Search results for ""Author Scarlett Thomas""

What secrets are hiding in your family tree?Great Aunt Oleander is dead. To each of her nearest and dearest she has left a seed pod. The seed pods might be deadly, but then again they might also contain the secret of enlightenment . . .A complex and fiercely contemporary tale of inheritance, enlightenment, life, death, desire and family trees, The Seed Collectors is the most important novel yet from one of the world's most daring and brilliant writers.

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EVERYTHING IS MADE OF MAGIC . . .Effie Truelove and her school-friends Lexy, Wolf, Maximilian and Raven must use their magical skills to defeat the Diberi, a corrupt organisation intent on destroying the worlds at Midwinter.But during a visit to the Otherworld, Effie is mistaken and imprisoned for being a galloglass - a dangerous, selfish islander. Meanwhile, Lexy is threatened by the vile professor Jupiter Peacock and Wolf embarks on a perilous journey to find his missing sister.And back at school, Neptune the cat is bored. He's used to lording it over the other stray cats, but they've all mysteriously vanished. Where could they be - and how will he find them?Can Effie and her friends reunite before total destruction is wreaked upon the universe?

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Could a story save your life?If Kelsey Newman's theory about the end of time is true, we are all going to live forever. But who would want that?Certainly not Meg, a bright spark trapped in a hopeless relationship. But if she can work out the connection between a wild beast on Dartmoor, a ship in a bottle, the science of time and a knitting pattern for the shape of the universe, she might just find a way out.

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Luke is twenty-five and allergic to the sun. He is stuck in his bedroom, where the world comes to him through TV, the internet and Julie's visits. Julie, meanwhile, is brilliant, kind and could be changing the world. Unfortunately she is too terrified of aeroplane crashes, road accidents and potentially life-threatening bacteria to leave her home town.When someone contacts Luke and claims that he can cure him, Luke and Julie have to deal with their fears and face the world outside. With four friends, wellies and a homemade space suit, they set off in a VW Camper van along Britain's B-roads. It is a journey that might just change their lives.

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'Hugely enjoyable' Observer'Wickedly funny' The TimesWhen Tash, daughter of a Russian oligarch, is sent to an English boarding school, she is new to the strange rituals of the girls there. Theirs is a world of strict pecking orders, eating disorders and Instagram angst.While she spends her time at the lake and the stables, a few hand-picked girls are invited to join the Headmaster at his house for extra lessons. Then her friend Bianca mysteriously vanishes, and the routines of her dormmates seem darker and more alien than ever before.

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Alice Butler has been receiving some odd messages - all anonymous, all written in code. Are they from someone at PopCo, the profit-hungry corporation she works for? Or from Alice's long lost father? Or has someone else been on her trail? The solution, she is sure, will involve the code-breaking skills she learned from her grandparents and the key she's been wearing round her neck since she was ten. PopCo is a grown-up adventure of family secrets, puzzles, big business and the power of numbers.

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IF YOU HAD SECRET MAGICAL POWERS, HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?After the Worldquake, Effie knows about magic - time in her grandfather's library has made sure of that. But there's still much she has to learn. About the Otherworld. And about the Diberi, a secret organisation with plans to destroy the entire universe.Effie and her school-friends are the only ones who can stop them . . . and time is running out.

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'Ingenious and original' Philip PullmanIf you knew a book was cursed, would you still read it?When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of The End of Mr. Y in a second-hand bookshop, she can't believe her eyes. She knows enough about its author, the outlandish Victorian scientist Thomas Lumas, to know that copies are exceedingly rare. And, some say, cursed.With Mr. Y under her arm, Ariel finds herself thrust into a thrilling adventure of love, sex, death and time-travel.

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A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN TIME, EVENING STANDARD and METROWhen Tash, daughter of a Russian oligarch, is sent to an English boarding school, she is new to the strange rituals of the girls there. Theirs is a world of strict pecking orders, eating disorders and Instagram angst.While she spends her time with the other girls at the lake and the stables, a hand-picked few are invited to join the Headmaster at his house for extra lessons. Then her friend Bianca mysteriously vanishes, and quickly the routines of her dorm-mates seem darker and more alien than ever before. Oligarchy is the fierce new novel about power, privilege and peer pressure from the bestselling author of The End of Mr. Y.

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'Bright Young Things wanted for Big Project.'They're in the prime of their lives but our bright young things are all burnt out. Six sparky twenty-somethings just out of university and working dead-end jobs, they are all bored to tears with their lives and looking for a way out. When a mysterious job is advertised in the newspaper, they all apply. What they least expect is to find themselves prisoners on a deserted island. There's food in the fridge and they have a bedroom each, but there's no telephone, no television, and no way to escape.

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EVERYTHING IS MADE OF MAGIC . . .Effie Truelove and friends Lexy, Wolf, Maximilian and Raven must use their magical skills to defeat the Diberi, a corrupt organisation intent on destroying the worlds at Midwinter. But during a visit to the Otherworld, Effie is mistaken and imprisoned for being a galloglass - a dangerous, selfish islander.Can Effie and her friends reunite before total destruction is wreaked upon the universe?

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The scintillating new novel from the author of The End of Mr YPatricia Highsmith meets White Lotus in this compulsive and brilliant gothic thrillerOne of the Daily Telegraph's '20 Best New Crime Thrillers to Read this Summer'  ‘Clever, emotionally resonant, packed with startling twists and dark turns and very funny indeed, this is fiction roaring on all cylinders.’ Guardian “Gloriously dark and tangled . . . clever . . . I highly recommend it.” Observer 'A dark, twisty, savagely humorous plunge into a cauldron of toxic relationships . . . as well as a mystery loaded with menace, this is a smart, layered, stinging look at power and its abuse.' The Times ‘Through her bold storytelling, “The Sleepwalkers” becomes a work of peculiar,

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Stories are everywhere...Exploring the great plots from Plato to The Matrix and from Tolstoy to Toy Story, this is a book for anyone who wants to unlock any narrative and learn to create their own. With startling and original insights into how we construct stories, this is a creative writing book like no other. It will show you how to read and write better.

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THERE IS MAGIC BEYOND THE REALWORLD . . .When Effie and Maximilian both mysteriously vanish, friends Raven, Lexy and Wolf don't know where to turn for help. Effie is in deep danger and she's running out of time. To make things worse, Raven's mother is caught up in a plot with the ruthless billionaire Albion Freake, who will stop at nothing to become invincible.Can the school-friends save Effie and Maximilian and stop Albion Freake's deadly plan, before it's too late?

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