Author: Tim Lott
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1471187896
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 405
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Book Description
Winner of the 1999 Whitbread First Novel Award ‘Beautiful and brilliant’ Tony Parsons Estate agent Frankie Blue is known on his home turf – White City, Shepherd’s Bush – as ‘Frank the Fib’. He’s a liar – but one who always tries to tell the truth. Frankie has been friends with Diamond Tony, a hairdresser, Colin, a computer nerd, and Nodge, a cabbie, since schooldays. Now they are thirty and trying to live the same life as they did then – drinking, girls, banter, football. Then comes Frankie’s Great Betrayal – Veronica, and marriage, his ticket to a bigger, better grown-up world. From the moment he tells his mates, the whole patchwork of their friendships begins to collapse – revealing the sad, shocking but often hilarious truths that lie underneath. ‘Caustically funny and sometimes very affecting … with sardonic wit and a kind of tough tenderness, Lott portrays people growing up, growing apart or growing together’ Sunday Times ‘Mordantly funny … Observations are vivid, the dialogue crisp and, crucially, the characters are sympathetic’ Tatler
Author: Anne Gerritsen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108499953
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 349
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Book Description
A compelling examination of the ultimate global commodity, blue and white porcelain, from kiln to consumers across the globe.
Author: Kevin Power
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1847399428
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 338
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Book Description
From the highly acclaimed author of Bad Day in Blackrock – inspiration for the 2012 award-winning film What Richard Did, directed by Lenny Abrahamson... ? Shortlisted for the 2021 An Post Irish Book Awards Eason Novel of the Year... A darkly funny, gripping and profoundly moving novel about a life spinning out of control, a life live without the bedrock of familial love, and the corruption of material wealth that tears at the soul. ‘It was my father’s arrest that brought me here, although you could certainly say that I took the scenic route.’ Here is rehab, where Ben – the only son of a rich South Dublin banker – is piecing together the shattered remains of his life. Abruptly cut off, at the age of 27, from a life of heedless privilege, Ben flounders through a world of drugs and dead-end jobs, his self-esteem at rock bottom. Even his once-adoring girlfriend, Clio, is at the end of her tether. Then Ben runs into an old school friend who wants to cut him in on a scam: a shady property deal in the Balkans. The deal will make Ben rich and, at one fell swoop, will deliver him from all his troubles: his addictions, his father’s very public disgrace, and his own self-loathing and regret. Problems solved. But something is amiss. For one thing, the Serbian partners don’t exactly look like fools. (In fact they look like gangsters.) And, for another, Ben is being followed everywhere he goes. Someone is being taken for a ride. But who? Praise for White City: 'I can't recommend it enough' John Boyne 'Immensely enjoyable and tautly written' Sunday Times 'Spiky, blackly funny' Independent 'Both riotous rant and thoughtful coming-of-age tale' Dublin Review of Books 'Brilliantly entertaining' Literary Review 'Likely to be the most solid, well-rounded novel to come out of Ireland this year' Irish Independent 'This ambitious, attention-grabbing novel seems ripe for cinematic adaptation’ Daily Mail ‘Demands to be read’ Irish Times 'Power shows his own capacity for comic timing and pithy aperçus' Guardian 'One of the most purely enjoyable books' Peter Murphy, Arena (RTE Radio 1) 'A tremendously zesty and zeitgeisty piece of writing' Sunday Times (Ireland) ‘Fast-paced and wickedly funny’ Danielle McLaughlin 'Magnificent' Billy O'Callaghan 'Dark, hilarious and emotionally profound' Ed O'Loughlin '[A] biting page-turner' Business Post 'Funny, and gorgeously written, and just relentlessly entertaining' Mark O'Connell 'You'll laugh, you'll cry... Read it, read it, read it' Claire Hennessy 'Profound, unpretentious, unapologetically intelligent, and really hilarious' Lauren Oyler 'Brilliant' Eoin McNamee
Author: Erik Larson
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1409044602
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 498
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Book Description
'An irresistible page-turner that reads like the most compelling, sleep defying fiction' TIME OUT One was an architect. The other a serial killer. This is the incredible story of these two men and their realization of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, and its amazing 'White City'; one of the wonders of the world. The architect was Daniel H. Burnham, the driving force behind the White City, the massive, visionary landscape of white buildings set in a wonderland of canals and gardens. The killer was H. H. Holmes, a handsome doctor with striking blue eyes. He used the attraction of the great fair - and his own devilish charms - to lure scores of young women to their deaths. While Burnham overcame politics, infighting, personality clashes and Chicago's infamous weather to transform the swamps of Jackson Park into the greatest show on Earth, Holmes built his own edifice just west of the fairground. He called it the World's Fair Hotel. In reality it was a torture palace, a gas chamber, a crematorium. These two disparate but driven men are brought to life in this mesmerizing, murderous tale of the legendary Fair that transformed America and set it on course for the twentieth century . . .
Author: A. S. Patric
Publisher: Melville House
ISBN: 1612196845
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 241
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Book Description
Winner of the 2016 Miles Franklin Literary Award A powerful debut novel about two refugees starting over after losing everything Jovan and Suzana have fled war-torn Sarajevo. They have lost their children, their standing as public intellectuals, and their connection to each other. Now working as cleaners in a suburb of Melbourne, they struggle to rebuild their lives under the painful hardships of immigrant life. During a hot Melbourne summer Jovan's janitorial work at a hospital is disrupted by mysterious acts of vandalism. But as the attacks become more violent and racially charged, he feels increasingly targeted, and taunted to interpret their meaning. Under tremendous pressure the couple struggle to keep their marriage together, but fear that they may never find peace from the ravages of war . . . Black Rock White City is an essential story of displacement and immediate threat—the new reality of suburban life—and the deeply personal responses of two refugees seeking redemption.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art, American
Languages : en
Pages : 416
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Book Description
Author: Casey McQuiston
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1250316782
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 314
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Book Description
* Instant NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestseller * * GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER for BEST DEBUT and BEST ROMANCE of 2019 * * BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR* for VOGUE, NPR, VANITY FAIR, and more! * What happens when America's First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales? When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse. Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston's Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn't always diplomatic. "I took this with me wherever I went and stole every second I had to read! Absorbing, hilarious, tender, sexy—this book had everything I crave. I’m jealous of all the readers out there who still get to experience Red, White & Royal Blue for the first time!" - Christina Lauren, New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners "Red, White & Royal Blue is outrageously fun. It is romantic, sexy, witty, and thrilling. I loved every second." - Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six
Author: Eva García Sáenz
Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
ISBN: 1984898590
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 530
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Book Description
"You’ll want to race through The Silence of the White City, but it’s best to slow down and savor the full effect of the volatile, intoxicating universe Sáenz has created. This is the first novel of the White City trilogy to be translated into English—the second can’t come fast enough." —AirMail HOW DO YOU STOP A KILLER WHO'S ALWAYS TWO STEPS AHEAD? A madman is holding Vitoria hostage, killing its citizens in brutal ways and staging the bodies. The city's only hope is a brilliant detective struggling to battle his own demons. Inspector Unai López de Ayala, known as "Kraken," is charged with investigating a series of ritualistic murders. The killings are eerily similar to ones that terrorized the citizens of Vitoria twenty years earlier. But back then, police were sure they had discovered the killer, a prestigious archaeologist who is currently in jail. Now Kraken must race to determine whether the killer had an accomplice or if the wrong man has been incarcerated for two decades. This fast-paced, unrelenting thriller weaves in and out of the mythology and legends of the Basque country as it hurtles to its shocking conclusion.
Author: Roma Tearne
Publisher: Gallic Books
ISBN: 1910709379
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 236
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Book Description
A permanently frozen London is the setting for Roma Tearne’s 'thoughtful exploration' [The Guardian] of survival in a dystopian near-future. 'Tearne reminds us that, woven into London's cosmopolitanism, are memories of places to which individuals can never return' Brixton Review of Books A permanently frozen London is the setting for this harrowing yet lyrical tale of survival in a dystopian near-future. Through endless years of glacial winter, artist Hera has known loss. Her one comfort has been her relationship with Raphael. As the thaw begins, can she track down her elusive lover?
Author: Alain Mabanckou
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253007941
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 125
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Book Description
“Mabanckou dazzles with technical dexterity and emotional depth” in his debut novel, winner of the Grand Prix Littéraire de l’Afrique Noire (Publishers Weekly, starred review). This tale of wild adventure reveals the dashed hopes of Africans living between worlds. When Moki returns to his village from France wearing designer clothes and affecting all the manners of a Frenchman, Massala-Massala, who lives the life of a humble peanut farmer after giving up his studies, begins to dream of following in Moki’s footsteps. Together, the two take wing for Paris, where Massala-Massala finds himself a part of an underworld of out-of-work undocumented immigrants. After a botched attempt to sell metro passes purchased with a stolen checkbook, he winds up in jail and is deported. Blue White Red is a novel of postcolonial Africa where young people born into poverty dream of making it big in the cities of their former colonial masters. Alain Mabanckou’s searing commentary on the lives of Africans in France is cut with the parody of African villagers who boast of a son in the country of Digol. Praise for Alain Mabanckou and Blue White Red “Mabanckou counts as one of the most successful voices of young African literature.” —Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin “The African Beckett.” —The Economist “Blue White Red stands at the beginning of the author’s remarkable and multifaceted career as a novelist, essayist and poet . . . this debut novel shows much of his style and substance in remarkable ways . . . Dundy’s translation is excellent.” —Africa Book Club “Mabanckou’s provocative novel probes the many facets of the ‘migration adventure.’” —Booklist
