Стелла Даффи – лучшие книги

Жила-была в городе Лондоне сказочная принцесса, и ненавидела она любовь... И умна была принцесса, и хороша собой, и достоинствами разными ее придворные феи не обделили, словом - само совершенство, если бы... Если бы не маленький изъян - сердце царственной Кушле забыли вложить. Потому-то она и не переносит на дух влюбленные пары. Для совершенной Кушлы "вечная любовь сродни скабрезному мифу". Принцесса решает позабавиться с влюбленными, а попросту - разрушить самые крепкие, самые надежные пары, которые только сыщутся на лондонских улицах. И оружие Кушла выбирает совершенное, под стать себе, - Идеальную Любовь. Счастливые жених и…

Деве Марии на момент непорочного зачатия было 14 лет. Что произойдет, если современная девушка этого возраста в один прекрасный день придет в школу и объявит, что беременна Мессией? С большой вероятностью ее вышвырнут вон, обозвав грязной шлюшкой, отнимут ребенка и посадят в сумасшедший дом - и это при наших отнюдь не библейских нравах. Этот парадокс давно беспокоил Стеллу Даффи, и, подключив воображение, она написала притчу о современной деве Софии...
Софию вряд ли можно назвать непорочной. Она танцовщица. София танцевала всегда - в детстве, в юности, танцует она и сейчас - в ночном стрип-клубе. Ее работа - пробуждать в мужчинах похоть. Или все же любовь? Над этим София не задумывалась. Пока однажды, после ночи, полной танцев и выпивки, ее не посетил гость. Гость был необычным - звали Габриэлем, на постели он сидел, не касаясь простыней, и тело его слегка мерцало синевой в сумраке ночи. Предложение, которое он сделал Софии, оказалось еще более необычным: стать матерью нового Мессии...
`Идеальный выбор` - еще одна горькая и провокационная притча от английской сказочницы Стеллы Даффи, проникнутая иронией и сочувствием.

A compelling novel about family secrets and the legacy of trauma, set against the changing fortunes of an English seaside town over the last seventy years, from award-winning writer Stella Duffy. No more days, no more times, no more tides. No more secrets. A compelling novel about family secrets and the legacy of trauma, set against the changing fortunes of an English seaside town, from award-winning writer Stella Duffy.

Roderick Alleyn is back in this unique crime novel begun by Ngaio Marsh during the Second World War and now completed by Stella Duffy.

It’s business as usual for Mr Glossop as he does his regular round delivering wages to government buildings scattered across New Zealand’s lonely Canterbury plains. But when his car breaks down he is stranded for the night at the isolated Mount Seager Hospital, with the telephone lines down, a storm on its way and the nearby river about to burst its banks.

Trapped with him at Mount Seager are a group of quarantined soldiers with a serious case of cabin fever, three young employees embroiled in a tense love triangle, a dying elderly man, an elusive patient whose origins remain a mystery … and a potential killer.

When the payroll disappears from a locked safe and the hospital’s death toll starts to rise faster than normal, can the appearance of an English detective working in counterespionage be just a lucky coincidence – or is something more sinister afoot?

The Floating Admiral was the first of the Detection Club’s collaborative novels, in which twelve of its members wrote a single novel. Eighty-five years later, fourteen members of the club have once again collaborated to produce The Sinking Admiral.

‘The Admiral’ is a pub in the Suffolk seaside village of Crabwell, The Admiral Byng. ‘The Admiral’ is also the nickname of its landlord, Geoffrey Horatio Fitzsimmons, as well as the name of the landlord’s dinghy. None of them are as buoyant as they should be, for the pub is threatened with closure due to falling takings.

Tempers are already frayed due to the arrival of a television documentary team when Fitzsimmons is found dead in his tethered boat. The villagers assume a simple case of suicide and fear that their debt-ridden pub will now sink without trace. The journalists seem determined to finish the job by raking up old skeletons, but they weren’t banking on the fact that this story has been written by 14 extremely competitive crime writers – arch bamboozlers who will stop at nothing to save a good pub.

The Sinking Admiral, edited by the Detection Club’s outgoing President – author and broadcaster Simon Brett, OBE – continues a tradition established by the Detection Club’s founders in 1931 when Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Freeman Wills Crofts and eleven other esteemed authors wrote The Floating Admiral, a ‘collaborative novel’ to challenge themselves, fox their readers and help to pay for the Club’s running costs. Now, 85 years later, 14 of today’s leading crime writers have repeated this unique game of literary consequences, producing an original, ebullient and archetypal whodunit that will keep readers guessing right up to what crime lovers insist on calling the dénouement…

Arriving at the ancient Musaeum of Alexandria, the Doctor is keen to explore. He might find some new recorder music, and Jamie might discover a new porridge recipe, while Zoe will love the antiquated ideas about astrophysics. But once inside, they all find rather more than they bargained for, and it soon becomes clear they may never leave the Museaum alive…

Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore, Stella Duffy's chronicle of this amazing woman's early years, delighted readers with its exquisite blend of historical detail and vivid storytelling. Now, The Purple Shroud chronicles Theodora at the height of her power, bringing the ancient world alive in another unforgettable, epic saga.Theodora and Justinian have been crowned Emperor and Empress, but ruling an empire is no easy task. The two factions of Christianity are still battling for dogmatic supremacy, the Empire's borders are not secure, and Theodora worries about the ambitions of Justinian's two best generals. But the most pressing concern is close to home: Constantinople's two factions, the Blues and the Greens, are beginning to unite in their unhappiness with rising taxes. When that unhappiness spills over into all-out violence, thousands are killed (including someone very close to Theodora) and many of the City's landmarks are destroyed, including Theodora's beloved Hagia Sophia. In the aftermath of the riots, Theodora guides Justinian in gaining back the love and trust of the people, her unerring instinct for what the people want proving invaluable. Justinian promises to rebuild the Hagia Sophia to be even more spectacular than before. Theodora comes to realize that being the Augusta is simply another role she must play, though the stakes are much higher and there is no offstage. It's a role she was born to play.

Roman historian Procopius publicly praised Theodora of Constantinople for her piety---while secretly detailing her salacious stage act and maligning her as ruthless and power hungry. So who was this woman who rose from humble beginnings as a dancer to become the empress of Rome and a saint in the Orthodox Church? Award-winning novelist Stella Duffy vividly recreates the life and times of a woman who left her mark on one of the ancient world's most powerful empires. Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore is a sexy, captivating novel that resurrects an extraordinary, little-known figure from the dusty pages of history.

From the author of 'Parallel Lies' and the Orange Prize nominated 'State of Happiness' comes a story about London and its inhabitants. Under his railway arch in Loughborough Junction, Robert Sutton is handing over his dry-cleaning shop to Akeel. More than that, he teaches Akeel all he knows of his world.

Jack and Cindy are immediately attracted to one another from the moment they meet at a friend's party, and in time this first infatuation develops into a passionate and enduring love affair. A celebrated cartographer, Cindy maps the contours of their developing relationship as they explore its depth and test its boundaries." Five years later, Jack and Cindy believe that they have navigated every obstacle when a sudden crisis threatens their blissful state. Cindy falls dangerously ill, and as she battles her body's betrayal, the couple must also confront their diverging paths and uncharted future.