Download or read book Magpie Lane written by Lucy Atkins and published by Quercus. This book was released on 2020-02-01 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Riveting, twisty, page-turning stuff' Guardian A 'best books of 2020' pick for BBC Radio 4 Open Book, the Guardian, the Telegraph and Good Housekeeping 'The page turner you've been looking for. Sly, witty and gripping . . . I devoured it' Naomi Alderman 'An utter joy . . . wonderfully skilled' Sarah Perry 'Beguiling, brilliantly creepy, and an utterly compelling read' Claire Fuller 'Tender, creepy and gripping' Sunday Times 'Spellbinding and spooky . . . a dazzling high wire act, superbly absorbing' Sunday Mirror When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers. As Dee looks back over her time in the Master's Lodging - an eerie and ancient house - a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother. But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why is Felicity silent? Roaming Oxford's secret passages and hidden graveyards, Magpie Lane explores the true meaning of family - and what it is to be denied one. 'Enthralling . . . creepy and compelling' The Times 'Deliciously dark' Alexandra Shulman 'A gorgeously satisfying triumph' Lucy Mangan 'A rare thing . . . simply stunning' Daily Express 'I was gripped . . . highly original' Alex Clark 'Creepy, suspenseful' Independent 'One of the most intriguing narrators since Notes on a Scandal' Sara Collins 'Grown-up and cleverly written . . . a dizzying sense of uncertainty' Literary Review 'Keeps you guessing . . . a real sense of menace' Good Housekeeping 'Wholly beguiling' Mick Herron 'Dazzlingly good' Diane Setterfield 'Beautiful writing' Polly Samson 'Clever, tense and twisty' Amanda Craig 'Highly intelligent' Sarah Vaughan 'Simply brilliant!' JP Delaney 'Darkly atmospheric' Jane Fallon 'Clever and creepy' Erin Kelly 'Highly recommended' Louise Candlish

Download or read book The Night Visitor written by Lucy Atkins and published by Quercus. This book was released on 2018-07-03 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A COMPLEX, CREEPY, AND INSIDIOUS NOVEL ABOUT AMBITION." --THE GUARDIAN "READERS OF RUTH WARE AND GILLIAN FLYNN WILL LOVE IT." --LIBRARY JOURNAL (STARRED REVIEW) "FASCINATING, BRILLIANT, CREEPY." --GOOD HOUSEKEEPING If you had the perfect life . . . how far would you go to protect it? Professor Olivia Sweetman has worked hard to achieve the life of her dreams, with a high-flying career as a TV presenter and historian, three children, and a talented husband. Only one other person knows that Olivia's perfect life is in fact a desperate tangle of lies: Vivian Tester, the socially awkward, middle-aged housekeeper of a Sussex manor who found the Victorian diary of a pioneering female surgeon on which Olivia's new biography is based. In a gripping narrative that shifts between London, Sussex, and the idyllic South of France, Olivia and Vivian will learn knife-edged truths about themselves and discover just how far each will go to protect her reputation.

Download or read book Everyone Is Still Alive written by Cathy Rentzenbrink and published by Phoenix. This book was released on 2021-07-08 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER HAPPILY EVER AFTER? 'I can't stop thinking about it' Elizabeth Day 'A total triumph' Nina Stibbe 'Beautiful, moving and so funny and well-observed' Philippa Perry When Juliet moves into her late mother's house, making friends with the neighbouring families is the last thing on her mind. Grief and guilt are weighing her down, and working motherhood is a juggle. But for her husband Liam, the morning coffees and after-school gatherings soon reveal the secret struggles, fears and rivalries playing out behind closed doors - all of which are perfect inspiration for his new novel . . . When the rupture of a marriage sends ripples through the group, painful home truths are brought to light. And then, one sun-drenched afternoon, life overturns in an instant and nothing on Magnolia Road will ever be the same again. The fiction debut from Sunday Times bestselling author Cathy Rentzenbrink, Everyone Is Still Alive is funny and moving, intimate and wise; a novel that explores the deeper realities of marriage and parenthood and the way life thwarts our expectations at every turn.

Download or read book I Want You to Know We re Still Here written by Esther Safran Foer and published by Crown. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARDS FINALIST • “Part personal quest, part testament, and all thoughtfully, compassionately written.”—The Washington Post “Esther Safran Foer is a force of nature: a leader of the Jewish people, the matriarch of America’s leading literary family, an eloquent defender of the proposition that memory matters. And now, a riveting memoirist.”—Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR Esther Safran Foer grew up in a home where the past was too terrible to speak of. The child of parents who were each the sole survivors of their respective families, for Esther the Holocaust loomed in the backdrop of daily life, felt but never discussed. The result was a childhood marked by painful silences and continued tragedy. Even as she built a successful career, married, and raised three children, Esther always felt herself searching. So when Esther’s mother casually mentions an astonishing revelation—that her father had a previous wife and daughter, both killed in the Holocaust—Esther resolves to find out who they were, and how her father survived. Armed with only a black-and-white photo and a hand-drawn map, she travels to Ukraine, determined to find the shtetl where her father hid during the war. What she finds reshapes her identity and gives her the opportunity to finally mourn. I Want You to Know We’re Still Here is the poignant and deeply moving story not only of Esther’s journey but of four generations living in the shadow of the Holocaust. They are four generations of survivors, storytellers, and memory keepers, determined not just to keep the past alive but to imbue the present with life and more life.

Download or read book Magpie written by Elizabeth Day and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-05-03 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For fans of The Last Mrs. Parrish comes a twisty psychological suspense novel about motherhood, obsession, and just how far some will go for the perfect family. “Great, plain and simple” (Stanley Tucci). Marisa and Jake are a perfect couple. And Kate, their new lodger, is the perfect roommate—and not just because her rent payments will give them the income they need to start trying for the baby of their dreams. Except—no one is truly perfect. Sure, Kate doesn’t seem to care much about personal boundaries and can occasionally seem overly familiar with Jake. But Marisa doesn’t let it concern her, knowing that soon Kate will be gone, and it will just be her, Jake, and their future baby. Conceiving a baby is easier said than done, though, and Jake and Marisa’s perfect relationship is put to the test through months of fertility treatments and false starts. To make matters worse, Kate’s boundary-pushing turns into an all-out obsession—with Jake, with Marisa, and with their future child. Who is this woman? Why does she seem to know everything about Marisa and Jake? In her quest to find out who Kate really is, Marisa might destroy everything she’s worked so hard to create—her perfect romance, her perfect family, and her perfect self. Jake doesn’t know the half of what Marisa has created—and what she stands to lose. For fans of Gone Girl and The Perfect Nanny, Magpie is a “tense” (The Guardian), “gorgeous” (Lisa Taddeo, bestselling author of Three Women), “completely, terrifyingly brilliant” (Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups) novel about mothers and children, envy and possession, and the dangers of getting everything you’ve ever dreamed of.

Download or read book The Other Child written by Lucy Atkins and published by Quercus. This book was released on 2016-02-06 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sometimes a lie seems kinder than the truth . . . but what happens when that lie destroys everything you love? When Tess is sent to photograph Greg, a high profile paediatric heart surgeon, she sees something troubled in his face, and feels instantly drawn to him. Their relationship quickly deepens, but then Tess, single mother to nine-year-old Joe, falls pregnant, and Greg is offered the job of a lifetime back in his hometown of Boston. Before she knows it, Tess is married, and relocating to the States. But life in an affluent American suburb proves anything but straightforward. Unsettling things keep happening in the large rented house, Joe is distressed, the next-door neighbors are in crisis, and Tess is sure that someone is watching her. Greg's work is all-consuming and, as the baby's birth looms, he grows more and more unreachable. Something is very wrong, Tess knows it, and then she makes a jaw-dropping discovery . . . A gripping psychological thriller from the author of the bestselling debut The Missing One and The Night Visitor.

Download or read book Magpie s Bend written by Maya Linnell and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pitch-perfect rural romance of community and family from the bestselling author of Bottlebrush Creek. 'A ripping good read...Maya's deep understanding of living in country Australia and down-to-earth good humour gives her story great authenticity...We can't wait for the next book to find out what happens to another member of the McIntyre sisterhood.' - Australian Country on Bottlebrush Creek 'Maya's books reek of authenticity and celebrate everything that's wonderful about small-town living' - Cassie Hamer, top 10 of 2021 Bush nurse Lara McIntyre and journalist Toby Paxton are thrust into the limelight when an accident puts the beating heart of their community in jeopardy. The small country town of Bridgefield can't manage without their general store and post office, but Lara can't stomach the idea of out-of-town buyers revamping it with no regard for what the residents want or need. She's also unsure about where Toby's allegiances lie in this fight. Loyalties are put to the test as the locals attempt to save the shop, with personal agendas, old grudges and misunderstandings threatening their best efforts. Featuring a black-tie ball, a fun run, a magpie called Vegemite and a snake-chasing kelpie called Basil, Magpie's Bend is a story about rural lives, family, love and letting go.

Download or read book All the Names They Used for God written by Anjali Sachdeva and published by Dial Press. This book was released on 2019-06-18 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “One of the best collections I’ve ever read. Every single story is a standout.”—Roxane Gay WINNER OF THE CHAUTAUQUA PRIZE • LONGLISTED FOR THE STORY PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • Refinery29 • BookRiot “Fuses science, myth, and imagination into a dark and gorgeous series of questions about our current predicaments.”­—Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See A dystopian tale about genetically modified septuplets who are struck by a mysterious illness; a love story about a man bewitched by a mermaid; a stirring imagining of the lives of Nigerian schoolgirls in the aftermath of a Boko Haram kidnapping. The stories in All the Names They Used for God break down genre barriers—from science fiction to American Gothic to magical realism to horror—and are united by each character’s brutal struggle with fate. Like many of us, the characters in this collection are in pursuit of the sublime. Along the way, they must navigate the borderland between salvation and destruction. NAMED A MUST-READ BOOK BY Harper’s Bazaar • Entertainment Weekly • AM New York • Reading Women AND A TOP READ BY Elle • Fast Company • The Christian Science Monitor • Bustle • Shondaland • Popsugar • Refinery29 • Bookish • Newsday • The Millions • Asian American Writers’ Workshop • HelloGiggles “Strange and wonderful . . . delightfully unexpected.”—The New York Times Book Review “Completing one [story] is like having lived an entire life, and then being born, breathless, into another.”—Carmen Maria Machado “Captivating.”—NPR “Gripping.”—Los Angeles Review of Books “[A] remarkable debut . . . Sachdeva is seemingly fearless and her talent limitless.”—AM New York “This phenomenal debut short-story collection is filled with stories that bring the otherworldly to life and examine the strangeness of humanity.”—Bustle “So rich they read like dreams . . . They are enormous stories, not in length but in ambition, each an entirely new, unsparing world. Beautiful, draining—and entirely unforgettable.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Download or read book A Linen Crow a Caftan Magpie written by Patrick Lane and published by Saskatoon : Thistledown Press. This book was released on 1984 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Missing One written by Lucy Atkins and published by Quercus. This book was released on 2015-02-03 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From the very first page I was drawn in, hook, line and sinker" --5-Star Reader Review The bestselling noir thriller about the lengths a mother will go to protect her child. Perfect for fans of While My Eyes Were Closed and The Widow. The loss of her mother has left Kali McKenzie with too many unanswered questions. But while clearing out Elena's art studio, she finds a drawer packed with postcards, each bearing an identical one-line message from a Canadian gallery owner called Susannah Gillespie: thinking of you. Who is this woman and what does she know about Elena's hidden past? Desperate to find out, Kali travels with her toddler, Finn, to Susannah's isolated home on a remote British Columbian island, a place of killer whales and storms. But as bad weather closes in, Kali quickly realises she has made a big mistake. The enigmatic Susannah refuses to talk about the past, and as Kali struggles to piece together what happened back in the 1970s, Susannah's behavior grows more and more erratic. Most worrying of all, Susannah is becoming increasingly preoccupied with little Finn . . . Enjoyed The Missing One? The new novel from the inimitable Lucy Atkins, The Night Visitor, is available now!

Download or read book The Language of Birds written by Jill Dawson and published by Sceptre. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on the infamous Lord Lucan affair, this compelling novel explores the roots of a shocking murder from a fresh perspective and brings to vivid life an era when women's voices all too often went unheard. In the summer of 1974, Mandy River arrives in London to make a fresh start and begins working as nanny to the children of one Lady Morven. She quickly finds herself in the midst of a bitter custody battle and the house under siege: Lord Morven is having his wife watched. According to Lady Morven, her estranged husband also has a violent streak, yet she doesn't seem the most reliable witness. Should Mandy believe her? As Mandy edges towards her tragic fate, her friend Rosemary watches from the wings - an odd girl with her own painful past and a rare gift. This time, though, she misreads the signs.

Download or read book Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder written by T.A. Willberg and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2020-12-29 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is the most fun I've had with a book this year. Every page is a delight and the mystery got its hooks into me from the first chapter.” – Stuart Turton, bestselling author of The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle The letter was short. A name, a time, a place. Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder plunges readers into the heart of London, to the secret tunnels that exist far beneath the city streets. There, a mysterious group of detectives recruited for Miss Brickett’s Investigations & Inquiries use their cunning and gadgets to solve crimes that have stumped Scotland Yard. Late one night in April 1958, a filing assistant at Miss Brickett’s receives a letter of warning, detailing a name, a time, and a place. She goes to investigate but finds the room empty. At the stroke of midnight, she is murdered by a killer she can’t see—her death the only sign she wasn’t alone. It becomes chillingly clear that the person responsible must also work for Miss Brickett’s, making everyone a suspect. Marion Lane, a first-year Inquirer-in-training, finds herself drawn ever deeper into the investigation. When her friend and colleague is framed for the crime, to clear his name she must sort through the hidden alliances at Miss Brickett’s and secrets dating back to WWII. Masterful, clever and deliciously suspenseful, Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder is a fresh take on the Agatha Christie-style locked-room murder mystery, with an exciting new heroine detective.

Download or read book 52 Weeks of Shawls written by Jonna Hietala and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Memory written by Lucy Dawson and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: People always notice my daughter, Isobel. How could they not? Incredibly beautiful... until she speaks. An unsettling, little-girl voice, exactly like a child's, but from the mouth of a full-grown woman. Izzie might look grown-up, but inside she's trapped. Caught in the day it happened - the day that broke her from within. I know why my daughter is the way she is. There's nothing I could have done to save her... is there?

Download or read book Forever Odd written by Dean Koontz and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2007-06-29 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER I see dead people. But then, by God, I do something about it. Odd Thomas never asked for his special ability. He’s just an ordinary guy trying to live a quiet life in the small desert town of Pico Mundo. Yet he feels an obligation to do right by his otherworldly confidants, and that’s why he’s won hearts on both sides of the divide between life and death. But when a childhood friend disappears, Odd discovers something worse than a dead body and embarks on a heart-stopping battle of will and wits with an enemy of exceptional cunning. In the hours to come there can be no innocent bystanders, and every sacrifice can tip the balance between despair and hope. You’re invited on an unforgettable journey through a world of terror and transcendence to wonders beyond imagining. And you can have no better guide than Odd Thomas.

Download or read book Shooting Martha written by David Thewlis and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2021-08-05 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Darkly comic, beautifully written and full of surprises' Daily Mail 'Really funny. David is a great writer' Paula Hawkins, Good Housekeeping 'A riotously good novel, witty and earnest, brimming with sharply drawn characters and creeping suspense. David Thewlis is a fabulous writer' Anna Bailey, Sunday Times bestselling author of Tall Bones 'A deliciously smart, hilarious human drama with the pace and intrigue of a gripping thriller. One of the year's most memorable novels' B P Walter, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Dinner Guest Celebrated director Jack Drake can't get through his latest film (his most personal yet) without his wife Martha's support. The only problem is, she's dead... When Jack sees Betty Dean - actress, mother, trainwreck - playing the part of a crazed nun on stage in an indie production of The Devils, he is struck dumb by her resemblance to Martha. Desperate to find a way to complete his masterpiece, he hires her to go and stay in his house in France and resuscitate Martha in the role of 'loving spouse'. But as Betty spends her days roaming the large, sunlit rooms of Jack's mansion - filled to the brim with odd treasures and the occasional crucifix - and her evenings playing the part of Martha over scripted video calls with Jack, she finds her method acting taking her to increasingly dark places. And as Martha comes back to life, she carries with her the truth about her suicide - and the secret she guarded until the end. A darkly funny novel set between a London film set and a villa in the south of France. A mix of Vertigo and Jonathan Coe, written by a master storyteller. PRAISE FOR DAVID THEWLIS'S FICTION 'David Thewlis has written an extraordinarily good novel, which is not only brilliant in its own right, but stands proudly beside his work as an actor, no mean boast' Billy Connolly 'Hilarious and horror-filled' Francesca Segal, Observer 'A fine study in character disintegration... Very funny' David Baddiel, The Times 'Exquisitely written with a warm heart and a wry wit... Stunning' Elle 'Queasily entertaining' Financial Times 'A sharp ear for dialogue and a scabrously satiric prose style' Daily Mail 'Laugh-out-loud, darkly intelligent' Publishers Weekly 'This is far more than an actor's vanity project: Thewlis has talent' Kirkus

Download or read book The Encyclopedia of Forensic Science written by Brian Lane and published by Headline Book Pub Limited. This book was released on 1993 with total page 642 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: