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The Best American Essays 2021 (The Best American Series)
By Robert Atwan. 2021
A collection of the year&’s best essays, selected by award-winning journalist and New Yorker staff writer Kathryn Schulz&“The world is abundant…
even in bad times,&” guest editor Kathryn Schulz writes in her introduction, &“it is lush with interestingness, and always, somewhere, offering up consolation or beauty or humor or happiness, or at least the hope of future happiness.&” The essays Schulz selected are a powerful time capsule of 2020, showcasing that even if our lives as we knew them stopped, the beauty to be found in them flourished. From an intimate account of nursing a loved one in the early days of the pandemic, to a masterful portrait of grieving the loss of a husband as the country grieved the loss of George Floyd, this collection brilliantly shapes the grief, hardship, and hope of a singular year.The Best American Essays 2021 includes ELIZABETH ALEXANDER • HILTON ALS • GABRIELLE HAMILTON • RUCHIR JOSHI • PATRICIA LOCKWOOD• CLAIRE MESSUD • WESLEY MORRIS • BETH NGUYEN • JESMYN WARD and othersThe Best American Essays 2020 (The Best American Series)
By André Aciman, Robert Atwan. 2020
A collection of the year&’s best essays selected by André Aciman, author of the worldwide bestseller Call Me by Your Name. &“An…
essay is the child of uncertainty,&” André Aciman contends in his introduction to The Best American Essays 2020. &“The struggle to write what one hopes is entirely true, and the long incubation every piece of writing requires of a writer who is thinking difficult thoughts, are what ultimately give the writing its depth, its magnitude, its grace.&” The essays Aciman selected center on people facing moments of deep uncertainty, searching for a greater truth. From a Black father&’s confrontation of his son&’s illness, to a divorcée&’s transcendent experience with strangers, to a bartender grieving the tragic loss of a friend, these stories are a master class not just in essay writing but in empathy, artfully imbuing moments of hardship with understanding and that elusive grace. The Best American 2020 Essays includes RABIH ALAMEDDINE • BARBARA EHRENREICH • LESLIE JAMISON JAMAICA KINCAID • ALEX MARZANO-LESNEVICH • A. O. SCOTT • JERALD WALKER • STEPHANIE POWELL WATTS and othersThe Topiary Garden
By Janni Howker. 1993
One of the most remarkable short stories in Janni Howker's BADGER ON THE BARGE is THE TOPIARY GARDEN, currently under…
option for filming It is the evocative, timeless story of Sally Beck, and the circumstances which led her to become Jack, the gardener's boy, working amongst the topiary bushes of a great country house garden. This powerful story has such impact for readers of any age that we are publishing it in a separate edition, with specially commissioned full colour paintings by Anthony BrowneToo Hot to Handle: True Stories as Told to Madame B
By Ann Summers. 2007
Ten women reveal all to our mysterious hostess, Madame B. Nothing is out of bounds and passion is pushed to…
its very limit. Under Offer - Sally just can't keep her eyes off the hot estate agent. By the third apartment, Sally can't control her lust any longer and makes him an offer he can't refuse...Backstage Pass - Everyone knows him, the rock star who regularly tops the charts. Ali just has to have him, and blags a backstage pass...Executive Decision - It's the career chance of a lifetime. PA to a gorgeous, jet-setting executive. Amanda wants the job - and him - so badly. Then he asks if she has any 'extra services' to offer. Shopaholic - Zoe's bored with her look. So when a friend recommends personal shopper and stylist Maria, she books in for a session. Maria knows just how to make Zoe feel fabulous - and it all kicks off in the changing room.Coming Up Roses - Kara can't face a day in the office and calls in sick. That's when she notices two attractive gardeners working outside her apartment window. It's hot, they're sweating. So Kara invites them both in for a shower...Filthy Rich - At a salsa club, Jen and Mike meet an older, wealthy couple, who invite them back to their mansion. The place is a millionaire's paradise - acres of land, and a sexy outdoor jacuzzi...Double Fantasy - Identical twins and flatmates Gilly and Annie secretly share their men. So when fit delivery guy Rob turns up with a washing machine, Gilly has her fun on top of it - and then lets Annie take over. Curtain Raiser - Cathy's boyfriend confesses he's always wanted to try a seedy peep show. She's not so sure. But once they're inside the cubicle, Cathy can't get enough.Tunnel Vision - She spots him at check-in, and he's sitting opposite her in first class. He passes her a mobile number. She texts. He texts. And things get steamy...Father Figure - Jane's always fancied her ex-boyfriend's dad. Then she bumps into him at a taxi rank. They share a cab, but they don't even make it indoors...With private indulgences stripped bare for all to see, Too Hot to Handle ensures that nothing remains a secret any more.Timesnatch
By Robert Swindells. 1994
Once a creature is extinct, it's gone for ever, isn't it?Not any more - as a butterfly from the past…
proves. The physicist mother of Kizzy Rye and Fraser Rye has invented an amazing time machine that can travel back into the past, snatch a plant or animal now extinct and bring it back into the present.It's a wonderful achievement, a real scientific breakthrough. But the machine - 'Rye's Apparatus' - has a horrifying potential. Suddenly Kizzy and Fraser find themselves caught up in a terrifying spiral of events - events that lead finally to a monstrous demand from a sinister and violent organization...WINNER OF THE 1995 EARTHWORM AWARD, 7-11 YEAR-OLD CATEGORYTime to Pay
By Lyndon Stacey. 2006
Revenge has no limits...Damien Daniels has been murdered; shot through the chest by an unseen marksman. It looks like a…
professional job but there are no clues as to who pulled the trigger.The only witness to the shooting, Gideon Blake, is unable to provide any information that would help the police. However, a cryptic list he later discovers hidden amongst the dead man's possessions warns of a dark and terrible conspiracy. Disturbed by his findings, Gideon soon finds himself drawn deeper into the mystery, one that he must solve before the marksman targets his next victim...[NB This book was previously published with the title Six to One Against]Three Tales from the Arabian Nights
By Malcolm Lyons. 2008
Once upon a time, the name Baghdad conjured up visions of the most magical, romantic city on earth, where flying…
carpets carried noble thieves off on wonderful adventures, and vicious viziers and beautiful princesses mingled with wily peasants and powerful genies. This is the world of the Arabian Nights, a magnificent collection of ancient tales from Arabia, India, and Persia. The tales—often stories within stories—are told by the sultana Scheherazade, who relates them as entertainments for her jealous and murderous husband, hoping to keep him amused and herself alive. Three fantastic tales have been chosen from our new translation to introduce readers to the delights of Arabian Nights: 'Ali Baba and the forty thieves killed by the slave girl' is a well-known and well-loved classic, placed alongside the equally enchanting 'Judar and his brothers' and 'Ma'rus the cobbler'.Three Japanese Short Stories (Penguin Modern)
By Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Kafu Nagai, Chiyo Uno. 2018
'Oh the cruelty of time, that destroys all things!'Beguiling, strange and hair-raising tales from early 20th century Japan: Nagai's Behind…
the Prison, Uno's Closet LLB and Akutagawa's deeply macabre General Kim. Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.The Thousand Eyes Of Night
By Robert Swindells. 1985
The skeleton lay on its back. The jaws gaped and one arm lay across the chest as through flung there…
to ward off a blow . . . The Tangle is a long, narrow stretch of derelict land, a wilderness of weeds and rubbish with an old railway tunnel yawning blackly at one end. No-one - not even bullying Gary Deacon - dares venture far into its sooty darkness. But it is here that twelve-year-old Tan and his friends make a grisly discovery - a discovery that is to plunge them into a terrifying adventure as the tunnel slowly unfolds its sinister secret . . .This is the Night They Come For You: A TIMES THRILLER OF THE YEAR
By Robert Goddard. 2022
From the author of the BBC 2 Between the Covers hit, The Fine Art of Invisible Detection 'Truly ingenious' The…
TabletGoddard sprinkles head-turning double-crossing with delightful by-play between his two leads' Times'Fast-paced, beautifully crafted with some excellently drawn characters... engages from start to finish' Choice Magazine'Goddard writes amazing novels of mystery/suspense. His new one is magical and the title is simply the best' Stephen King__________________On a stifling afternoon at Police HQ in Algiers, Superintendent Taleb, coasting towards retirement, with not even an air-conditioned office to show for his long years of service, is handed a ticking time bomb of a case which will take him deep into Algeria's troubled past and its fraught relationship with France.To his dismay, he is assigned to work with Agent Hidouchi, an intimidating representative of the country's feared secret service, who makes it clear she intends to call the shots. They are instructed to pursue a former agent, now on the run after twenty years in prison for his part in a high-level corruption scandal. But their search will lead them inexorably towards a greater mystery, surrounding a murder that took place in Paris more than fifty years ago.Uncovering the truth may be his responsibility, but Taleb is well aware that no-one in Algeria wants to be reminded of the dark deeds carried out in the struggle for independence - or in the violence that has racked the nation since. Before long, he will face a choice he has long sought to avoid, between self-preservation and doing the right thing.And, ultimately, the choice may not even be his to make.A pulse-pounding, breathless crime thriller, perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz's Hawthorne series, Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike series and LJ Ross's Alexander Gregory thrillers.The new novel from Robert Goddard, THE FINE ART OF UNCANNY PREDICTION, is available now.________________________________Praise for Robert Goddard'The world's greatest storyteller' Guardian'One of the finest crime writer of any generation' Daily Mail'Our finest practitioner of double-crossing plotting' Mick HerronThis Charming Man: (The Stranger Times 2) (The Stranger Times #2)
By C. K. McDonnell. 2022
STOP PRESS! The Stranger Times wins the 2023 British Fantasy Award for Best Audio Work!Vampires do not exist. Everyone knows…
this. So it's particularly annoying when they start popping up around Manchester . . . Nobody is pleased about it. Not the Founders, the secret organisation for whom vampires were invented as an allegory, nor the Folk, the magical people hidden in plain sight who only want a quiet life. And definitely not the people of Manchester, because there is nothing more irksome than being murdered by an allegory run amok. Somebody needs to sort this out fast before all Hell really breaks loose - step forward the staff of The Stranger Times.It's not like they don't have enough to be dealing with. Assistant Editor Hannah has come back from getting messily divorced to discover that someone is trying to kidnap a member of their staff and while editor Vincent Banecroft would be delighted to see the back of any of his team, he doesn't like people touching his stuff - it's the principle of the thing.Throw in a precarious plumbing situation, gambling debts, an entirely new way of swearing, and a certain detective inspector with what could be kindly referred to as 'a lot of baggage' and it all adds up to another hectic week in the life of the newspaper committed to reporting the truth that nobody else will touch.This Charming Man is the second book in the critically acclaimed The Stranger Times series.'A gag-filled romp . . . in the spirit of Terry Pratchett.' The Times'Great characters, a jet-propelled plot, and a winning premise.' Guardian'Fresh and genuinely funny.' SFXThe Thirty-Nine Steps (Penguin Modern Classics)
By John Buchan. 2004
Richard Hannay has just returned to England after years in South Africa and is thoroughly bored with his life in…
London. But then a murder is committed in his flat, just days after a chance encounter with an American who had told him about an assassination plot which could have dire international consequences. An obvious suspect for the police and an easy target for the killers, Hannay goes on the run in his native Scotland where he will need all his courage and ingenuity to stay one step ahead of his pursuers.Experience the thrilling search for the Third Man as you follow Harry Lime through the gloomy and treacherous streets of…
Vienna, a city divided by war and corruption. This undisputed spy classic is now available for the first time with video and photography from the film that inspired the novel. In this innovative new format, readers can see the development of Greene’s masterful writing in the original script of the movie, with extra content showcasing the film’s distinctive soundtrack and Oscar-winning cinematography. See clips and photos of Orson Welles embodying one of his most iconic characters alongside the text at key points. The unparalleled film and archive materials add new layers to the characters and the mystery at the heart of the story. This is a special digital edition to celebrate Studio Canal's restored edition of the film. It includes:- An array of film clips and stills embedded in the text of the novel- A large selection of behind-the-scenes photos from the archive, including candid photos of Orson Welles and the cast on set- Scans of the original post-production scriptThings We Say in the Dark
By Kirsty Logan. 2019
'Gripping . . . You won't put it down' Sunday TelegraphA shocking collection of dark stories, ranging from chilling contemporary…
fairytales to disturbing supernatural fiction.Alone in a remote house in Iceland a woman is unnerved by her isolation; another can only find respite from the clinging ghost that follows her by submerging herself in an overgrown pool. Couples wrestle with a lack of connection to their children; a schoolgirl becomes obsessed with the female anatomical models in a museum; and a cheery account of child's day out is undercut by chilling footnotes.These dark tales explore women's fears with electrifying honesty and invention and speak to one another about female bodies, domestic claustrophobia, desire and violence. 'A brilliant collection of stories . . . All will burrow their way into your brain and not let go' Stylist'Shimmers with menace . . . Fans of Angela Carter and Shirley Jackson take note' i NewspaperKIRSTY LOGAN WAS SELECTED AS ONE OF BRITAIN'S TEN MOST OUTSTANDING LGBTQ WRITERS by Val McDermid for the International Literature Showcase in 2019Thieves (Storycuts)
By Su Tong. 2008
Tan Feng was my one and only friend in Sichuan. He was the same age as me: about eight or…
nine. Tan Feng's family lived next door to us, and their other kids were all girls, so you can imagine how they spoiled their only boy. They really adored him, but they didn't know what he got up to. Tan Feng stole things.Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Madwoman on the Bridge.'They'
By Rudyard Kipling. 2011
'Of a sudden I realized that he was in the grip of some almost overpowering fear.'Rudyard Kipling is best known…
for his novels and poetry, but his short stories reveal a far more sinister and macabre side to his imagination. In these three chilling and psychologically penetrating tales, Kipling portrays hauntings, loss, madness, terrible secrets and the darkness that lies within the human heart.This book includes 'They', Mary Postgate and The Gardener.That Old Gang of Mine
By Leslie Thomas. 1979
At four-thirty one January afternoon a bus returning to Miami and Fort Lauderdale containing tourists who have been visiting a…
Seminole Indian Reservation is held up at gunpoint by five hooded gangsters. The combined ages of the 5 robbers total 320 years…Leslie Thomas’s latest novel is the hilarious account of the adventures of a group of elderly gangsters in Florida – the Ocean Drive Delinquent Society, known as the ODDS for short. The members include Ari the Greek – he of the legendary nose; K-K-K-Katy, the aging dancing girl who can still manage a high kick; and Molly Mandy, whose metal detector uncovers the gang’s arms cache – and it’s the one and only bullet.Along with Sidewalk Joe, Lou the Barbender, and one or two more, they form a daring band who have little to lose, and their audacious – and frequently unsuccessful – enterprises soon have Captain Salvatore of the local police baffled. Salvatore calls in an elderly private eye, George Zaharran, to help him out, but instead of simplifying the mystery, Zaharran’s presence serves only to multiply it.That Old Gang of Mine is both a riotous adventure and an affectionate evocation of the geriatric gang’s bond with the beautiful girl and two younger men who lead it. It is wholly delightful book form the pen of one of England’s funniest storytellers.Terror's Reach
By Tom Bale. 2010
A burning summer's day explodes into violence. A murderous gang targets the exclusive south coast island of Terror's Reach, home…
to rival business tycoons Robert Felton and Valentin Nasenko. The residents are facing annihilation, and only one man stands a chance of saving them.Four years ago, after an undercover police operation went disastrously wrong, CID officer Joe Clayton lost his career and his family. Forced to adopt a new identity, he drifted from place to place and ended up on the Reach, working as a bodyguard to Nasenko's wife, Cassie, and her children. Now he must draw upon all his experience and reserves of strength to keep them alive.But nothing is as it seems on Terror's Reach, and a long night of betrayal and murder leaves Joe fighting for his own survival ...Ten
By Andrej Longo. 2007
The Mafia and the Ten Commandments meet in these interlinked short stories about the undebelly of Naples. Ten uncovers the…
raw heart of a city, telling the stories of ordinary people forced to make extraordinary compromises in a place permeated by crime.We encounter a son who finds that he is capable of a terrible act when faced with his mother’s suffering 'because someone had to do it'; a girl whose only outlet for the horrors of an adult’s abuse is to confide in a stuffed toy; an ancient nightclub singer whose ambition has led him to become a drug tester for a Mafia boss; and Ray-Ban who, during a night of mayhem with his friends, manages to steal the wrong car and pays dearly for it. Each comes to life with painful precision in the hands of Andrej Longo – their fears, regrets, energy and grace. In direct and sometimes brutally raw prose, he conjures a searing new vision of Naples. With the lightest of brush strokes, Longo builds a vivid portrait of a city, its people, and their dreams of escape.Tell No Tales (DI Zigic & DS Ferreira #2)
By Eva Dolan. 2015
Two men are kicked to death in brutal attacks. Caught on CCTV, the murderer hides his face – but raises…
a Nazi salute. In a town riddled with racial tension, Detectives Zigic and Ferreira from the Hate Crimes Unit are under pressure to find the killer. But when a car ploughs into a bus stop early one morning, the Detectives have another case on their hands, and soon the media are hounding them for answers. Riots break out, the leader of right-wing party steps into the spotlight, and Zigic and Ferreira must act fast – before more violence erupts.'A rising star of crime fiction'BBC Radio 4 Front Row'Powerful'Sunday Times'Breathlessly exciting'Sunday Mirror'Gritty'Daily Express'Everyone should read this'Sarah Hilary'Frightening in its believability'Big Issue