Showing 2177–2192 of 2309 resultsSorted by popularity
-
The Tattooist Of Auschwitz
This novel is based on the true story of lale and gita sokolov, two slovakian jews, who survived auschwitz and eventually made their home in australia. in that terrible place, lale was given the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival – literally scratching numbers into his fellow victims’ arms in indelible ink to create what would become one of the most potent symbols of the holocaust. lale used the infinitesimal freedom of movement that this position awarded him to exchange jewels and money taken from murdered jews for food to keep others alive. if he had been caught he would have been killed; many owed him their survival.
-
The Poppy War
Winner of the reddit fantasy award for best debut 2018 ‘the best fantasy debut of 2018’ – wired a brilliantly imaginative epic fantasy debut, inspired by the bloody history of china’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic. when rin aced the keju – the test to find the most talented students in the empire – it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from rooster province could pass without cheating; to rin’s guardians, who had hoped to get rich by marrying her off; and to rin herself, who realized she was finally free from a life of servitude. that she got into sinegard – the most elite military school in nikan – was even more surprising. but surprises aren’t always good. because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at sinegard. fighting the prejudice of rival classmates, rin discovers that she possesses a lethal, unearthly power – an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. exploring the depths of her gift with the help of psychoactive substances and a seemingly insane teacher, rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive – and that mastering these powers could mean more than just surviving school. for while the nikara empire is at peace, the federation of mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. the federation occupied nikan for decades after the first poppy war, and only barely lost the continent in the second. and while most people calmly go about their lives, a few are aware that a third poppy war is just a spark away…
-
21st Birthday
‘smart characters, shocking twists’ lisa gardner ‘i couldn’t turn the pages quick enough’ heidi perks ‘terrific, high-octane, really pacy’ jo spain ‘a compelling read with great set pieces and, most of all, that charismatic cast of characters’ sun ______________ the sunday times bestseller will she live to see her twenty-first birthday? when a distraught mother pleads with reporter cindy thomas to investigate the disappearance of her daughter, tara, and her baby granddaughter, cindy goes straight to sfpd sergeant lindsay boxer. the prime suspect is tara’s husband, but he tells a conflicting story that paints tara as a wayward wife, not a missing person. is this a tragic case of domestic violence? or is the truth linked to a more complex network of killings? as the case grows into something far bigger than any of them could have imagined, the women’s murder club will need to work together to unpick the truth from a web of lies. ______________ more praise for the women’s murder club ‘fast-moving, intricately plotted . . . boxer steals the show as the tough cop with a good heart’ mirror ‘i have never begun a patterson book and been able to put it down’ larry king ‘patterson and paetro at their best…. a series that shows no signs of fatigue or flagging’ bookreporter. com
-
Wolf Hall
Now a major tv series winner of the man booker prize shortlisted for the the orange prize shortlisted for the costa novel award `dizzyingly, dazzlingly good’ daily mail ‘our most brilliant english writer’ guardian england, the 1520s. henry viii is on the throne, but has no heir. cardinal wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes thomas cromwell, first as wolsey’s clerk, and later his successor. cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. his reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages. from one of our finest living writers, wolf hall is that very rare thing: a truly great english novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. with a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us tudor england as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion and suffering and courage.
-
The Confessions Of Frannie Langton
They say i must be put to death for what happened to madame, and they want me to confess. but how can i confess what i don’t believe i’ve done? 1826, and all of london is in a frenzy. crowds gather at the gates of the old bailey to watch as frannie langton, maid to mr and mrs benham, goes on trial for their murder. the testimonies against her are damning – slave, whore, seductress. and they may be the truth. but they are not the whole truth. for the first time frannie must tell her story. it begins with a girl learning to read on a plantation in jamaica, and it ends in a grand house in london, where a beautiful woman waits to be freed. but through her fevered confessions, one burning question haunts frannie langton- could she have murdered the only person she ever loved?
-
The Hunger Games
In a future north america, where the rulers of panem maintain control through a televised survival competition pitting young people against one another, sixteen-year-old katniss’s skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister’s place. |
-
End Of Story
The brand new edge-of-your-seat thriller from the author of the smash hit bestseller the woman in the window. ‘elegant, absorbing, full of hitchcockian menace’ lucy foley ‘i was mesmerized’ lisa jewell ‘brilliantly plotted’ liz nugent ‘fans of detective fiction will be thrilled!’ shari lapena “i’ll be dead in three months. come tell my story.” this is the chilling invitation from sebastian trapp, renowned mystery novelist, to his long-time correspondent nicky hunter, an expert in detective fiction. welcomed into his lavish san francisco mansion, nicky begins to unravel trapp’s life story under the watchful eyes of his enigmatic wife and plainspoken daughter. but sebastian trapp is a mystery himself. and maybe – probably – a murderer. two decades ago, his first wife and son vanished, the case never solved. is the master of mystery playing a deadly game? if so, who will be the loser? and when a body surfaces in the family’s garden, they all realize the past isn’t buried – it’s waiting. what readers are saying about end of story ‘had me gripped all the way through to the jaw dropping finale!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘lots of plot twists to keep you on the edge of your seat’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘a great rollercoaster ride of a book’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘i changed my mind about the way i thought the plot would progress so many times, and was still surprised!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘this is a writer who loves words, loves mysteries, and loves weaving the two together’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘one of those books that once finished i want to read from start to finish all over again’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘the whole novel is packed full of atmosphere’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘an extremely twisted murder mystery’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
-
Life Of Pi
After the sinking of a crago ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue pacific. the only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, and orangutan-and a 450-pound royal bengel tiger.
-
The Sense Of An Ending
Includes poems of thwarted love and disappointment, of raw desire, of the stalking beast, ‘eye-teeth/and muzzle/coated with blood’; poems that recognise ‘we have too much to gain from the gods, and this is why/they fail to love us’; poems that tell of an obsessive lover coming to grief in a sequence that echoes the old murder ballads
-
The Snow Child
A bewitching tale of heartbreak and hope set in 1920s alaska, eowyn ivey’s the snow child was a top ten bestseller in hardback and paperback, and went on to be a finalist for the pulitzer prize. alaska, the 1920s. jack and mabel have staked everything on a fresh start in a remote homestead, but the wilderness is a stark place, and mabel is haunted by the baby she lost many years before. when a little girl appears mysteriously on their land, each is filled with wonder, but also foreboding: is she what she seems, and can they find room in their hearts for her? written with the clarity and vividness of the russian fairy tale from which it takes its inspiration, the snow child is an instant classic.
-
Property
First ever story collection from the inimitable lionel shriverthis landmark publication, the first collection of stories from a master of the form, explores the idea of “property” in both senses of the word: real estate, and stuff. these sharp, brilliantly imaginative pieces illustrate how our possessions act as proxies for ourselves, and how tussles over ownership articulate the power dynamics of our relationships. in shriver’s world, we may possess people and objects and places, but in turn they possess us. in the stunning novella “the standing chandelier” (‘a brutal treat’: daily mail), a woman with a history of attracting other women’s antagonism creates a deeply personal wedding present for her best friend and his wife-to-be. in “domestic terrorism,” a thirty-something son refuses to leave home, resulting in a standoff that renders him a millennial cause célèbre. in “the chapstick,” a middle-aged man subjugated by service to his elderly father discovers that the last place you should finally assert yourself is airport security. in “vermin,” an artistic brooklyn couple’s purchase of a ramshackle house destroys their once passionate relationship. in “the subletter,” two women, both foreign conflict junkies, fight over claim to a territory that doesn’t belong to either. this immensely readable collection showcases the biting insight that has made lionel shriver one of the most acclaimed authors of our time, described by the sunday times as ‘a brilliant writer’ with ‘a strong, clear and strangely seductive voice’.
-
Still Me
The runaway sunday times no.1 bestseller and thriller of the year, now a major film starring emily blunt ‘really great suspense novel. kept me up most of the night. the alcoholic narrator is dead perfect’ stephen king rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. she knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. she’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘jess and jason’, she calls them. their life – as she sees it – is perfect. if only rachel could be that happy. and then she sees something shocking. it’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. now everything’s changed. now rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar. now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…
-
A Painted House
The hill people and the mexicans arrived on the same day. it was a wednesday, early in september 1952. the cardinals were five games behind the dodgers with two weeks to go, and the season looked hopeless. the cotton, however, was waist high to my father, almost over my head, and he and my grandfather could be heard before supper whispering words that were seldom heard. it could be a good crop. thus begins the new novel from john grisham, a story inspired by his own childhood in rural arkansas. the narrator is a farm boy named luke chandler, age seven, who lives in the cotton fields with his parents and grandparents in a little house that’s never been painted. the chandlers farm eighty acres that they rent, not own, and when the cotton is ready they hire a truckload of mexicans and a family from the ozarks to help harvest it. for six weeks they pick cotton, battling the heat, the rain, the fatigue, and sometimes, each other. as the weeks pass luke sees and hears things no seven year old could possibly be prepared for, and finds himself keeping secrets that not only threaten the crop but will change the lives of the chandlers forever. a painted house is a moving story of one boy’s
