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'A unique and breathtaking talent.' Scarlett Thomas "Gonzalo Garcia is so talented: a new deep and hilarious literary voice." Dorthe Nors Tomás' girlfriend has left him. She has, in fact, fled to Antarctica, leaving him alone in Santiago, where life is rapidly passing him by. Tomás is a game designer – but he can't see his ideas through. Tomás also works in a university – where he spends most of his time hiding under a desk. Tomás' flat is falling apart. The band he used to play in is doing annoyingly well. He drinks coffee though a straw straight from the pot because he doesn't own a cup... This smart, funny debut novel from Gonzalo G. Garcia gives a new voice to a disenchanted generation. With its Chilean setting, willingness to play with form and uniquely messed-up central character, it's unlike anything else. But it's also universal. Tomás may be someone who ends up sleeping in a tent in his own living room. But his loss and longing, not to mention his jokes, will touch everyone.
In My Mind To Me A Kingdom Is, the extraordinary follow-up to his prize-winning novel Forbidden Line, Paul Stanbridge tells us about remarkable things. He tells us about the plains of Doggerland, lost under the North Sea. He tells us about ancient horses, carved into chalk hillsides. He tells us about the mysteries of trees. My Mind to Me A Kingdom Is is a book bursting with the joy of discovery, the beauty of the world, and the rich, warm pulse of life. It is also a book about death. In 2015, Paul's brother took his own life, leaving behind pitifully few possessions and an irreducible complex of questions. In his search for answers, Paul discovers that facts can be the opposite of truth, and that to see something fully, we must sometimes look away. Blending fiction and memoir, knowing and unknowing, love and loss, My Mind To Me A Kingdom Is is a heartbreaking and generous exploration of grief. A beautiful and painful tribute to Paul's brother, it stands alone.
NATHAN TREEVES IS DEAD, murdered by the Master of Mordew, his remains used to create the powerful occult weapon known as the Tinderbox. His companions are scattered, making for Malarkoi, the city of the Mistress, the Master's enemy. They are hoping to find welcome there, or at least safety. They find neither – and instead become embroiled in a life and death struggle against assassins, demi-gods, and the cunning plans of the Mistress. Only Sirius, Nathan's faithful magical dog, has not forgotten the boy. Bent on revenge, he returns to the shattered remains of Mordew – only to find the city morphed into an impossible mountain, swarming with monsters. He senses something in the Manse at its pinnacle – the Master is there, grieving the loss of his manservant, Bellows – and in the ruins of the slums Sirius finds a power capable of destroying his foe, if only he has the strength to use it. The stage is set for battle, sacrifice, magic and treachery in the stunning sequel to Mordew. ... Welcome to Malarkoi..
Toby Litt's father wanted him to find about their ancestor: William Litt, a champion Cumberland Wrestler.William was one of the greatest ever 'kings of the green' - a man who reigned undefeated in one of the nineteenth century's most popular sports, taking home over 200 prize belts. William had other talents, as well. He was almost certainly a smuggler - and definitely published poet and novelist.But Toby knew that coming to terms with him would be hard. A huge and fascinating man, William was also troubling. He ended his life in poverty and exile. And as well as having to measure himself up against this apparent paragon of masculinity, Toby would have to uncover uncomfortable memories and hard truths.Would Toby like what he found out about himself along the way? As a novelist, as a son, and as a father in turn? Would he have to get in the wrestling ring? ... Would he even want to?Using the nineteenth century as a guide, Wrestliana asks vital questions about modern-day masculinity, competition, and success. It is a beautiful portrait of two men and their different worlds, full of surprises and sympathy, and a wonderful evocation of a lost place and time.
Adam Biles's anarchic return to Animal Farm is a warped fable; a state-of-the-farmyard novel about back-stabbers, truth-twisters and corrupt charlatans. Manor Farm has reinvented itself as the South of England's premium petting zoo. Now humans and beasts alike are invited (for a small fee) to come and stroke, fondle, and take rides on the farm's inhabitants. But life is not a bed of roses for the animals, in spite of what their leaders may want them to believe. Elections are murky, the community is beset by factions, and sacred mottos are being constantly updated. Manor Farm is descending into chaos. What's more, a mysterious illness has started ripping through its residents, killing them one by one... In Beasts of England, Adam Biles honours, updates and subverts George Orwell's classic, all the while channelling the chaos of populist politics in the internet age into a savage farmyard satire.
Meet Elliott. Elliott is hugely intelligent. He's an incredible observer. He has a beautiful and unusual imagination. To know him is to adore him. But Elliott is also stuck. He lives in an orphanage in 1979. He spends his days in a wheelchair, in an empty corridor, or wherever the Catholic Sisters who run the ward have decided to park him. So when Jim, blind and mute but also headstrong, arrives on the ward and begins to defy the Sisters' restrictive rules, Elliott finally sees a chance for escape. Together, they could achieve a magnificent freedom – if only for a few hours. But how can Elliott, unable to move or speak clearly, communicate all this to Jim? How can he even get Jim to know he exists? Patience is a remarkable story of love and friendship, courage and adventure. It is also about finding joy in the most unlikely of settings. Elliott and Jim are going to have fun.
'I invite you, dear reader, to enter this beautiful world. I invite you to fall in love.' The Book of Desire is the award-winning writer Meena Kandasamy's luminous translation of the Kamattu-p-pal, a 2000-year-old song of female love and desire. The Kamattu-p-pal is the most intimate section of the Tirukkural – one of the most important texts in Tamil literature. Its verses rejoice in the pleasures of sex, beauty and all aspects of love. Although hundreds of male translations of the text have been published, it has also ever been translated by a woman once before. It is also, historically, the part that has been most heavily censored. The Book of Desire is Meena Kandasamy's own feminist reclamation of this great work. With her trademark wit, lyricism and insight, she weaves a magic spell: ensuring this timeless classic feels fresh and passionate. It fizzes with energy and joy – and tells a vital story about female agency and desire. It is a revolution 2000 years in the making.
It's 1895. Amid laundry and bruises, Rina Pierangeli Faccio gives birth to the child of the man who raped her – and who she has also been forced to marry. Unbroken, she determines to change her name; and her life, alongside it. 1902. Romaine Brooks sails for Capri. She has barely enough money for the ferry, nothing for lunch; her paintbrushes are bald and clotted... But she is sure she can sell a painting – and is fervent in her belief that the island is detached from all fates she has previously suffered. ... In 1923, Virginia Woolf writes: I want to make life fuller – and fuller. Sarah Bernhardt – Colette – Eleanora Duse – Lina Poletti – Josephine Baker – Virginia Woolf... these are just a few of the women sharing the pages of a book as fierce as it is luminous. Lush and poetic; furious and funny; in After Sappho, Selby Wynn Schwartz has created a novel that celebrates the women and trailblazers of the past – their constant efforts to push against the boundaries of what it means, and can mean, to be a woman – that also offers hope for our present, and our futures.
Megan Dunn was in a hole. Her attempt to write a fictional tribute to Fahrenheit 451 wasn't going well. Borders, the bookseller she worked for, was going bust. Her marriage was failing. Her prospects were narrowing. The world wasn’t quite against her – but it wasn’t exactly helping either. Riffing on Ray Bradbury's classic novel about the end of reading, Tinderbox is one of the most interesting books in decades about literary culture and its place in the world. More than that, it's about how every one of us fits into that bigger picture – and the struggle to make sense of life in the twenty-first century. Ironically enough for a book about failures in art, Tinderbox itself is a fantastic achievement; a wonderfully crafted and beautifully written work of non-fiction that is by turns brilliantly funny and achingly sad. ... Tinderbox is one of the most successful books about failure you will ever read.
Chosen by The Observer as a Fiction Pick for 2016 and described as a 'scintillating novel of ideas', Feeding Time is a debut like no other: a blast of rage against the dying of the light. Dot is losing the will to live. Tristan is sick of emptying bedpans. Cornish spends entire days barricaded in his office. And Ruggles... well. Ruggles is damn well going to escape those Nazi villains and get back to active duty. The mix is all the more combustible since Dot, Tristan, Cornish and Ruggles are all under the same roof – that of a rapidly declining old people's home called Green Oaks. There's going to be an explosion. It's going to be messy. And nobody knows who will pick up the pieces.