- Table View
- List View
Mavis Belfrage: A Romantic Novel With Five Shorter Tales
by Alasdair GrayA collection of stories that describe painful kinds of education, the title story describing how an uninhibited woman educates a prim Scottish lecturer.
The Crime Tsar
by Nichola McAuliffePolice Chief Constable Tom Shackleton is ambitious to reach the top of his profession, but no one is more ambitious for his future than his wife. Jenni Shackleton looks every inch the consort to a powerful man. Striking and groomed to gleam in any crowd, she is connected through her own job in journalism to the right people to further Tom's career - or so she thinks. She is also unscrupulous: Jenni Shackleton will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Next door and down on her luck is Lucy, whose husband Gary is physically failing with MS, so that she finds it necessary to act as housekeeper to Jenni, formerly just a friend but now also an employer, who somehow can't help patronising Lucy for wielding the household duster. What Jenni is too vain to see is that her comparatively frumpish housekeeper friend has everything that her husband actually finds desirable in a woman. In Jenni's view of her horizon, the only blot is Tom's natural rival, Geoff Carter, a man with just too much Oxbridge polish and connection with the government to allow her to sleep well at night. But as Jenni soon discovers, there is a drug for everything. Threads of classical tragedy run through this modern drama of power, cunning sex and ambition. Nichola McAuliffe directs it all with style, skill and at a thunderous pace.
A Perfect Waiter: Translated from the German by John Brownjohn
by Alain Claude SulzerErneste works in a grand hotel in Switzerland. He is the 'perfect waiter', a model of order in every way. But inwardly this polite, withdrawn man has been caught in the grip of an overwhelming passion that began in the summer of 1935 with Jakob, a fellow waiter. For Jakob the affair is just a fling, but for Erneste it is true love. When the great German writer Julius Klinger arrives at the hotel, seeking sanctuary from Hitler's Germany, his gaze, too, lights on Jakob. One morning, three decades later, Erneste receives a letter with a US postmark from Jakob asking for help. It is a call that forces Erneste to engage with the world again and risk discovering the truth behind his memories of the great love of his youth. Shifting skilfully between two eras, Sulzer's tense, moving and elegantly written novel is a small masterpiece about the joy and pain of love.
Old Men in Love: John Tunnock's Posthumous Papers
by Alasdair GrayMen in Love, like The Arabian Nights, is about a storyteller whose stories contain other stories. As in Alasdair Gray's Lanark, 1982 Janine, Poor Things, and The Book of Prefaces, this one has many styles of narrative and location. Periclean Athens, Renaissance Florence, Victorian Somerset mingle with Britain under the New Labour Party, viewed from the West End of Glasgow. More than 50% is fact and the rest possible, but must be read to be believed.
The Brodsky Touch
by Lana CitronIssy Brodsky is back with a vengeance - albeit not her own. Agent provocateur and lone parent of Max, Issy is a woman on a mission - this time to make it as a stand-up comic. Superstardom beckons but it's a rocky road to success and she's hampered by the ties of motherhood, the day job, an undermining boyfriend, a pair of mingers and a (younger, much prettier) nemesis, not to mention the odd psycho...
The Honey Trap
by Lana CitronIssy Brodsky, single mum and single-digit income, finds a job compatible with her skills (laissez-faire attitude and flexible - thanks to the yoga). Now she works for the Honey Trap Detective Agency for a permanently premenstrual transgender boss. But what she hoped would be a simple nine-to-as-early-as-possible job becomes increasingly complicated due to a missing finger, a noisy neighbour, an angry Jewish client, an unsolved murder and a dose of chicken pox...
Don't Let Him Know
by Sandip RoyIn a boxy apartment building in an American university town, Romola Mitra, a newly arrived young bride, anxiously awaits her first letter from home in India. When she accidentally opens the wrong letter, it changes her life. Decades later, her son Amit finds that letter and thinks he has discovered his mother's secret. But secrets have their own secrets sometimes, and a way of following their keepers. Amit does not know that Avinash, his dependable and devoted father, lurks on gay Internet groups at times, unable to set aside his lifelong attraction to men. Avinash has no idea that his dutiful wife had once romanced a dashing Bengali filmstar, whose memory she keeps tucked away in a diary amongst her silk saris. Growing up in Calcutta, in a house bustling with feisty grandmothers, Amit has been shielded from his parents' secrets. A successful computer engineer, he settles in San Francisco, torn between his new life and his duties towards the one he has left behind. Moving from adolescent rooftop games to adult encounters in gay bars, from hair salons in Calcutta to McDonald's drive-thrus in California, Don't Let Him Know is an unforgettable story about family, the struggle between having what we want and doing what we feel we must – and the sacrifices we make for those we love. Tender, powerful, and beautifully told, Don't Let Him Know marks the arrival of a brave new voice.
Some Here Among Us
by Peter WalkerIt is 1967, and as America's allies hesitate over whether to send more troops to Vietnam and the strains of 'All You Need is Love' echo from Abbey Road, students take to the streets of Wellington, New Zealand, to protest the war. Among them are Race, Candy, Chadwick and FitzGerald and their elusive, electrifying friend Morgan Tawhai. They are young and hopeful and the world is all before them. Forty years later, in Washington DC, Race's son Toby is navigating his own path across a landscape still trembling with the reverberations of 9/11. Uncertain whether love is really all he needs, Toby, along with his girlfriend JoJo, watches the centuries-old fragments of a comet fall across the sky while America secretly begins planning to invade Iraq. As Race and his companions move through the first decade of the new millennium, their friendships tested and pulled apart and reconfigured anew, they come to discover that Morgan – who burned as brightly as any comet, who could quote Shakespeare and Sterne, The Iliad and Bob Dylan, and who will forever remain the twenty-year-old they once knew – is both the mystery and the touchstone of their lives. From the shores of New Zealand to the political heart of Washington and to the hills above Beirut, Some Here Among Us is a stunning meditation on youth and promise and loss. It is a novel for our times.
Rise
by Karen CampbellJustine is running for her life. Escaping a city and a man who between them have almost broken her she heads north to the mountains and the valleys of the Highlands. She is looking for somewhere to hide.Michael and Hannah are also running. With their two sons and their tattered marriage they have come to the village of Kilmacarra. They are looking for somewhere they can once again call home.In a place of standing stones – an ancient landscape in a country on the brink of change – a shocking accident causes their lives to intertwine. Tangled together in threads of guilt and love, with Scotland rushing towards a referendum and the community around them fracturing, each must question where they truly belong.And, as the ground beneath their feet begins to give up its secrets, and the darkness Justine fled grows close, each must also find a way to face their ghosts.
Wallflowers (Upfronts Ser.)
by Eliza RobertsonA small boy and his grandmother set sail for China in the mud of her back yard; a supermarket car park becomes a graveyard of strewn blueberries; migratory birds fly over a marshland ringing with the sound of wooden spoons on kitchen pots; and the breaking of a silence between two roommates leads to disquieting revelations.Eliza Robertson's delicate and startling stories tell of the adventure of the ordinary and the magic within the everyday. Here there are swindlers and innocents, unlikely heroes and gritty survivors; they teach us how to trap hummingbirds, relinquish dreams gracefully and feed raccoons without getting bitten.From windswept Pacific beaches to cafés in the heart of Lisbon, and from the depths of puddles on mountain running paths to the heights of extrasolar plant 51 Osiris C, these are tales of wildness and wonder, of animals in search of an escape and outsiders looking for a way back in.
Monster Odyssey: The Wrath of the Lizard Lord
by Jon MayhewPrince Dakkar and his mentor Count Oginski discover a plot by arch-enemy Cryptos to kill Napoleon. Arriving on their revolutionary submersible to intercept Cryptos, they glimpse a terrifying monster that seems to escape back into the bowels of the Earth. It leads them to discover an amazing underground world, and a plan more nefarious than they could ever have believed – even from Cryptos.The stage is set for an epic showdown complete with a giant reptilian cavalry and the Battle of Waterloo, in another breathlessly paced and endlessly inventive adventure for fans of Percy Jackson.
Marsh Road Mysteries: Diamonds And Daggers
by Elen CaldecottMeet Piotr, Minnie, Andrew, Flora and Sylvie – true friends and even better mystery-solvers! Hollywood sensation, Betty Massino, has come to star in the theatre down the road and Piotr and his friends Andrew and Minnie couldn't be more excited! But when the famous actress's hugely expensive diamond necklace goes missing, Piotr's dad, a security guard at the theatre, is a prime suspect. Soon, Piotr faces the very real threat of being sent 'home' to Poland. With the help of Sylvie and her twin sister Flora, can Piotr, Andrew and Minnie solve the crime or will they lose Piotr forever? The first in a fantastic new series filled with friendship, adventure and mystery!Perfect for fans of Lauren St John, this is THE new mystery adventure series by Waterstones Book Prize shortlisted author Elen Caldecott.
Thursdays with the Crown (Tuesdays At The Castle Ser. #3)
by Jessica Day GeorgeCastle Glower's towers have transported Princess Celie, her siblings and her pet griffin, Rufus, to an unknown land – a world of wild griffins, shadowy forests and castle ruins. As they set out on a dangerous adventure to discover their whereabouts, they find an entire lost people, divided by the wishes of two wizards in a centuries-old quarrel over their beloved home – Castle Glower! Why has the castle sent Celie and her siblings here, and will they ever get back home?
Mr Mac and Me
by Esther FreudThomas Maggs, the son of the local publican, lives with his parents and sister in a village on the Suffolk coast in 1914. He is the youngest child, and the only son surviving. Life is quiet – shaped by the seasons, fishing and farming and the summer visitors.Then one day a mysterious Scotsman arrives. To Thomas he looks for all the world like a detective, in his black cape and hat of felted wool, and the way he puffs on his pipe as if he's Sherlock Holmes. Mac is what the locals call him when they whisper about him in the inn. And whisper they do, for he sets off on his walks at unlikely hours, and stops to examine the humblest flowers. He is seen on the beach, staring out across the waves as if he's searching for clues. But Mac isn't a detective, he's the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and together with his red-haired artist wife, they soon become a source of fascination and wonder to Thomas.Yet just as Thomas and Mac's friendship begins to blossom, war with Germany is declared. The summer guests flee and are replaced by regiments of soldiers on their way to Belgium, and as the brutality of war weighs increasingly heavily on this coastal community, they become more suspicious of Mac and his curious behaviour…In this tender and compelling story of an unlikely friendship, Esther Freud paints a vivid portrait of a home front community during the First World War, and of a man who was one of the most brilliant and misunderstood artists of his generation.
The Arsonist (Vintage Contemporaries Ser.)
by Sue MillerFleeing the end of an affair, and troubled by the feeling that she belongs nowhere after working in East Africa for fifteen years, Frankie Rowley comes home to the small New Hampshire town of Pomeroy and the farmhouse where her family has always summered. On her first night back, a house up the road burns to the ground. Is it an accident? Over the weeks that follow, as Frankie comes to recognise her father's slow failing and her mother's desperation, and she tentatively gets to know the new owner of the local newspaper, another house burns, and then another. These frightening events open the deep social fault lines in the town and raise questions about how and where one ought to live, and what it really means to lead a fulfilling life.
Chaos of the Senses
by Ms Ahlem Mosteghanemi Ms Nancy Roberts'Love always sits in a seat other than the one we were expecting it to, right alongside the place where we expected love to be' In the midst of the Algerian civil war, Hayat is a young novelist trapped in a loveless marriage. While her husband, a high-ranking officer, preoccupies himself with politics, Hayat finds freedom from her highly regimented life in the world of her writing. There she weaves a passionate story for her characters. But the line between fiction and reality blurs when she falls for a man who seems to have walked straight out of the pages of her notebook, a man who seduces her, instead of her heroine, with his silence. As love on paper becomes a forbidden love lived out in the dark corners of a broken city, Hayat's country convulses with political upheaval. In a place where those who dare to write the truth are made to pay a heavy price, she and her characters will discover that no one can truly be the author of their own destiny. The second novel in the international bestselling trilogy from 'the literary phenomenon' (Elle), Ahlem Mosteghanemi, Chaos of the Senses is a powerful story of love, identity and liberation.
The Bricks that Built the Houses: The Sunday Times Bestseller
by Kate TempestTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG BREAKTHROUGH AUTHOR AWARDKate Tempest's critically acclaimed debut novel, the literary companion to her Mercury-Prize nominated album Everybody Down, takes us into the beating heart of the capital in this multi-generational tale of drugs, desire and belongingYoung Londoners Becky, Harry and Leon are leaving town in a fourth-hand Ford Cortina with a suitcase full of money. They are running from jealous boyfriends, dead-end jobs, violent maniacs and disgruntled drug dealers, in the hope of escaping the restless tedium of life in south-east London – the place they have always called home.*This book has been printed with two different cover designs. We are unable to accept requests for a specific cover. The different covers will be assigned to orders at random*
CCEA GCSE English Language Student Book, (3rd Edition) (PDF)
by Amanda Barr Aidan Lennon Jenny Lendrum Pauline WylieEnsure that every student can achieve their best with the market-leading Student Book for CCEA GCSE English Language, fully updated for the 2017 specification with a rich bank of stimulus texts, classroom activities and assessment support.- Offers expert coverage of the new examined elements of the specification (Reading Literary Texts and Creative Writing) from an author with extensive teaching and examining experience- Develops strong reading and writing skills as students work through step-by-step guidance and progressive activities matched to the Assessment Objectives- Provides effective models for students' own writing for different purposes and genres by including a range of literary and non-fiction text extracts- Thoroughly prepares students for assessment with practice questions, sample student responses and trusted advice on the examinations and Controlled Assessment- Helps students monitor their learning and identify their revision needs using self-assessment criteria at the end of each unit
The Mime Order (The Bone Season #2)
by Samantha ShannonA fugitive who will not be silencedIt is a dark time for clairvoyants. Scion is in league with the Rephaim, an extraordinarily powerful, otherworldly race that intends to make humans its slaves.In an unprecedented feat of bravery, Paige Mahoney has succeeded in leading a mass break-out from the brutal camp, Sheol I, where she and other clairvoyants were systematically imprisoned.Paige is desperate to reach the safety of the London underworld, but the ruthless leader of the Rephaim, Nashira Sargas, is not likely to let her escape so easily…This new edition contains an exciting preview of the sequel, The Song Rising
Dance Real Slow: A Novel
by Michael Grant JaffeThis novel is about a young boy's relationship with his father, Gordon, who is trying to adjust to life after his wife walks out. The delicate balance that Gordon manages to achieve in making a life for hiimself is suddenly jeopardized by the reappearance of his ex-wife.
The Tango Singer
by Tomás Eloy Martínez Anne McLeanBruno Cadogan has flown from New York to Buenos Aires in search of the elusive and legendary Julio Martel, a tango singer whose voice has never been recorded yet is said to be so beautiful it is almost supernatural. Bruno is increasingly drawn to the mystery of Martel and his strange and evocative performances in a series of apparently arbitrary sites around the city. As Bruno tries to find Martel, he begins to untangle the story of the singer's life, and to believe that Martel's increasingly rare performances map a dark labyrinth of the city's past.
24 for 3
by Jennie WalkerFriday: as a Test match between England and India begins, a woman's attention is torn between her husband's insistence on explaining the rules of cricket, her lover's preference for mystery, and the worrying disappearance of her sixteen-year-old stepson. By Tuesday night the outcome of the match will become clear - but whatever happens, the lives of the players will be changed forever. 24 for 3 is a funny and moving story about love, family, and whether or not one should always play by the rules.
Bullitt: Covermount Edition (Bloomsbury Film Classics Ser.)
by Robert L. Pike'Rossi isn't dead yet. And from what I hear, the Rossi brothers are pretty tough monkeys.' Clancy's knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. 'Yeah,' he said. 'They're all tough monkeys. Until they lose those precious ten pints...'Lieutenant Clancy, a tough cop from New York's 52nd Precinct, has been handpicked for an assignment. Assistant District Attorney Chalmers needs him to protect a witness whose testimony is vital. That man is Johnny Rossi, an infamous gangster involved in every West Coast racket from prostitution to gambling, who has turned into a whistle-blower. Shacked up in a fleabag hotel, Rossi should be safe. But when a hood with a shotgun breaks past the police guard and blasts Rossi into a critical condition, Clancy has just seventy-two hours to find out why Chalmers can't keep his mouth shut about his so-called secret case, why Rossi came to New York in the first place, who else knows where he is and when they are coming to finish the job off.
For Love: A Novel
by Sue MillerLottie is relieved to have escaped to her mother's house for the summer because her second marriage, barely begun, is in trouble. Also at home is Cameron, Lottie's brother, who has been in love with their neighbour Elizabeth since high school. Elizabeth is married with three children but now, finally, Elizabeth and Cameron embark on a passionate affair. But as Lottie, Cameron and Elizabeth are reunited, a senseless tragedy befalls them.
While I Was Gone: rejacketed
by Sue MillerPerhaps it's best to live with the possibility that around any corner, at any time, may come the person who reminds you of your own capacity to surprise yourself, to put at risk everything that's dear to you...Thirty years ago Jo Becker's bohemian life ended when she found her best friend brutally murdered. Now Jo has everything: work she loves, a devoted husband, three grown daughters and a beautiful home. But when an old friend settles in her small town, the fabric of Jo's life begins to unravel, as she enters a relationship that returns her to the darkest moments of her past, imperilling all that she loves.