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Lavinia
By Ursula K. Le Guin. 2008
An exceptional combination of history and mythology - 'an intriguing, luxuriously realised novel' FINANCIAL TIMES'Subtly moving, playful...a novel that brought…
me to tears more than once. Lavinia is a delightful heroine' GUARDIAN'Like Spartan Helen, I caused a war. She caused hers by letting men who wanted her take her. I caused mine because I wouldn't be given, wouldn't be taken, but chose my man and my fate. The man was famous, the fate obscure; not a bad balance.'Lavinia is the daughter of the King of Latium, a victorious warrior who loves peace; she is her father's closest companion. Now of an age to wed, Lavinia's mother favours her own kinsman, King Turnus of Rutulia, handsome, heroic, everything a young girl should want. Instead, Lavinia dreams of mighty Aeneas, a man she has heard of only from a ghost of a poet, who comes to her in the gods' holy place and tells her of her future, and Aeneas' past...If she refuses to wed Turnus, Lavinia knows she will start a war - but her fate was set the moment the poet appeared to her in a dream and told her of the adventurer who fled fallen Troy, holding his son's hand and carrying his father on his back...Lord of Misrule
By Jaimy Gordon. 2011
Longlisted for the Orange Prize 2012. He planned to steal with these horses, who were all better than they looked…
on paper. The trick was to get in and get out fast. But could he really pull it off? Could he be that sure, could he count on being that lucky? Listen carefully my dear. Lord of Misrule, he whispered loudly. Lord of Misrule, Margaret. Memorize that name.'Her observation of our species is tender, precise, illuminating' Hilary Mantel THE NEW NOVEL BY THE BOOKER LONGLISTED AND ARTHUR…
C CLARKE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE TESTAMENT OF JESSIE LAMBADAPTED FROM THE HIT BBC RADIO 4 PLAY'An ambitious and important writer' New York Times'Unputdownable and often thought-provoking' Sunday Times'Grimly plausible' GuardianIn this version of London, there is a small, private clinic. Behind its layers of security, procedures are taking place on poor, robust teenagers from northern Estates in exchange for thousands of pounds - procedures that will bring the wealthy dead back to life in these young supple bodies for fourteen days.It's an opportunity for wrongs to be righted, for fathers to meet grandsons, for scientists to see their work completed. Old wine in new bottles.But at what cost?MORE PRAISE FOR JANE ROGERS AND BODY TOURISTS:'Gripping' Mail on Sunday'Very much a novel about human nature . . . an insightful examination of the things people truly value' SciFi Now'A wonderfully versatile novelist' Penelope Lively'Rogers' prose flows elegantly and with effortless power' Observer'A compulsive and compelling slice of fiction' Sunday ExpressAccording To Queeney
By Beryl Bainbridge. 2001
'A stellar literary event . . . written with panache and an enviable economy . . . the biggest risk…
of her literary life' Margaret AtwoodAccording to Queeney is a masterly evocation of the last years of Dr Johnson, arguably Britain's greatest Man of Letters. The time is the 1770s and 1780s and Johnson, having completed his life's major work (he compiled the first ever Dictionary of the English Language) is running an increasingly chaotic life. Torn between his strict morality and his undeclared passion for Mrs Thrale, the wife of an old friend, According to Queeney reveals one of Britain's most wonderful characters in all his wit and glory. Above all, though, this is a story of love and friendship and brilliantly narrated by Queeney, Mrs Thrale's daughter, looking back over her life.A River in the Trees
By Jacqueline O'Mahony. 2019
Two women. Two stories. One hundred years of secrets. A sweeping novel of love, loss, family and history for readers…
who love Maggie O'Farrell, John Boyne and Donal Ryan 'Thrilling, thoughtful, passionate' Daily Mail'Beautiful, unsentimental, intelligent' The Times1919Ireland is about to be torn apart by the War of Independence.Hannah O'Donovan helps her father hide rebel soldiers in the attic, putting her family in great danger from the British soldiers who roam the countryside. An immediate connection between Hannah and O'Riada, the leader of this hidden band of rebels, will change her life and that of her family forever . . . 2019Ellen is at a crossroads: her marriage is in trouble, her career is over and she's grieving the loss of a baby. After years in London, she decides to come home to Ireland to face the things she's tried so hard to escape. Reaching into the past, she feels a connection to her ancestor, the mysterious Hannah O'Donovan. But why won't anyone in her family talk about Hannah? And how can this journey help Ellen put her life back together?'A gripping novel about two women, their desires and frustrations, about the wars they find themselves fighting . . . a thrill to discover' Belinda McKeon 'A fierce, beautifully written story' Louise O'NeillJorkens Borrows Another Whiskey (Jorkens)
By Lord Dunsany. 1954
Jorkens Borrows Another Whiskey, the fifth collection of Dunsany's Jorkens tales to be published, is a collection of fantasy short…
stories, narrated by Mr. Joseph Jorkens. The book collects thirty-four short pieces by Dunsany, and in one key story, Jorkens is joined in the story by his most common adversary, Terbut.The Jorkens stories are set in the London gentleman's or adventurer's club of which the title character is a member. They usually open with another member mentioning an interesting experience he has had; this rouses Jorkens, who in return for a whisky-and-soda (merely to "moisten his throat," you understand!) goes the other member one better with an extraordinary tall tale, supposedly from his own past. His stories often tip well over the boundaries of the plausible, into the realms of fantasy, horror, or even science fiction, and his auditors can never be quite sure what proportion of what he relates was truly experienced and to what degree he might have embellished.The Strange Journeys of Colonel Polders: A Novel
By Lord Dunsany. 1950
In this classic fantasy story, a no-nonsense British officer, having offended an Indian swami in his club, finds his spirit…
lodged into a succession of animal bodies. Some of the animals the officer's spirit enters are a cat, a goat, an eel, a fox, and many others. In his fantastic style, Dunsany captures the exact sentiments of each animal, making it believable that the office has, in fact, taken them as his own.The Strange Journeys of Colonel Polders is a fantastic tale that takes you to the core of fantasy writing and shows the skill of Lord Dunsany, which many writers hold in the absolute highest regard. A lost classic, The Strange Journeys of Colonel Polders is finally available for readers of the beloved fantasy genre.From the Mouth of the Whale
By Sjón. 2008
Shortlisted for The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize 2013 Shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012'Sjón's novels are brilliant…
collisions of history and fable, psychology and fantasy' Chris Power, GuardianThe year is 1635. Iceland is a world darkened by superstition, poverty and cruelty. Men of science marvel over a unicorn s horn, poor folk worship the Virgin in secret and both books and men are burnt. Jónas Pálmason, a poet and self-taught healer, has been condemned to exile for heretical conduct, having fallen foul of the local magistrate. Banished to a barren island, Jónas recalls his exorcism of a walking corpse on the remote Snjáfjöll coast, the frenzied massacre of innocent Basque whalers at the hands of local villagers, and the deaths of three of his children.From the Mouth of the Whale is a magical evocation of an enlightened mind and a vanished age.Minding Frankie: An uplifting novel of community and kindness
By Maeve Binchy. 2010
'Binchy weaves her magic once again in an addictive story about families and people who aren't always quite what they…
seem' Woman & HomeBaby Frankie is born into an unusual family. Her mother is desperate to find someone to take care of her child and she doesn't have much time.Noel doesn't seem to be the most promising of fathers but despite everything, he could well be Frankie's best hope. As for Lisa, she is prepared to give up everything for the man she loves; surely he's going to love her back?And Moira is having none of it. She knows what's right, and has the power to change the course of Frankie's life...but Moira is hiding secrets of her own.Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen: A Novel
By Dexter Palmer. 2020
'Palmer spins a cracking tale that, despite its disconcerting subject, is piquantly cheerful and compassionate . . . With empathy…
and imagination, Palmer explores the master/apprentice relationship, first love and first rivalry, spite and kindness: conjuring a world to raise a wry smile' New York Times---------------------------------------------------------------------------------A stunning, powerfully evocative new novel based on a true story - in 1726 in the small town of Godalming, England, a young woman confounds the medical community by giving birth to dead rabbits.Surgeon John Howard is a rational man. His apprentice Zachary knows John is reluctant to believe anything that purports to exist outside the realm of logic. But even John cannot explain how or why Mary Toft, the wife of a local farmer, manages to give birth to a dead rabbit. When this singular event becomes a regular occurrence, John realizes that nothing in his experience as a village physician has prepared him to deal with a situation as disturbing as this. He writes to several preeminent surgeons in London, three of whom quickly arrive in the small town of Godalming ready to observe and opine. When Mary's plight reaches the attention of King George, Mary and her doctors are summoned to London, where Zachary experiences for the first time a world apart from his small-town existence, and is exposed to some of the darkest corners of the human soul. All the while, Mary lies in bed, waiting for another birth, as doubts begin to blossom among the surgeons and a growing group of onlookers grow impatient for another miracle . . .Cold Light
By Jenn Ashworth. 2011
The Fourth Book of Jorkens (Jorkens)
By Lord Dunsany. 1947
The Fourth Book of Jorkens, the fourth collection of Dunsany's Jorkens tales to be published, is a collection of fantasy…
short stories, narrated by Mr. Joseph Jorkens. It collects 33 short pieces by Lord Dunsany.The Jorkens stories are set in the London gentleman's or adventurer's club of which the title character is a member. They usually open with another member mentioning an interesting experience he has had; this rouses Jorkens, who in return for a whisky-and-soda (merely to "moisten his throat," you understand!) goes the other member one better with an extraordinary tall tale, supposedly from his own past. His stories often tip well over the boundaries of the plausible, into the realms of fantasy, horror, or even science fiction, and his auditors can never be quite sure what proportion of what he relates was truly experienced and to what degree he might have embellished.Don Rodriguez: Chronicles Of Shadow Valley
By Lord Dunsany. 1922
After long and patient research I am still unable to give to the reader of these Chronicles the exact date…
of the times that they tell of. Were it merely a matter of history there could be no doubts about the period; but where magic is concerned, to however slight an extent, there must always be some element of mystery, arising partly out of ignorance and partly from the compulsion of those oaths by which magic protects its precincts from the tiptoe of curiosity. Moreover, magic, even in small quantities, appears to affect time, much as acids affect some metals, curiously changing its substance, until dates seem to melt into a mercurial form that renders them elusive even to the eye of the most watchful historian. It is the magic appearing in Chronicles III and IV that has gravely affected the date, so that all I can tell the reader with certainty of the period is that it fell in the later years of the Golden Age in Spain.Severian is a torturer, born to the guild and with an exceptionally promising career ahead of him . . .…
until he falls in love with one of his victims, a beautiful young noblewoman. Her excruciations are delayed for some months and, out of love, Severian helps her commit suicide and escape her fate. For a torturer, there is no more unforgivable act. In punishment he is exiled from the guild and his home city to the distant metropolis of Thrax with little more than Terminus Est, a fabled sword, to his name. Along the way he has to learn to survive in a wider world without the guild - a world in which he has already made both allies and enemies. And a strange gem is about to fall into his possession, which will only make his enemies pursue him with ever-more determination . . .Winner of the World Fantasy Award for best novel, 1981Winner of the BSFA Award for best novel, 1982The Blue Fox
By Sjón. 2008
Winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize 'Enchantingly poetic . . . spellbinding . . . magical . . .…
exceptional' Independent The year is 1883. The stark Icelandic winter landscape is the backdrop. We follow the priest, Skugga-Baldur, on his hunt for the enigmatic blue fox. From there we're transported to the world of the naturalist Fridrik B. Fridriksson and his charge, Abba, who suffers from Down's syndrome, and who came to his rescue when he was on the verge of disaster. Then to a shipwreck off the Icelandic coast in the spring of 1868.The fates of all these characters are intrinsically bound and gradually, surprisingly, unravelled in this spellbinding fable that is part mystery, part fairy tale.The Scottish Prisoner
By Diana Gabaldon. 2011
From the international bestselling author of the Outlander series, the terrific new novel featuring the ever-popular Lord John.1760. Jamie Fraser…
is a paroled prisoner-of-war in the remote Lake District. Close enough to the son he cannot claim as his own, his quiet existence is interrupted first by dreams of his lost wife, then by the appearance of Tobias Quinn, an erstwhile comrade from the Rising. Lord John Grey - aristocrat, soldier, sometime spy - is in possession of papers which reveal a damning case of corruption and murder against a British officer. But the documents also hint at a far more dangerous conspiracy.Soon Lord John and Jamie are unwilling companions on the road to Ireland, a country whose castles hold dreadful secrets, and where the bones of the dead are hidden, in an epic story of treachery - and scores that can only be settled in blood.Changing Planes: Stories
By Ursula K. Le Guin. 2003
'All le Guin's stories are metaphors for the one human story; all her fantastic planets are this one' Margaret AtwoodARMCHAIR…
TRAVEL FOR THE MIND:It was Sita Dulip who discovered, whilst stuck in an airport, unable to get anywhere, how to change planes - literally. With a kind of a twist and a slipping bend, easier to do than describe, she could go anywhere - be anywhere - because she was already between planes ... and on the way back from her sister's wedding, she missed her plane in Chicago and found herself in Choom.The author, armed with this knowledge and Rornan's invaluable Handy Planetary Guide - although not the Encyclopedia Planeria, as that runs to forty-four volumes - has spent many happy years exploring places as diverse as Islac and the Veksian plane.CHANGING PLANES is an intriguing, enticing mixture of GULLIVER'S TRAVELS and THE HITCH-HIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY; a cross between Douglas Adams and Alain de Botton: a mix of satire, cynicism and humour by one of the world's best writers.The Centauri Device (S.F. MASTERWORKS)
By M. John Harrison. 1975
John Truck was to outward appearances just another lowlife spaceship captain. But he was also the last of the Centaurans,…
or at least half of him was, which meant that he was the only person who could operate the Centauri Device, a sentient bomb which might hold the key to settling a vicious space war. M. John Harrison's classic novel turns the conventions of space opera on their head, and is written with the precision and brilliance for which is famed.The Office of Gardens and Ponds
By Didier Decoin. 2017
A mesmerising fable with a difference, set in Japan over 1000 years agoFor readers of Alessandro Baricco's Silk, Patrick Süskind's…
Perfume and Takashi Hiraide's The Guest Cat.The village of Shimae is thrown into turmoil when master carp-catcher Katsuro suddenly drowns in the murky waters of the Kusagawa river. Who now will carry the precious cargo of carp to the Imperial Palace and preserve the crucial patronage that everyone in the village depends upon?Step forward Miyuki, Katsuro's grief-struck widow and the only remaining person in the village who knows anything about carp. She alone can undertake the long, perilous journey to the Imperial Palace, balancing the heavy baskets of fish on a pole across her shoulders, and ensure her village's future.So Miyuki sets off. Along her way she will encounter a host of remarkable characters, from prostitutes and innkeepers, to warlords and priests with evil in mind. She will endure ambushes and disaster, for the villagers are not the only people fixated on the fate of the eight magnificent carp. But when she reaches the Office of Gardens and Ponds, Miyuki discovers that the trials of her journey are far from over. For in the Imperial City, nothing is quite as it seems, and beneath a veneer of refinement and ritual, there is an impenetrable barrier of politics and snobbery that Miyuki must overcome if she is to return to Shimae.Neverwhere: A Novel
By Neil Gaiman. 2000
THE EXTRAORDINARY FIRST NOVEL BY THE MASTER OF STORYTELLING'Prose that dances and dazzles . . . Gaiman describes the indescribable'…
SUSANNA CLARKE'It's virtually impossible to read more than ten words by Neil Gaiman and not wish he would tell you the rest of the story' OBSERVER'Much too clever to be caught in the net of a single interpretation' PHILIP PULLMANACCLAIMED BBC RADIO 4 DRAMATISATION WITH ALL-STAR CAST INCLUDING JAMES MCAVOY, NATALIE DORMER, DAVID HAREWOOD, SOPHIE OKONEDO AND BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH---'I love doors. Anything that leads to possibilities' NEIL GAIMAN---Under the streets of London lies a world most people could never dream of.When Richard Mayhew stops to help a girl he finds bleeding in the street, his unremarkable life changes in an instant.This act of kindness leads him to a place filled with murderers and angels, pale girls in black velvet, a Beast in a labyrinth and an Earl who holds Court in a tube train. It is strangely familiar yet utterly bizarre.Here is London Below, the city of people who have fallen between the cracks. And for Richard Mayhew, it's just the beginning.NEIL GAIMAN. WITH STORIES COME POSSIBILITIES.