Author: Tommy Wieringa
Publisher: Scribe Publications
ISBN: 1925693333
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 70
Book Description
Two venturesome women on a journey through the land of their fathers and mothers. A wrong turn. A bad decision. They had no idea, when they arrived in Morocco, that their usual freedoms as young European women would not be available. So, when the spry Saleh presents himself as their guide and saviour, they embrace his offer. He extracts them from a tight space, only to lead them inexorably into an even tighter one: and from this far darker space there is no exit. Their tale of confinement and escape is as old as the landscapes and cultures so vividly depicted in this story of where Europe and Africa come closest to meeting, even if they never quite touch.
The Death of Murat Idrissi
Author: Tommy Wieringa
Publisher: Scribe Publications
ISBN: 1925693333
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 70
Book Description
Two venturesome women on a journey through the land of their fathers and mothers. A wrong turn. A bad decision. They had no idea, when they arrived in Morocco, that their usual freedoms as young European women would not be available. So, when the spry Saleh presents himself as their guide and saviour, they embrace his offer. He extracts them from a tight space, only to lead them inexorably into an even tighter one: and from this far darker space there is no exit. Their tale of confinement and escape is as old as the landscapes and cultures so vividly depicted in this story of where Europe and Africa come closest to meeting, even if they never quite touch.
Publisher: Scribe Publications
ISBN: 1925693333
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 70
Book Description
Two venturesome women on a journey through the land of their fathers and mothers. A wrong turn. A bad decision. They had no idea, when they arrived in Morocco, that their usual freedoms as young European women would not be available. So, when the spry Saleh presents himself as their guide and saviour, they embrace his offer. He extracts them from a tight space, only to lead them inexorably into an even tighter one: and from this far darker space there is no exit. Their tale of confinement and escape is as old as the landscapes and cultures so vividly depicted in this story of where Europe and Africa come closest to meeting, even if they never quite touch.
The Death of Murat Idrissi
Author: Tommy Wieringa
Publisher: Scribe Us
ISBN: 9781950354832
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 112
Book Description
Longlisted for the Booker International. Two women on a journey through the land of their fathers and mothers. A wrong turn. A bad decision. They had no idea, when they arrived in Morocco, that their usual freedoms as young European women would not be available. So, when the spry Saleh presents himself as their guide and savior, they embrace his offer. He extracts them from a tight space, only to lead them inexorably into an even tighter one: and from this far darker space there is no exit. Their tale of confinement and escape is as old as the landscapes and cultures so vividly depicted in this story of where Europe and Africa come closest to meeting, even if they never quite touch.
Publisher: Scribe Us
ISBN: 9781950354832
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 112
Book Description
Longlisted for the Booker International. Two women on a journey through the land of their fathers and mothers. A wrong turn. A bad decision. They had no idea, when they arrived in Morocco, that their usual freedoms as young European women would not be available. So, when the spry Saleh presents himself as their guide and savior, they embrace his offer. He extracts them from a tight space, only to lead them inexorably into an even tighter one: and from this far darker space there is no exit. Their tale of confinement and escape is as old as the landscapes and cultures so vividly depicted in this story of where Europe and Africa come closest to meeting, even if they never quite touch.
Childhood: Two Novellas
Author: Gerard Reve
Publisher: Pushkin Press
ISBN: 1782274588
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 161
Book Description
From the author of the hit The Evenings - two classic novellas that are considered among Gerard Reve's best work Young Elmer longs to make friends and tries to control the world around him by forming secret clubs, of which he is always the president. When he invites Werther to become a member, a game of attraction and repulsion begins. What follows is a psychological masterpiece; Reve brilliantly conjures up a child's whole world, full of oppression and enchantment. During the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam, a boy watches as the family of one of his friends slowly loses everything and is then taken away. This is a deceptively simple story imbued with subtle horror. These two classic novellas, from the giant of post-war Dutch literature Gerard Reve, have all of the uncanny atmosphere and the incisive, dark wit of The Evenings.
Publisher: Pushkin Press
ISBN: 1782274588
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 161
Book Description
From the author of the hit The Evenings - two classic novellas that are considered among Gerard Reve's best work Young Elmer longs to make friends and tries to control the world around him by forming secret clubs, of which he is always the president. When he invites Werther to become a member, a game of attraction and repulsion begins. What follows is a psychological masterpiece; Reve brilliantly conjures up a child's whole world, full of oppression and enchantment. During the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam, a boy watches as the family of one of his friends slowly loses everything and is then taken away. This is a deceptively simple story imbued with subtle horror. These two classic novellas, from the giant of post-war Dutch literature Gerard Reve, have all of the uncanny atmosphere and the incisive, dark wit of The Evenings.
A Father's Affair
Author: Karel van Loon
Publisher: Canongate Books
ISBN: 1782110828
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 209
Book Description
What happens to the father of a 13-year-old son, when he discovers that he has been infertile all his life? That intriguing question is the starting point of A Father's Affair. On his quest to discover the biological father of his son, the protagonist, Armin Minderhout, takes the reader on an extraordinary journey, one in which he is forced to reconsider everything he has ever believed in. With the page-turning suspense of a 'whodunnit', A Father's Affair probes the eternal question of how well we know the ones we love. Touching, at times extremely funny and erotically playful, it is a story of universal appeal - a stylish, acutely insightful and utterly captivating read.
Publisher: Canongate Books
ISBN: 1782110828
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 209
Book Description
What happens to the father of a 13-year-old son, when he discovers that he has been infertile all his life? That intriguing question is the starting point of A Father's Affair. On his quest to discover the biological father of his son, the protagonist, Armin Minderhout, takes the reader on an extraordinary journey, one in which he is forced to reconsider everything he has ever believed in. With the page-turning suspense of a 'whodunnit', A Father's Affair probes the eternal question of how well we know the ones we love. Touching, at times extremely funny and erotically playful, it is a story of universal appeal - a stylish, acutely insightful and utterly captivating read.
The Jewish Messiah
Author: Arnon Grunberg
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101202815
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 486
Book Description
The new novel by the internationally acclaimed author- "a farce of nuclear proportions"(Vanity Fair) Arnon Grunberg is one of the most subtly outrageous provocateurs in world literature. The Jewish Messiah, which chronicles the evolution of one Xavier Radek from malcontent grandson of a former SS officer, to Jewish convert, to co- translator of Hitler's Mein Kampf into Yiddish, to Israeli politician and Israel's most unlikely prime minister, is his most outrageous work yet. Taking on the most well-guarded pieties and taboos of our age, The Jewish Messiah is both a great love story and a grotesque farce that forces a profound reckoning with the limits of human guilt, cruelty, and suffering. It is without question Arnon Grunberg's masterpiece.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101202815
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 486
Book Description
The new novel by the internationally acclaimed author- "a farce of nuclear proportions"(Vanity Fair) Arnon Grunberg is one of the most subtly outrageous provocateurs in world literature. The Jewish Messiah, which chronicles the evolution of one Xavier Radek from malcontent grandson of a former SS officer, to Jewish convert, to co- translator of Hitler's Mein Kampf into Yiddish, to Israeli politician and Israel's most unlikely prime minister, is his most outrageous work yet. Taking on the most well-guarded pieties and taboos of our age, The Jewish Messiah is both a great love story and a grotesque farce that forces a profound reckoning with the limits of human guilt, cruelty, and suffering. It is without question Arnon Grunberg's masterpiece.
These Are the Names
Author: Tommy Wieringa
Publisher: Melville House
ISBN: 1612195660
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
A moody, atmospheric literary thriller and “a timeless tale of migration” (The Guardian), from one of Europe’s biggest-selling authors Despite its Biblical title—which comes from the opening lines of the Book of Exodus—award-winning novelist Tommy Wieringa has crafted perhaps his most timely book yet, as he traces two stories doomed to collide. In one, we follow a group of starving, near-feral Eurasian refugees on a harrowing quest for survival; in the other, we follow Pontus Beg, a policeman from a small border town on the steppe, as he investigates the death of a rabbi, one of the town’s two remaining Jews. What follows is a gripping saga in which the two stories race toward each other, and Beg will be shaken to his core by what each one reveals about man’s dark nature, and the possibility—or impossibility—of his own redemption. A virtual parable for our times, These Are the Names offers a suspenseful reading of a crisis that continues to dominate headlines, and simultaneously explores the enduring questions of faith, identity, and what it means to be “home.”
Publisher: Melville House
ISBN: 1612195660
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
A moody, atmospheric literary thriller and “a timeless tale of migration” (The Guardian), from one of Europe’s biggest-selling authors Despite its Biblical title—which comes from the opening lines of the Book of Exodus—award-winning novelist Tommy Wieringa has crafted perhaps his most timely book yet, as he traces two stories doomed to collide. In one, we follow a group of starving, near-feral Eurasian refugees on a harrowing quest for survival; in the other, we follow Pontus Beg, a policeman from a small border town on the steppe, as he investigates the death of a rabbi, one of the town’s two remaining Jews. What follows is a gripping saga in which the two stories race toward each other, and Beg will be shaken to his core by what each one reveals about man’s dark nature, and the possibility—or impossibility—of his own redemption. A virtual parable for our times, These Are the Names offers a suspenseful reading of a crisis that continues to dominate headlines, and simultaneously explores the enduring questions of faith, identity, and what it means to be “home.”
Engineers of the Soul
Author: Frank Westerman
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1468305336
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 219
Book Description
A “fascinating” account of how Gorky, Pasternak, and other great writers were coerced to create propaganda for Stalin (Cleveland Plain Dealer). Sunday Times Best Travel Book of the Year In the Soviet Union, writers of renown, described by Stalin as “engineers of the soul,” were encouraged to sing the praises of canal and dam construction under titles such as Energy: The Hydraulic Power Station and Onward, Time! But their enthusiasm—spontaneous and idealistic at first—soon became obligatory, and as these colossal waterworks led to slavery and destruction, Soviet writers such as Maxim Gorky, Isaak Babel, Konstantin Paustovsky, and Boris Pasternak were forced to labor on in the service of a deluded totalitarian society. Combining investigative journalism with literary history, Engineers of the Soul is a journey through contemporary Russia and Soviet-era literature. Frank Westerman, a correspondent living in post-Communist Moscow, examines both the culture landscape under Stalin’s rule and the books—and lives—of writers caught in the wheels of the Soviet system as art and reality were bent to radically new purposes. “Engagingly written and extensively researched, the book covers compelling historical and literary ground.” —Financial Times “A detailed and enthralling account of his journey through Soviet literature including discovering the revolution’s best kept secrets while trying to appreciate the talented writers who created a web of deceit in the name of success.” —Publishers Weekly “A literary travelogue revealing a remarkable geography and a strange, fraught alliance when the pen was not as mighty as the hammer and sickle of the Soviet Union . . . insightful.” —Kirkus Reviews
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1468305336
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 219
Book Description
A “fascinating” account of how Gorky, Pasternak, and other great writers were coerced to create propaganda for Stalin (Cleveland Plain Dealer). Sunday Times Best Travel Book of the Year In the Soviet Union, writers of renown, described by Stalin as “engineers of the soul,” were encouraged to sing the praises of canal and dam construction under titles such as Energy: The Hydraulic Power Station and Onward, Time! But their enthusiasm—spontaneous and idealistic at first—soon became obligatory, and as these colossal waterworks led to slavery and destruction, Soviet writers such as Maxim Gorky, Isaak Babel, Konstantin Paustovsky, and Boris Pasternak were forced to labor on in the service of a deluded totalitarian society. Combining investigative journalism with literary history, Engineers of the Soul is a journey through contemporary Russia and Soviet-era literature. Frank Westerman, a correspondent living in post-Communist Moscow, examines both the culture landscape under Stalin’s rule and the books—and lives—of writers caught in the wheels of the Soviet system as art and reality were bent to radically new purposes. “Engagingly written and extensively researched, the book covers compelling historical and literary ground.” —Financial Times “A detailed and enthralling account of his journey through Soviet literature including discovering the revolution’s best kept secrets while trying to appreciate the talented writers who created a web of deceit in the name of success.” —Publishers Weekly “A literary travelogue revealing a remarkable geography and a strange, fraught alliance when the pen was not as mighty as the hammer and sickle of the Soviet Union . . . insightful.” —Kirkus Reviews
Dear Mr. M
Author: Herman Koch
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1447294718
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 411
Book Description
'An absolute page-turner' Mail on Sunday Dear Mr. M, I'd like to start by telling you that I'm doing better now. I do so because you probably have no idea that I was ever doing worse. Much worse, in fact, but I'll get to that later on. Mr. M is being watched. As a famous writer, he is no stranger to the limelight, although interest in his work has been dwindling of late. His print runs are smaller than they used to be, as are the crowds at his bookshop signings . . . Our narrator clearly takes a keen interest in M.'s work, and indeed in every aspect of his life. But what exactly are his intentions? And to what does Mr. M owe the honour of his undivided attention? Our narrator seems to be no stranger to murder, while his own story appears to bear more than a passing resemblance to the plot of Mr. M's most famous novel: a teacher has an affair with a student, only to be brutally murdered by the girl and her teenage boyfriend. The body is never found. That's the problem with fiction: in real life, bodies have an awkward habit of turning up. Mr. M has used some artistic licence, and our narrator is not pleased, not pleased at all. And just before he fades into obscurity, he's prepared to give Mr. M one last review. And it's unlikely to be a rave. Dear Mr. M is an unsettling and irresistibly readable literary thriller, set in the world of writing and bookselling, by Herman Koch, the author of the international bestseller, The Dinner.
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1447294718
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 411
Book Description
'An absolute page-turner' Mail on Sunday Dear Mr. M, I'd like to start by telling you that I'm doing better now. I do so because you probably have no idea that I was ever doing worse. Much worse, in fact, but I'll get to that later on. Mr. M is being watched. As a famous writer, he is no stranger to the limelight, although interest in his work has been dwindling of late. His print runs are smaller than they used to be, as are the crowds at his bookshop signings . . . Our narrator clearly takes a keen interest in M.'s work, and indeed in every aspect of his life. But what exactly are his intentions? And to what does Mr. M owe the honour of his undivided attention? Our narrator seems to be no stranger to murder, while his own story appears to bear more than a passing resemblance to the plot of Mr. M's most famous novel: a teacher has an affair with a student, only to be brutally murdered by the girl and her teenage boyfriend. The body is never found. That's the problem with fiction: in real life, bodies have an awkward habit of turning up. Mr. M has used some artistic licence, and our narrator is not pleased, not pleased at all. And just before he fades into obscurity, he's prepared to give Mr. M one last review. And it's unlikely to be a rave. Dear Mr. M is an unsettling and irresistibly readable literary thriller, set in the world of writing and bookselling, by Herman Koch, the author of the international bestseller, The Dinner.
When Stars Rain Down
Author: Angela Jackson-Brown
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 0785240454
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
Opal is an eighteen-year-old Black woman working as a housekeeper in a small Southern town in the 1930s—and then the Klan descends. A moving story that confronts America’s tragic past, When Stars Rain Down is both heartwarming and heart-wrenching. The summer of 1936 in Parsons, Georgia, is unseasonably hot, and Opal Pruitt senses a nameless storm brewing. She hopes this foreboding feeling won’t overshadow her upcoming 18th birthday or the annual Founder’s Day celebration in just a few weeks. She and her Grandma Birdie work as housekeepers for the white widow Miss Peggy, and Opal desperately wants some time to be young and carefree with her cousins and friends. But when the Ku Klux Klan descends on Opal’s neighborhood, the tight-knit community is shaken in every way possible. Parsons’s residents—both Black and white—are forced to acknowledge the unspoken codes of conduct in their post-Reconstruction era town. To complicate matters, Opal finds herself torn between two unexpected romantic interests—the son of her pastor, Cedric Perkins, and the white grandson of the woman she works for, Jimmy Earl Ketchums. Faced with love, loss, and a harsh awakening to an ugly world, Opal holds tight to her family and faith—and the hope for change. “When Stars Rain Down is so powerful, timely, and compelling . . . an important and beautifully written must-read of a novel.” —Silas House, author of Southernmost 2021 Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction – Finalist Stand-alone novel Includes discussion questions for book clubs
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 0785240454
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
Opal is an eighteen-year-old Black woman working as a housekeeper in a small Southern town in the 1930s—and then the Klan descends. A moving story that confronts America’s tragic past, When Stars Rain Down is both heartwarming and heart-wrenching. The summer of 1936 in Parsons, Georgia, is unseasonably hot, and Opal Pruitt senses a nameless storm brewing. She hopes this foreboding feeling won’t overshadow her upcoming 18th birthday or the annual Founder’s Day celebration in just a few weeks. She and her Grandma Birdie work as housekeepers for the white widow Miss Peggy, and Opal desperately wants some time to be young and carefree with her cousins and friends. But when the Ku Klux Klan descends on Opal’s neighborhood, the tight-knit community is shaken in every way possible. Parsons’s residents—both Black and white—are forced to acknowledge the unspoken codes of conduct in their post-Reconstruction era town. To complicate matters, Opal finds herself torn between two unexpected romantic interests—the son of her pastor, Cedric Perkins, and the white grandson of the woman she works for, Jimmy Earl Ketchums. Faced with love, loss, and a harsh awakening to an ugly world, Opal holds tight to her family and faith—and the hope for change. “When Stars Rain Down is so powerful, timely, and compelling . . . an important and beautifully written must-read of a novel.” —Silas House, author of Southernmost 2021 Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction – Finalist Stand-alone novel Includes discussion questions for book clubs
Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill
Author: Dimitri Verhulst
Publisher: Granta Publications
ISBN: 184627463X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 78
Book Description
“A timeless novel about love, loss and village life” from the award-winning Dutch author of The Misfortunates and Problemski Hotel (Aesthetica). Years ago, Madame Verona and her husband built a home for themselves on a hill in a forest above a small village. There they lived in isolation, practicing their music, and chopping wood to see them through the cold winters. When Mr. Verona died, the locals might have expected that the legendary beauty would return to the village, but Madame Verona had enough wood to keep her warm during the years it would take to make a cello—the instrument her husband loved—and in the meantime she had her dogs for company. And then one cold February morning, when the last log has burned, Madame Verona sets off down the village path, with her cello and her memories, knowing that she will have no strength to climb the hill again. Poignant, precise and perfectly structured, this is a story of one woman’s tender and enduring love—as a wife, and as a widow. “An intimate, unsentimental portrayal of European rural life . . . In Verhulst’s landscape, nature is ruthless, amoral and never benign, and human memory a cruel mirage . . . His best sentences are gorgeously resonant.”—The Herald “Aging, bereavement and death are somber themes, yet this novel’s treatment of them is agreeably entertaining . . . this tale of enduring love is often preposterous, sometimes poignant and, above all, consistently charming.”—The Independent
Publisher: Granta Publications
ISBN: 184627463X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 78
Book Description
“A timeless novel about love, loss and village life” from the award-winning Dutch author of The Misfortunates and Problemski Hotel (Aesthetica). Years ago, Madame Verona and her husband built a home for themselves on a hill in a forest above a small village. There they lived in isolation, practicing their music, and chopping wood to see them through the cold winters. When Mr. Verona died, the locals might have expected that the legendary beauty would return to the village, but Madame Verona had enough wood to keep her warm during the years it would take to make a cello—the instrument her husband loved—and in the meantime she had her dogs for company. And then one cold February morning, when the last log has burned, Madame Verona sets off down the village path, with her cello and her memories, knowing that she will have no strength to climb the hill again. Poignant, precise and perfectly structured, this is a story of one woman’s tender and enduring love—as a wife, and as a widow. “An intimate, unsentimental portrayal of European rural life . . . In Verhulst’s landscape, nature is ruthless, amoral and never benign, and human memory a cruel mirage . . . His best sentences are gorgeously resonant.”—The Herald “Aging, bereavement and death are somber themes, yet this novel’s treatment of them is agreeably entertaining . . . this tale of enduring love is often preposterous, sometimes poignant and, above all, consistently charming.”—The Independent