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'A powerful and truthful story about hope and how to find it' The Times 'A gem of a book' Emily Maitlis Emma's husband Chris is fretting about starvation and societal collapse. He's turned off the heating and is stockpiling off-label medicines and tins of baked beans. Chris, certain that society will soon spiral to its doom, finds Emma's optimism exasperating. Emma finds Chris's obsession with disaster relentless. She's beginning to wonder whether relationships, like mortgages, should be conducted in five-year increments. But when Chris's mother turns up for a visit, the cracks begin to show. Will Emma and Chris be able to find their way back to each other?
WINNER OF THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2015 SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2015 AND THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2015 Meet the Bradleys. In lots of ways, they’re a normal family: Zippy is sixteen and in love for the first time; Al is thirteen and dreams of playing for Liverpool. And in some ways, they’re a bit different: Seven-year-old Jacob believes in miracles. So does his dad. But these days their mum doesn’t believe in anything, not even getting out of bed. How does life go on, now that Issy is gone?
Clover Quinn was a surprise. She used to imagine she was the good kind, now she’s not sure. She’d like to ask Dad about it, but growing up in the saddest chapter of someone else’s story is difficult. She tries not to skate on the thin ice of his memories. Darren has done his best. He's studied his daughter like a seismologist on the lookout for waves and surrounded her with everything she might want - everything he can think of, at least - to be happy. What Clover wants is answers. This summer, she thinks she can find them in the second bedroom, which is full of her mother's belongings. Volume isn't important, what she is looking for is essence; the undiluted bits: a collection of things that will tell the full story of her mother, her father and who she is going to be. But what you find depends on what you're searching for.
They say there's no place like home. It's where the heart is... Meet the little boy who believes in miracles. Meet the mother who loves to bring babies home from the newborn aisle of her supermarket. Meet the husband who carves a longed-for baby out of ice as a gift for his wife. Meet the widow who is reminded of romance whilst pegging out the washing. Awarded the Scott Prize for short story writing, Sweet Home weaves together moments of joy, heartache, sadness and unwavering love as told through seventeen very different notions of home.
"The six members of the Bradley family have always been close. But in the wake of a tragedy that leaves a hole in the very center of their lives, they suddenly find themselves coming apart. Claire, a convert to the Mormon faith, is so shattered by what's happened that she can't even bring herself to get out of bed. Her husband, Ian, however is more secure in his belief that everything happens for a reason. As a bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he's utterly consumed with ministering to his congregation, even as his family falls to pieces all around him. Zippy, seventeen and 100% sure she's on the path to righteousness, struggles to balance the demands of the church and the attentions of a boy. Al, fourteen, chafes at his father's platitudes and skips school to play soccer in the park with his friends. And last but not least, Jacob, seven, is working on resurrecting his goldfish in the hopes of performing a much larger miracle, one that might put everyone in his family back in their right place. A Song for Issy Bradley is a brilliant and heartfelt debut, a gorgeously written and keenly observed meditation on the enduring bonds of faith and family"--
Part coming-of-age story, part mystery, The Trouble with Goats and Sheep is a quirky and utterly charming debut about a community in need of absolution and two girls learning what it means to belong.
'Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.' Zelda Fitzgerald Love is not a singular concept. In this collection, seven award-winning authors explore seven concepts of love: from Philautia, self-love, to Agape, love for humanity; and from Storge, a natural affection for family, to Mania, a frenzied, obsessive love. Seven authors; seven short stories; seven flashes of love. This paperback edition of How Much the Heart Can Hold includes the winning short story from the SceptreLoves short story Prize.
The Betty Trask Award winner: A young female convict recounts her life to discover the good in it, and in herself, in this “moving, compassionate” novel (The Sunday Times). Twenty-one-year-old Beth has done plenty of good, grown-up sorts of things—including having a baby. But she’s also done something bad enough to land her in prison. At the urging of her counselor, she begins to make a list of all the good things that have happened to her. It’s difficult at first, as she was abandoned by her mother and shuffled from one foster home to another. Hers is a life that veered from a brilliantly artistic childhood to rough boyfriends and thankless jobs. As she writes, however, she begins to understand that every life has moments of peace, friendship, and triumph. From sharing silence with someone she loves, to feeling so happy it hurts, she begins to see her life—and herself—anew. But Beth must also acknowledge the act that sent her to jail, and confront the question: Is there a chance for her redemption?
It’s 1920s England, and the coastal town of Gravely is finally enjoying a fragile peace after the Great War. Jon Lowell, a naturalist who writes articles on the flora and fauna of the shoreline, and his wife Harriet lead a simple life, basking in their love for each other and enjoying the company of Jon’s visiting old school friend David. But when an American whaler arrives in town with his beautiful red-haired daughters, boasting of his plans to build a pier and pleasure grounds a half-mile out to sea, unexpected tensions and temptations arise. As secrets multiply, Harriet, Jon and David must each ask themselves, what price is to be paid for pleasure?
They say there's no place like home. It's where the heart is... Meet the little boy who believes in miracles. Meet the mother who loves to bring babies home from the newborn aisle of her supermarket. Meet the husband who carves a longed-for baby out of ice as a gift for his wife. Meet the widow who is reminded of romance whilst pegging out the washing. Awarded the Scott Prize for short story writing, Sweet Home weaves together moments of joy, heartache, sadness and unwavering love as told through seventeen very different notions of home.