FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD (Now a major Amazon Prime TV show) ''Dazzling'' Guardian ''Gloriously entertaining'' Evening Standard ''A rich, wild book'' New York Times '' Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked...'' To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably-priced furniture, making a life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver''s Row don''t approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it''s still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his facade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger and bigger all the time. See, cash is tight, especially with all those instalment plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace at the furniture store, Ray doesn''t see the need to ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweller downtown who also doesn''t ask questions. Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa - the ''Waldorf of Harlem'' - and volunteers Ray''s services as the fence. The heist doesn''t go as planned; they rarely do, after all. Now Ray has to cater to a new clientele, one made up of shady cops on the take, vicious minions of the local crime lord, and numerous other Harlem lowlifes. Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he starts to see the truth about who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs? Harlem Shuffle is driven by an ingeniously intricate plot that plays out in a beautifully recreated Harlem of the early 1960s. It''s a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem.
*A very special edition, celebrating everyone''s favourite young genius! Includes tips and activities for creating your very own story, and incredible pull-out illustrations of Matilda all grown-up*br>br>''A true genius - Roald Dahl is my hero'' - David Walliams br>br>br>These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: you are not alone.br>br>Matilda is a brilliant child with a magical mind.br>br>But her parents have decided she''s just a nuisance who wastes too much time on reading and stories. br>br>And her headmistress Miss Trunchball is a terrible bully, who thinks children are rotten and awful and should be locked up.br>br>Now it''s time for Matilda to find the power to change her story, and show them just how extraordinary children can be . . .br>br>This very special version of Matilda includes writing tips to tell your OWN story, and pull-out-and-keep grown up Matilda illustrations to inspire you to think big, big, BIG!>
Emmanuel Carrere , novelist, filmmaker, journalist, and biographer, is the award-winning internationally renowned author of The Adversary (a Sunday Times bestseller and New York Times Notable Book, translated into twenty-three languages), Lives Other Than My Own , My Life as a Russian Novel , Class Trip , Limonov (winner of the 2011 Prix Renaudot), The Mustache and, most recently, The Kingdom .>
First published in 1953, this is Bradbury's prophetic dystopian vision of a weird but too distant future where happiness is allocated on a four-walled TV screen, where individuals, eccentrics and scholars are outcasts of society and where books are burnt by a special task-force.
Separated by respective ambitions after falling in love in occupied Nigeria, beautiful Ifemelu experiences triumph and defeat in America while exploring new concepts of race, while Obinze endures an undocumented status in London until the pair is reunited in their homeland 15 years later, where they face the toughest decisions of their lives. By the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun .
''A dazzlingly shapeshifting novel . . . equally good at action scenes and in-depth psychology'' The Sunday Times ''A thriller with a surprisingly heartfelt and redemptive ending, Billy Summers is a compelling and engrossing read'' Sunday Express From legendary storyteller and No. 1 bestseller Stephen King, whose ''restless imagination is a power that cannot be contained'' ( The New York Times Book Review ), comes a thrilling new novel about a good guy in a bad job. Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He''s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he''ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong? How about everything. This spectacular can''t-put-it-down novel is part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It''s about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption. You won''t put this story down, and you won''t forget Billy.
THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2018 WINNER OF THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR WINNER OF THE SPECSAVERS NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS INTERNATIONAL AUTHOR OF THE YEAR LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in rural Ireland. The similarities end there; they are from very different worlds. When they both earn places at Trinity College in Dublin, a connection that has grown between them lasts long into the following years. This is an exquisite love story about how a person can change another person's life - a simple yet profound realisation that unfolds beautifully over the course of the novel. It tells us how difficult it is to talk about how we feel and it tells us - blazingly - about cycles of domination, legitimacy and privilege. Alternating menace with overwhelming tenderness, Sally Rooney's second novel breathes fiction with new life.
Stunningly-designed new editions of Toni Morrison''s best-known novels, published by Vintage Classics in celebration of her life and work. WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY BOOKER PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR BERNARDINE EVARISTO Sethe is now miles away from Sweet Home - the farm where she was kept as a slave for many years. Unable to forget the unspeakable horrors that took place there, Sethe is haunted by the violent spectre of her dead child, the daughter who died nameless and whose tombstone is etched with a single word, ''Beloved''. A tale of brutality, horror and, above all, love at any cost, Beloved is Toni Morrison''s enduring masterpiece and best-known work.
"A narrative pull as strong as a Mississippi River current." -- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette #1 New York Times bestselling author Greg Iles returns with an electrifying tale of friendship, betrayal, and devastating secrets... Marshall McEwan is one of the most successful journalists in Washington, D.C. But as he sees more and more acclaim in print and on television, Marshall discovers that his father is terminally ill, and he must go back to his childhood home--a place he vowed he would never return. Bienville, Mississippi, is no longer the city Marshall remembers. His family''s 150-year-old newspaper is failing, and Jet, the love of his youth, has married into the family of Max Matheson, one of a dozen powerful patriarchs who rule the town through the exclusive Bienville Poker Club. To Marshall''s surprise, the Poker Club has offered economic salvation to this community, in the form of a billion-dollar Chinese paper mill. But on the verge of the deal''s consummation, two deaths rock Bienville to its core, threatening far more than the city''s future. Joining forces with his former lover, Marshall begins digging for the truth. But he and Jet soon discover that the soil of Mississippi is a minefield where explosive secrets can be far more destructive than injustice. "Iles...has made Mississippi his own in the same way that James Lee Burke has claimed Cajun country and Michael Connelly has remapped contemporary Los Angeles.... They will be talking about this one for quite a while." -- Booklist ("Starred Review")
Charlotte is a heart-breaking true story - inspiring, unflinching, awful, hopeful - of a life filled with curiosity, animated by genius and cut short by hatred. A beautifully, lucidly told memorial, it has become an international sensation. This heartbreaking novel is at once an important Holocaust narrative and a tale of unique psychological fragility.
#1 New York Times Bestseller OPRAH''S BOOK CLUB PICK '' Extraordinary .'' - Stephen King ''This book is not simply the great American novel; it''s the great novel of las Americas . It''s the great world novel! This is the international story of our times. Masterful.'' -Sandra Cisneros Tambien de este lado hay suenos. On this side, too, there are dreams . Lydia Quixano Perez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. Even though she knows they''ll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with a few books he would like to buy-two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia''s husband''s tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same. Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride la bestia -trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier''s reach doesn''t extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte , Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to? American Dirt will leave readers utterly changed. It is a literary achievement filled with poignancy, drama, and humanity on every page. It is one of the most important books for our times. Already being hailed as "a Grapes of Wrath for our times" and "a new American classic," Jeanine Cummins''s American Dirt is a rare exploration into the inner hearts of people willing to sacrifice everything for a glimmer of hope.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2019 Woman. Witch. Myth. Mortal. Outcast. Lover. Destroyer. Survivor. CIRCE.
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. Circe is a strange child - not powerful and terrible, like her father, nor gorgeous and mercenary like her mother. Scorned and rejected, Circe grows up in the shadows, at home in neither the world of gods or mortals. But Circe has a dark power of her own: witchcraft. When her gift threatens the gods, she is banished to the island of Aiaia where she hones her occult craft, casting spells, gathering strange herbs and taming wild beasts. Yet a woman who stands alone will never be left in peace for long - and among her island's guests is an unexpected visitor: the mortal Odysseus, for whom Circe will risk everything.
So Circe sets forth her tale, a vivid, mesmerizing epic of family rivalry, love and loss - the defiant, inextinguishable song of woman burning hot and bright through the darkness of a man's world.
THE NUMBER ONE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN , TELEGRAPH , SUNDAY TELEGRAPH , I PAPER , SUNDAY EXPRESS , IRISH TIMES , TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT , AMAZON, AUDIBLE, BUZZFEED, REFINERY 29, WASHINGTON POST , BOSTON GLOBE , SEATTLE TIMES , TIME MAGAZINE , NEWSWEEK , PEOPLE , ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY , KIRKUS , PUBLISHERS WEEKLY AND GOODREADS
The story of Humbert Humbert, poet and pervert, and his obsession with 12-year-old Dolores Haze. Determined to possess his "Lolita" both carnally and artistically, Humbert embarks on a disastrous courtship that can only end in tragedy.
B>NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A quite extraordinary novel. Colum McCann has found the form and voice to tell the most complex of stories, with an unexpected friendship between two men at its powerfully beating heart.--Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire/b>br>b> br>LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE From the National Book Awardwinning and bestselling author of Let the Great World Spin comes an epic novel rooted in the unlikely real-life friendship between two fathers./b>br> br>Bassam Aramin is Palestinian. Rami Elhanan is Israeli. They inhabit a world of conflict that colors every aspect of their lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on to the schools their children attend to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate.br> br>But their lives, however circumscribed, are upended one after the other: first, Ramis thirteen-year-old daughter, Smadar, becomes the victim of suicide bombers; a decade later, Bassams ten-year-old daughter, Abir, is killed by a rubber bullet. Rami and Bassam had been raised to hate one another. And yet, when they learn of each others stories, they recognize the loss that connects them. Together they attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace--and with their one small act, start to permeate what has for generations seemed an impermeable conflict.br> br>This extraordinary novel is the fruit of a seed planted when the novelist Colum McCann met the real Bassam and Rami on a trip with the non-profit organization Narrative 4. McCann was moved by their willingness to share their stories with the world, by their hope that if they could see themselves in one another, perhaps others could too.br> br>With their blessing, and unprecedented access to their families, lives, and personal recollections, McCann began to craft Apeirogon, which uses their real-life stories to begin another--one that crosses centuries and continents, stitching together time, art, history, nature, and politics in a tale both heartbreaking and hopeful. The result is an ambitious novel, crafted out of a universe of fictional and nonfictional material, with these fathers moving story at its heart.
Twelve-year-old villain, Artemis Fowl, is the most ingenious criminal mastermind in history. His bold and daring plan is to hold a leprechaun to ransom. But he's taking on more than he bargained for when he kidnaps Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance Unit).
Inventive, electrifying and daring, True Story is a novel like nothing you''ve ever read before. After a college party, two boys drive a girl home: drunk and passed out in the back seat. Rumours spread about what they did to her, but later they''ll tell the police a different version of events. Alice will never remember what truly happened. Her fracture runs deep, hidden beneath cleverness and wry humour. Nick - a sensitive, misguided boy who stood by - will never forget. That''s just the beginning of this extraordinary journey into memory, fear and self-portrayal. Through university applications, a terrifying abusive relationship, a fateful reckoning with addiction and a final mind-bending twist, Alice and Nick will take on different roles to each other - some real, some invented - until finally, brought face to face once again, the secret of that night is revealed. Startlingly relevant and enthralling in its brilliance, True Story is by turns a campus novel, psychological thriller, horror story and crime noir, each narrative frame stripping away the fictions we tell about women, men and the very nature of truth. It introduces Kate Reed Petty as a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction.
In a near-future France, Francois, a middle-aged academic, is watching his life slowly dwindle to nothing. His sex drive is diminished, his parents are dead, and his lifelong obsession - the ideas and works of the nineteenth-century novelist Joris-Karl Huysmans - has led him nowhere. In a late-capitalist society where consumerism has become the new religion, Francois is spiritually barren, but seeking to fill the vacuum of his existence. And he is not alone. As the 2022 Presidential election approaches, two candidates emerge as favourites: Marine Le Pen of the Front National, and Muhammed Ben Abbes of the nascent Muslim Fraternity. Forming a controversial alliance with the mainstream parties, Ben Abbes sweeps to power, and overnight the country is transformed. Islamic law comes into force: women are veiled, polygamy is encouraged and, for Francois, life is set on a new course. Submission is both a devastating satire and a profound meditation on isolation, faith and love. It is a startling new work by one of the most provocative and prescient novelists of today.
A gripping literary thriller, one of the most anticipated novels of 2021, rights sold in fifteen territories, 20-way bidding war for film rights won by FX and Fox 21.
Winner of the CWA International Dagger Award 2013. In kidnapping cases, the first few hours are crucial. After that, the chances of being found alive go from slim to nearly none. Alex Prévost - beautiful, resourceful, tough - may be no ordinary victim, but her time is running out. Commandant Camille Verhoeven and his detectives have nothing to go on: no suspect, no lead, rapidly diminishing hope. All they know is that a girl was snatched off the streets of Paris and bundled into a white van. The enigma that is the fate of Alex will keep Verhoeven guessing until the bitter, bitter end. And before long, saving her life will be the least of his worries.
Winner of the 2010 Non-Fiction National Book Award Patti Smith's evocative, honest and moving coming-of-age story of her extraordinary relationship with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe
