It's Summer, 1944. In the 'stifling heat of equatorial Newark', a terrifying epidemic is raging. Vigorous, decent, twenty-three year old playground director Bucky Cantor is devoted to his charges and disappointed with himself because his weak eyes have excluded him from serving in the war.
Meet Gallant Ash: hero, folk legend and master of war. Ash is a leader of men and a brutal and fearless soldier. Will look you dead in the eye and kill for no reason. But Ash has a secret. Gallant Ash is a woman. This is her story.Cormac McCarthy meets 'True Grit' meets 'Gone With the Wind' (with fewer dresses).
Modern fictionIrvine Welsh's latest novel, now in paperback, is a thriller about the corruption and abuse of the human soul, the possibilities of redemption, and deals with the challenging subject-matter of organised paedophile gangs. 'By some distance Welsh's most restrained and thoughtful work... The themes...are distressing, but Welsh's take is surprisingly considered and compassionate, and ultimately an old-fashioned moral one' Times
Modern fictionFirst published in Spain 60 years ago, and translated into 18 languages, this is a sparkling new English edition of this classic novel, with a preface by Mario Vargas Llosa. 'A welcome rediscovery and a fascinating danse macabre' Daily Mail
In this powerful and astonishing novel, Willa Cather created one of the most winning yet thoroughly convincing heroines in American fiction. Antonia Shimerda, the daughter of Bohemian immigrants, not only survives her father's suicide, poverty, and a failed romance, she triumphs with high spirits.
Wind/Pinball includes Haruki Murakami's first two novels, published back-to-back, available for the first time in English outside Japan. With a new introduction by the author.
A stunning bespoke gift package featuring an iconic design from the prize-winning artist, Noma Bar, eye-catching sprayed edges and ribbon. The perfect present for those who like their beauty with a bit of bite.
The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire - neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs.
Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood's devastating irony, wit and astute perception.
The whole family on the porch, half-listening as their mother tells the same tale they have heard so many times before. From that porch we spool back through the generations, witnessing the events, secrets and unguarded moments that have come to define the family.
Modern fictionRushdie's sensual novel, spanning East and West, history and fable, counterpointing Mughal India and Renaissance Florence and finding uncanny similarities. Controversially omitted from this year's Man Booker shortlist, but sure to be a paperback bestseller nonetheless. 'For Rushdie, as for the artists he writes about, the pen is a magician's wand. There is more magic than realism... but it is I think one of his best. If The Enchantress Of Florence doesn't win this year's Man Booker I'll curry my proof copy and eat it' The reviewer from the Financial Times may now be suffering from indigestion.....
The year is 1972. The Cold War is far from over. Britain is being torn apart by industrial unrest and terrorism. Serena Frome, in her final year at Cambridge, is being groomed for MI5.
Greer Kadetsky is a shy college student when she meets the woman who will shape her life. Faith Frank, dazzlingly persuasive and elegant, has been a pillar of the women's movement for decades, a figure who inspires others. Hearing Faith speak for the first time, in a crowded campus chapel, Greer - misunderstood yet full of longing for an ambition that she can't quite place - feels herself changed. And then, astonishingly, Faith invites her to make something out of this new sense of purpose, with a career opportunity that leads her down the most exciting and rewarding path as it winds towards and away from her meant-to-be love story with high school sweetheart Cory and the future she had always imagined. Expansive and wise, compassionate and witty, The Female Persuasion is about the spark we all believe is flickering inside us, waiting to be seen and fanned by the right person at the right time, and the desire within all of us to be pulled into the light.
