Title search results
Showing 1 - 20 of 165 items
The Post-Office Girl
By Joel Rotenberg, Stefan Zweig. 1982
2009 PEN Translation Prize FinalistThe logic of capitalism, boom and bust, is unremitting and unforgiving. But what happens to human…
feeling in a completely commodified world? In The Post-Office Girl, Stefan Zweig, a deep analyst of the human passions, lays bare the private life of capitalism.Christine toils in a provincial post office in post-World War I Austria, a country gripped by unemployment. Out of the blue, a telegram arrives from Christine's rich American aunt inviting her to a resort in the Swiss Alps. Christine is immediately swept up into a world of inconceivable wealth and unleashed desire. She feels herself utterly transformed: nothing is impossible. But then, abruptly, her aunt cuts her loose. Christine returns to the post office, where yes, nothing will ever be the same.Christine meets Ferdinand, a bitter war veteran and disappointed architect, who works construction jobs when he can get them. They are drawn to each other, even as they are crushed by a sense of deprivation, of anger and shame. Work, politics, love, sex: everything is impossible for them. Life is meaningless, unless, through one desperate and decisive act, they can secretly remake their world from within.Cinderella meets Bonnie and Clyde in Zweig's haunting and hard-as-nails novel, completed during the 1930s, as he was driven by the Nazis into exile, but left unpublished at the time of his death. The Post-Office Girl, available here for the first time in English, transforms our image of a modern master's achievement.Een Giftig Hart
By Barbara Risoli, Yvonne Glasbergen. 2015
Boekbeschrijving Een Giftig Hart Een buitengewoon liefdespaar in het Frankrijk van 1788 Het verhaal speelt zich af in de zomer…
van 1788, in het de op de proef gestelde Frankrijk van voor de Franse Revolutie. Men is in afwachting van de dag waarop de Staten-Generaal bijeen zullen komen, voorafgaand aan de bestorming van de Bastille. Hoofdpersonen zijn Eufrasia, dochter van graaf Xavier des Fleuves - een trots lid van de fysiocratische aanhangers van de Verandering - en Venanzio, een huurmoordenaar met een twijfelachtig verleden. Na het mislukte huwelijk van het meisje ontmoeten de twee elkaar en ontstaat een hechte band tussen hen. Zij leggen hun zielen schaamteloos bloot en zijn tot alles bereid om op te komen voor zichzelf, over de ruggen van anderen. Eufrasia's verzoek om haar eigen moord te ensceneren om niet het klooster in te hoeven, en de uitvoering van deze dienst door de bandiet, geeft elk van een hen een nieuwe identiteit. Zij houden zich schuil tegen de duistere achtergrond van het roerige Frankrijk, dat gebukt gaat onder de onophoudelijke sneeuwval van de winter van 1788. Op dit punt speelt het verhaal zich af tussen Nanterre, een gehucht in de buurt van Versailles, en Bretagne, de geboortegrond van de hoofdpersonen. Eufrasia wordt de Weduwe, een vrouw die zich altijd schuilhoudt, strijdbaar tot het uiterste, een behendig gokster en smokkelaarster die de opkomende revolutie van wapens voorziet. Venanzio geeft zich uit voor graaf Stolfo Rues, uit een niet-bestaand geslacht. Een serie toevalligheden brengt hen opnieuw bij elkaar, waarbij de liefde tussen hen langzaam opbloeit in de wederzijdse angst om afgewezen te worden. Maar belofte maakt schuld en....Le Poison du Coeur
By Barbara Risoli, L B. 2012
L'été 1788, dans une France pré-révolutionnaire mise à dure épreuve par un rude hiver et dans l'attente de l'assemblée des…
Etats Généraux qui précèderont la prise de la Bastille. Les protagonistes sont Euphrasie, fille du comte Xavier des Fleuves faisant partie des physiocrates partisans du changement, et Venance, un tueur à gages au passé trouble. Suite au mariage raté de la jeune femme, les deux se rencontrent et un solide lien se crée entre eux et connaitra d'inquiétantes péripéties qui révéleront leurs âmes sans scrupules et prêtes à tout au détriment des autres. La demande d'Euphrasie de mettre en scène son propre meurtre pour échapper au couvent et l'exécution de ce service par le bandit pousseront les deux protagonistes à changer d'identité et à se cacher dans cette France en ébullition, à genou et sous la neige incessante de l'hiver 1788. L'histoire s'articule entre Nanterre, petit bourg proche de Versailles et le Bretagne terrre d'origine des protagonistes. Euphrasie devient la Veuve, une femme toujours cachée derrière le deuil, habile joueuse de hasard et contrebandière d'arme pour la Révolution imminente. Venance se fait passer pour le duc Stolfo Rues d'une lignée inconnue. Une série de coïncidences les font se rencontrer de nouveau, tandis que leur amour se révèle lentement malgré une peur et un refus mutuels. Mais les promesses sont des promesses et...The Attempt
By Magdaléna Platzová, Alex Zucker. 2016
"The Attempt is historical fiction at its best. Through its narrator's archival approach to his material, the book explores the…
intimate lives of a pair of fervent idealists, as well as a robber baron and his family. The result is a vivid, poignant narrative about political upheaval, both in the past and the present." -SIRI HUSTVEDT, author of The Blazing WorldWhen a Czech historian becomes convinced he's the illegitimate great-grandson of an infamous anarchist who attempted an assassination while living in the United States, he travels to New York to investigate. Arriving in Manhattan during the height of the Occupy Wall Street movement, his research takes him further back into the past-from the Pittsburgh home of a nineteenth-century US industrialist to 1920s Europe, where a celebrated anarchist couple is on the run from the law.Based on the lives of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman, The Attempt is a novel about the legacy of radical politics and relationships-one that traverses centuries and continents to deliver a moving, powerful story of personal and political transformation.Magdaléna Platzová is the author of six books, including two novels published in English: Aaron's Leap, a Lidové Noviny Book of the Year Award finalist, and The Attempt, a Czech Book Award finalist. Her fiction has also appeared in A Public Space and Words Without Borders. Platzová grew up in the Czech Republic, studied in Washington, DC, and England, received her MA in Philosophy at Charles University in Prague, and has taught at New York University's Gallatin School. She is now a freelance journalist based in Lyon, France."America's preeminent writer of prehistoric history [writes] ... . a book of hearts and minds." Grace Cavalieri, award-winning author, host…
of The Poet and the Poem from the US Library of Congress.After years of abuse from his father, Wing leaves the only home he's ever known. As the male lion leaves its pride, he must find a new home or die. He is sixteen, frail, injured, and alone in the mountainous untamed and untouched wilderness of Mexico of 250,000 BC. Wing struggles to survive, proving himself against a bear, where he learns elementary freedom. Award-winning writer of prehistoric fiction Bonnye Matthews' novella, Freedom, 250,000 BC, brings to life primitive early Americans through Wing's growing understanding of what freedom is and its importance for life.Freedom, 250,000 BC is dedicated to the archaeological site south of Puebla, Mexico at the Valsequillo Reservoir. The site is an amazingly rich prehistoric view of the glory and infamy of human life in the Americas, specifically Mexico, in 250,000 BC. "The outstanding Winds of Change series is highly and enthusiastically recommended for personal reading lists, as well as both community and academic library historical fiction collections." Midwest Book ReviewI Will Find You: The Love Story of the Year that will steal your heart away (Seal Island #2)
By Daniela Sacerdoti. 2018
A woman on the run. An island of secrets. A love to defy all odds...From the bestselling author of WATCH…
OVER ME, Daniela Sacerdoti's new novel is a romantic, heartrending, epic story that will sweep you away to the beautiful, mysterious island of Seal. If you love the novels of Rosanna Ley, Tracy Rees and Lulu Taylor, you will adore Daniela Sacerdoti.** Over 1 million copies sold of Daniela Sacerdoti's novels **Two different women, divided by time, bound by fate...After her beloved mother dies, Cora is heartbroken. When she discovers her mother has left her a cottage - a crumbling shelter on a remote and beautiful Scottish island - Cora hopes that travelling there will help her feel closer to the person she has lost. The moment she arrives on the wild, windswept island of Seal, Cora instantly falls under its spell. She is drawn to Innes, recently returned to the island to confront his past.As Cora begins to unravel her mother's connection to Seal, she learns the island has a dark, turbulent history. She is not the first lonely traveller to have sought refuge at Gealach Cottage. And there may be far more to her attraction to Innes than she could have ever imagined...Readers love the breathtaking novels of Daniela Sacerdoti:'A page-turning mystery... A love story that will satisfy even the most hopeless romantics' Daily Express on Keep Me Safe'Beautifully written, and the descriptions of Seal were so realistic I could almost hear the sea and the wind. A great book - Lesley Pearse on Keep Me Safe 'Emotional. Mysterious. I couldn't put it down' Daily Mail on Keep Me Safe'I fell in love with this book' Prima magazine on Keep Me Safe'Beautifully written and atmospheric' The Sun on Keep Me Safe'One of my favourite reads of the year so far. If there's such a thing as book heaven, this wonderfully original, poignant read deserves a place there' Shari Low, Daily Record on Watch Over Me'A beautiful story of love, loss, discovering one's true abilities and, above all, never forgetting who you really are' Debbie Flint on Take Me Home'A story of love, loss, hope and pastures new. I give this book 5 out of 5' A Lover of Books on Set Me Free'Dani's writing pulled me in... It reminded me of the safety of those arms around you as a young child when something scares you' Jera's Jamboree on Don't Be AfraidSleep of Memory (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)
By Mark Polizzotti, Patrick Modiano. 2018
The newest best-seller by Patrick Modiano is a beautiful tapestry that brings together memory, esoteric encounters, and fragmented sensations Patrick…
Modiano’s first book since his 2014 Nobel Prize revisits moments of the author’s past to produce a spare yet moving reflection on the destructive underside of love, the dreams and follies of youth, the vagaries of memory, and the melancholy of loss. Writing from the perspective of an older man, the narrator relives a key period in his life through his relationships with several enigmatic women—Geneviève, Martine, Madeleine, a certain Madame Huberson—in the process unearthing his troubled relationship with his parents, his unorthodox childhood, and the unsettled years of his youth that helped form the celebrated writer he would become. This is classic Modiano, utilizing his signature mix of autobiography and invention to create his most intriguing and intimate book yet.The Postman's Fiancée
By Denis Thériault. 2017
Twenty-two-year-old Tania has moved to Montreal to study, fine-tune her French and fall in love. Finding work as a waitress…
in an unpretentious down-town restaurant, she meets Bilodo, a shy postman who spends his days perfecting his calligraphy and writing haiku. The two hit it off. But then one stormy day their lives take a dramatic turn, and as their destinies become entwined Tania and Bilodo are led into a world where nothing is as it seems. A charming standalone work that reunites readers with the touching and much-loved characters first found in The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman, The Postman&’s Fiancée is an enchanting, poignant and bittersweet love story that will move readers, young and old alike.The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman
By Denis Thériault. 2017
*Selected for Simon Mayo&’s BBC Radio 2 Book Club* Secretly steaming open envelopes and reading the letters inside, Bilodo has…
found an escape from his lonely and routine life as a postman. When one day he comes across a mysterious letter containing a single haiku, he finds himself avidly caught up in the relationship between a long-distance couple who write to each other using only beautiful poetry. He feasts on their words, vicariously living a life for which he longs. But it will only be a matter of time before his world comes crashing down around him.The Book of Collateral Damage (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)
By Sinan Antoon. 2016
Sinan Antoon returns to the Iraq war in a poetic and provocative tribute to reclaiming memory Widely-celebrated author Sinan Antoon’s…
fourth and most sophisticated novel follows Nameer, a young Iraqi scholar earning his doctorate at Harvard, who is hired by filmmakers to help document the devastation of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. During the excursion, Nameer ventures to al-Mutanabbi street in Baghdad, famed for its bookshops, and encounters Wadood, an eccentric bookseller who is trying to catalogue everything destroyed by war, from objects, buildings, books and manuscripts, flora and fauna, to humans. Entrusted with the catalogue and obsessed with Wadood’s project, Nameer finds life in New York movingly intertwined with fragments from his homeland’s past and its present—destroyed letters, verses, epigraphs, and anecdotes—in this stylistically ambitious panorama of the wreckage of war and the power of memory.The Lost Book of Adana Moreau: A Novel
By Michael Zapata. 2020
A Boston Globe Most Anticipated Book of 2020A Most Anticipated Book of 2020 from The Millions“A stunner—equal parts epic and…
intimate, thrilling and elegiac.”—Laura Van den Berg, author of The Third HotelThe mesmerizing story of a Latin American science fiction writer and the lives her lost manuscript unites decades later in post-Katrina New OrleansIn 1929 in New Orleans, a Dominican immigrant named Adana Moreau writes a science fiction novel. The novel earns rave reviews, and Adana begins a sequel. Then she falls gravely ill. Just before she dies, she destroys the only copy of the manuscript.Decades later in Chicago, Saul Drower is cleaning out his dead grandfather’s home when he discovers a mysterious manuscript written by none other than Adana Moreau. With the help of his friend Javier, Saul tracks down an address for Adana’s son in New Orleans, but as Hurricane Katrina strikes they must head to the storm-ravaged city for answers.What results is a brilliantly layered masterpiece an ode to home, storytelling and the possibility of parallel worlds.The Punishment (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)
By Tahar Ben Jelloun. 2020
An innocent man’s gripping personal account of terrifying confinement by the Moroccan military during the reign of a formidable twentieth-century…
despot In 1967 Tahar Ben Jelloun, a peaceful young political protestor, was one of nearly a hundred other hapless men taken into punitive custody by the Moroccan army. It was a time of dangerous importance in Moroccan history, and they were treated with a chilling brutality that not all of them survived. This powerful portrait of the author’s traumatic experience, written with a memoirist’s immediacy, reveals both his helpless terror and his desperate hope to survive by drawing strength from his love of literature. Shaken to the core by his disillusionment with a brutal regime, unsure of surviving his ordeal, he stole some paper and began to secretly write, with the admittedly romantic idea of leaving some testament behind, a veiled denunciation of the evils of his time. His first poem was published after he was unexpectedly released, and his vocation was born.The Orphanage: A Novel (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)
By Serhiy Zhadan. 2021
A devastating story of the struggle of civilians caught up in the conflict in eastern Ukraine&“A nightmarish, raw vision of…
contemporary eastern Ukraine under siege. . . . With a poet&’s sense of lyricism . . . [Zhadan] unblinkingly reveals a country&’s devastation and its people&’s passionate determination to survive.&”—Publishers Weekly, starred review Recalling the brutal landscape of The Road and the wartime storytelling of A Farewell to Arms, The Orphanage is a searing novel that excavates the human collateral damage wrought by the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine. When hostile soldiers invade a neighboring city, Pasha, a thirty-five-year-old Ukrainian language teacher, sets out for the orphanage where his nephew Sasha lives, now in occupied territory. Venturing into combat zones, traversing shifting borders, and forging uneasy alliances along the way, Pasha realizes where his true loyalties lie in an increasingly desperate fight to rescue Sasha and bring him home. Written with a raw intensity, this is a deeply personal account of violence that will be remembered as the definitive novel of the war in Ukraine.The King's Fool
By Mahi Binebine. 2017
Sidi is dying.In the last days of this all-powerful tyrant, his faithful court fool takes stock of the decades he…
has spent in the king's service. For the many years have left certain indelible wounds.During his service, the fool has been the king's closest counsel, his most trusted companion and adviser, privy to the king's deepest secrets and most intimate thoughts. It is an honoured position for which many other courtiers would pay a hefty price. Something the fool understands only too well, for this closeness has indeed come at a terrible cost.What price the confidence of a great king? Is it stories, jokes, witty repartee? Or does the debt fall closer to home? Perhaps it must be paid far from the magnificent palaces, feasting and festivities of the royal court. Perhaps it must be paid in the death jails of a formidable prison fortress far out in the desert; a place so feared that few dare to speak its name . . .LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT HISTORICAL FICTION PRIZE 2021SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA GOLD CROWN AWARD 2020'A STRIKINGLY SHARP AND SUBTLE…
WRITER' Guardian'SUPERB...BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN...UNFORGETTABLE' FT Weekend'SKILFUL' Sunday Times 'RICH, INTRICATE, IMPRESSIVELY REALISED' Observer 'VIVIDLY REALISED' The Times'A VISION OF THE PAST AND A VISION OF THE FUTURE' Irish Times'A VIVID SLICE OF HISTORICAL FICTION' Sunday Express1815, Sumbawa Island, IndonesiaMount Tambora explodes in a cataclysmic eruption, killing thousands. Sent to investigate, ship surgeon Henry Hoggcan barely believe his eyes. Once a paradise, the island is now solid ash, the surrounding sea turned to stone. But worse is yet to come: as the ash cloud rises and covers the sun, the seasons will fail.1816In Switzerland, Mary Shelley finds dark inspiration. Confined inside by the unseasonable weather, thousands of famine refugees stream past her door. In Vermont, preacher Charles Whitlock begs his followers to keep faith as drought dries their wells and their livestock starve.In Suffolk, the ambitious and lovesick painter John Constable struggles to reconcile the idyllic England he paints with the misery that surrounds him. In the Fens, farm labourer Sarah Hobbs has had enough of going hungry while the farmers flaunt their wealth. And Hope Peter, returned from the Napoleonic wars, finds his family home demolished and a fence gone up in its place. He flees to London, where he falls in with a group of revolutionaries who speak of a better life, whatever the cost. As desperation sets in, Britain becomes beset by riots - rebellion is in the air.The Year Without Summer is the story of the books written, the art made; of the journeys taken, of the love longed for and the lives lost during that fateful year. Six separate lives, connected only by an event many thousands of miles away. Few had heard of Tambora - but none could escape its effects.'VIVID, VIBRANT, HARD TO PUT DOWN' Hilary Spurling'THOUGHT-PROVOKING, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND VERY COMPELLING' Harriet Tyce'INGENIOUS AND ABSORBING' Kirsty Wark 'ASTONISHING, RIVETING, MASTERFUL, POETIC' Emily Rapp Black 'A WORLDWIDE CANVAS BROUGHT TO LIFE IN VIVID, HEARTBREAKING DETAIL' Marianne KavanaghThe Slaughterman's Daughter: Winner of the Wingate Prize 2021
By Yaniv Iczkovits. 2020
A SUNDAY TIMES MUST READS PICK"Boundless imagination and a vibrant style . . . a heroine of unforgettable grit" DAVID…
GROSSMAN"A story of great beauty and surprise" GARY SHTEYNGARTThe townsfolk of Motal, an isolated, godforsaken town in the Pale of Settlement, are shocked when Fanny Keismann - devoted wife, mother of five, and celebrated cheese-maker - leaves her home at two hours past midnight and vanishes into the night.True, the husbands of Motal have been vanishing for years, but a wife and mother? Whoever heard of such a thing. What on earth possessed her?Could it have anything to do with Fanny's missing brother-in-law, who left her sister almost a year ago and ran away to Minsk, abandoning their family to destitution and despair?Or could Fanny have been lured away by Zizek Breshov, the mysterious ferryman on the Yaselda river, who, in a strange twist of events, seems to have disappeared on the same night?Surely there can be no link between Fanny and the peculiar roadside murder on the way to Telekhany, which has left Colonel Piotr Novak, head of the Russian secret police, scratching his head. Surely a crime like that could have nothing to do with Fanny Keismann, however the people of Motal might mutter about her reputation as a vilde chaya, a wild animal . . .Surely not.Translated from the Hebrew by Orr ScharfThe King's Fool
By Mahi Binebine. 2017
Sidi is dying.In the last days of this all-powerful tyrant, his faithful court fool takes stock of the decades he…
has spent in the king's service. For the many years have left certain indelible wounds.During his service, the fool has been the king's closest counsel, his most trusted companion and adviser, privy to the king's deepest secrets and most intimate thoughts. It is an honoured position for which many other courtiers would pay a hefty price. Something the fool understands only too well, for this closeness has indeed come at a terrible cost.What price the confidence of a great king? Is it stories, jokes, witty repartee? Or does the debt fall closer to home? Perhaps it must be paid far from the magnificent palaces, feasting and festivities of the royal court. Perhaps it must be paid in the death jails of a formidable prison fortress far out in the desert; a place so feared that few dare to speak its name . . .The Shape of the Ruins: Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2019
By Juan Gabriel Vásquez. 2015
Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2019"Like Don DeLillo's JFK-themed Libra, the novel is an intoxicating blend of fact…
and fiction" Glasgow Herald"A masterful writer" Nicole Krauss"Vasquez has succeeded García Márquez as the literary grandmaster of Colombia" Ariel Dorfman, New York Review of Books"A dazzlingly choreographed network of echoes and mirrorings" T.L.S.It takes the form of personal and formal investigations into two political assassinations - the murders of Rafael Uribe Uribe in 1914, the man who inspired García Márquez's General Buendia in One Hundred Years of Solitude, and of the charismatic Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, the man who might have been Colombia's J.F.K., gunned down on the brink of success in the presidential elections of 1948. Separated by more than 30 years, the two murders at first appear unconnected, but as the novel progresses Vásquez reveals how between them they contain the seeds of the violence that has bedevilled Colombia ever since. The Shape of the Ruins is Vásquez's most ambitious, challenging and rewarding novel to date. His previous novel, The Sound of Things Falling, won Spain's Alfaguara Prize, Italy's Von Rezzori Prize and the 2014 Dublin IMPAC literary Award. Winner of the Prémio Literário Casino da Póvoa 2018 Finalist for the Bienal de Novela Mario Vargas Llosa 2016 Finalist for the Premio Bottari Lattes Grinzane 2017 Finalist for the Prix Fémina Finalist for the Prix Médicis Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLeanI Will Find You (A Seal Island novel): A captivating love story from the author of THE ITALIAN VILLA
By Daniela Sacerdoti. 2018
From the bestselling author of The Italian Villa and Watch Over Me, a beautiful, heartrending story of finding love against…
all odds. Perfect for anyone who loves Fiona Valpy and Lily Graham.'Atmospheric, romantic and compelling. Daniela writes with huge warmth and sincerity' Rosanna LeyAfter her mother dies, heartbroken Cora discovers she has been left a cottage on a remote Scottish isle called Seal. The moment she arrives, she falls under the island's spell... and finds herself drawn to a brooding stranger. For wanderer Innes, returning to the island means confronting the demons of his past. He knows he can't offer beautiful Cora anything more than a collection of moments - yet he can't deny the immediate intensity of their connection.As Cora begins to trace her mother's roots, she learns Gealach Cottage has a turbulent history. Another young woman had sought refuge here, waiting for her lover to return. What became of her? Only by unravelling a forgotten story of passion and courage can Cora understand what has pulled her to Seal... and to a man who feels like home.Readers love the breathtaking novels of Daniela Sacerdoti:'Mesmerising! I was totally hooked... absolutely perfect and just flowed endlessly with such ease. I really can't praise this OUTSTANDING book enough!' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars'Every time I read a Daniela Sacerdoti, it leaves a hollow in my chest where my heart used to be as her writing melts my heart completely. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars'The first book I've ever wanted to read again before I've even finished turning the last page; this book will stay with me forever.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars'This is a beautiful, magical, enchanting book. I have been waiting for something like this for so long.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 starsThis is a poignant, ethereal and beautifully written novel about letting go and moving on. A story that I was still thinking about a few days later!' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars'I love these books!! I keep thinking that they can't be as good as the last one but every one is as wonderful as the one before.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars'This is an amazing book. A real page turner. I can't say anything else but you must read.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 starsThe Nanny and the Iceberg: A Novel
By Ariel Dorfman. 1999
Conceived the night of Che Guevara's burial in 1967, Gabriel McKenzie is inextricably bound up in the history and politics…
of his native Chile. Twenty-four years on, and still a virgin, Gabriel returns from Manhattan exile to confront his legacy: a Don Juan father and a country preparing for the five-hundredth anniversary of America's "discovery." Into Gabriel's quest for manhood and identity enter one iceberg, a faithful if eccentric nanny, and a whole host of fantastical characters.