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'Exceptional ... The imaginative storytelling and fine prose of Remembrance Sunday puts McKeon in the big leagues' Irish Times 'A supreme storyteller' Sunday Times 'If you enjoy Colum McCann's work, this novel is for you' Irish Independent 'Impressive ... A poignant, delicately composed novel that doesn't stint on the wreckage of violence' Daily Mail 'Beautifully written' Sunday Independent From the acclaimed author of All That is Solid Melts into Air Chinatown, New York. After a chance encounter with an old friend, Simon Hanlon, an Irish architect, experiences a seizure, his first in almost thirty years. Soon, they come to him daily. As he awaits a brain operation, Simon turns his mind back...
“Brilliantly imagined in its harrowing account of the Chernobyl disaster and exhilarating in its sweep, All That Is Solid Melts into Air is a debut to rattle all the windows and open up the ventricles of the heart. . . . The book is daring, exhilarating, generous and beautifully written.” — Colum McCann A brilliant and gripping novel set against the tragedy of Chernobyl and the way in which the lives of its survivors were forever changed in its wake. Part historical epic, part love story, it recalls The English Patient in its mix of emotional intimacy and sweeping landscape. Russia, 1986. On a run-down apartment block in Moscow, a nine-year-old prodigy plays his piano silently for fear...
All That is Solid Melts into Air is an exceptionally moving novel of interwoven lives, set amidst one of the most iconic disasters in living memory: Chernobyl. 'Daring, ambitious, epic, moving' Colm Tóibín Coloured sheets of paper fall from the sky. This is their first indication that something serious has happened. Each sheet bears a message: you have three hours to evacuate, bring only one suitcase. From their balconies they can see a dark column of smoke rising above the nuclear plant. For the people of Pripyat, these are the last moments they will spend in their homes. For a child piano prodigy, a dissident factory worker, a broken-hearted surgeon and unknowing others, this disaster will change their lives forever . . . 'Shocking, vivid . . . sweeps with epic confidence across lives' Sunday Independent 'Astonishing . . . A page-turner' Irish Times 'A stunning debut' Guardian
The experience of modernization -- the dizzying social changes that swept millions of people into the capitalist world -- and modernism in art, literature and architecture are brilliantly integrated in this account.
One of the first twenty-first century Russian novels to probe the legacy of the Soviet prison camp system by one of Russia's finest young writers. A young man travels to the vast wastelands of the Far North to uncover the truth about a shadowy neighbour who saved his life, and whom he knows only as Grandfather II. What he finds, among the forgotten mines and decrepit barracks of former gulags, is a world relegated to oblivion, where it is easier to ignore both the victims and the executioners than to come to terms with a terrible past. This disturbing tale evokes the great and ruined beauty of a land where man and machine worked in tandem with nature to destroy millions of lives during the Soviet century. Emerging from today's Russia, where the ills of the past are being forcefully erased from public memory, this masterful novel represents an epic literary attempt to rescue history from the brink of oblivion.
In The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko, Scott Stambach presents a hilarious, heart-wrenching, and powerful debut novel about an orphaned boy who finds love and hope in a Russian hospital after Chernobyl. Seventeen-year-old Ivan Isaenko is a life-long resident of the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus. Born deformed yet mentally keen with a frighteningly sharp wit, strong intellect, and a voracious appetite for books, Ivan is forced to interact with the world through the vivid prism of his mind. For the most part, every day is exactly the same for Ivan, which is why he turns everything into a game, manipulating people and events around him for his own amusement. That is, until a new resident named Polina arrives at the hospital. At first Ivan resents Polina. She steals his books. She challenges his routine. The nurses like her. She is exquisite. But soon he cannot help being drawn to her and the two forge a romance that is tenuous and beautiful and everything they never dared dream of. Before, he survived by being utterly detached from things and people. Now Ivan wants something more: Ivan wants Polina to live.
Reflecting upon his childhood and the renowned 90s so as to fill in blanks that have remained largely unspoken of, The Final Say is set to reveal what Carlton's life has been like over the last 2 decades....this book is sure to surprise many who have pre-conceptions on both his beliefs and his private life! Offering so much more than just violence and crime, this book also delves into intimate details of Carlton's life, from his east London up-bringing including his 1960s and 70s schooling, the highs experienced over decades of partying in Ibiza, to the immense pain of watching his father fade and pass away, plus so much more inbetween. Here, Carlton recalls the most extreme moments in his life that have yet to be discussed, from the most joyous to the excruciating. This is a rare opportunity to hear, not just from the man himself, but also from those closest to him; Carlton's family and inner-circle. For Carlton, it's time to set rumours straight, leave his legacy and for him to have the final say. Going a step further than the written word, this book also includes over 35 never before published photographs!
The 1970s brought a new understanding of the biological and intellectual impact of environmental crises on human beings, and as efforts to prevent ecological and human degradation aligned, a new literature of sickness emerged. “Ecosickness fiction” imaginatively rethinks the link between ecological and bodily endangerment and uses affect and the sick body to bring readers to environmental consciousness. Tracing the development of ecosickness through a compelling archive of modern U.S. novels and memoirs, this study demonstrates the mode’s crucial role in shaping thematic content and formal and affective literary strategies. Examining works by David Foster Wallace, Richard Powers, Lesli...
'BLISTERING' THE TIMES * 'EXTRAORDINARY' FINANCIAL TIMES SOON TO BE A MJAOR MOTION PICTURE A gut-wrenching love story set in the underbelly of New York, about the unexpected connection between an illegal Uyghur migrant and a damaged Iraq veteran. *Winner of the New York City Book Award for Fiction* *Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Fiction* Set in the underbelly of New York, Preparation for the Next Life exposes an America as seen from the fringes of society and, in devastating detail, destroys the myth of the American Dream through two of the most remarkable characters in contemporary fiction. Powerful, realistic and raw, this is one of the most ambitious – and necessary – novels of our time. New York Times Best of 2014 Wall Street Journal's Best of 2014 Vanity Fair's Best of 2014 Publishers Weekly's Best of 2014 BuzzFeed's Best of 2014 New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2015
We were all equal, but sometimes the band could be led by whoever shouted the loudest. Step inside one of Australia's most beloved and hard-working bands. For eighteen years, Mark Seymour fronted Hunters and Collectors - although he was never remotely in control of it. Together they released songs that remain Australian anthems like Talking to a Stranger, Say Goodbye, Throw Your Arms Around Me and Holy Grail. The band was also a great social experiment - an artistic collective that shared everything equally, from the drinks rider to songwriting copyright. It couldn't last. In the end, the relentless touring machine known as 'Hunnas' didn't break up so much as switch itself off. With a songwr...