and rejection.

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