Title search results
Showing 21 - 40 of 74 items
The Meagre Tarmac
By Clark Blaise. 2011
Shortlisted for the 2011 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize NomineeLonglisted for the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award"Clark…
Blaise's brilliantly imagined The Meagre Tarmac is a novel in short-story form, warmly intimate, startling in its quick jumps and revelations, a portrait of individuals for whom we come to care deeply - and a portrait of an Indo-American way of life that shimmers before our eyes with the rich and compelling detail for which Clark Blaise's fiction is renowned .... The Meagre Tarmac is a remarkable accomplishment."-Joyce Carol OatesAn Indo-American Canterbury Tales, The Meagre Tarmac explores the places where tradition, innovation, culture, and power meet with explosive force. It begins with Vivek Waldekar, who refused to attend his father's funeral because he was "trying to please an American girl who thought starting a fire in his father's body too gross a sacrilege to contemplate." It ends with Pranab Dasgupta, the Rockefeller of India, who can only describe himself as "'a very lonely, very rich, very guilty immigrant.'" And in between is a cluster of remarkable characters, incensed by the conflict between personal desire and responsibility, who exhaust themselves in pursuit of the miraculous. Fearless and ferociously intelligent, these stories are vintage Blaise, whose outsider's view of the changing heart of America has always been ruthless and moving and tender.The Doctor's Wife
By Luis Jaramillo. 2012
In stylish, intimate, and devastating short flashes, The Doctor's Wifetells the story of three generations of a family in the…
Pacific Northwest.Winner of the Dzanc Short Story Contest, Luis Jaramillo's The Doctor's Wife pushes the limits of what a short story collection can be. In stylish, intimate, and devastating short flashes, Jaramillo chronicles the small domestic moments, tragic losses, and cultural upheavals faced by three generations of a family in the Pacific Northwest, creating a moving portrait of an American family and the remarkable woman at its center.The Summer It Begins: A 2-in-1 Collection
By Susan Wiggs, Sheila Roberts. 2019
THE GOODBYE QUILT by Susan WiggsLinda Davis is driving her daughter, Molly, across the country to start college. As her…
only child readies for this big change, Linda is torn between excitement for Molly and heartache for herself. Who will she be when she is no longer needed in her role as mom? On the trip, Linda pieces together the scraps that make up Molly’s young life—the hem of a christening gown, a snippet from a costume. But in stitching the quilt, Linda realizes that making new memories is as important as cherishing those from the past.A WEDDING ON PRIMROSE STREET by Sheila RobertsAs a wedding planner, Anne Richardson has seen mothers of the bride turn into Momzillas, and she’s determined not to do that when it’s her daughter’s turn to get married. But once Laney gets engaged, all bets are off. Anne becomes obsessed with giving Laney the perfect wedding she herself never had. And that wedding needs to be held in Icicle Falls at Primrose Haus, the perfect setting, with owner Roberta Gilbert at the helm. Linda is the best at event planning but no expert on mother-daughter relationships, especially her own. Can these mothers and daughters put aside their differences to pull off the perfect wedding?La scrittrice morta
By Cinzia Rizzotto, Núria Añó. 2018
Anna è una scrittrice di mezz’età che ha cresciuto sua figlia da sola. Ora Berta è cresciuta e i dubbi…
che comporterebbe conoscere suo padre, che ha visto solo in foto, sembrano sollevarsi proprio quando il rapporto col suo fidanzato entra in crisi. Hans lavora in fabbrica e ha una sorella, Clara, una ragazza incompresa che vive con l’ossessione per un ragazzo che guida una moto gialla. Ma questa è, innanzitutto, la storia di Anna Flieder; quando decide di scrivere un’opera dallo stile più biografico, l’ispirazione le fa visita assumendo la forma dell’uomo che ha abbandonato molti anni prima. "La storia riflette il processo creativo dell’autrice. [...] È un’opera rivolta a coloro che amano leggere e che si lasciano assorbire dalla lettura, lasciando grande spazio all’immaginazione e molto all’intuizione" –Recensione del quotidiano La Mañana. Il romanzo catalano L'escriptora morta di Núria Añó è stato pubblicato in formato cartaceo da Editorial Omicron nel 2008.Bogotá 39: New Voices from Latin America
By Various. 2016
&‘This new generation of Latin American writers has exchanged history for memory, dictators for narcos and political engagement for gender…
and class consciousness.&’ El País Ten years on from the first Bogotá 39 selection, which brought writers such as Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Alejandro Zambra and Junot Díaz to fame, comes this story collection showcasing thirty-nine exceptional new talents. Chosen by some of the biggest names in Latin American literature, together with publishers, writers and literary critics and a panel of expert judges, this exciting anthology paves the way for a new generation of household names. These stories have been brought into English by some of the finest translators around, including familiar names such as Daniel Hahn, Christina MacSweeney and Megan McDowell, as well as many new and exciting translators who are just launching their careers. With authors from fifteen different countries, this diverse collection of stories transports readers to a host of new worlds, and represents the very best writing coming out of Latin America today.Us Against Alzheimer's: Stories of Family, Love, and Faith
By Marita Golden. 2019
This groundbreaking multicultural anthology shares moving personal stories about the impacts of Alzheimer’s and dementia. An estimated 5.7 million Americans…
are afflicted by Alzheimer’s disease, including 10 percent of those over sixty-five, and it is the sixth leading cause of death. But its effects are more pervasive: for the nearly 6 million sufferers, there are more than 16 million family caregivers and many more family members. Alzheimer’s wreaks havoc not only on brain cells; it is a disease of the spirit and heart for those who suffer from it but also for their families. This groundbreaking anthology presents forty narratives, both nonfiction and fiction, that together capture the impact and complexity of Alzheimer’s and other dementias on patients as well as their caregivers and family. Deeply personal, recounting the wrenching course of a disease that kills a loved one twice—first they forget who they are, and then the body succumbs—these stories also show how witnessing the disease and caring for someone with it can be powerfully transformative, calling forth amazing strength and grace. The contributors, who have all generously donated their work, include Edwidge Danticat, Julie Otsuka, Elizabeth Nunez, Meryl Comer, Greg O’Brien, Dr. Daniel Potts, Sallie Tisdale, and Nihal Satyadev. Reflecting the diversity and global nature of the dementia crisis, this anthology is published in collaboration with UsAgainstAlzheimer’s.Fu Ping: A Novel (Weatherhead Books on Asia)
By Anyi Wang. 2019
Nainai has lived in Shanghai for many years, and the time has come to find a wife for her adopted…
grandson. But when the bride she has chosen arrives from the countryside, it soon becomes clear that the orphaned girl has ideas of her own. Her name is Fu Ping, and the more she explores the residential lanes and courtyards behind Shanghai’s busy shopping streets, the less she wants to return to the country as a dutiful wife. As Fu Ping wavers over her future, she learns the city through the stories of the nannies, handymen, and garbage collectors whose labor is bringing life and bustle back to postwar Shanghai.Fu Ping is a keenly observed portrait of the lives of lower-class women in Shanghai in the early years of the People’s Republic of China. Wang Anyi, one of contemporary China’s most acclaimed authors, explores the daily lives of migrants from rural areas and other people on the margins of urban life. In shifting perspectives rich in detail and psychological insight, she sketches their aspirations, their fears, and the subtle ties that bind them together. In Howard Goldblatt’s masterful translation, Fu Ping reveals Wang Anyi’s precise renderings of history, class, and the human heart.A Dozen Truths: 12 Works of Fiction
By Earl Javorsky, Steven Manchester, Mary Marcus, Marcia Gloster, Lynn Voedisch, Roger Bagg, Christopher Slater, Eric Andersson, Carmen Siegers, Craig Ham, Kj Steele, Robert Herzog. 2017
This fiction anthology presents twelve short stories that illuminate universal truths about the human condition. Legendary publisher and editor…
Lou Aronica and author Aaron Brown have compiled a unique fiction anthology that combines the work of acclaimed novelists like Mary Marcus and Earl Javorsky with award-winning new voices. The eternal complexities of sibling relationships are explored in Steven Manchester&’s &“Lost.&” Marcia Gloster&’s &“Losing Will&” illuminates the heady mixture of hope and betrayal that so often underlies love. The reality behind a con man's illusions emerge in Craig Ham&’s &“Tonic and Spirits.&” These and the nine other tales collected in this volume demonstrate that the greatest truths are revealed in fiction. Contributors include Eric Andersson, Steven Manchester, Carmen Siegers, Marcia Gloster, Craig Ham, Lynn Voedisch, Mary Marcus, Christopher Slater, KJ Steele, Earl Javorsky, Roger Bagg, Robert Herzog.The Delivery Room: A Novel
By Sylvia Brownrigg. 2006
It is 1998. In the safe haven of her London office—a room her husband jokingly calls "The Delivery Room"—therapist Mira…
Braverman listens to the stories of her troubled patients, including an aristocratic woman going through an intense infertility drama, an American journalist who is eager to have a baby, and an irritable divorcé who likes to taunt Mira about her Serbian nationality. As the novel unfolds, Mira discovers she is not as distant from her patients' pain as she might once have been: her husband Peter struggles with illness, NATO's threats against her country grow more serious, and submerged truths from her own past seem likely to erupt.Compelling, complex, and always deeply human, The Delivery Room is an engaging examination of the incomplete understandings that course between therapist and patient, and a set of variations on the theme of motherhood—as well as a timely meditation on the meanings of wars fought from a distance, when ordinary citizens have to measure their personal griefs against the outrages experienced by those under attack.The silver spoon (The Forsyte Chronicles A Modern Comedy #52)
By John Galsworthy. 2001
This volume carries on with the tale of Soames' daughter Fleur. Married to Michael Mont, in line for a Barony,…
the story focuses on Michael's start in Parliament and Fleur's inherent dissatisfaction with her marriage, not unlike her father's own experience only in this case it is Fleur who loves another. The American Frances Wilmont enters the scene bringing news that Fleur's real love, Jon, forbidden to her as the son of her father's ex-wife, has married Wilmont's sister. Fleur struggles to be happy and fulfilled, just as her father Soames did.The Gate
By Natsume Soseki, Pico Iyer, William F. Sibley. 2013
An NYRB Calssics OriginalA humble clerk and his loving wife scrape out a quiet existence on the margins of Tokyo.…
Resigned, following years of exile and misfortune, to the bitter consequences of having married without their families' consent, and unable to have children of their own, Sōsuke and Oyone find the delicate equilibrium of their household upset by a new obligation to meet the educational expenses of Sōsuke's brash younger brother. While an unlikely new friendship appears to offer a way out of this bind, it also soon threatens to dredge up a past that could once again force them to flee the capital. Desperate and torn, Sōsuke finally resolves to travel to a remote Zen mountain monastery to see if perhaps there, through meditation, he can find a way out of his predicament. This moving and deceptively simple story, a melancholy tale shot through with glimmers of joy, beauty, and gentle wit, is an understated masterpiece by one of Japan's greatest writers. At the end of his life, Natsume Sōseki declared The Gate, originally published in 1910, to be his favorite among all his novels. This new translation captures the oblique grace of the original while correcting numerous errors and omissions that marred the first English version.The harp in the south (Darcy Family Trilogy #2)
By Ruth Park. 2009
In a tiny, dirty, old terrace house in Sydney's slums live the Darcy family. For them life is hard but…
it is never without promise. Interwoven with their lives are: the mysterious Miss Sheily, Lick Jimmy the Chinese grocer and the notorious Delie Stock.Missus (Darcy Family Trilogy #1)
By Ruth Park. 2009
Hugh seems inseparably burdened with his neurotic crippled brother Jeremiah after their parents die. Neither drink nor wandering frees him…
from his brother's demands and his misery becomes intolerable when he seeks to marry sensuous Margaret, who won't have Jeremiah in the house.The Pop Larkin chronicles
By H. E Bates. 1991
A wonderful collection of five stories featuring the Larkin family, with genial, generous Pop, devoted to his family - Ma…
and their six children, with a seventh on the way. In "The Darling buds of May" Pop meets a daggy inspector who is to become his future son-in-law. Contents: The Darling buds of May -- A Breath of French air -- When the green woods laugh -- Oh!To be in England -- A little of what you fancy.Novel 11, Book 18
By Dag Solstad. 2001
A brilliant novel by the Norwegian master Dag Solstad Bjorn Hansen, a respectable town treasurer, has just turned fifty and…
is horrified by the thought that chance has ruled his life. Eighteen years ago he left his wife and their two-year-old son for his mistress, who persuaded him to start afresh in a small, provincial town and to devote himself to an amateur theater.In time that relationship also faded, and after four years of living alone Bjorn contemplates an extraordinary course of action that will change his life forever. He finds a fellow conspirator in Dr. Schiotz, who has a secret of his own and offers to help Bjorn carry his preposterous plan through to its logical conclusion. But the sudden reappearance of his son both fills Bjorn with new hope and complicates matters. The desire to gamble with his comfortable existence proves irresistible, however, taking him to Vilnius in Lithuania, where very soon he cannot tell whether he’s tangled up in a game or reality. Dag Solstad won the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature for Novel 11, Book 18, a concentrated uncompromising existential novel that puts on full display the author’s remarkable gifts and wit.Corregidora (Virago Modern Classics #785)
By Gayl Jones. 1975
'No novel about any black woman could ever be the same after this' TONI MORRISON'Corregidora is the most brutally honest…
and painful revelation of what has occurred, and is occurring, in the souls of Black men and women' JAMES BALDWINUpon publication in 1975, Corregidora was hailed as a masterpiece, winning acclaim from writers including James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and John Updike. Exploring themes such as race, sexuality and the long repercussions of slavery, this powerful novel paved the way for Beloved and The Colour Purple. Now, this lost classic is published for a new generation of readers.Blues singer Ursa is consumed by her hatred of Corregidora, the nineteenth-century slave master who fathered both her mother and grandmother. Charged with 'making generations' to bear witness to the abuse embodied in the family name, Ursa Corregidora finds herself unable to keep alive this legacy when she is made sterile in a violent fight with her husband. Haunted by the ghosts of a Brazilian plantation, pained by a present of lovelessness and despair, Ursa slowly and firmly strikes her own terms with womanhood.AS HEARD ON THE BACKLISTED PODCAST'A literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers' TAYARI JONES, author of AN AMERICAN MARRIAGEAlso new to the VMC list: Eva's Man and The Healing by Gayl Jones.'An American writer with a powerful sense of vital inheritance, of history in the blood' JOHN UPDIKE'Gayl Jones's first novel, Corregidora (1975), was both shocking and ground-breaking in its probing of the psychological legacy of slavery and sexual ownership through the life of a Kentucky blues singer ... it predated Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Toni Morrison's Beloved, revealing an unfinished emancipation and the power of historical memory to shape lives. It also marked a shift in African-American literature that made women, and relationships between black people, central' MAYA JAGGI, Guardian'Corregidora's survey of trauma and overcoming has become even better and more relevant with the passage of time. It remains an indispensable point of entry into the tradition of African American writing that Gayl Jones reshaped and enriched' PAUL GILROYM for Mammy
By Eleanor O’Reilly. 2019
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER'Heart-breaking, heart-warming, and hilarious: a glorious debut' Ruth Hogan'Strong and taut' Anne Griffin 'Fresh, thoughtful and original' Irish…
Times'I really enjoyed this, Eleanor is a lovely writer' Sheila O'FlanaganMeet the Augustts: Ma and Da, Jenny and Jacob, and their no-nonsense Granny Mae-Anne. Complicated as only families can be, they are bound together by their love for one another, and for a piping hot bag of chips. When misfortune strikes and Granny moves in, they learn to understand each other anew through new stories and old memories. Sometimes, in a family as complicated as the Augustts, it's not always what is spoken that makes the most sense.M for Mammy is an uplifting story about the unique comfort of home, the language we can find when the words aren't there, and the power of a family to heal itself.'A heartfelt debut about love, understanding and the complicated ties of family' Prima'Lovely, sharp, compassionate, well-observed writing' Felicity Hayes-McCoy'Channelling the warm heart and good cheer of Marian Keyes . . . very amusing' Irish Independent'Exuberant. A brilliant, bubbly new voice' Irish Examiner'A gloriously funny, bittersweet debut' Ireland of the WelcomesWhat's Left of Me is Yours
By Stephanie Scott. 2020
A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE DAILY MAIL AND WOMAN AND HOMEA New York Times 'Editor's Pick'One of the…
Observer's Ten Best Debut Novelists of 2020Shortlisted for the Author's Club First Novel AwardLonglisted for the Jhalak PrizeLonglisted for the CWA John Creasy New Blood Dagger'Enrapturing... This richly imagined novel considers the many permutations of love and what we are capable of doing in its name' New York Times'A brilliant debut' Louise Doughty, author of Apple Tree Yard'You'll have the heart rate of an Olympic hurdler' Sunday Express'I read it with my heart in my throat' Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton 'An exquisitely crafted masterpiece you'll be pressing into the hands of others' Woman & Home 'An intoxicatingly atmospheric mystery' Daily Mail'Dark, addictive and eye-opening, this is a brilliant debut' StylistA gripping debut set in modern-day Tokyo and inspired by a true crime, What's Left of Me Is Yours follows a young woman's search for the truth about her mother's life - and her murder.In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the wakaresaseya (literally "breaker-upper"), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings.When Sato hires Kaitaro, a wakaresaseya agent, to have an affair with his wife, Rina, he assumes it will be an easy case. But Sato has never truly understood Rina or her desires and Kaitaro's job is to do exactly that - until he does it too well.While Rina remains ignorant of the circumstances that brought them together, she and Kaitaro fall in a desperate, singular love, setting in motion a series of violent acts that will forever haunt her daughter Sumiko's life.Told from alternating points of view and across the breathtaking landscapes of Japan, What's Left of Me Is Yours explores the thorny psychological and moral grounds of the actions we take in the name of love, asking where we draw the line between passion and possession.The Performance: A Novel
By Claire Thomas. 2021
'Quietly transformational'The Times 'A tour de force... I can't recommend this too highly'Patrick Gale'Innovative... an original, at-a-sitting read'Daily Mail'A potent…
meditation on the intensity of women's lives'Charlotte Wood, author of The Weekend'A miracle... Engaging and evocative'Washington Post'I loved and admired The Performance... Unmissable'Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters'Lively and intimate... The way Thomas plays with the reader is a sort of genius'Guardian'Thomas writes these women with such wisdom and compassion, that by the end we are all transformed'Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground The false cold of the theatre makes it hard to imagine the heavy wind outside in the real world, the ash air pressing onto the city from the nearby hills where bushfires are taking hold.The house lights lower.The auditorium feels hopeful in the darkness.As bushfires rage outside the city, three women watch a performance of a Beckett play.Margot is a successful professor, preoccupied by her fraught relationship with her ailing husband. Ivy is a philanthropist with a troubled past, distracted by the snoring man beside her. Summer is a young theatre usher, anxious about the safety of her girlfriend in the fire zone.As the performance unfolds, so does each woman's story. By the time the curtain falls, they will all have a new understanding of the world beyond the stage.The daughter of Victory Lights
By Kerri Turner. 2020
1945: After the thrill and danger of volunteering in an all-female searchlight regiment protecting Londoners from German bombers overhead, Evelyn…
Bell is secretly dismayed to be sent back her rigid domestic life when the war is over. But then she comes across a secret night-time show, hidden from the law on a boat in the middle of the Thames. Entranced by the risque and lively performance, she grabs the opportunity to join the misfit crew and escape her dreary future. At first the Victory travels from port to port to raucous applause, but as the shows get bigger and bigger, so too does the risks the performers are driven to take, as well as the growing emotional complications among the crew. Until one desperate night ...1963: Lucy, an unloved and unwanted little girl, is rescued by a mysterious stranger who says he knows her mother. On the Isle of Wight, Lucy is welcomed into an eclectic family of ex-performers. She is showered with kindness and love, but gradually it becomes clear that there are secrets they refuse to share. Who is Evelyn Bell?