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People think that if they go far away they ll leave the parts of themselves behind. But it doesn t work like that.'Stevie moves to Galway to pursue her PhD and takes refuge in the city, and in her relationship with Joe Kavanagh, a charismatic but dispirited artist. Both are looking for something more, but struggle to navigate their way free from the claustrophobia of their lives, the limited circle of acquaintances and the lack of ambition. Escape is the only option, but the surface level of friendliness surrounding them masks a deeper hinterland of jealousy, secrets and violence that can break out at any time. Exploring the chaos and confusion faced by those in their late twenties with humour, pathos and insightful sensitivity, Skin, Paper, Stone is the acclaimed first novel by Máire T. Robinson, an exciting new voice in Irish writing.

Peregrine Island is the recipient of the following 10 literary awards: 2017 Winner of the New York City Big Book Award for Mystery 2017 Best Book Awards Finalist in General Fiction for Fiction, for Literary, and for Mystery & Suspense 2017 Winner of the National Indie Excellence Award for Regional Fiction: Northeast 2017 Distinguished Favorite in Literary Fiction by Independent Press Awards 2017 International Book Awards Finalist for Literary Fiction 2017 National Indie Excellence Award Finalist for Fiction 2017 Bronze Award for US Northeast Fiction from the Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards 2018 Reader Views Literary Award Finalist and Honorable Mention for Adult - Fiction 2018 A Reader's Favorite literary fiction award winner 2018 Semifinalist, Somerset Award for Literary Fiction, Chanticleer International Book Awards ~~~~~ Literary Mystery Highlights an Heirloom Painting on Long Island Sound and the Relationships between Three Generations of Women Part “who-done-it” and part family drama, this award-winning novel reveals that neither people nor paintings are always what they appear to be. Contradictory relationships within troubled families are nothing new, but the award-winning psychological novel written by well-known journalist Diane B. Saxton elevates these relationships and the mysterious heirloom painting that both exposes and unites them to an art form. Peregrine Island interweaves the stories of three generations of women, one valuable painting, the artist who created it, and those who would do anything to possess it – including kill. Lush with sensory details, this psychologically complex mystery novel is set on a private island in the middle of Long Island Sound. It begins when the family's lives are turned upside-down one summer by so-called art experts, who appear on the doorstep of their isolated home to appraise a favorite heirloom painting. When incriminating papers along with two other paintings are discovered behind the painting in question, the appraisal turns into a full-fledged investigation and detectives are called into the case—but not by the family whose members grow increasingly antagonistic toward one another. During the course of the inquiry and as the summer progresses, the family members discover new secrets about one another and new facts about their past. Above all, they learn that neither people nor paintings can be taken at face value. The Peregrine family's lives are turned upside down one summer when so-called'art experts'appear on the doorstep of their Connecticut island home to appraise a favorite heirloom painting. When incriminating papers, as well as other paintings, are discovered behind the art work in question, the appraisal turns into a full-fledged investigation. Antagonism mounts between grandmother, mother, and child, who begin to suspect one another, as well as the shady newcomers in their midst, of foul play. As the summer progresses and the Peregrines discover facts about their past in the course of the investigation, they learn that people―including them―are not always who they appear to be.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE STELLA PRIZE ‘an illuminating reflection on what it means to live with pain.'–Publishers Weekly‘Body Friend is a deeply intimate tribute to the fragile and porous self, written in prose of rare clarity and tenderness. I felt everything reading this book.'—Claire Thomas, author of The Performance and Fugitive Blue‘Body Friend is a novel that clings to the mind long after it finishes.'—ArtsHUB ‘a tender and raw novel about friendship, chronic pain and the healing power of water.'— Harper's Bazaar ‘Katherine Brabon distinguished herself with her first novels, The Memory Artist and The Shut Ins, but she has surpassed these and reached an early career pinnacle with her enigmatically titled novel, Body Friend.'—Books + PublishingLate in the summer five years ago, when I was recovering from a surgical procedure, I met two women within a few weeks of each other and I saw both of them regularly, always separately, for some months afterwards. Summer did not give way easily that year, and even so we must force our bodies down to sleep in the heat, and even if experience does not give itself up easily to representation, I will lay it down anyway; frame the raw and exigent weeks, the untrustworthy months after the hospital, render it and them, Frida and Sylvia, as closely as possible to reality—or whatever is the feelingof a life and mind lived inside a body. A woman leaves the hospital after an operation and starts swimming in a pool in Melbourne's inner suburbs. There she meets Frida, who is uncannily like her in her experience of illness. Soon after, she meets another woman in a local park, Sylvia, who sees her pain and encourages her to rest. The two new friends seem to be polar opposites: Frida adores the pool and the natural world, Sylvia clings to the protection of interior worlds. What begins as two seemingly simple friendships is challenged by what each woman asks of her, of themselves, and their bodies. From the acclaimed author of The Memory Artist and The Shut Ins comes a new novel about the relationship between body and self, and how we must dive beneath the surface to really know ourselves. PRAISE FOR BODY FRIEND: ‘Body Friend shows that pain can be a friend and a friend can be a mirror, but what they reflect is more than just a mirror image, and contains many possibilities.'—Sydney Morning Herald‘Body Friend is tender and expressive. Brabon's writing is exquisitely constructed. Her prose holds quiet emotional weight – putting the reader in mind, particularly, of Elena Ferrante's style – which is extraordinarily effective in capturing the lived realities of the body. Body Friend is a novel that clings to the mind long after it finishes.'—ArtsHUB ‘Its language is startling for its poetic tendencies – it is rhythmic and observant, and liltingly musical – as well as its clarity and sharp concision. Brabon's prose is one of the deepest pleasures of the novel.'—The Saturday Paper ‘The plot unfolds artfully and with precision to surprise and exceed readers'expectations.'—Books + Publishing ‘A compelling and deeply insightful reckoning with illness, intimacy, estrangement and control, BODY FRIEND is a novel of rare grace. Through the stories of three women whose experiences are both si

Plena de l'esperit i l'energia amb què Maggie O'Farrell va il·luminar la història shakespeariana de Hamnet, El retrat de matrimoni ens transporta a la Itàlia del segle XVI. La Lucrezia, tercera filla del poderós duc de Mèdici, és una noia discreta i independent que creix feliç a l'ombra dels seus germans, lliure per observar els tresors de palau, explorar els passadissos secrets i espiar feines i converses clandestines. Li agrada aprendre coses, pintar i mirar les musaranyes, i no acaba d'encaixar gaire en el paper de duquessa, ni tampoc en les expectatives de la família. Però quan la seva germana gran, que està promesa amb del duc de Ferrara, emmalalteix i es mor, la plàcida existència de la Lucrezia quedarà sacsejada per sempre: amb només quinze anys es veurà arrossegada a una nova vida a Ferrara amb el seu marit, Alfonso, que és un misteri per a ella. El retrat de matrimoni, una novel·la potent i evocadora, explora la fina membrana que separa la vida de la mort, un dels temes centrals de l'obra d'O'Farrell, i ofereix el retrat inoblidable d'una dona molt jove, castigada per ser diferent, que lluita per la seva supervivència. «O'Farrell estira petits fils de detalls històrics per teixir aquesta història d'una nena precoç i sensible a les contradiccions de la seva posició social. Potser us penseu que coneixeu la seva història, que sabeu què passarà, però no n'estigueu tan segurs: O'Farrell i Lucrezia, amb la seva ràbia clara i honesta, sempre van un pas per davant», The Washington Post

‘a stroke of genius'—Diana Reid, author of Love & Virtue and Seeing Other People ‘extremely relatable'—Sydney Morning Herald ‘wildly amusing, sharply relevant'– The Australian ‘Relatable AF.'– Pedestrian.TV ‘Both inhabiting and deconstructing the genre, it's meta and twisty, with a wry narrative voice.'– The GuardianA young woman tries to figure out if she's the best (a creative genius) or if she's maybe just the worst (completely delusional).I'd be in heaven but on the edge of a deeper misery than ever, I'd be on top of the world and then they'd ask me, Did you make the right choice Kim? Are you currently, still, making the right choices Kimberly Mueller? Over the course of a year in Berlin, an aspiring novelist, Kim, and her historian best friend, Bel, confront their twin acts of creation. Kim is becoming a writer, and is determined to write a bestseller. She's been convinced of this idea by Matthew, an American literary agent who is as emotionally unavailable as he is handsome (very). Kim lives in her own carefully constructed reality, which her imagination is constantly pumping full of hot air. As she attempts to buoy herself using other people for external motivation, they poke holes in her fantasies, leading her to wonder if she's going to come crashing down or somehow stay afloat. Meanwhile, Bel is becoming a mother, and gives birth, certain it will fulfil her in ways her career does not seem to. Kim and Bel support and deceive each other as only the best of friends can.In the face of probable failure, how do we convince ourselves to try and become something anyway? And how do we live with the choices we make? ‘Pip Finkemeyer has drawn such a unique, funny and painfully astute character in Kim. I could keep reading her inner monologue forever. It is rare to pick up a novel so simultaneously hilarious and moving. I loved it.'—Laura Kay, author of Wild Things and Tell Me Everything‘a beautifully crafted character with all the flaws we've come to embrace in our modern heroines.'—Sydney Morning Herald‘a humorous, heartfelt novel about finding one's identity and purpose, the expectations held against you, and following your dreams even if it means stepping out of your comfort zone.'—Readings Monthly ‘This book is a labour of writerly love, devoted to projects conceived and delivered.'—ArtsHub ‘Finkemeyer's novel stays one step ahead of the reader by critiquing the genre's tropes and trademarks along the way.'—The Guardian ‘a punchy satire'—The Saturday Paper ‘funny debut'—The Age

Rosa Ost grows up in Notre-Dame-du-Cachalot, a tiny village at the end of the world, where two industries are king: paper and Boredom. The only daughter of Terese Ost (a fair-to-middling trade unionist and a first-rate Scrabble player), the fate that befalls Rosa is the focus of this tale of long journeys and longer lives, of impossible deaths, unwavering prophecies, and unsettling dreams as she leaves her village for Montreal on a quest to summon the westerly wind that has proved so vital to the local economy. From village gossips, tealeaf-reading exotic dancers, and Acadian red herrings to soothsaying winkles and centuries-old curses, Rosa's Very Own Personal Revolution is a delightful, boundary-pushing story about stories and the storytellers who make them – and a reminder that revolutions in Quebec aren't always quiet. “By turns caustic, fierce and moving, this sinuous novel is chock full of interwoven stories, comical scenes and larger-than-life, hilarious characters. The novelist casts his spell to rework historical events in a magical world, blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality, between centuries past and the year 2000 … Brilliant and exhilarating.” (Suzanne Giguère, Le Devoir) “Delightful” (Marie-Claude Fortin, La Presse) “A gem” (Didier Fessou, Le Soleil) PRAISE FOR Eric Dupont's SONGS FOR THE COLD OF HEART “spectacular… original in every sense” (Literary Review of Canada) “masterful… heartbreaking and hilarious” (Publishers Weekly) “highly recommended” (Library Journal) “fiercely readable” (Toronto Star) This book manages to capture the cultural zeitgeist of Quebec culture in the twentieth century. It reminded me of all the great French Canadian novels I read as a child, but pushed them to new, delightful, hilarious, epic levels. […] I dare you not to read the first three pages and fall in love.” (Heather O'Neill, jury member, 2018 Giller Prize) “As magnificent a work of irony and magic as the boldest works of Gabriel García Márquez, but with a wholly original sensibility that captures the marvellous obsessions of the Québécois zeitgeist of the 20th century. It is, without a doubt, a tour de force. And the translation is as exquisite as a snowflake.” (Giller Prize jury) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Eric Dupont was born in Amqui, Quebec, in 1970. He left his native Gaspé Peninsula at age 16 for Austria and other faraway locales, returning to Quebec in 2003 to accept a position as a lecturer in translation at the McGill University School of Continuing Studies. His fourth novel, La Fiancée américaine, released in 2012, won the Prix des libraires du Québec and the Prix littéraire des collégiens. Its English translation by Peter McCambridge, Songs for the Cold of Heart, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2018 and subsequently published by HarperVia, outside of Canada, under the title The American Fiancée. One of the hallmarks of Eric's writing is the juxtaposition of the supernatural and real worlds. The lighthearted tone of his work often belies undercurrents of deeper themes and meanings. ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR Originally from Ireland, Peter McCambridge holds a BA in modern languages from Cambridge University, England, and has lived in Quebec City since 2003. He runs Québec Reads and now QC Fiction. Life in the Court of Matane was the first novel he chose for this collection and the book that made him want to become a literary translator in the first place. His translation of the first chapter won the 2012 John Dryden Translation Prize. His translations have been World Literature Today Notable Translations, longlisted for Canada Reads, and finalists for the Giller Prize and the Governor General's Award for Translation.

When his girlfriend, Rosemary, asks about his life, Jim Moore, a successful salesman whose territory covers the entire continental United States and parts of Canada, doesn't think there is anything to say and so he tells her “nothing happened,” or maybe he doesn't know how to put it all into words or maybe he doesn't want to. Stuck in an airport because of blizzard conditions, and packed into a crowded terminal with other travelers, Moore has come to believe that his life is not worth reporting about because it has largely been a life lived without incident. However, chance encounters with a yoga instructor, a man traveling to bury his mother, and an enigmatic woodsman reawaken long dormant emotions about his father's suicide and cause Jim to newly reflect on his own life and on a memorandum that he later discovered in his deceased father's papers, which lists all the names of the clouds, and which Jim now, from time to time, recants as if it were his own private kaddish to memorialize his lost father. Like the pilgrims in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales who pass the time telling stories while stranded in the Tabard Inn, Memorandum from the Iowa Cloud Appreciation Society tells the tale of a traveling salesman and what really happened over the course of his forty- six years.

'Barakat isn't writing about'the immigrant'. She's writing about the human.'Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind Shortlisted for the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Translation • Longlisted for the DUBLIN Literary Award, 2022 Winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, a devastating story of displacement, war, and the unlikely glimmer of hope in the dark In an unnamed country torn apart by war, six strangers are compelled to share their darkest secrets. Taking pen to paper, each attempts to put in writing what they can't bring themselves to say to the person they love – mother, father, brother, lost love. Their words form a chain of dark confessions, none of which reaches the intended recipient. But their consequences will ripple through other lives, affecting strangers in ways the writers could never have anticipated... Luminous and haunting, Voices of the Lost tells the moving story of characters living on the periphery, battling displacement, poverty, and the demons within themselves. From one of today's most talented Arabic writers, this is the story of lives intimately woven together in a society that is tearing itself apart.'Hoda Barakat is one of Lebanon's greatest gifts to literature'Amy Bloom, author of White Houses

Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist Winner of the ABIA Book of the Year Award Winner of the ABIA Award for Literary Fiction of the Year Winner ABA Booksellers Choice Award for Fiction Winner of the MUD Literary Prize Shortlisted for The Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction Shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year for Fiction Shortlisted Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction Shortlisted ABIA Matt Richell Award New Writer of the Year‘set to be one of the year's most talked about books'– Vogue Australia ‘a great read that will become an Australian classic'– Sydney Morning Herald‘an absolute cracker, Love & Virtue lobs right into the current moment with a clarifying light. I hope EVERYONE reads this book.'– Helen Garner, bestselling and award winning author of The First Stone and The Spare Room‘one of the best novels I have read this year... it's clever, pacy and wonderfully thoughtful. Read it!'– Zara McDonald, Shameless PodcastSex. Power. Consent.Whenever I say I was at university with Eve, people ask me what she was like, sceptical perhaps that she could have always been as whole and self-assured as she now appears. To which I say something like: ‘People are infinitely complex.'But I say it in such a way—so pregnant with misanthropy—that it's obvious I hate her. Michaela and Eve are two bright, bold women who befriend each other their first year at a residential college at university, where they live in adjacent rooms. They could not be more different; one assured and popular – the other uncertain and eager-to-please. But something happens one night in O-week – a drunken encounter, a foggy memory that will force them to confront the realities of consent and wrestle with the dynamics of power. Initially bonded by their wit and sharp eye for the colleges'mix of material wealth and moral poverty, Michaela and Eve soon discover how fragile friendship is, and how capable of betrayal they both are.Written with a strikingly contemporary voice that is both wickedly clever and incisive, issues of consent, class and institutional privilege, and feminism become provocations for enduring philosophical questions we face today. Praise for Love & Virtue ‘Diana Reid will be called the new Sally Rooney – you're certain of it by the end of page one. By the end of this real, raw and startling novel, you know Reid is the talent to whom every smart young novelist who follows her will be compared – or hope to be.'– Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and Bliss ‘Love & Virtue captures the near-erotic thrill of being a young woman, alone and adrift, who finds, in another young woman, an intellectual equal... Like Elena and Lila in Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend, a touchstone for Reid, their spark feels charged, given to exploding.'– Sydney Morning Herald ‘Love & Virtue is an accomplished novel – by turns funny and furious, and full of the plangent longing and confusion of early adulthood.'- The Saturday Paper

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERLONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZESHORTLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARDSHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX FEMINA AND THE PRIX MEDICISSHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSBORO BOOKS GLASS BELL AWARDWINNER OF THE PRIX DU MEILLEUR LIVRES ETRANGERWINNER OF THE 2020 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARDS CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF 2020 BY THE SUNDAY TIMES, OBSERVER, GUARDIAN, i PAPER, FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, SCOTSMAN, IRISH TIMES, BBC.COM, WATERSTONES.COM'A wondrous book. It left me hopeful; this is its gift'Elizabeth Strout'An empathy engine... It is, itself, an agent of change'New York Times Book Review'A quite extraordinary novel'Kamila Shamsie______________________How do we continue living once we have lost our reason to live?Rami and Bassam live in the city of Jerusalem – but exist worlds apart, divided by an age-old conflict. And yet they have one thing in common. Both are fathers; both are fathers of daughters – and both daughters are now lost.When Rami and Bassam meet, and tell one another the story of their grief, the most unexpected thing of all happens: they become best of friends. And their stories become one story, a story with the power to heal – and the power to change the world.______________________'The book goes anywhere and everywhere. It is a delirious and thrilling improvisation, a jazz solo spun out of that meeting … A spectacular structure of stories about everything'Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times

The international bestselling debut about friendship and love—featuring the life-changing relationship between an anxious young reporter and an eighty-six-year-old lifelong swimmer that “follows in the footsteps of the enormously popular A Man Called Ove…charming and heartwarming” (Kirkus Reviews).We're never too old to make new friends—or make a difference. Rosemary Peterson has lived in Brixton, London, all her life, but everything is changing. The library where she used to work has closed. The family grocery store has become a trendy bar. And now the lido, an outdoor pool where she's swum daily since its opening, is threatened with closure by a local housing developer. It was at the lido that Rosemary escaped the devastation of World War II; here she fell in love with her husband, George; here she found community during her marriage and since George's death. Twentysomething Kate Matthews has moved to Brixton and feels desperately alone. A once-promising writer, she now covers forgettable stories for her local paper. That is, until she's assigned to write about the lido's closing. Soon Kate's portrait of the pool focuses on a singular woman: Rosemary. And as Rosemary slowly opens up to Kate, both women are nourished and transformed in ways they never thought possible. “Charming [and] an unusually poignant tale of married love” (The Washington Post), Mornings with Rosemary is a feel-good novel that captures the heart and spirit of a community across generations—an irresistible tale of love, loss, aging, and friendship. •Originally published as The Lido

This book contains the complete novels of Charles Dickens in the chronological order of their original publication. - The Pickwick Papers - Oliver Twist - Nicholas Nickleby - The Old Curiosity Shop - Barnaby Rudge - Martin Chuzzlewit - Dombey and Son - David Copperfield - Bleak House - Hard Times - Little Dorrit - A Tale of Two Cities - Great Expectations - Our Mutual Friend - The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Ribelle Soderini, Reb to his family and friends, works for his father's construction company in North Boston. The Soderinis are famous for the quality of their work. They build fine houses. Reb toils hard all day and enjoys hearty food, a good drink and, if he can find it, the company of an obliging woman at night. But then he receives his call-up papers; his country is fighting in Korea and he is expected to do his duty. Emilio, his father, is an ageing anarchist and urges his son to skip the country to avoid waging someone else's war. Angelina, his mother, quietly watches on, her silent pleas those of thousands of mothers across the country. Reb himself has no appetite for fighting, and even less for leaving his simple yet tranquil life in Massachusetts, but neither is he a shirker. He finds himself determined to find a way to do his duty while staying true to his father's anarchist spirit. But first, Reb plans one more night on the town. What About Reb is a tale of families and divided loyalties and of a young man enjoying his last days of freedom.

Berlin, October 1933. Max Dienst has returned to the city he last knew as a student. He has been asked to cover the elections to the Reichstag. A colleague on the paper mentions the case of Geli Raubal, a young singer from Vienna who died in mysterious circumstances in the flat of her uncle. There is a botched death certificate but is it a hidden murder? Max thinks he may have a story, her uncle is the leader of a growing political party, a man who seeking to change Germany and Europe. Her uncle is Adolf Hitler. Berlin is also the city of his youth when he was in love with a young Russian communist and embroiled in all the new ideas of change and idealism. Ten years later Max is married to Rhiannon and a journalist for a respected newspaper. Rhiannon works at the British Embassy. She is approached by the mysterious Sid Khan, he may have information that would be useful to her husband. Max was a member of the communist party in his youth. Max wants to find the truth in a time when everyone has their own version, but are there secrets that are best forgotten?

Kenneth Grahame was a British writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows (1908, included), one of the classics of children's literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon (included here as part of Dream Days); both books were later adapted into Disney films. Contents: THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS THE GOLDEN AGE DREAM DAYS PAGAN PAPERS THE HEADSWOMAN If you enjoy this ebook, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for'Wildside Press Megapack'to see more of the 300+ volumes in this series, covering adventure, historical fiction, mysteries, westerns, ghost stories, science fiction -- and much, much more!

The eighteenth-century German physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg left behind at the time of his death thousands of fragmentary notes commenting on a dazzling and at the same time puzzling array of subjects. Pierre Senges's Fragments of Lichtenberg imaginatively and hilariously reconstructs the efforts of scholars across three centuries to piece together Lichtenberg's disparate notes into a coherent philosophical or artistic statement. What emerges instead from their efforts are a wide variety of conflicting and competing Lichtenbergs – the poet, the physicist, the philosopher, the humorist – and a very funny meditation on the way interpretations and speculation create new histories and new realities. In just over half a century, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799) had the time to be all of the following: a hunchback; a mathematician; a physics professor; a connoisseur of hare pate; a hermit; an electrical theorist; a skirtchaser; a friend of King George III of England; an asthmatic; a defender of reason; a hypochondriac; a dying man; and the author of 8,000 fragments written with ink and goose quills. Traditionally those fragments have been considered no more than aphorisms, to be sipped like fine schnapps, but certain scholars claim, however, that his famous Wastebooks are really the scattered pieces of a Great Novel, and that this might yet be reconstructed, with the help of scissors, glue, and paper, and by using what is left of our imaginations. The present volume retracts, among other things, the work undertaken for more than a century by valiant Lichtenbergians.

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin was born on the 1st July, 1804, in Paris, France, to an unconventional family who were from different classes—her father being from noble lineage whilst her mother from rather more modest origins. Following her father's early death, Sand was raised by her aristocratic grandmother at the family estate in Nohant, which she later inherited at 17. The house and surrounding countryside was a profound influence on her writing which often highlighted pastoral themes and the natural world, particularly in her later, possibly most critically, acclaimed novels.Sand's life and writings were unconventional and very progressive. At the age of 18, she married Baron Casimir Dudevant, with whom she had two children. However, the marriage was unhappy, and Sand left in 1831, moving to Paris to pursue her literary ambitions. This point also marked her adoption of the pseudonym ‘George Sand'to help her in the male dominated world of publishing. Her first major novel was ‘Indiana'(1832). It was a critical success and there now followed a series of successful novels which established her as more famous and successful than Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balzac. Her writing, a blend of romance and realism, had an effortless spontaneity which neither sacrificed style or form and tackled the complexities of politics, society, and gender.Sand was a bohemian. She wore men's clothing, smoked cigars, and engaged in several high-profile romantic relationships including Prosper Mérimée and Frédéric Chopin.She was a staunch advocate for social justice, women's rights, and workers'welfare and championed democratic and socialist causes. As a Republican she supported the 1848 Revolution and was a member of the provisional government. Despite criticism for her lifestyle and feminist views she continued her literary career across novels, plays, essays, and memoirs. Her defiance of societal expectations and her commitment to social and gender equality continue to inspire readers and writers alike, cementing her place as a central figure in the history of French literature. George Sand died on 8th June,1876, at her childhood home in Nohant and was buried in the private graveyard there. She was 71.

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin was born on the 1st July, 1804, in Paris, France, to an unconventional family who were from different classes—her father being from noble lineage whilst her mother from rather more modest origins. Following her father's early death, Sand was raised by her aristocratic grandmother at the family estate in Nohant, which she later inherited at 17. The house and surrounding countryside was a profound influence on her writing which often highlighted pastoral themes and the natural world, particularly in her later, possibly most critically, acclaimed novels.Sand's life and writings were unconventional and very progressive. At the age of 18, she married Baron Casimir Dudevant, with whom she had two children. However, the marriage was unhappy, and Sand left in 1831, moving to Paris to pursue her literary ambitions. This point also marked her adoption of the pseudonym ‘George Sand'to help her in the male dominated world of publishing. Her first major novel was ‘Indiana'(1832). It was a critical success and there now followed a series of successful novels which established her as more famous and successful than Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balzac. Her writing, a blend of romance and realism, had an effortless spontaneity which neither sacrificed style or form and tackled the complexities of politics, society, and gender.Sand was a bohemian. She wore men's clothing, smoked cigars, and engaged in several high-profile romantic relationships including Prosper Mérimée and Frédéric Chopin.She was a staunch advocate for social justice, women's rights, and workers'welfare and championed democratic and socialist causes. As a Republican she supported the 1848 Revolution and was a member of the provisional government. Despite criticism for her lifestyle and feminist views she continued her literary career across novels, plays, essays, and memoirs. Her defiance of societal expectations and her commitment to social and gender equality continue to inspire readers and writers alike, cementing her place as a central figure in the history of French literature. George Sand died on 8th June,1876, at her childhood home in Nohant and was buried in the private graveyard there. She was 71.

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin was born on the 1st July, 1804, in Paris, France, to an unconventional family who were from different classes—her father being from noble lineage whilst her mother from rather more modest origins. Following her father's early death, Sand was raised by her aristocratic grandmother at the family estate in Nohant, which she later inherited at 17. The house and surrounding countryside was a profound influence on her writing which often highlighted pastoral themes and the natural world, particularly in her later, possibly most critically, acclaimed novels.Sand's life and writings were unconventional and very progressive. At the age of 18, she married Baron Casimir Dudevant, with whom she had two children. However, the marriage was unhappy, and Sand left in 1831, moving to Paris to pursue her literary ambitions. This point also marked her adoption of the pseudonym ‘George Sand'to help her in the male dominated world of publishing. Her first major novel was ‘Indiana'(1832). It was a critical success and there now followed a series of successful novels which established her as more famous and successful than Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balzac. Her writing, a blend of romance and realism, had an effortless spontaneity which neither sacrificed style or form and tackled the complexities of politics, society, and gender.Sand was a bohemian. She wore men's clothing, smoked cigars, and engaged in several high-profile romantic relationships including Prosper Mérimée and Frédéric Chopin.She was a staunch advocate for social justice, women's rights, and workers'welfare and championed democratic and socialist causes. As a Republican she supported the 1848 Revolution and was a member of the provisional government. Despite criticism for her lifestyle and feminist views she continued her literary career across novels, plays, essays, and memoirs. Her defiance of societal expectations and her commitment to social and gender equality continue to inspire readers and writers alike, cementing her place as a central figure in the history of French literature. George Sand died on 8th June,1876, at her childhood home in Nohant and was buried in the private graveyard there. She was 71.

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin was born on the 1st July, 1804, in Paris, France, to an unconventional family who were from different classes—her father being from noble lineage whilst her mother from rather more modest origins. Following her father's early death, Sand was raised by her aristocratic grandmother at the family estate in Nohant, which she later inherited at 17. The house and surrounding countryside was a profound influence on her writing which often highlighted pastoral themes and the natural world, particularly in her later, possibly most critically, acclaimed novels.Sand's life and writings were unconventional and very progressive. At the age of 18, she married Baron Casimir Dudevant, with whom she had two children. However, the marriage was unhappy, and Sand left in 1831, moving to Paris to pursue her literary ambitions. This point also marked her adoption of the pseudonym ‘George Sand'to help her in the male dominated world of publishing. Her first major novel was ‘Indiana'(1832). It was a critical success and there now followed a series of successful novels which established her as more famous and successful than Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balzac. Her writing, a blend of romance and realism, had an effortless spontaneity which neither sacrificed style or form and tackled the complexities of politics, society, and gender.Sand was a bohemian. She wore men's clothing, smoked cigars, and engaged in several high-profile romantic relationships including Prosper Mérimée and Frédéric Chopin.She was a staunch advocate for social justice, women's rights, and workers'welfare and championed democratic and socialist causes. As a Republican she supported the 1848 Revolution and was a member of the provisional government. Despite criticism for her lifestyle and feminist views she continued her literary career across novels, plays, essays, and memoirs. Her defiance of societal expectations and her commitment to social and gender equality continue to inspire readers and writers alike, cementing her place as a central figure in the history of French literature. George Sand died on 8th June,1876, at her childhood home in Nohant and was buried in the private graveyard there. She was 71.

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin was born on the 1st July, 1804, in Paris, France, to an unconventional family who were from different classes—her father being from noble lineage whilst her mother from rather more modest origins. Following her father's early death, Sand was raised by her aristocratic grandmother at the family estate in Nohant, which she later inherited at 17. The house and surrounding countryside was a profound influence on her writing which often highlighted pastoral themes and the natural world, particularly in her later, possibly most critically, acclaimed novels.Sand's life and writings were unconventional and very progressive. At the age of 18, she married Baron Casimir Dudevant, with whom she had two children. However, the marriage was unhappy, and Sand left in 1831, moving to Paris to pursue her literary ambitions. This point also marked her adoption of the pseudonym ‘George Sand'to help her in the male dominated world of publishing. Her first major novel was ‘Indiana'(1832). It was a critical success and there now followed a series of successful novels which established her as more famous and successful than Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balzac. Her writing, a blend of romance and realism, had an effortless spontaneity which neither sacrificed style or form and tackled the complexities of politics, society, and gender.Sand was a bohemian. She wore men's clothing, smoked cigars, and engaged in several high-profile romantic relationships including Prosper Mérimée and Frédéric Chopin.She was a staunch advocate for social justice, women's rights, and workers'welfare and championed democratic and socialist causes. As a Republican she supported the 1848 Revolution and was a member of the provisional government. Despite criticism for her lifestyle and feminist views she continued her literary career across novels, plays, essays, and memoirs. Her defiance of societal expectations and her commitment to social and gender equality continue to inspire readers and writers alike, cementing her place as a central figure in the history of French literature. George Sand died on 8th June,1876, at her childhood home in Nohant and was buried in the private graveyard there. She was 71.

This book is a collection of short stories, where each story unveils a unique tapestry of global celebrations. Experience the mythical allure of the world's cultural richness and joyous revelry within the pages of this anthology. From the cherished traditions of well-known festivals to the hidden gems of lesser-known commemorations, each narrative paints a vivid portrait of the cultural significance and human experience that define these occasions. Whether it's the grandeur of globally celebrated holidays or the intimate nuances of local festivals, this collection invites readers to explore the diverse landscapes of celebrations, offering a rich variety of tales that resonates with the shared essence of joy, reflection, and the endurance spirit of annual tribute around the world.

The City of Trembling Leaves by Walter Van Tilburg Clark was first published in 1945 by Random House and reprinted by the University of Nevada Press in paperback in 1991 with a new foreword by Robert Laxalt. Clark's novel broke new ground in his telling of the story of the rites of passage of a boy, Tim Hazard, into adulthood in the setting of the Western town of Reno, Nevada. The descriptions of Reno's landscape and the realistic characters depict the role of nature during the tumultuous stages of adolescence and the potential risk of obstruction and loss in the attainment of maturity.

‘Sensual, melancholy, hypnotic. Ordinary Human Love is a richly textured, exquisitely observed portrait of memory, longing, love and forgiveness.'Emily Maguire, author of An Isolated Incident‘I read this incredible debut several months ago – and I can tell you that since then, I have read a lot of books – yet Ordinary Human Love still hasn't entirely left me.'–The AustralianThe end of the affair is just the beginning Mardi McKee, prodigal daughter, arrives at her father's home in Lithgow, Australia, after drifting overseas for eighteen months. Her previous life is a memory. Her mother has died, she is divorced and is estranged from her former lover, Ian. Mardi had left Ian, at dawn before he awoke, with no explanation, only months after ending her marriage. Ian's teenage sister, Claudia, has also arrived, escaping her childhood home for Ian's. Spiky, lovable, lost, Claudia forges an intense friendship with Mardi. But Mardi finds that repairing her relationship with Ian is not so easily done. Mardi is hiding something and Ian is having none of her quest for forgiveness, not until she explains why she vanished without a trace.Set between country New South Wales, inner city Sydney, and Europe, Ordinary Human Love follows Mardi as she discovers that the greatest love she will ever feel is for the man she left. In this powerful and complex debut, Melissa Goode interrogates what makes a life worthwhile, and has created a vivid, intricate portrait of the relationships that shape and connect us, and the all-consuming nature of desire.

••A Jennette McCurdy book club pick••••Cosmopolitan, The 20 best books to look forward to in 2024••••An Independent Book of the Month••'I loved it: the fast pace, the wry protagonist, and how Brody painfully examines the measures we take to find closure'Jennette McCurdy'A twisty, pacy crime thriller'independent.co.uk, Books of the month'A compelling study of grief, betrayal and our complicated relationship with other people's tragedies'Guardian, Best crime and thrillers round-up'A brilliant, dark debut about grief and the way in which the internet can magnify mania'Mail on Sunday ________________________________A deliciously dark and twisted debut about family secrets, true crime, and destructive obsession – by a striking new talentTeddy Angstrom is no stranger to morbid public interest in her family's tragedies. And when her father dies suddenly, ten years to the day after her sister Angie's disappearance, she intends to maintain as much privacy as she always has.Clearing out her father's office, however, Teddy discovers her father's double life: a decade-long investigation into wild conspiracies from a Reddit community of true crime fans fixated on Angie. Repelled and compelled in equal measure by this new online dimension, Teddy finds herself falling down that same rabbit hole. So when nineteen-year-old Mickey, a charming amateur internet sleuth, materialises in real life, Teddy determines that the two of them are going to team up to find out what really happened to Angie – and whether there's any chance she might still be alive. But as she struggles to reconcile new information with old memories, Teddy doesn't notice that her obsession is making her increasingly self-destructive. And she's in way over her head before she's realises that Mickey, too, is not all she seems…'A sensitive, psychological investigation into the impact of unresolved grief'Marie Claire, Best books of 2024 to curl up with'A tale of grief, family secrets and addition, Brody's debut has all the trappings of a true crime podcast'Observer'A thrilling mystery'Cosmopolitan, 20 best books to look forward to in 2024'A smart, chilling page-turner'People'For anyone who's ever indulged in a late-night Reddit binge or has found themselves in the amateur sleuthing vortex of true crime junkies'Nylon

When Rachel and Rubiat meet in art school, they are surprised by a sudden passion. But it is tested, right away, when Rubiat gives in to a reckless, self-destructive impulse that sets him adrift. Rachel has no choice but to resume her studies even though she doesn't know what happened to him or if he survived. After graduation, she moves to Queens, New York, where she begins a career as a painter while supporting herself by teaching ESL classes to immigrants. When she gets together with another man and things become serious, she realizes she can't go forward until she solves the mystery of Rubiat's disappearance. Told in shifting points of view, The Causative Factor explores the power of art and love in a story that asserts the complexities of human nature.

Grappling with innate desires and LGBTQ identity, a family struggles under the oppressive expectations foisted on them by fundamentalist Christianity. Told through alternating perspectives, God of River Mud chronicles the lives of Berna Minor, her husband, their four children, and Berna's secret lover. To escape a life of poverty and abuse, Berna Cannaday marries Zechariah Minor, a fundamentalist Baptist preacher, and commits herself to his faith, trying to make it her own. After Zechariah takes a church beside the Elk River in rural Clay, West Virginia, Berna falls in love with someone from their congregation—Jordan, a woman who has known since childhood that he was meant to be a man. Berna keeps her secret hidden as she struggles to be the wife and mother she believes God wants her to be. Berna and Zechariah's children struggle as well, trying to reconcile the theology they are taught at home with the fast-changing world around them. And Jordan struggles to find a community and a life that allow him both to be safely and fully himself, as Jay, and to be loved for who he is. As the decades and stories unfold, traditional evangelical Bible culture and the values of rural Appalachia clash against innate desires, LGBTQ identity, and gender orientation. Sympathies develop—sometimes unexpectedly—as the characters begin to reconcile their faith and their love. God of River Mud delves into the quandary of those marginalized and dehumanized within a religious patriarchy and grapples with the universal issues of identity, faith, love, and belonging.

A stunning debut novel of music, intoxication, and betrayal inspired by the true story of Anna Maria della Pietà, a Venetian orphan and violin prodigy who studied under Antonio Vivaldi and ultimately became his star musician—and his biggest muse. “THE INSTRUMENTALIST is more than a history lesson—with this novel, Constable has crafted an engrossing tale about an unexpected coup de musique.” —THE NEW YORK TIMESAnna Maria della Pietà was destined to drown in one of Venice's canals. Instead, she became the greatest violinist of the 18th century. Anna Maria has only known life inside the Pietà, an orphanage for children born of prostitutes. But the girls of the Pietà are lucky in a sense: most babies born of their station were drowned in the city's canals. And despite the strict rules, the girls are given singing and music lessons from an early age. The most promising musicians have the chance to escape the fate of the rest: forced marriage to anyone who will have them. Anna Maria is determined to be the best violinist there is—and whatever Anna Maria sets out to do, she achieves. After all, the stakes for Anna could not be higher. But it is 1704 and she is a girl. The pursuit of her ambition will test everything she holds dear, especially when it becomes clear that her instructor, Antonio Vivaldi, will teach Anna everything he knows—but not without taking something in return. From the opulent palaces of Venice to its mud-licked canals, The Instrumentalist is a portrait of opportunities dangled only to be snatched away. It is the story of one woman's irrepressible ambition and rise to the top. And it is the story of the orphans of Venice who overcame destitution and abuse to make music, and whose contributions to some of the most important works of classical music, including “The Four Seasons,” have been overlooked for too long. For fans of The Queen's Gambit and Fingersmith, The Instrumentalist is a searing exploration of art and ambition, genius and exploitation, and loss and triumph.

The mysterious houseboat Veronica motors across a postapocalyptic freshwater lake, inhabited by a black-haired witch and her young male ward. They explore an unfolding world of shape-shifting moons, vampire moths, and submerged witch cemeteries—a world where voluntary imprisonment holds its own appeal and the heart yearns for the delicate dance between blood and power, beauty and terror. Neither a pirate nor a mere witch, she is an artist, a master of water and time who shapes reality with her baffling powers. This lyrical and compelling novel beckons readers to explore the enigmatic depths of its prose, inviting them to traverse the waters of wonder and bewilderment. Embrace the bewitching allure of The Houseboat Veronica and lose yourself in its enchanting embrace.

From one of the sharpest voices in fiction today, a profound and enthralling novel about beauty, power, and capital's influence on art and those who devote their lives to creating it.'Blue Ruin is bracingly intelligent and often just plain beautiful. It's a reminder that fiction, at its best, is a place to encounter new experiences and dwell in big ideas. Kunzru is known for ambitious novels that bring politics to rich, imaginative life; Blue Ruin shows him at the top of his game.'Sandra Newman, Guardian'Book of the Day''I read everything Hari Kunzru writes, for my highest pleasure and my deepest sustenance.'Rachel Kushner'Genuinely thrilling...both a sharp dissection of the oily inner workings of the art world, and a compelling portrait of one man's desperate attempt to escape complicity in the capitalist machine.'Financial Times Once Jay was tipped for greatness, a rising star of the London art scene. Now, he lives out of his car and earns money delivery groceries to the wealthy of upstate New York, while all around a terrible pandemic rages. When Jay arrives at a house set in an enormous acreage of woodland, he is shocked to see somebody he thought forever lost to him. Standing on the porch is Alice, a lover from his art school days. Their relationship was tumultuous and destructive, ultimately ending when she left him for his best friend and fellow artist Rob. Alice and Rob have achieved the riches and success for which Jay once seemed destined. Ashamed and debilitated by the virus that has ravaged his body, Jay hopes she won't recognise him behind his dirty surgical mask. When she does, however, she invites him to recover on the property, setting in motion a reckoning decades in the making. Gripping and brilliantly orchestrated, Blue Ruin moves back and forth through time to deliver an extraordinary portrait of an artist as he reunites with his past and confronts the world he once loved and left behind.'Kunzru's brilliance is his ability to fold vertiginous questions [...] into his storytelling. In its unnerving depiction of [...] uneasy relationships, Blue Ruin not only keeps pace with White Tears and Red Pill, but also confirms his status as a master choreographer of the present moment's creeping anxiety.'Literary Review “[Blue Ruin] promises to be harrowing and darkly funny. Kunzru has a knack for the nightmarish present, and few things feel more nightmarish than a forced confrontation with the past in the early stages of the pandemic.” Lit Hub,'Most Anticipated Books of 2024'“Kunzru's [Blue Ruin] is a triumph of beauty and a true ode to the artist.” Oprah Daily,'Most Anticipated Books of 2024'“Kunzru takes on the excessive and rapacious tendencies of the art world in his dazzling latest... [Blue Ruin] is immensely satisfying.” Publishers Weekly “A lively, ever-intensifying story of race, immigration, work, and what it means to earn a living... [Blue Ruin is] a darkly ironic tale of two bubbles—an art world divorced from economic reality and a Covid era that segregated us from society... A dark, smart, provocative tale of the perils of art making.” Kirkus “Exquisite writing and keen insights into class tensions and creative dilemmas. Kunzru affirms that it's always a good time to live an examined life, even during a pandemic.” Booklist

A subversive novel from 1710 that questioned political and aesthetic ideologies in eighteenth-century France. This novel reflects a shift in French values at the turn of the eighteenth century, which saw increased interest in the private lives of the aristocracy and the pre-Enlightenment questioning of political and religious orthodoxies. Novels of fiction and leisure gained popularity, and it was during this time that Henriette-Julie de Castelnau, the Countess de Murat, published her second leisure novel, The Sprites of Kernosy Castle. Combining humor, social satire, and a proto-feminist outlook, Murat crafts a well-constructed plot where the supernatural is debunked. Murat's career was cut short when a series of “misdemeanors” related to the countess's homosexual tendencies led to her arrest in 1702. Sprites, which was released during a partial reprieve from prison, is the final published work of this independent-minded early feminist author.

Of Mothers and Other Perishables is an exquisite articulation of grief. It is also the sharp-eyed tale of a city tethered to violence and bursting with nazms. The morbidly funny voice of a dead woman echoes through the walls of her beloved storeroom, a compact space that contains her earthly belongings: cupboards full of silk sarees and baby clothes, albums of black-and-white photographs, a collection of vinyl records, a record player, old leather suitcases, an ebony-and-gold sewing machine. She reminisces about the past, and about the disease that causes her untimely death. Her storeroom becomes a quaint Bioscope of her life in Delhi as a young woman in the 1970s and 80s, decades that bring her romance, marriage, motherhood. The novel oscillates between the dead woman's yearnings and the immediacy and excitement of a parallel narrative — her daughter's. Nicknamed The Wailer (from the band Bob Marley and the Wailers), the dead woman's daughter offers a sardonic glimpse into the world of advertising — the night before a presentation, temperamental colleagues, the buzz of writers and art directors at work. But the peculiar dynamics of The Wailer's advertising firm alter drastically, when protests break out in the city of Delhi. Protesters swarm the streets, hollering against a new bill that persecutes the Muslim community. A Muslim art director is drawn to the pulsing heart of this movement. The Wailer, too, is inadvertently involved. Both narratives — the deceased mother's digressional memories, and The Wailer's palpable reality — also tell of Toon, The Wailer's younger sister, who is the CEO of a coffee startup. Their worlds converge to offer shards of the past, and navigate through a turbulent present. Personal and political histories collide in this haunting tale of many betrayals.

A trippy and darkly funny portrait of the commercial fishing industry, Slime Line is the tragicomic yarn of one troubled college dropout's desperate attempts to remake himself into a hard-nosed working man. In the wake of his father's death, Garrett Deaver washes up at a salmon processing plant in his dad's old stomping grounds of Alaska. There, he renames himself Beaver—because just like a beaver, he's “an industrious motherfucker”— and vows to become a supervisor at Klak Fancy Salmon, LLC. But moving up within the industry's seasonal underclass is anything but simple, and soon he finds himself with real, and imagined, enemies at the plant. As amphetamines scramble his sense of reality, and secrets about his father's life are revealed, the job he'd hoped would bring him salvation threatens to leave him broke, alone, and—maybe even literally—underwater.

LONGLISTED FOR THE PRIX GONCOURT 2022'Beguiling'Daily MailFrom the bestselling author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog comes the story of one man's promise to keep a secret that may hold him from the greatest joy possible.Haru, a successful Japanese art dealer, appreciates beauty, harmony, balance, and good sake. A few months after an affair with Maud, a mysterious Frenchwoman, he learns that she is pregnant with his child. But she issues him a heartbreaking warning: if he ever tries to see her or the child, she will kill herself. Quietly devastated, Haru respects Maud's wishes. And Rose grows up on the other side of the world, without ever knowing her father. Is it too late to change things?From international bestseller Muriel Barbery comes a stunning tale of friendship, family secrets, and the enduring love of a father forced to live in the shadows.

From the author of This Is One Way to Dance, linked genre-queer short stories braided with images and ephemera explore the experiences of growing up and living as a diasporic Gujarati woman searching for home. In the eleven linked short stories of How to Make Your Mother Cry, Sejal Shah builds a shrine gleaming with memory and myth. Keys, rocks, photographs, fairy tales, fables, and relics all add texture and meaning to an exploration of growing up and living as a diasporic Gujarati woman in a culture that excuses the behavior of men. Throughout, girls and women contend with the expectations, limitations, and challenges of becoming the heroine of one's own life. How to Make Your Mother Cry—Shah's follow-up to her award-winning essay collection This Is One Way to Dance—continues the rich tradition of innovative feminist work by Claudia Rankine, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Maxine Hong Kingston. By braiding stories and images with fictional letters to a beloved English teacher, the collection defies traditional autofiction, epistolary, and short story conventions. These astonishing stories about friendship and love, resilience and survival establish Shah as an exciting new voice in contemporary fiction.

'A writer of sentences so elegant that they gleam.'ALI SMITH'Entirely original.'STYLIST'Oyeyemi has mastered the art of bold, expansive storytelling.'IRENOSEN OKOJIE'A writer we should be delirious to have as a contemporary.'INDEPENDENT The new novel from the Goldsmiths Prize-shortlisted author Helen Oyeyemi. Oyeyemi treats you to a kaleidoscopic weekend in Prague, as dazzling as it is effortlessly unique. Get lost in the story like you would an unfamiliar city and let it reward you with moments of philosophical clarity, wheelbarrow rides, raw emotion and raw onions. This novel is a holiday, an adventure, a marvel and a guide. It is a story about the lies behind the lies we tell and a city as a living thing, sustained by the lives of its inhabitants. Suffused with warmth and joy, Parasol Against the Axe is a love letter to Prague, and to the art of storytelling.

A novel that tells the story of a Jewish family in World War II and reaches deep into Jewish history. Born in Brittany on the threshold of World War II, novelist Michèle Sarde had long been silent about her origins. After her mother, Jenny, finally shared their family history, Sarde decided to reconstruct Jenny's journey, including her exile from Salonica, move to Paris in 1921, and assimilation in France. The Nazi occupation then forced her and her family to hide and conceal their Jewish identity, and in this retelling, Sarde shows how Jenny fights with everything she has to survive the Holocaust and protect her daughter. Returning from Silence is a powerful saga that reaches deep into Jewish history, opening with the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and their settlement in a more tolerant Ottoman Empire. Sephardi culture and language flourished in Salonica for four centuries, but with the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s, and the sense of troubling times to come, Jenny's family felt impelled to leave their much-loved city and rebuild their lives in France. Their years in France led to change that none could have fully expected, and then, the Holocaust. The trauma lasts well into the post-war period, silencing both mother and daughter in unanticipated ways. Through this family history, Sarde sensitively raises questions about identity, migration, and assimilation while weaving fiction together with history, research, and testimony to bring the characters'stories to life.

THE BOOK EVERYONE IS DEVOURING... ‘Stuart Neville at his considerable best... This is a book you will not forget in a hurry and which will leave you hungry for the next instalment'Mark Billingham'Thrilling, heartbreaking, and completely compelling. My heart was in my throat the whole time'Alex North'Bravo Stuart Neville! Utterly brilliant'Liz Nugent ‘Stuart Neville at his very, very best – this book grabs your heart and doesn't let go'Ruth Ware What would you do if one night your whole life changed? If everything you thought you knew was suddenly turned on its head? If you had to take your child and keep moving. Away from the questions, away from the prying eyes, away from everyone you knew. Because it's your job to make sure that your daughter can survive. Even if it means becoming someone you never thought you'd be. And you know that whatever you do, wherever you go, people will be looking for you both. Because wherever you go, bodies are left behind. But you have no choice. Because you'd do anything to protect your child. Even if she's a monster...Let the Right One In meets Stephen King in this chilling thriller about a mother's love, a daughter's devotion, a man's obsession – and the darkness that lives within us all. ‘Blood Like Mine is one of those books that once you read the first few pages, you simply cannot put it back down'Steve Cavanagh ‘What a book! Exciting, propulsive and vivid. A thriller with real bite'Mark Edwards'Beautiful and dark as all hell... Original, terrifying and horrifically tense. This book is your next obsession (and Neville might well be Stephen King's rightful heir)'Will Dean ‘Wow, just WOW. I've waited a long time for a crime novel to do something different, to keep me guessing, to blow me away – this is that book'C. L. Taylor ‘A nerve-jangling thriller that is also a hugely touching meditation on a mother's love'Christopher Brookmyre ‘Every year, I read one of two books that are truly special... Blood Like Mine deserves to sell skip-loads. No, JCB digger-loads. HBV lorry-loads!'Fiona Cummins ‘At its core, Blood Like Mine is the story of a mother's unconditional love for her daughter, and that gives everything that happens – the growing horror, the murders, the frantic desperation – an almost unbearable emotional punch. I've not read anything quite like this before, and once it sank its teeth in, I was utterly gripped'Tim Lebbon

A novel on consent told in five acts over the course of one weekend. Cloe and Gertrude and the Jenkins-Bell sisters, Mathilde and Sarah, have never met. They are strangers who share a city. It is Sunday morning. Cloe has woken-up in someone else's home; Gertrude starts her shift in the pub kitchen, while Mathilde and Sarah are on their way to lunch. Soon, these four women's lives will overlap. Saturday felt like a normal day, but on Sunday the past will catch-up with them as they realise that there never is only one side to a story.Sharply observed and painfully relatable, Breaststrokes is a novel that seems to emerge from the haze of our current time. This story of unexpected encounters and intimacies is perfect for fans of Cleopatra and Frankenstein and Beautiful World, Where Are You.'Breaststrokes is a study of womanhood, vulnerability, and the secrecy of the inner-life. Vialleron's writing is laced with a love for these women who can barely love themselves. A novel for anyone interested in the way the body keeps score or in the complex intimacies between women'Rowan Hisayo Buchanan'A tender, lyrical novel about the ripples caused when consent is taken away from women and the loneliness this causes, even when you're surrounded by people. It will tug at your heart strings'Araminta Hall'Reading Breaststrokes felt a little like watching ribbons unfurl – or intertwine. Margaux Vialleron writes tenderly and evocatively about female friendship, fear and desire'Chloë Ashby, author of Wet Paint and Second Self

'Searingly brilliant... like George Orwell and Anthony Burgess before her, lets the dystopian ironies speak for themselves.'TLS'Absolutely stunning.'HERNAN DIAZ'A masterpiece.'KAVEH AKBAR A debut novel of urgent big ideas imbued with pacy plotting and atmospheric power, by an exciting new talent. The Icelandic Psychological Association has prepared a test. They call it a sensitivity assessment: a way of measuring a person's empathy and identifying the potential for anti-social behaviour. In a few days'time, Iceland will vote on whether to make the test compulsory for every citizen. The nation is bitterly divided. Some believe the test makes society safer; others decry it as a violation. As the referendum draws closer, four people - Vetur, Eyja, Tristan and Ólafur - find themselves caught in the teeth of the debate. Each of them will have to reckon with uncomfortable questions: Where do the rights of society end and the rights of the individual begin? When does utopia become dystopia? No matter which side wins, they will all have to find a way to live with the result.

In this unconventional tale of Las Vegas during the two delirious boom decades before the bust of the Great Recession, failed actor “C. D.” Reinhart, who has launched a new career in hotel marketing, is gradually losing his moral and existential compass. Working on The Strip during an era when Sin City's population growth was outpacing any other place in America, C. D. climbs the industry ladder while modeling himself after a Pyramid Resorts top executive, Lance Sheperd. C. D.'s professional choices lead him down a tumultuous road, as Sheperd, a complex and, at times, visionary figure, pilots his ventures through the tangled wheeling and dealing of finance and corporate politics straight into catastrophe. As the story progresses, C. D. comes to understand how his personal losses and the losses of his cohort of hard driving executives on the make—especially the tragic life of his work partner, Greta Olsson, the only woman to break through into their male dominated world—are a result of the make-believe environment he has helped to create, a world where representation replaces reality. Hoping to piece together his faltering marriage and family relationships, C. D. must find a new path as he struggles to hold onto his dreams. In this fictionalized version of the city of glittering lights, author Douglas Unger pits the ideologies of marketing and consumerism in the casino economy of America against the erosion of individual and humane values that success in that world demands. Unger reveals the hard truth that Las Vegas, a blue-collar town considered by many to be “the most honest city,” can be a temple for self-deceptions, emblematic of a service economy that knows the price of everything and too often the value of little else. Dream City becomes both a love song and an elegy for Las Vegas that sets it apart from any other literary novel previously written about this global entertainment attraction that in so many ways represents postmodern America. Sooner or later, the challenge that faces everyone is to discover what matters most, and to learn how to bet on the better angels of our natures.

'She's had this feeling before. This feeling of marking time. Of pressing her nose against a window and watching as everyone else lives their best lives.Isla Wintergreen has not seen her grandfather since she was seven, but when she unexpectedly inherits his cottage on the Isle of Skye, she cannot resist the opportunity to escape her purposeless life. As she slowly becomes a part of the island community, she learns more about the family she never really knew - from her estranged father, to her reclusive grandfather, and her intelligent but oppressed great-grandmother. Meanwhile, her mother Cathy reflects on her own past. Mother and daughter both hope to find new freedom - but can family patterns ever really be broken?Told through the lives of four generations of Isla's family, all linked by their connection to water, Dancing in the Shallows masterfully explores family relationships and generational inheritance.

»Das Besondere an den besten Lethem-Romanen ist, dass sie so viel Spaß machen.« The Guardian Seit dem Stillstand lebt Journeyman zurückgezogen mit seiner Schwester Maddy auf einem Bio-Bauernhof in Maine. Der Stillstand kam plötzlich. Autos, Waffen, Computer und Flugzeuge funktionierten nicht mehr und schon war die Gesellschaft im Eimer. Was ganz okay ist, bis Todbaum mit seinem irren Atom-Gefährt auftaucht. Hochamüsant, äußerst gegenwärtig - Lethem at his best! Vor dem Stillstand hatte Journeyman ein gutes Leben, nun hilft er dem Metzger von East Tindwerwick in Maine und liefert die Lebensmittel aus, die seine Schwester Maddy auf ihrer Bio-Farm anbaut. Doch dann taucht sein alter Freund Todbaum wieder auf, mit einem Fahrzeug namens Blue Streak: einem atombetriebenen Tunnelbagger. Todbaum ist einer der mächtigsten Männer in Hollywood, seine Motive sind unklar, aber seine Art ist so unangenehm wie eh und je. Was auch immer Todbaume vorhat, es könnte an Journeyman liegen, ihn aufzuhalten. Der Stillstand vereint knisternde Prosa, schnellen Witz und ein großes Herz.

Three generations of women live together under the same roof. Though they are united by blood, each of the Cascadei women has a very different personality and way of expressing herself. Teenage daughter Lori scribbles impulsively in her diary, so eager to speed off on her moped that she rarely bothers with punctuation. Mother Maria, a professional translator, writes detailed and observant letters yet doesn't see what is happening right in front of her. And grandmother Gesuina, a former stage actress, speaks into an audio recorder, giving a provocative and brutally candid performance for an imagined audience that might never listen. Life, Brazen and Garish offers a fresh take on the epistolary novel, telling the story of a family through the fragmented and disparate perspectives of daughter, mother, and grandmother. Yet even as each woman endures her private struggles with love and betrayal, youth and maturity, knowledge and ignorance, reality and illusion, the Cascadeis forge a solidarity that transcends generations. In turns heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny, this novel is a triumph of narrative voice and literary style from one of Italy's most renowned writers. Questo libro è stato tradotto grazie a un contributo del Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale italiano. This book has been translated thanks to a contribution from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Laura de León is a radar astronomer who studies Potentially Hazardous Objects (PHOs) such as threatening asteroids and comets at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California. In Los Angeles in 2020, several crises are coalescing. The first strain of SARS-CoV-2 triggers the lockdowns, the city roils with protests of Derek Chauvin's murder of George Floyd and the police killing of Breonna Taylor, while the Bobcat Fire sweeps across the San Fernando Valley. In the midst of these emergencies, Laura is struggling to keep her family alive. Simultaneously, Laura is trying to write the history section of a Congressional report titled the National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan. This report will advise Congress that it must develop a system to detect and deflect PHOs, and the section Laura is working on cites several historical meteorite impacts as proof that the Earth is now undefended against a significant impact event. A story about family, love, risk, and science, A History of Hazardous Objects contemplates how experiencing trauma and pain may help us secure a safer and more just world.

It's 1970, and on the Windy Creek Reservation in South Dakota, amidst the rise of AIM in neighboring Pine Ridge, a baby boy appears nestled in a box of Styrofoam peanuts on the doorstep of St. Rose Catholic Church. His appearance disrupts the predictable, lonely life of longtime reservation priest Father Joe Kreitzer. The child, whom they name Bear, finds refuge under the care of Father Joe's closest friend and ally, Alice Nighthawk. Thirteen years pass without event, when Alice's older son, Albert, is mysteriously murdered outside a bar in Rapid City, and Bear is accused of attempting to kill the only person who knows what happened that night. At the same time, Father Joe receives a letter from a person from his past, the only woman who made him question the path of priesthood. She has reached out to Father Joe as one of the few who might help her. To keep Bear's case from federal prosecution, Father Joe and Alice begin a search for Bear's long-lost mother. But their journey unearths more than they bargained for, plunging Father Joe into a labyrinth of secrets and revelations. He is forced not only to confront the choices he's made and the secrets he keeps, but also to see the truth of the lives of the people around him. High Hawk is a rich tapestry of love and history, delving into the delicate intricacies of the past and the redemptive power of second chances. Through evocative prose, the lives of those on the fringes of American culture come alive, navigating adversity and forging connections against all odds.

Joseph Smith Fletcher was born on the 7th February 1863 in Halifax, West Yorkshire. At 8 months of age his clergyman father died and thereafter he was brought up by his grandmother on a farm near Pontefract.After an education at Silcoates school in Wakefield he studied law for a short time and then, aged 20, entered journalism as a sub-editor in London before returning to Yorkshire to work for various other papers.His first published book, in 1879, was poetry. Thus began a very prolific career as a writer but it was not until 1914 that Fletcher wrote the first of over a hundred detective novels. Across his career he wrote in excess of 230 books across poetry, fiction, non-fiction as well as the many short stories for the periodicals of the day.In 1927 he married the Irish writer Rosamund Langbridge with whom he had a son.J S Fletcher died in Surrey on the 30th of January 1935. He was 71.

Joseph Smith Fletcher was born on the 7th February 1863 in Halifax, West Yorkshire. At 8 months of age his clergyman father died and thereafter he was brought up by his grandmother on a farm near Pontefract.After an education at Silcoates school in

Joseph Smith Fletcher was born on the 7th February 1863 in Halifax, West Yorkshire. At 8 months of age his clergyman father died and thereafter he was brought up by his grandmother on a farm near Pontefract.After an education at Silcoates school in

Joseph Smith Fletcher was born on the 7th February 1863 in Halifax, West Yorkshire. At 8 months of age his clergyman father died and thereafter he was brought up by his grandmother on a farm near Pontefract.After an education at Silcoates school in Wakefield he studied law for a short time and then, aged 20, entered journalism as a sub-editor in London before returning to Yorkshire to work for various other papers.His first published book, in 1879, was poetry. Thus began a very prolific career as a writer but it was not until 1914 that Fletcher wrote the first of over a hundred detective novels. Across his career he wrote in excess of 230 books across poetry, fiction, non-fiction as well as the many short stories for the periodicals of the day.In 1927 he married the Irish writer Rosamund Langbridge with whom he had a son.J S Fletcher died in Surrey on the 30th of January 1935. He was 71.