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In the Lap of the Gods
By Li Miao Lovett. 2010
"An important, even invaluable book, a moving farewell to the old, more humane way of life as China and all…
the world become technologized and globalized."-Maxine Hong KingstonA dam rises on the Yangtze, uprooting a million lives in a government-made, modern environmental and human rights disaster, and a poor salvager who has lost everything finds an abandoned baby girl. A tale of defiance, of a lost man finding his place-and a new kind of love-in modern China, and of a rich man reclaiming his soul and the woman he loved before the revolution tore them apart.The Three Lives of Alix St Pierre: a breathtaking historical romance set in war-torn Paris
By Natasha Lester. 2022
Discover a breath-taking story of love, danger, courage and betrayal, from the internationally bestselling author of The Paris SecretA HIDDEN…
IDENTITY. A DANGEROUS LIE. A SECRET WAITING TO BE TOLD . . . 1943. War is raging, and after developing a successful propaganda campaign to recruit women into the workforce, Alix finds herself enlisted as a spy in America's fledgling intelligence organization, the Office of Strategic Services. Managing to make it through Vichy France before the Nazis close all borders, Alix is tasked with getting close to a Nazi who might be willing to help the Americans - but there's also a chance he's a double-agent. And then something goes terribly wrong. 1946. Determined to escape her dangerous past, Alix moves to Paris to work as a publicist for the yet-to-be-launched House of Christian Dior. But when a figure from her old life reappears and threatens to jeopardize her future, Alix realizes that she'll need to do something drastic to right the wrongs of the past . . .Set in war-torn Paris The Three Lives of Alix St Pierre is a breathtakingly beautiful story of love and sacrifice, from the internationally bestselling author of The Paris Secret. Perfect for fans of Rachel Hore, Lucinda Riley and Tracy Rees.'Natasha Lester dreamed up a brave, flawed, unbreakable heroine guided by her determination to survive and thrive no matter what. I was enthralled by this story and rooted for Alix every step of the way' DANIELA SACERDOTI, multi-million copy bestselling authorThe Weight of Ink
By Rachel Kadish. 2017
WINNER OF A NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD A USA TODAY BESTSELLER "A gifted writer, astonishingly adept at nuance, narration, and…
the politics of passion."—Toni Morrison Set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century, The Weight of Ink is the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi, just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history. When Helen is summoned by a former student to view a cache of newly discovered seventeenth-century Jewish documents, she enlists the help of Aaron Levy, an American graduate student as impatient as he is charming, and embarks on one last project: to determine the identity of the documents' scribe, the elusive "Aleph." Electrifying and ambitious, The Weight of Ink is about women separated by centuries—and the choices and sacrifices they must make in order to reconcile the life of the heart and mind.Profiles #5: The Vietnam War (Profiles #5)
By Daniel Polansky. 2013
It takes more than one person to bring about War. This book will follow the lives of six key players…
during one of the most controversial wars in history. Profiles is so much more than just your typical biography. The next book in our six-in-one, full-color bio series will focus on the five W's of the Vietnam War--who, what, where, when, and why. Kids will learn all of the biographical information they need to know (background, family, education, accomplishments, etc.) about: Ho Chi Minh (prime minister of Democratic Republic of Vietnam) John F. Kennedy (US president 1961-1963), Lyndon B. Johnson (US president (1963-1969), Ngo Dinh Diem (president of South Vietnam), Henry Kissinger (US National security advisor), and William Westmoreland (US army general). This book will help illuminate one of the most controversial wars in American history for a new generation of readers.Tea of Ulaanbaatar
By Christopher R. Howard. 2011
National Magazine Award finalist Christopher Howard's debut novel, Tea of Ulaanbaatar, tells the story of disaffected Peace Corps volunteer Warren,…
who flees life in late-capitalist America to find himself stationed in the post-Soviet industrial hell of urban Mongolia. As the American presence crumbles, Warren seeks escape in tsus, the mysterious "blood tea" that may be the final revenge of the defeated Khans--or that may be only a powerful hallucinogen operating on an uneasy mind--as a phantasmagoria of violence slowly envelops him.With prose that combines Benjamin Kunkel's satiric bite, William Burroughs's dark historical reimagining, and a lush literary beauty all his own, Christopher Howard in Tea of Ulaanbaatar unfolds a story of expatriate angst, the dark side of globalization, and middle-class nightmares--and announces himself as one of the most inventive and ambitious of the new generation of American novelists.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.Fruit of the Lemon
By Andrea Levy. 1999
The third and most ambitious novel from this unique and acclaimed writer, FRUIT OF THE LEMON establishes Andrea Levy alongside…
Arundhati Roy and Meera Syal in the first rank of British fiction.Faith Jackson fixes herself up with a great job in TV and the perfect flatshare. But neither is that perfect - and nor are her relations with her overbearing, though always loving family. Furious and perplexed when her parents announce their intention to retire back home to Jamaica, Faith makes her own journey there, where she is immediately welcomed by her Aunt Coral, keeper of a rich cargo of family history. Through the weave of her aunt's storytelling a cast of characters unfolds stretching back to Cuba and Panama, Harlem and Scotland, a story that passes through London and sweeps through continents.(P) 2022 Headline Publishing Group LtdSanta
By Federico Gamboa. 2006
This enduring classic of Mexican literature traces the path to ruination of a country girl, Santa, who moves to Mexico…
City after she is impregnated and abandoned by her lover and subsequently shunned by her family. Once in the city, Santa turns to prostitution and soon gains prominence as Mexico City's most sought-after courtesan. Despite the opportunities afforded by her success, including the chance to quit prostitution, Santa is propelled by her personal demons toward her ultimate downfall. This evocative novel-justly famous for its vividly detailed depiction of the cityscape and the city's customs, social interactions, and political activities-assumed singular importance in Mexican popular culture after its original publication in 1903. The book inspired Mexico's first "talkie" and several other film adaptations, a music score, a radio series, a television soap opera, and a pornographic comic book. Naturalist writer Federico Gamboa, who was also a lawyer and politician, reveals much about Mexican mores and culture at the start of the twentieth century and beyond, from expectations regarding gender roles to the myth of the corrupting and decadent city. In describing how Santa is at the mercy of social problems beyond her control, Gamboa provides a rich historical portrayal of widespread conditions in the years leading to the Mexican Revolution. Naturalist writer Federico Gamboa, who was also a lawyer and politician, reveals much about Mexican mores and culture at the start of the twentieth century and beyond, from expectations regarding gender roles to the myth of the corrupting and decadent city. In describing how Santa is at the mercy of social problems beyond her control, Gamboa provides a rich historical portrayal of widespread conditions in the years leading to the Mexican Revolution.The Duke Of Shadows
By Meredith Duran. 2008
Meredith Duran returns with another witty, humorous and smart romance. Fans of Julia Quinn, Jane Feather and Eloisa James will…
delight in Meredith's trademark headstrong heroine, cunning hero and tale of deep emotional intensity!From exotic sandstone palaces... Sick of tragedy, done with rebellion, Emmaline Martin vows to settle quietly into British Indian society. But when the pillars of privilege topple, her fiance's betrayal leaves Emma no choice. She must turn for help to the one man whom she should not trust, but cannot resist: Julian Sinclair, the dangerous and dazzling heir to the Duke of Auburn. To the marble halls of London... In London, they toast Sinclair with champagne. In India, they call him a traitor. Cynical and impatient with both worlds, Julian has never imagined that the place he might belong is in the embrace of a woman with a reluctant laugh and haunted eyes. But in a time of terrible darkness, he and Emma will discover that love itself can be perilous - and that a single decision can alter one's life forever. Destiny follows wherever you run. A lifetime of grief later, in a cold London spring, Emma and Julian must finally confront the truth: no matter how hard one tries to deny it, some pasts cannot be disowned...and some passions never die.Looking for more Meredith Duran novels? Try Written On Your Skin or her Rules for the Reckless series.The Gown: Perfect for fans of The Crown! An enthralling tale of making the Queen's wedding dress
By Jennifer Robson. 2019
Perfect for anyone who's captivated by The Crown, The Gown 'will dazzle and delight' (Independent)!The Gown is an enthralling historical…
novel about one of the most famous wedding dresses of the twentieth century - Queen Elizabeth's wedding gown - and the fascinating women who made it. London, 1947: Besieged by a harsh winter, burdened by shortages and rationing, the people of post-war Britain are suffering despite their nation's recent victory. For Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell, a glimmer of brightness comes in the form of their unlikely friendship and being chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime honour: taking part in the creation of Princess Elizabeth's wedding gown. Toronto, 2016: Heather Mackenzie seeks to unravel the mystery of a legacy from her late grandmother. How did her beloved nan, who never spoke of her old life in Britain, come to possess the priceless embroideries that so closely resemble the motifs on the stunning gown worn by Queen Elizabeth II at her wedding almost seventy years before? And what was her nan's connection to the celebrated textile artist and Holocaust survivor Miriam Dassin?With The Gown, Jennifer Robson takes us inside the workrooms where one of the most famous wedding gowns in history was created to tell a story of women whose lives are woven together by the pain of survival, the bonds of friendship, and the redemptive power of love.'Robson succeeds in creating a riveting drama of female friendship, of lives fully lived despite unbearable loss, and of the steadfast effort required to bring forth beauty after surviving war' Independent'A great tale of female friendship' The People's FriendRunning Mother and Other Stories (Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan)
By Songfen Guo. 2009
Guo Songfen's short stories are masterful psychological portraits that play with the echoes of history and the nature of identity.…
One of the few modernists to truly capture the fallout from such events as the February 28th Incident and the White Terror, Guo Songfen illuminates the quiet core of his characters through a spare and immediate style that is at once a symptom and an allegory of the trauma in which they live.In "Running Mother," a man is torn between his fear of abandonment and his guilt over leaving his family, and therefore his symbolic home, behind. "Moon Seal" follows a woman caught between traditional and modern worlds. In "Wailing Moon," a wife learns a shocking secret after her husband's death, realizing he was never the man she thought him to be. Set in the United States and Taiwan, "Snow Blind" is a multigenerational triptych that portrays the consequences of spiritual malaise, and in "Brightly Shines the Stars Tonight," a general wrestles with issues of memory and self-perception in the final moments before his execution. Guo Songfen's stories play with the hazards of miscommunication, the malevolence of human will, the arbitrary nature of fate, and the burden of historical circumstance. As the general discovers, life is a game of chess, the outcome of which is never certain though it might be logically designed. Showcasing the best of Taiwan's modernist style, these stories are not only an indictment of the human condition but also a powerful comment on the experience of postretrocession Taiwan.The Circus Train: The entrancing, magical international bestseller
By Amita Parikh. 2022
THE MAGICAL INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER Brought together by magic. Torn apart by war. 'A magical, vibrant parade of a novel about…
extraordinary people finding light in history's darkest decades. Spellbinding stuff' ERIN KELLY 'DAZZLING' Ellen Keith 'SUPERB' Reader Review (5 stars) 'EXTRAORDINARY' Kristin Harmel'PHENOMENAL' Reader Review (5 stars)'CAPTIVATING' Constance Sayers 'MESMERIZING' Reader Review (5 stars)'SPELLBINDING' Carol Windley _________Europe, 1938. Even as the daughter of the extraordinary headlining illusionist, Lena Papadopoulos has never quite found her place within the World of Wonders - a travelling circus that traverses the continent in a luxury steam engine. Brilliant and curious, Lena yearns for the real-world magic of science and medicine, despite the limitations she feels in her wheelchair. But when a young French orphan, Alexandre, comes aboard the circus train, Lena's life is infused with magic and wonder for the first time.But outside the bright lights of the circus, darkness is descending on Europe. War is about to shatter Lena's world, and take away everything she holds dear. And to recover what she has lost, Lena will have to believe in the impossible. A must-read for fans of Water for Elephants, The Circus Train will take readers on a heart-wrenching two-decade journey across a continent in which great beauty and unimaginable horror live side by side. _________'BEAUTIFUL' Reader Review (5 stars)'POWERFUL' Pam Jenoff 'DELIGHTFUL' Reader Review (5 stars) 'TRIUMPHANT' Lorelei Savaryn'EXQUISITE' Reader Review (5 stars)The Last Pomegranate Tree
By Ali Bachtyar. 2022
An extraordinary chronicle of war and an occult story of love between a father and his son from one of…
Iraq&’s most celebrated contemporary writers&“Whenever he told lies, the birds would fly away. It had been that way since he was a child. Whenever he told a lie, something strange would happen.&” So begins Bachtyar Ali&’s The Last Pomegranate, a phantasmagoric warren of fact, fabrication, and mystical allegory, set in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein&’s rule and Iraq&’s Kurdish conflict. Muzafar-i Subhdam, a peshmerga fighter, has spent the last twenty-one years imprisoned in a desert yearning for his son, Saryas, who was only a few days old when Muzafar was captured. Upon his release, Muzafar begins a frantic search, only to learn that Saryas was one of three identical boys who became enmeshed in each other&’s lives as war mutilated the region. An inlet to the recesses of a terrifying historical moment, and a philosophical journey of formidable depths, The Last Pomegranate interrogates the origins and reverberations of atrocity. It also probes, with a graceful intelligence, unforgettable acts of mercy.Beni's War
By Tammar Stein. 2020
It's Yom Kippur Eve in 1973, and twelve-year-old Beni thinks his biggest problem is settling in at his new school…
in the Golan, where his family moved at the end of the Six-Day War. But on Yom Kippur, shocking news comes over the radio: a stunning strike on Israel has begun, led by a coalition of Arab states. In the blink of an eye, Beni's older brother Motti is off to war, leaving Beni behind with his mother and father. As bombs drop around Beni and his family, they flee to safety, every day hoping for news of Motti and the developments of the war. Beni must find a way to aid the war effort in his own way, proving that he too can be a hero, even as he learns along the way that there is dignity in every person, including the people he considers the enemy.The Twilight Zone: A Novel
By Nona Fernández. 2016
* Finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature *An engrossing, incantatory novel about the legacy of historical crimes…
by the author of Space InvadersIt is 1984 in Chile, in the middle of the Pinochet dictatorship. A member of the secret police walks into the office of a dissident magazine and finds a reporter, who records his testimony. The narrator of Nona Fernández’s mesmerizing and terrifying novel The Twilight Zone is a child when she first sees this man’s face on the magazine’s cover with the words “I Tortured People.” His complicity in the worst crimes of the regime and his commitment to speaking about them haunt the narrator into her adulthood and career as a writer and documentarian. Like a secret service agent from the future, through extraordinary feats of the imagination, Fernández follows the “man who tortured people” to places that archives can’t reach, into the sinister twilight zone of history where morning routines, a game of chess, Yuri Gagarin, and the eponymous TV show of the novel’s title coexist with the brutal yet commonplace machinations of the regime.How do crimes vanish in plain sight? How does one resist a repressive regime? And who gets to shape the truths we live by and take for granted? The Twilight Zone pulls us into the dark portals of the past, reminding us that the work of the writer in the face of historical erasure is to imagine so deeply that these absences can be, for a time, spectacularly illuminated.No velas a tus muertos
By Martín Caparrós. 1992
Aunque fue la segunda en publicarse, No velas a tus muertos es la primera novela escrita por Martín Caparrós durante…
su exilio en Francia y España, entre 1979 y 1981. Aunque fue la segunda en publicarse, No velas a tus muertos es la primera novela escrita por Martín Caparrós durante su exilio en Francia y España. Además de desplegar una gran variedad de recursos técnicos -la escritura del diario íntimo, el fluir de la conciencia o las acotaciones típicas del guion cinematográfico- su atmósfera tan envolvente como certera parece inspirada en la de los mejores cuentos de Julio Cortázar. Entre retaceos sexuales, plenarios de «las orgas», cine arte, «luche y vuelve», canciones de los Beatles y los primeros cigarrillos Particulares, la ópera prima de Caparrós no solo demuestra una madurez y una soltura poco frecuentes, también logra testimoniar, desde la ficción y con ese título lleno de resonancias, uno de los grandes temas de su obra: los setenta y el lugar que, contra todos los obstáculos, antes y durante los años de plomo, los últimos jóvenes intentaron conseguir. Críticas:«No velas a tus muertos es un acercamiento a los hechos desde la ficción, pero con elementos que subrayan su afán testimonial. La voluntad, obra que también toma como referente la militancia política en Buenos Aires en los años setenta, es el anverso y el complemento de la novela»".Laura Destéfanis, Universidad de Granada «Caparróses colosal en esos terrenos resbaladizos donde las cosas dejan de encajar en los moldes correctos».Leila Guerriero, Babelia «Deslumbrante. Obra mayor y definitiva».Joaquín Marco, El Mundo «Martín Caparrós no es de esos que te dicen lo que quieres escuchar. Sería más bien del campo contrario: esos que te tiran a la cara lo que rechazas y escondes».Oriane Jeancourt, Transfuge «Un perturbador sistemático, un sembrador de dudas».Francesca Lazzarato, Il Manifesto «Caparrós es una manera de ver y entender el mundo».Carles Geli, BabeliaThe Year Without Summer: 1816
By Guinevere Glasfurd. 2020
1815, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia Mount 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.Ansay o los infortunios de la gloria
By Martín Caparrós. 2005
En Ansay ó los infortunios de la gloria, Martín Caparrós nos cuenta las aventuras y desventuras de Faustino Ansay, los…
hechos y reflexiones que anota en sus memorias y que el autor crea especialmente. Publicada en el año 1984, Ansay ó los infortunios de la gloria aborda el proceso de independencia nacional iniciado en 1810 desde un punto de vista original: el de Faustino Ansay, un militar español que pasó por las cárceles de la Revolución de Mayo y lo contó en unas memorias que sirven de contrapunto al compendio de mitos, relatos y luchas que crearon la Argentina. Esas memorias se resignifican aquí junto a escritos de Mariano Moreno, las cartas sin respuesta de su esposa María Guadalupe Cuenca, los delirios de un conquistador que nunca fue y la intimidad de un narrador que comenta las dificultades de escribir una novela; un conjunto heterogéneo ensamblado mediante un registro preciso y precioso, heredero de nuestra mejor literatura. Críticas:«En Ansay quedan ya cifradas muchas de las pulsiones que en su narrativa posterior matizaría, ampliaría, reformularía; sin embargo, acaso la más relevante sea la voluntad de hallar un nuevo lenguaje para narrar la historia».Christian Snoey Abadías, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona«Martín Caparrós, uno de los más geniales cronistas contemporáneos, depura de manera exquisita, emocionada, vibrante y distanciada una prosa de un poderío narrativo excepcional».Fernando R. Lafuente, ABC Cultural «Su prosa y su mirada son un reactivo fuerte para almas sensibles o amigas de lo políticamente correcto».Leila Guerriero, El País«Caparrós provoca esa necesidad sonriente de subrayar, compartir en redes, reproducir sus trallazos».Nadal Suau, El Cultural «Caparrós es una manera de ver y entender el mundo».Carles Geli, Babelia «Es una obra rica y ambiciosa, una empresa arriesgada que debe ser conocida».Juan GoytisoloThis Wound Full of Fish
By Lorena Salazar Masso. 2021
'In this dazzling and moving debut, Lorena Salazar takes us to the heart of the Colombian jungle and shows us,…
with an enveloping and addictive prose, sorority in its purest form and the brutal contrasts of human nature'Fernanda Melchor, author of Hurricane Season'A novel of breathtaking landscapes and an accurate portrait of mothers' fears, and of violence, always latent, like a wild beast lurking in the dark'Pilar Quintana, author of The BitchIn the city of Quibdó, a mother and her child embark on a canoe trip down the mighty Atrato River, the only route that allows them to penetrate the thick Colombian jungle. The journey is long, slowed down by several stops. As the small boat proceeds along the river, surrounded by mangroves, the mother tells a fellow passenger the story of how the little one came into her life and why the two of them are travelling along the Atrato. But as the boat advances, the mother's anxiety grows: she would rather not arrive, or turn around altogether. And in a country at war with itself, there is often something dark lurking in the shadows - something much more devastating that a family reunion. 'A brilliant debut novel' VogueThis Wound Full of Fish
By Lorena Salazar Masso. 2021
'In this dazzling and moving debut, Lorena Salazar takes us to the heart of the Colombian jungle and shows us,…
with an enveloping and addictive prose, sorority in its purest form and the brutal contrasts of human nature'Fernanda Melchor, author of Hurricane Season'A novel of breathtaking landscapes and an accurate portrait of mothers' fears, and of violence, always latent, like a wild beast lurking in the dark'Pilar Quintana, author of The BitchIn the city of Quibdó, a mother and her child embark on a canoe trip down the mighty Atrato River, the only route that allows them to penetrate the thick Colombian jungle. The journey is long, slowed down by several stops. As the small boat proceeds along the river, surrounded by mangroves, the mother tells a fellow passenger the story of how the little one came into her life and why the two of them are travelling along the Atrato. But as the boat advances, the mother's anxiety grows: she would rather not arrive, or turn around altogether. And in a country at war with itself, there is often something dark lurking in the shadows - something much more devastating that a family reunion. 'A brilliant debut novel' Vogue