Showing titles in Contemporary Fiction

Missouri, 1985: Um vor den Problemen zu Hause zu fliehen, nimmt der fünfzehnjährige Sam einen Ferienjob in einem alten Kino an. Und einen magischen Sommer lang ist alles auf den Kopf gestellt. Er findet Freunde, verliebt sich und entdeckt die Geheimnisse seiner Heimatstadt. Zum ersten Mal ist er kein unscheinbarer Außenseiter mehr. Bis etwas passiert, das ihn zwingt, erwachsen zu werden. Die Geschichte eines Sommers, den man nie mehr vergisst.

Als Tengo seinen komatösen Vater im Krankenhaus besuchen will, findet er in dessen Krankenbett eine Puppe aus Luft vor, die ein Abbild Aomames als junges Mädchen in sich birgt. Er greift nach ihrer Hand, und eine unsichtbare Verbindung entsteht. Fortan wartet Tengo darauf, der Puppe nochmals zu begegnen, doch vergebens. War das Signal nicht stark genug, um die zwischen Leben und Tod schwankende Aomame zu retten?

Sous le regard émerveillé de leur fils, ils dansent sur "Mr. Bojangles" de Nina Simone. Leur amour est magique, vertigineux, une fête perpétuelle. Chez eux, il n'y a de place que pour le plaisir, la fantaisie et les amis. Celle qui donne le ton, qui mène le bal, c'est la mère, feu follet imprévisible et extravagant. C'est elle qui a adopté le quatrième membre de la famille, Mademoiselle Superfétatoire, un grand oiseau exotique qui déambule dans l'appartement.

Tragicómica y melancólica, esta novela nos presenta un mundo plúmbeo y totalitario, dominado por fuerzas ciegas e impersonales. Un escenario humano desolador en el que la inteligencia es anulada por la fuerza bruta y la violencia, y en el que el caos arrastra irremediablemente a unos personajes que, entre el conformismo y la insignificancia, no aciertan a crear un orden nuevo menos cruel y menos gris. El estallido de violencia no alcanza siquiera el rango de revolución y la vida transcurre, en esta pequeña y anónima ciudad húngara, sumida en una atmósfera de terror y amarga ironía.

Meet Horace Hopper, a 21-year-old farm hand in Tonopah, Nevada, who works for Mr Reece and his wife, the nearest thing he's had to family in years. But Horace, half white, half Paiute Indian, dreams of bigger things. Leaving behind the farm and its fragile stability, he heads south to reinvent himself as the Mexican boxer Hector Hidalgo. Slowly, painfully, the possibility emerges that his dreams might not just be the delusions of a lost soul. But at what cost, and what of those he's left behind?

Obsessively neat Lily, a writer who writes about writers, is asked to interview the enigmatic Rita Boothe, journalist, photographer, self-styled culinary expert, and wit. Sitting in Rita's living room, leafing through a book of photographs from the early '70s, Lily comes across a picture of an incandescently sexy young woman sitting in the back of a limousine, swigging Jack Daniels. It is her mother, Mattie. Lily isn't shocked. She's envious.

From the prize-winning author of Seating Arrangements comes an exquisitely written, fiercely compelling glimpse into the demanding world of professional ballet and its magnetic hold over two generations. Astonish Me is the irresistible story of Joan, a young American dancer who helps a Soviet ballet star, the great Arslan Rusakov, defect in 1975. A flash of fame and a passionate love affair follow, but Joan knows that, onstage and off, she is destined to remain in the shadows.

A novel for Welsh learners (Entry level) by author, Bethan Gwanas, winner of the Mary Vaughan Jones prize for her exceptional contribution to children and young people's literature. 19 year old Hywel starts his own business after his grandad leaves him a strimmer in his will. Still missing his beloved grandad, Hywel starts working at a cemetery and finds friendship in the most unexpected placeNofel i ddysgwyr Mynediad gan yr awdur poblogaidd Bethan Gwanas, enillydd gwobr Mary Vaughan Jones am ei chyfraniad rhagorol i faes llyfrau plant a phobl ifanc.

'Harry Perkins was buried on the day that America declared war on China.' The definitive post-Brexit thriller, and long-awaited sequel to the bestselling A Very British Coup. 'Brilliant, chilling and all too plausible.' Alastair Campbell ?'Terrific...measured, heart-stopping, moving, clear-eyed'...

David Storey's This Sporting Life, set in the industrial north, brilliantly conveys 21-year-old steelworker Arthur Machin's love of his rugby league, his success on the field, and his feelings towards his widowed landlady, as well as his bouts of doubt and anxiety.

When 26-year-old Ayan is sent to live with his grumpy old grandfather Gopal Shanker in a tiny village in Kerala, he is understandably devastated. What can a sleepy, idyllic village without even internet connectivity offer a young man?

The much anticipated sequel to the million-copy international bestselling debut The Second Chance Convenience Store. Welcome back to the store where everyone has a story. The Second Chance Convenience Store is open again. After captivating millions of readers worldwide, The Second Chance...

*** THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR *** 'A perfect Christmas read...about family ties and forgiveness that will get you in the mood for the festive season' Woman's Way Warmth, wisdom and love on every page - if you treasured Maeve Binchy, read Patricia Scanlan. Number 1 bestselling author...

One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century The extraordinary new novel from the acclaimed author of Bad Behavior and Two Girls, Fat and Thin, Veronica is about flesh and spirit, vanity, mortality, and mortal affection. Set mostly in Paris and Manhattan in the desperately...

When the rector, Peter, and his wife Caroline, decide to go to Africa for a year to work in a mission, they take their twins with them. The village inhabitants whose lives revolve around the church and this family are bereft. They don't immediately take to the woman locum, Anna, who has modern ideas, happy clappy hymns and so forth, but she does fill the church with parishioners determined to keep an eye on her.

Paul West, a young Englishman, arrives in Paris to start a new job and finds out what the French are really like. They do eat a lot of cheese, some of which smells like pigs' droppings. They don't wash their armpits with garlic soap. Going on strike really is the second national participation sport after petanque. And, yes, they do use suppositories.

Повесть, в которой тема взросления будто переворачивается с ног на голову и обретает черты сюрреалистического юмора! Книга, в которой гомерически смешно и изощренно зло пародируется сама идея счастливого детства. Чуткий и умный Санаев все правильно понял. Оттого ценность его повести возрастает, и ей гарантировано место в истории русской литературы.

Stan Barstow's A Kind of Loving finds Vic Brown in a bleak Yorkshire industrial town, striving for maturity in his relationship with girlfriend Ingrid and her small-town ways. The story examines in great detail his feelings as the relationship develops.

Richard Huw perfectly captures the mood and the character in his reading.

The small town of Bridgeford is in crisis. The high street is half empty, businesses are closing and the idea of civic pride seems old-fashioned to the commuters rushing home from work. Somehow, it seems to have lost its heart. But there is one thing that might just bring the town together...

From award-winning author ReShonda Tate Billingsley comes an intriguing, heartfelt tale about long held family secrets, truths that won’t stay hidden, and how facing the ultimate loss can force us to find our own ways to make amends and heal … Raising four very different daughters on her own in rural Arkansas wasn’t easy for Miss Pearly Bell.