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The Figure In The Distance
Par Otto De Kat. 1998
Cambridge, Budapest, New York, Zurich, The Hague, Tel Aviv, the South Downs of England: the narrator has travelled everywhere. He…
has observed some of the major upheavals of the century - the Six Day War, the Prague Spring - and collected friends, lovers, and passions every step of the way. As he ages, the memories of his past grow sharper, the events of his childhood more vivid - so vivid, in fact, that his present life recedes into oblivion. He inhabits a world of ghosts and shadows and absence. Throughout his perambulations of time and space, one absence always looms largest: that of his father. The figure of his dead father materializes again and again, drawing the narrator back into the past, reviving the people and places of long ago. The Figure in the Distance is a hypnotic novel, told with a cinematic cross-cutting that suspends the reader in the cobwebs of memory and longing that haunt the narrator.The Fight For Manod
Par Raymond Williams. 1979
Matthew Price and Peter Owen both have their roots within the borders of Wales. Together they decide to build a…
new town, Manod, in the depopulated valleys of South Wales. Seemingly a splendid idea, and yet a world of plotting, scheming and resistance lies in store.Epitaphs for Underdogs
Par Andrew Szepessy. 2020
'A wonderful discovery' (Ian McEwan), this is a beguiling dystopian tale of a young man confronted with the truth about…
freedom. On a hot summer night, a young man sits in a dark cell in a Hungarian prison. The guards do not explain why he is here; he does not know if he will ever be released. But he is far from alone. Others, too, are trapped within the stone walls - singers and students, sages and spies. As the days pass, the man is drawn into their conversations and their lives, and soon becomes a witness to their sometimes outlandish acts of rebellion.Written in the early 1980s and inspired by Andrew Szepessy's own experiences, Epitaphs for Underdogs is a beguiling and exhilarating novel about power, justice and freedom, and about the solidarity that can be found in even the most unexpected places.'Beautiful... With its sense of the absurd, its laughter in the dark, it belongs in the great tradition of dystopian literature, with echoes of early Kundera and Nabokov' IAN McEWANFirst Novel
Par Nicholas Royle. 2013
Paul Kinder, a novelist with one forgotten book to his name, teaches creative writing in a university in the north-west…
of England. Either he's researching his second, breakthrough novel, or he's killing time having sex in cars.Either eternal life exists, or it doesn't. Either you'll laugh, or you'll cry.Or maybe both.Eugenie Grandet
Par Honore De Balzac. 2011
'This brilliant but devastatingly sad novel moved me so much, I began it again the moment I got to the…
end' Rose Tremain Monsieur Grandet is a very rich man whose chief care is his gold. He runs his household with exacting miserly attention and his wife and daughter suffer a Spartan existence. On the evening of his daughter Eugénie's twenty third birthday his foppish nephew Charles suddenly arrives from Paris. Eugénie has never known passion. Now, in an instant, she falls in love and her life is changed forever. Monsieur Grandet will not countenance his daughter's marriage to her penniless cousin and Eugénie's determination to follow her heart leads her into direct conflict with her father.The Enchanted April (Penguin Modern Classics)
Par Elizabeth Von Arnim. 2012
'This delicious confection will work its magic on all' Daily TelegraphThe discreet advertisement in The Times, addressed 'To Those who…
Appreciate Wistaria and Sunshine', offers a small medieval castle for rent, above a bay on the Italian Riviera. Four very different women - the dishevelled and downtrodden Mrs Wilkins, the sad, sweet-faced Mrs Arbuthnot, the formidable widow Mrs Fisher and the ravishing socialite Lady Caroline Dester - are drawn to the shores of the Mediterranean that April. As each, in turn, blossoms in the warmth of the Italian spring and finds their spirits stirring, quite unexpected changes occur.The Enchanted April, published in 1922, is a witty and delightful depiction of what it is like to rediscover joy.'Brims with magic and laughter' Amanda Craig, GuardianIncludes a new introduction by Salley Vickers, author of Miss Garnet's AngelThe Dumb House
Par John Burnside. 1997
As a child, Luke’s mother often tells him the story of the Dumb House, an experiment on newborn babies raised…
in silence, designed to test the innateness of language. As Luke grows up, his interest in language and the delicate balance of life and death leads to amateur dissections of small animals – tiny hearts revealed still pumping, as life trickles away. But as an adult, following the death of his mother, Luke’s obsession deepens, resulting in a haunting and bizarre experiment on Luke’s own children.The Echo Chamber
Par John Boyne. 2021
'His relish is infectious' Times'The funniest book I've read in ages. Savage but compelling' Ian Rankin'Funny, rumbustious, unstinting and wonderfully…
Hogarthian' The Observer'Sharp, funny, and beautifully written... a brilliant reflection on the landscape we now live in' Joanna Cannon_______________What a thing of wonder a mobile phone is. Six ounces of metal, glass and plastic, fashioned into a sleek, shiny, precious object. At once, a gateway to other worlds - and a treacherous weapon in the hands of the unwary, the unwitting, the inept.The Cleverley family live a gilded life, little realising how precarious their privilege is, just one tweet away from disaster. George, the patriarch, is a stalwart of television interviewing, a 'national treasure' (his words), his wife Beverley, a celebrated novelist (although not as celebrated as she would like), and their children, Nelson, Elizabeth, Achilles, various degrees of catastrophe waiting to happen.Together they will go on a journey of discovery through the Hogarthian jungle of the modern living where past presumptions count for nothing and carefully curated reputations can be destroyed in an instant. Along the way they will learn how volatile, how outraged, how unforgiving the world can be when you step from the proscribed path.Powered by John Boyne's characteristic humour and razor-sharp observation, The Echo Chamber is a satiric helter skelter, a dizzying downward spiral of action and consequence, poised somewhere between farce, absurdity and oblivion. To err is maybe to be human but to really foul things up you only need a phone.The new novel by John Boyne, WATER, is available for pre-order now.The Fall Girl
Par Denise Sewell. 2007
The day Frances Fall steals a baby from outside a shop, is the day her past catches up with her.…
At the age of thirty-six, Frances is forced to relive a life dominated on one side by a harsh unloving mother, and on the other by friendship with the most dazzling girl in their no-hope town. As she puts together the pieces of her past, Frances must finally confront and forgive betrayals that she has never understood. But most of all, at the end of a stunning and moving journey of pain and redemption, Frances must forgive herself - if she can.An Experiment in Leisure
Par Anna Glendenning. 2021
'I adore this book! ... An Experiment in Leisure shows us the burning, intense, messy beauty of youth and what…
it means to be alive' Maxine Peake 'Can I get a refund?' I asked the bus driver. 'You taking the piss, love?' It's the eve of Brexit, and Grace is supposed to have what she wants. She's swapped West Yorkshire for north London, her accent carefully edited. Her friends drink beer out of artful tins. She makes flat whites for people with berets. She's found a psychoanalyst. But this fantasy of metropolitan cool is turning out to be more costly than she thought and Grace faces complicated crises of identity, class, sexuality and geography. Can she remember how to love? Can she find a way home? 'A dizzying yet powerful read' Claire-Louise Bennett, author of Checkout 19The Experience of Pain
Par Carlo Emilio Gadda. 2017
'The seething cauldron of life, the infinite stratification of reality, the inextricable tangle of knowledge are what Gadda wants to…
depict' Italo CalvinoAt the height of Fascist rule in Italy and following the death of his mother, Carlo Emilio Gadda began work on his first novel, The Experience of Pain. This portrait of a highly educated young man whose anger and frustration frequently erupt in ferocious outbursts directed towards his ageing mother is a powerful critique of the society of his time and the deep wounds inflicted on his generation. Set in a fictional South American country, The Experience of Pain is at once richly imaginative and intensely personal: the perfect introduction to Gadda's innovative style and literary virtuosity. Translated by Richard DixonEverything You Ever Wanted: A Florence Welch Between Two Books Pick
Par Luiza Sauma. 2019
Read along with Florence Welch this February and March as part of the Between Two Books book club'Wry, beautiful, surprising…
and deeply moving' Rachel Seiffert, Guardian'Captures so excellently the low level anxiety that hums through everyday life' Daily Telegraph____________________________________________You wake up. You go to work. You have strategy meetings about how to use hashtags. After work you get so blackout drunk you can't remember the circumstances which have led you to waking up next to your colleague. The next day you stay in bed, scrolling through your social media feeds and wondering why everyone else seems to be achieving so much. Then you hear about Life on Nyx, a programme that offers the chance to move to another planet and start a new, meaningful way of life. But there's a caveat: if you go, you can never come back. ____________________________________________ 'An acute satire of our social media-dominated times and a haunting examination of depression and anxiety rendered in diamond sharp prose' i'Sauma has the horrors of the workplace nailed with satirical precision' Sunday Times Culture 'Weird, wonderful and beautifully written' Daily Mail'For fans of Black Mirror' Elle 'Millennial angst meets sci-fi' Stylist 'Uplifting, unputdownable and mordantly funny' Sharlene Teo, author of PontiEasy Reading: The new novel from the Spanish literary sensation
Par Cristina Morales. 2018
An explosive and daring novel about bodies, sex, politics and disability by the prize-winning Spanish writer Cristina MoralesÁngela, Patricia, Marga…
and Nati are cousins living together in Barcelona. As women branded as disabled who share a state-subsidised flat, they must fight every day to retain their independence and find new and inventive ways - from dance to underground zines - to stop the state from managing every aspect of their lives.Funny and furious, Easy Reading is an indictment of the institutions that stigmatise individuals as disabled and of the language that marginalises them. It is also a portrait - visceral, vibrant, combative - of contemporary Barcelona. But, above all, Easy Reading is a feminist celebration of the body in all its forms, of female desire and queer sexuality, and of the transgressive and revolutionary power of language.Translated from the Spanish by Kevin Gerry DunnDead Souls
Par Nikolay Gogol. 2004
Chichikov, a mysterious stranger, arrives in the provincial town of 'N', visiting a succession of landowners and making each a…
strange offer. He proposes to buy the names of dead serfs still registered on the census, saving their owners from paying tax on them, and to use these 'souls' as collateral to re-invent himself as a gentleman. In this ebullient masterpiece, Gogol created a grotesque gallery of human types, from the bear-like Sobakevich to the insubstantial fool Manilov, and, above all, the devilish con man Chichikov. Dead Souls, Russia's first major novel, is one of the most unusual works of nineteenth-century fiction and a devastating satire on social hypocrisy.A Different Sky
Par Meira Chand. 2010
Singapore - a trading post where different lives jostle and mix. It is 1927, and three young people are starting…
to question whether this inbetween island can ever truly be their home. Mei Lan comes from a famous Chinese dynasty but yearns to free herself from its stifling traditions; ten-year-old Howard seethes at the indignities heaped on his fellow Eurasians by the colonial British; Raj, fresh off the boat from India, wants only to work hard and become a successful businessman. As the years pass, and the Second World War sweeps through the east, with the Japanese occupying Singapore, the three are thrown together in unexpected ways, and tested to breaking point.Richly evocative, A Different Sky paints a scintillating panorama of thirty tumultuous years in Singapore's history through the passions and struggles of characters the reader will find it hard to forget.A Different Sea
Par Claudio Magris. 1991
An illuminating portrait of a world in ferment after the First world War, and a man seeking an authentic life.Early…
this century Enrico, a young intellectual, leaves the city of Gorizia with its abundant population and culture, to spend several years living on the Patagonian pampas, alone with his ancient Greek texts, his flocks and, every now and then, a woman. He has been taught by his closest friend, Carlo, a philosopher/poet who commits suicide in his early twenties, to search for an authentic life, free of social falsehoods. But in his search for this unattainable goal, Enrico destroys every chance he has of a normal existence. This is portrait of a world in ferment, a decaying empire shaken by war and revolution, and a life-long search for meaning.Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, & Selected Stories
Par Nikolay Gogol. 2005
Author, dramatist and satirist, Nikolay Gogol (1809-1852) deeply influenced later Russian literature with his powerful depictions of a society dominated…
by petty beaurocracy and base corruption. This volume includes both his most admired short fiction and his most famous drama. A biting and frequently hilarious political satire, The Government Inspector has been popular since its first performance and was regarded by Nabokov as the greatest Russian play every written. The stories gathered here, meanwhile, range from comic to tragic and describe the isolated lives of low-ranking clerks, lunatics and swindlers. They include Diary of a Madman, an amusing but disturbing exploration of insanity; Nevsky Prospect, a depiction of an artist besotted with a prostitute; and The Overcoat, a moving consideration of poverty that powerfully influenced Dostoevsky and later Russian literature.The Diary Of A C-List Celeb
Par Paul Hendy. 2004
From playing panto in Grimsby to hosting the highest rated light entertainment show in the history of British television, this…
is the story of one extraordinary year in the life of minor TV personality and serial bad dresser, Simon Peters...Simon languishes on the bottom rung of the showbiz celebrity ladder, mired in the tacky world of game shows, daytime TV and home shopping channels. His agent has trouble remembering his name and even his stalker is more famous than he is. He goes to all the wrong parties, sleeps with all the wrong people and to make matters worse, stardom beckons for his most-loathed enemy. And just when it seems things couldn't get any worse, the plug is pulled on his TV show...Like most celebrities, Simon's riddled with insecurities but he's nothing if not resilient, thick-skinned, utterly selfish and a total - if misguided believer - in his own talent. HE knows he's got what it takes to get to the middle, the very middle. It's just the getting there that's the problem.The Detour
Par Gerbrand Bakker. 2012
WINNER OF THE INDEPENDENT FOREIGN FICTION PRIZE AND SHORTLISTED FOR THE IMPAC DUBLIN PRIZE'A wonderful novel. Wise and generous to…
a fault of all our human failings and frailties' Lloyd Jones, author of Mister PipA Dutch woman rents a remote farm in rural Wales. She says her name is Emilie. She has left her husband, having confessed to an affair. In Amsterdam, her stunned husband forms a strange partnership with a detective who agrees to help him trace her. They board the ferry to Hull on Christmas Eve. Back on the farm, a young man out walking with his dog injures himself and stays the night, then ends up staying longer. Yet something is deeply wrong. Does he know what he is getting himself into? And what will happen when her husband and the detective arrive?Desolation Island
Par Adolfo García Ortega. 2006
As the twentieth century draws to a close, a ship heads for Punta Arenas at Chile's southern tip. On board…
is Oliver Griffin, who is fascinated by the island and spends his life drawing intricate maps of it. He is on an unusual quest, inspired by a photograph of his grandparents embracing a strange automaton that now lives in the Punta Arenas museum.This fearsome metal warrior is a sixteenth-century robot from a proposed mechanical army, commissioned to guard the straight against the English. It was discovered on the island by a grieving woman scouring the archipelago for the bodies of her shipwrecked husband and son, and is now the curious axis around which countless stories spin, surrounded by the terrible yet mesmerizing sea...