Книги

Все боятся Элизабет Зотт. Кто-то — ее ума, кто-то — остро заточенного карандаша, который она носит в прическе, а кто-то — четырнадцатидюймового ножа из ее сумочки (ведь каждый уважающий себя кулинар пользуется только своими собственными ножами). Причудливый зигзаг судьбы привел ее из Научно-исследовательского института Гастингса, где она мечтала заниматься абиогенезом (теорией возникновения жизни из неорганических веществ), на телевидение, где она ведет самую популярную в стране кулинарную передачу «Ужин в шесть». «Кулинария — это химия, — говорит она. — А химия — это жизнь. Она дает нам возможность изменить все, включая себя». Тем временем ее пятилетняя дочь Мадлен, растущая под присмотром минно-розыскного пса по кличке Шесть-Тридцать, пытается найти в школьной библиотеке Набокова и Нормана Мейлера, а также выстроить родословное древо, на котором должно найтись место и без пяти минут нобелевскому лауреату по химии Кальвину Эвансу, и фее-крестной, и деду в полосатой тюремной робе, и бабке, укрывшейся от налоговой полиции в Бразилии...

Все боятся Элизабет Зотт. Кто-то — ее ума, кто-то — остро заточенного карандаша, который она носит в прическе, а кто-то — четырнадцатидюймового ножа из ее сумочки (ведь каждый…

‘The city of light’ under German occupation: Paris, a place, a people, their lives in flux. And in these uncertainties, these compromised loyalties, these existences constantly under threat, Marcel Petiot, a mass murderer. A doctor, a resistance fighter, a collaborator: who can tell? Not even the people he kills.

‘The city of light’ under German occupation: Paris, a place, a people, their lives in flux. And in these uncertainties, these compromised loyalties, these existences constantly…

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS PAUL TORDAY PRIZE
Amidst the greens of the Amazon
and the flames of its destruction
they tried

‘Red Road Green beautifully and brutally captures the tough era when settlers and cattle ranchers plunged into the forests of the Brazilian Amazon...’
JOHN HEMMING – DIRECTOR OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 1975 TO 1996.

‘The description of the forest with all its beauty and wilderness is incredibly vivid and moving...’
MAIZA LUIZA RONDON –
GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER OF MARSHALL CANDIDO RONDON, FOUNDER OF THE INDIAN PROTECTION SERVICE NOW FUNAI.

‘A thrilling and timely book about a critically important subject...’
ROBIN HANBURY-TENISON –
PART FOUNDER AND NOW
PRESIDENT OF SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL.

‘The contrast between the nobleness of purpose of some, and the darker side of human nature of others, reminds me of Graham Greene.’
NICHOLAS READE, SÃO PAULO. AMAZON, BRAZIL 1965. The government offers land and money to those brave enough to travel 2000 kilometres to make a new life in the jungle. A brave young woman, Idenea, and her family are given a 50 hectare plot and begin clearing 40 metre high trees. Malaria is rampant; Indians watch; life is hard. When her baby is stolen, she is forced to flee in search of her child. Nearby, is an unlikely ally. Bobby, an ex British soldier, has turned to ranching to hide from the demons of his past. Meeting in the Perfect Peace Motel they fall in love. He tries to protect her from slavery and his troubled history. Full of reckless youth, they build a life together. But when political violence strikes can their love survive?

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS PAUL TORDAY PRIZE
Amidst the greens of the Amazon
and the flames of its destruction
they tried

‘Red Road Green beautifully and…

Transport yourself to mid-century New York in this compelling and evocative story of secrets, jealousy and hidden love

'BOOK OF THE MONTH' WOMAN & HOME
'DAZZLING DEBUT' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
'SUPERLATIVE' RED
'SO VIVIDLY EVOKED' CLARE CHAMBERS, AUTHOR OF SMALL PLEASURES
'I WAS GRIPPED FROM THE FIRST PAGE' SARA COX
'BROKE ME, PUT ME BACK TOGETHER. JUST BUY THIS. YOU WON'T REGRET IT' 5* READER REVIEW
_________

1955
In an apartment on the Lower East Side, school teachers Dovie and Gillian live as lodgers. Dancing behind closed curtains, mixing cocktails for two, they guard their private lives fiercely. Until someone guesses the truth . . .

1975
Twenty years later in the same apartment, Ava Winters is keeping her own secret. Her mother has become erratic, haunted by something Ava doesn't understand - until one sweltering July morning, she disappears.

Soon after her mother's departure, Ava receives a parcel. Addressed simply to 'Apartment 3B', it contains a photo of a woman with the word 'LIAR' scrawled across it.

Ava does not know what it means or who sent it.

But if she can find out then perhaps she'll discover the answers she is seeking - and meet the woman at the heart of it all . . .

Transport yourself to mid-century New York in this compelling and evocative story of secrets, jealousy and hidden love

'BOOK OF THE MONTH' WOMAN & HOME
'DAZZLING DEBUT' GOOD…

Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton. He has been there for eight years, living at the Rectory alongside his widowed mother - opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying Audrey - and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda.

When Daniel announces a plan to install a lavatory in church, the parish is suddenly (and unexpectedly) divided: as lines are drawn, long-buried secrets come dangerously close to destroying the apparent calm of the village.

And then Anthony Bowness - cousin to Bernard de Floures, patron of Champton - is found dead at the back of the church, stabbed in the neck with a pair of secateurs.

As the police moves in and the bodies start piling up, Daniel is the only one who can try and keep his fractured community together... and catch a killer.

Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton. He has been there for eight years, living at the Rectory alongside his widowed mother - opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly…

1904: Ellen has returned to her Gower village from the hustle and bustle of Hoboken, New Jersey. News of her father’s increasing frailty has brought her reluctantly home. Her younger twin brothers are hoping that she can talk some sense into the increasingly drink sodden subsistence farmer. As the weeks and months pass Ellen’s own history and the issues that led to her departure for the USA are revealed. She is a modern woman making her way in the new 20th century and isn’t prepared to sacrifice herself to the expectations of duty and tradition.

Advent is Ellen’s story and the story of a generation of young women who finally began to take hold of the reins of their own lives, not bowing down to their menfolk and staying tied to home and hearth in spite of their own desires and ambitions.

1904: Ellen has returned to her Gower village from the hustle and bustle of Hoboken, New Jersey. News of her father’s increasing frailty has brought her reluctantly home. Her…

A classically-constructed novel about the complex and ultimately self-destructive relationship between a young academic researcher and a distinguished art historian in 1980s Florence.

A classically-constructed novel about the complex and ultimately self-destructive relationship between a young academic researcher and a distinguished art historian in 1980s…

Wuhan, 1937. China is at war, invaded by the Japanese Army, who sweep through the country killing indiscriminately. As the capital city falls, Wuhan takes its place and will become pivotal in China's future.

1937. China is at war. Japanese soldiers sweep through the country, killing and displacing the millions who stand in their way. Nanjing has fallen, and Wuhan promoted in its place. While the rest of the world looks the other way, Wuhan stands alone against a whirlwind of violence which forced unprecedented cultural and political change. This will be a moment that shapes China's future.

Weaving together a multitude of narratives, Wuhan is a historical fiction epic that pulls no punches: the heart-in-mouth story of a peasant family forced onto a thousand-mile refugee death-march; the story of Lao She – the influential Chinese novelist – who leaves his family in a war-zone to assist with the propaganda effort in Wuhan; the hellish battlefields of the Sino-Japanese war; the incipient global conflict seen through a host of colourful characters – from Chiang Kai-Shek, China's nationalist leader, to Peter Fleming, British journalist based in Wuhan and a prototype for his younger brother Ian Fleming's James Bond.

Wuhan, 1937. China is at war, invaded by the Japanese Army, who sweep through the country killing indiscriminately. As the capital city falls, Wuhan takes its place and will…

In 1943 on Bougainville Island, New Guinea, a Japanese officer beheads Hugh Rand, an Australian spy — a coast watcher. The spectators include villagers he terrorised as his mind frayed under the stress of pursuit by soldiers and their hounds. Rand’s influence transcends his death. For decades he plagues characters who strive to cope with him and one another in New Guinea, the Gilbert Islands, Australia and Japan. Who misperceives? Lies? Self-destructs? Suffers? Loves? The layers unfold as the author entices us through cultural, historical and intellectual curtains, deep into minds and relationships disturbed by the Pacific war and Rand’s legacy.

In 1943 on Bougainville Island, New Guinea, a Japanese officer beheads Hugh Rand, an Australian spy — a coast watcher. The spectators include villagers he terrorised as his mind…

The Day I Fell Off My Island tells the story of Erna Mullings, a teenage Jamaican girl uprooted from her island following the sudden death of her beloved grandmother. When Erna is sent to England to be reunited with her siblings, she dreads leaving behind her elderly grandfather, and the only life she has ever known. A new future unfolds, in a strange country and with a mother she barely knows. The next decade will be a complex journey of estrangement and arrival, new beginnings, and the uncovering of long-buried secrets.

The Day I Fell Off My Island tells the story of Erna Mullings, a teenage Jamaican girl uprooted from her island following the sudden death of her beloved grandmother. When Erna is…

Who was the real George Eliot? In Love with George Eliot is a glorious debut novel which tells the compelling story of England’s greatest woman novelist as you’ve never read it before.

Marian Evans is a scandalous figure, living in sin with a married man, George Henry Lewes. She has shocked polite society, and women rarely deign to visit her. In secret, though, she has begun writing fiction under the pseudonym George Eliot. As Adam Bede’s fame grows, curiosity rises as to the identity of its mysterious writer. Gradually it becomes apparent that the moral genius Eliot is none other than the disgraced woman living with Lewes.

Now Evans’ tremendous celebrity begins. The world falls in love with her. She is the wise and great writer, sent to guide people through the increasingly secular, rudderless century, and an icon to her progressive feminist peers — with whom she is often at odds. Public opinion shifts. Her scandalous cohabitation seems forgiven. But this idyll is not secure and cannot last. When Lewes dies, Evans finds herself in danger of shocking the world all over again.

Meanwhile, in another rudderless century, two women compete to arrive at an interpretation of Eliot as writer and as woman …

Everyone who has thrilled at being shown the world anew by George Eliot will thrill again at her presence, complex and compelling, here.

Who was the real George Eliot? In Love with George Eliot is a glorious debut novel which tells the compelling story of England’s greatest woman novelist as you’ve never read it…

A stunning debut novel about a teenage girl and her mother as they grapple with first love, family secrets, and tragedy.

Maddy is sixteen. Smart, funny, and profound, she has loyal friends, a mother with whom she’s unusually close, a father she’s never met, devoted grandparents, and a crush on a boy named Jack. Maddy also has cancer. Living in the shadow of uncertainty, she is forced to grow up fast.

All the Water in the World is the story of a family doing its best when faced with the worst. Told in the alternating voices of Maddy and her mother, Eve, the narrative moves between the family’s lake house in Pennsylvania; their home in Washington, DC; and London, where Maddy’s father, Antonio, lives. Hungry for experience, Maddy seeks out her first romantic relationship, finds solace in music and art, and tracks down Antonio. She continually tests the depths and limits of her closeness with her mother, while Eve has to come to terms with the daughter she only partly knows, in a world she can’t control.

With unforgettable voices that range from tender to funny, despairing to defiant, this novel illuminates the transformative power of love, humor, and hope.

A stunning debut novel about a teenage girl and her mother as they grapple with first love, family secrets, and tragedy.

Maddy is sixteen. Smart, funny, and profound, she has…

In a quiet leafy suburb of Kingston upon Thames the police are baffled by a series of seemingly indiscriminate killings, and it appears that the perfect murders are being perpetrated. But is there something linking them together? Could there be a serial killer, a psychopath, on the loose? The British police across the South of England must collaborate with MI5, the drug squad, and Interpol in an effort to track down the culprit. And just as they seem to be getting somewhere it looks like a turf war between the Russian and American mafia might be beginning. Can they reach the truth, before it all goes too far? And will there ever be a happy ending?

In a quiet leafy suburb of Kingston upon Thames the police are baffled by a series of seemingly indiscriminate killings, and it appears that the perfect murders are being…

'I can safely say it will be huge ... an excellent read' PATRICIA GIBNEY, author of the DI Lottie Parker series

'A unique protagonist and a cracking plotline ... bags of heart and humanity' MARI HANNAH

When homeless veteran Jimmy thinks he witnesses a murder in Newcastle, the police refuse to believe him. He's not quite sure he believes his own eyes. Then he sees missing persons posters matching the description of the man he saw killed, and he realises he wasn't mistaken. But how do you catch a killer when nobody believes a murder has been committed?

Together Jimmy and the dead man's daughter decide to take matters into their own hands and hunt down the murderer themselves. They soon realise it will be a far more dangerous task than they could ever imagine.

But Jimmy has one big advantage: when you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose.

'I can safely say it will be huge ... an excellent read' PATRICIA GIBNEY, author of the DI Lottie Parker series

'A unique protagonist and a cracking plotline ... bags of heart…

A novel of the Iolaire disaster.

In the small hours of January 1st, 1919, the cruellest twist of fate changed at a stroke the lives of an entire community.

Tormod Morrison was there that terrible night. He was on board HMY Iolaire when it smashed into rocks and sank, killing some 200 servicemen on the very last leg of their long journey home from war. For Tormod – a man unlike others, with artistry in his fingertips – the disaster would mark him indelibly.

Two decades later, Alasdair and Rachel are sent to the windswept Isle of Lewis to live with Tormod in his traditional blackhouse home, a world away from the Glasgow of their earliest years. Their grandfather is kind, compassionate, but still deeply affected by the remarkable true story of the Iolaire shipwreck – by the selfless heroism and desperate tragedy he witnessed.

A deeply moving novel about passion constrained, coping with loss and a changing world, As the Women Lay Dreaming explores how a single event can so dramatically impact communities, individuals and, indeed, our very souls.

"Gave me an insight into the Iolaire disaster which no history book could manage… a powerful book…which reveals new layers with every reading. It is history brought to life through fiction, and when it is done in a manner as moving and beautiful as this it is invaluable." Alistair Braidwood, Scots Whay Hae

A novel of the Iolaire disaster.

In the small hours of January 1st, 1919, the cruellest twist of fate changed at a stroke the lives of an entire community.

Tormod Morrison…

Bonnie, a traumatised concert pianist, finds refuge at the edge of England, in a cliff-top house haunted by memories and broken dreams.

When Dominic, a road sweeper who is visited by neurological hauntings of his own, gives Bonnie a ring he finds on the street, elemental forces are unleashed that neither is able to control.

Bonnie, a traumatised concert pianist, finds refuge at the edge of England, in a cliff-top house haunted by memories and broken dreams.

When Dominic, a road sweeper who is…

1997 and Elizabeth's emigre parents approach retirement in straitened circumstances. Mutti has come up with a novel solution - she is going to claim compensation from the Hungarian Government - hard enough for someone with a clear mind, but near impossible for an impulsive heavy drinker teetering towards dementia. TV journalist Elizabeth is pursuing a story of child abduction in the Hassidic community. In the wake of her father's sudden death and her mother's increasing obsession with wartime Hungary she struggles to keep her job and her relationship. Then she gets a phone call to say that her mother has been arrested in Budapest. Elizabeth is forced to confront the nature of motherhood, love and loss as she puts together the clues to Mutti's past and to the fate of the lost little girl.

1997 and Elizabeth's emigre parents approach retirement in straitened circumstances. Mutti has come up with a novel solution - she is going to claim compensation from the…

"A beautifully written and moving story of love and betrayal that casts light on the 'Dark Years' of French history, 1940-44." ALLAN MASSIE

Family history has always been a mystery to Will Latymer. His father flatly refused to talk about it, and with no other relatives to consult, it seems that a mystery it shall always remain. Until of course, Will meets Ghislaine, his beautiful French cousin, in a chance encounter that introduces him to his grandmother, Madeleine, shut away in a quiet Breton manor with her memories and secrets.

Before long, Will has been plunged headlong into the life of Madeleine's great love, his longlost grandfather, Henry Latymer. Reading Henry's old letters and diaries for the first time, Will discovers an idealistic young man, full of hopes and optimism - an optimism that will gradually be crushed as the realities of life under the Vichy regime become glaringly clear.

But the more Will delves into Madeleine and Henry's past, and into France's troubled history, the darker the secrets he discovers become, and the more he has cause to wonder if sometimes, the past should remain buried.

"A beautifully written and moving story of love and betrayal that casts light on the 'Dark Years' of French history, 1940-44." ALLAN MASSIE

Family history has always been a…

‘Cutting between past and present, Stopps has written a tense page-turning thriller that is also a powerful study of old age and disability’ The Times‘I devoured Hello, My Name is May…May is a brilliant character. Spiky and very funny, and the setting of the care home is superbly realised…a masterful feat of storytelling’ Tim Pears, author of The West Country trilogy* * * * * *They wrote it on the wall above my bed. Hello, it said, my name is May. Please talk to me.May has been moved to a care home after her stroke. She can’t communicate, all her words are kept inside. If she tries to point, her arms swing in wild directions, if she tries to talk, strange noises come out of her mouth.May is sharp, quick, and funny, but only her daughter Jenny sees this, and Jackie, a new friend at the home who cares enough to look and listen closely.When May discovers that someone very familiar, from long ago, is living in the room opposite hers she is haunted by scenes from her earlier life, when she was a prisoner of her husband’s unpredictable rages. Bill, the man in the opposite room seems so much like her husband, though almost a lifetime has passed, and May’s eyesight isn’t what it was.As Bill charms his way through the nursing home, he focuses his romantic attention on Jackie, while all May can do is watch. She is determined to protect Jackie and keep herself safe, but what can she do in her vulnerable, silent state?* * * * *Readers highly recommend Hello, My Name is May:‘A masterpiece of tension . . . An expert exploration of ageing, and mental health, and what happens to our faculties as we get older . . . Highly recommended’‘A lovely book and one I found hard to put down . . . a recommended read’‘I dived in without knowing much about the story and I ended up loving it. It was one the best reads’‘I wasn't able to put it down once I started it and I certainly wasn't expecting the ending. I shall be recommending this book’

‘Cutting between past and present, Stopps has written a tense page-turning thriller that is also a powerful study of old age and disability’ The Times‘I devoured Hello, My Name is…

'Gripping' Guardian 'Pacy and stylish' Jeremy Vine &t;br/&t; 'It was never meant to be like this. Sabotage, yes. Propaganda, yes. All of that and more – but not this. Not murder.' &t;br/&t; South Africa has become a powder keg. Its precious land is being sold off to the highest bidders while the country's corrupt elite pocket the profits. As the dreams and hopes of its people are threatened, frustration turns to violence. With the shocking murder of one of the country's bright young hopes, the fuse is well and truly lit. &t;br/&t; Conflict mediator Lindi and her childhood friend Kagiso find themselves in the heart of the chaos, fighting to save themselves and their country as events are set in motion that no one – least of all they – can control.

'Gripping' Guardian 'Pacy and stylish' Jeremy Vine &t;br/&t; 'It was never meant to be like this. Sabotage, yes. Propaganda, yes. All of that and more…

When Tina Hopgood writes a letter of regret to a man she has never met, she doesn't expect a reply.

When Anders Larsen, a lonely museum curator, answers it, neither does he.

They're both searching for something - they just don't know it yet.

Anders has lost his wife, along with his hopes and dreams for the future. Tina is trapped in a marriage she doesn't remember choosing.

Slowly their correspondence blossoms as they bare their souls to each other with stories of joy, anguish and discovery. But then Tina's letters suddenly cease, and Anders is thrown into despair.

Can their unexpected friendship survive?

When Tina Hopgood writes a letter of regret to a man she has never met, she doesn't expect a reply.

When Anders Larsen, a lonely museum curator, answers it, neither does he.…

Основанный на реальных событиях жизни Людвига (Лале) Соколова, роман Хезер Моррис является свидетельством человеческого духа и силы любви, способной расцветать даже в самых темных местах. И трудно представить более темное место, чем концентрационный лагерь Освенцим/Биркенау.
В 1942 году Лале, как и других словацких евреев, отправляют в Освенцим. Оказавшись там, он, благодаря тому, что говорит на нескольких языках, получает работу татуировщика и с ужасающей скоростью набивает номера новым заключенным, а за это получает некоторые привилегии: отдельную каморку, чуть получше питание и относительную свободу перемещения по лагерю. Однажды в июле 1942 года Лале, заключенный 32407, наносит на руку дрожащей молодой женщине номер 34902. Ее зовут Гита. Несмотря на их тяжелое положение, несмотря на то, что каждый день может стать последним, они влюбляются и вопреки всему верят, что сумеют выжить в этих нечеловеческих условиях. И хотя положение Лале как татуировщика относительно лучше, чем остальных заключенных, но не защищает от жестокости эсэсовцев. Снова и снова рискует он жизнью, чтобы помочь своим товарищам по несчастью и в особенности Гите и ее подругам. Несмотря постоянную угрозу смерти, Лале и Гита никогда не перестают верить в будущее. И в этом будущем они обязательно будут жить вместе долго и счастливо…

Основанный на реальных событиях жизни Людвига (Лале) Соколова, роман Хезер Моррис является свидетельством человеческого духа и силы любви, способной расцветать даже в самых темных…

Donald is a young fisherman, eking out a lonely living on the west coast of Scotland. One night he witnesses something miraculous, and makes a terrible mistake. His action changes lives—not only his own, but those of his family and the entire tightly knit community in which they live. Can he ever atone for the wrong he has done, and can love grow when its foundation is violence? Based on the legend of the selkies—seals who can transform into people—evokes the harsh beauty of the landscape, the resilience of its people, both human and animal, and the triumph of hope over fear and prejudice. With exquisite grace, Su Bristow transports us to a different world, subtly and beautifully exploring what it means to be an outsider, and our innate capacity for forgiveness and acceptance. Rich with myth and magic, Sealskin is, nonetheless, a very human story, as relevant to our world as to the timeless place in which it is set.

Donald is a young fisherman, eking out a lonely living on the west coast of Scotland. One night he witnesses something miraculous, and makes a terrible mistake. His action changes…

A stirring debut novel about the complex relationship between a soldier and his psychiatrist, set in a failing psychiatric hospital between the end of the Second World War and the founding of the NHS.

Set in Northfield, an understaffed military psychiatric hospital immediately before the NHS is founded, Walking Wounded is the story of a doctor and his patient: David Reece, a young journalist-to be whose wartime experiences in Burma have come back to haunt him violently; and Daniel Carter, one of the senior psychiatrists, a man who is fighting his own battles as well as those of his patients.

This moving and impressive debut explores violence and how much harm it does to those forced to inflict it in the name of war. It also captures the dilemmas of the medics themselves as they attempt to 'fix' their patients, each of whom raise the question of what has happened to their humanity, what can be done to help them, and what we are willing to sacrifice in the name of healing.

A stirring debut novel about the complex relationship between a soldier and his psychiatrist, set in a failing psychiatric hospital between the end of the Second World War and the…

‘I eke out my days here with care; spend them carefully, one at a time, like pennies in this one little room where all the straggles and strays of my life are gathered up neat as a ball of wool; the eighty-three years of them drawn taut to a single hard knot that weighs me down like a stone.’

From her bed in a Dublin nursing home, Harriet Campbell reflects on the time, long ago, when the second greatest joy in her life was her newborn son James; only her God had a greater claim to her love.

It is the 1920s in the shadowlands south of the border. Harriet and her husband Thomas are respected members of their strict Presbyterian Congregation; indeed, Thomas has just been made an Elder. But this is a changing Ireland, where the sway of the Roman Catholic Church is at its height, and the community is becoming increasingly isolated. Little does Harriet realise that, as James grows up, she will be forced to choose between faith and family.

Written in startlingly beautiful prose, Norma MacMaster’s Silence Under a Stone is an intimate, deeply moving human story, where sometimes the price of an unyielding faith is too great to bear.

‘I eke out my days here with care; spend them carefully, one at a time, like pennies in this one little room where all the straggles and strays of my life are gathered up neat as…