Download or read book Pieces of Me Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2018 written by Natalie Hart and published by Legend Press. This book was released on 2018-10-04 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortlisted for the Waverton Good Read AwardShortlisted for Costa First Novel Award 2018Prima Magazine Best Books of the YearThe Reading Agency Top Debuts of 2018‘An important and timely story that explores the ongoing impact of war and how it’s often left to the women to pick up the pieces. The way Hart has made a mosaic of different women’s experiences, be they British, American or Iraqi, is profoundly moving. Pieces of Me is a love story that will leave you in tatters and yet there is an enduring sense of women making, mending and creating that gives this book a radiance. I will never forget it’ —Tor Udall, author of A Thousand Paper BirdsEmma did not go to war looking for love, but Adam is unlike any other.Under the secret shadow of trauma, Emma decides to leave Iraq and joins Adam to settle in Colorado. But isolation and fear find her, once again, when Adam is re-deployed. Torn between a deep fear for Adam’s safety and a desire to be back there herself, Emma copes by throwing herself into a new role mentoring an Iraqi refugee family.But when Adam comes home, he brings the conflict back with him. Emma had considered the possibility that her husband might not come home from war. She had not considered that he might return a stranger.REVIEWS‘An astounding debut, Pieces of Me is a beautiful book written with emotion and compassion and will stay with me for a long time. It’s characters and story tugged at my heart with every turning page' —Nina Pottell, Books Editor, Prima Magazine‘Heart-wrenching and heart-warming in equal measure, Pieces of Me is an incredibly moving tale of love and conflict. A compelling and accomplished debut, Natalie writes with the skill and confidence of a writer who's been published for years. I couldn't put it down' —Harper's Bazaar'Pieces of Me is a brilliantly observed and nuanced look at the war in Iraq and how conflict impacts on the lives of everyone involved' —Laura Kaye, author of English Animals'I devoured this book, and I feel like I'll carry Emma and Adam with me for a long time. Hart tells this devastating story beautifully' —Laura Pearson, author of Missing Pieces‘Pieces of Me churns with love and rage and hope and terror, as only the best war books can. Natalie Hart writes like a born storyteller, and she uses that gift here to explore how the Iraq War lingers in the dark corners of souls desperate to move on from it. Readers are in for a ride' —Matt Gallagher, author of Youngblood‘Pieces of Me is a quietly powerful exploration of the complex effects of the Iraq war...The novel builds in power and speaks authoritatively on the polarisation of the lives changed forever by conflict’ —Zoe Lambert‘Natalie Hart’s brilliant Pieces of Me is—like Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair—a love story set amid the ruins of war. As a British civilian who meets her American husband in Iraq, the narrator, Emma McLaughlin, is a first-hand witness to the ways armed conflict breaks soldiers and non-combatants alike. Her testimony, and this novel, is unforgettably complex and devastating—as it should be’ —Whitney Terrell, author of The Good Lieutenant‘Natalie Hart’s vivid novel, Pieces of Me, examines the lives of deployed soldiers’ families and displaced Iraqi civilians, eloquently revealing how even the most tightly knit relationships can unravel under the stress of war’ —Siobhan Fallon, author of You Know When the Men Are Gone and The Confusion of Languages‘Beautiful, moving love story. Set amid the Iraq war, it is quietly impactful, courageous and sublime’—Fiona Mitchell, author of The Swap and The Maid’s Room

Download or read book An Unremarkable Body written by Elisa Lodato and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2017-12-14 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ***Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2018*** EVERY MOTHER IS A WOMAN WITH A PAST 'An intriguing tale of love and loss . . . written with verve and delivers an amazing twist' Sunday Mirror 'A haunting debut about grief, loss and motherhood' The Pool 'This novel pulls you in and will have you racing to reach the end' Good Housekeeping When Katharine is found dead at the foot of her stairs, it is the mystery of her life that consumes her daughter, Laura. The medical examiner's report, in which precious parts of Katharine's body are weighed and categorised, motivates Laura to write her own version of events. But as she delves deeper into Katharine's past, she is forced to confront a new version of the woman she knew only as her mother. A woman silenced by her own mother and wronged by her husband. A woman who lived in the shadows but whose secrets are now coming to light. *** Includes an extract from Elisa Lodato's second novel The Necessary Marriage.*** 'An incredibly moving story of maternal love, sacrifice, and how little we know those closest to us' Chloë Mayer, author of The Boy Made of Snow 'Extraordinarily sensuous storytelling that makes the reader's heart ache in sympathy' Observer 'Spare, confident and affecting. A compelling read' Joanna Barnard, author of Precocious

Download or read book Meet Me at the Museum written by Anne Youngson and published by Random House. This book was released on 2018-05-17 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now being read on BBC Radio Four A beautiful novel about late love and second chances, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2018 'A moving tribute to friendship and love, to the courage of the ordinary, and to starting again' RACHEL JOYCE, author of Miss Benson's Beetle 'Full of grace and humanity' Sunday Times ________________________ This story begins with a letter From a housewife to the gentle curator Of an extraordinary museum Where lies peacefully An ancient exhibit That holds the key To Everything We are. Meet Me at the Museum tells of a connection made across oceans and against all the odds. Through intimate stories of joy, despair, and discovery, two people are drawn inexorably towards the other, until a shattering revelation pushes their friendship to the very edge. This deeply affecting debut novel by seventy-three year-old Anne Youngson won the Paul Torday Memorial Prize and was dramatized on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour ******************************* 'Tender, wise and moving, Meet Me at the Museum is a novel to cherish.' JOHN BOYNE 'Insightful, emotionally acute and absorbing' DAILY EXPRESS 'Beautiful and affecting' NINA STIBBE What readers are saying: 'I loved this book. It was so different from anything else I have read' 'I just loved this book and read it in one sitting. There were times when I felt like underlining the sentences that resonated with me' 'I read this book one letter at a time, just to let the contents sink in. Tears came to my eyes'

Download or read book The 7 1 2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle written by Stuart Turton and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2018-09-18 with total page 614 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Pop your favorite Agatha Christie whodunnit into a blender with a scoop of Downton Abbey, a dash of Quantum Leap, and a liberal sprinkling of Groundhog Day and you'll get this unique murder mystery." —Harper's Bazaar THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER! The 71⁄2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a breathlessly addictive mystery that follows one man's race to find a killer, with an astonishing time-turning twist that means nothing and no one are quite what they seem. Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others. With a locked-room mystery that Agatha Christie would envy, Stuart Turton unfurls a breakneck novel of intrigue and suspense. International bestselling author Stuart Turton delivers inventive twists in a thriller of such unexpected creativity it will leave readers guessing until the very last page. ALSO BY STUART TURTON: The Devil and the Dark Water The Last Murder at the End of the World

Download or read book The Haunting of Henry Twist written by Rebecca F. John and published by Serpent's Tail. This book was released on 2017-07-06 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: London, 1926: Henry Twist's heavily pregnant wife leaves home to meet a friend. On the way, she is hit by a bus and killed, though miraculously the baby survives. Henry is left with nothing but his new daughter - a single father in a world without single fathers. He hurries the baby home, terrified that she'll be taken from him. Racked with guilt and fear, he stays away from prying eyes, walking her through the streets at night, under cover of darkness. But one evening, a strange man steps out of the shadows and addresses Henry by name. The man says that he has lost his memory, but that his name is Jack. Henry is both afraid of and drawn to Jack, and the more time they spend together, the more Henry sees that this man has echoes of his dead wife. His mannerisms, some things he says ... And so Henry wonders, has his wife returned to him? Has he conjured Jack himself from thin air? Or is he in the grip of a sophisticated con man? Who really sent him? Set in a postwar London where the Bright Young Things dance into dawn at garden parties hosted by generous old Monty, The Haunting of Henry Twist is a novel about the limits and potential of love and of grief. It is about the lengths we will go to hold on to what is precious to us, what we will forgive of those we love, and what we will sacrifice for the sake of our own happiness.

Download or read book The Cut Out Girl written by Bart van Es and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2018-08-02 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Luminous, elegant, haunting, - I read it straight through' Philippe Sands, Author of East West Street The enthralling story of a man's search for the truth about his family's past The last time Lien saw her parents was in the Hague when she was collected at the door by a stranger and taken to a city far away to be hidden from the Nazis. She was raised by her foster family as one of their own, but a falling out well after the war meant they were no longer in touch. What was her side of the story, Bart van Es - a grandson of the couple who looked after Lien - wondered? What really happened during the war, and after? So began an investigation that would consume and transform both Bart van Es's life and Lien's. Lien was now in her 80s and living in Amsterdam. Reluctantly, she agreed to meet him, and eventually they struck up a remarkable friendship. The Cut Out Girl braids together a powerful recreation of Lien's intensely harrowing childhood story with the present-day account of Bart's efforts to piece that story together. And it embraces the wider picture, too, for Holland was more cooperative in rounding up its Jews for the Nazis than any other Western European country; that is part of Lien's story too. This is an astonishing, moving reckoning with a young girl's struggle for survival during war. It is a story about the powerful love and challenges of foster families, and about the ways our most painful experiences - so crucial in defining us - can also be redefined. 'Remarkable, deeply moving' Penelope Lively 'An awe-inspiring account of the tragedies and triumphs within the world of the Holocaust's "hide-away" children, and of the families who sheltered them' Georgia Hunter 'A complex and uplifting tale' Kirkus

Download or read book The Doll Funeral written by Kate Hamer and published by Melville House. This book was released on 2017-08-15 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[Evokes] both Jeanette Winterson and Ian McEwan . . . an elegiac and uplifting novel about the indissoluble bonds between mothers and daughters, and a reminder of how the imagination can set you free.” — The Guardian On Ruby’s thirteenth birthday, a wish she didn’t even know she had suddenly comes true: the couple who raised her aren’t her parents at all. Her real mother and father are out there somewhere, and Ruby becomes determined to find them. Venturing into the forest with nothing but a suitcase and the company of her only true friend—the imaginary Shadow Boy—Ruby discovers a group of siblings who live alone in the woods. The children take her in, and while they offer the closest Ruby’s ever had to a family, Ruby begins to suspect that they might need her even more than she needs them. And it’s not always clear what’s real and what’s not—or who’s trying to help her and who might be a threat. Told from shifting timelines, and the alternating perspectives of teenage Ruby; her mother, Anna; and even the Shadow Boy, The Doll Funeral is a dazzling follow-up to Kate Hamer’s breakout debut, The Girl in the Red Coat, and a gripping, exquisitely mysterious novel about the connections that remain after a family has been broken apart.

Download or read book From a Low and Quiet Sea written by Donal Ryan and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-07-17 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BOOK AWARD LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE A moving novel of three men, each searching for something they have lost, from the award-winning and Man Booker nominated author Donal Ryan. For Farouk, family is all. He has protected his wife and daughter as best he can from the war and hatred that has torn Syria apart. If they stay, they will lose their freedom, will become lesser persons. If they flee, they will lose all they have known of home, for some intangible dream of refuge in some faraway land across the merciless sea. Lampy is distracted; he has too much going on in his small town life in Ireland. He has the city girl for a bit of fun, but she's not Chloe, and Chloe took his heart away when she left him. There's the secret his mother will never tell him. His granddad's little sniping jokes are getting on his wick. And on top of all that, he has a bus to drive; those old folks from the home can't wait all day. The game was always the lifeblood coursing through John's veins: manipulating people for his enjoyment, or his enrichment, or his spite. But it was never enough. The ghost of his beloved brother, and the bitter disappointment of his father, have shadowed him all his life. But now that lifeblood is slowing down, and he's not sure if God will listen to his pleas for forgiveness. Three men, searching for some version of home, their lives moving inexorably towards a reckoning that will draw them all together.

Download or read book Pieces of Me written by Natalie Hart and published by Legends Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortlisted for Costa First Novel Award. Emma did not go to war looking for love, but Adam is unlike any other. But when Adam comes home, he brings the conflict back with him. Emma had considered the possibility that her husband might not come home from war. She had not considered that he might return a stranger.

Download or read book A God in Ruins written by Kate Atkinson and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2015-05-05 with total page 503 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This stunning companion to Kate Atkinson's #1 bestseller Life After Life, "one of the best novels I've read this century" (Gillian Flynn), follows Ursula's brother Teddy as he navigates an unknown future after a perilous war. "He had been reconciled to death during the war and then suddenly the war was over and there was a next day and a next day. Part of him never adjusted to having a future." Kate Atkinson's dazzling Life After Life explored the possibility of infinite chances and the power of choices, following Ursula Todd as she lived through the turbulent events of the last century over and over again. A God in Ruins tells the dramatic story of the 20th Century through Ursula's beloved younger brother Teddy -- would-be poet, heroic pilot, husband, father, and grandfather -- as he navigates the perils and progress of a rapidly changing world. After all that Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge is living in a future he never expected to have. An ingenious and moving exploration of one ordinary man's path through extraordinary times, A God in Ruins proves once again that Kate Atkinson is one of the finest novelists of our age.

Download or read book An Unremarkable Body written by Elisa Lodato and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ***Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2018*** EVERY MOTHER IS A WOMAN WITH A PAST 'An intriguing tale of love and loss . . . written with verve and delivers an amazing twist' Sunday Mirror 'A haunting debut about grief, loss and motherhood' The Pool 'This novel pulls you in and will have you racing to reach the end' Good Housekeeping When Katharine is found dead at the foot of her stairs, it is the mystery of her life that consumes her daughter, Laura. The medical examiner's report, in which precious parts of Katharine's body are weighed and categorised, motivates Laura to write her own version of events. But as she delves deeper into Katharine's past, she is forced to confront a new version of the woman she knew only as her mother. A woman silenced by her own mother and wronged by her husband. A woman who lived in the shadows but whose secrets are now coming to light. *** Includes an extract from Elisa Lodato's second novel The Necessary Marriage.*** 'An incredibly moving story of maternal love, sacrifice, and how little we know those closest to us' Chloë Mayer, author of The Boy Made of Snow 'Extraordinarily sensuous storytelling that makes the reader's heart ache in sympathy' Observer 'Spare, confident and affecting. A compelling read' Joanna Barnard, author of Precocious

Download or read book Bone Talk written by Candy Gourlay and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A powerful, complex, and fascinating coming-of-age novel." -- Costa Book Award PanelA boy and a girl in the Philippine jungle must confront what coming of age will mean to their friendship made even more complicated when Americans invade their country. Samkad lives deep in the Philippine jungle, and has never encountered anyone from outside his own tribe before. He's about to become a man, and while he's desperate to grow up, he's worried that this will take him away from his best friend, Little Luki, who isn't ready for the traditions and ceremonies of being a girl in her tribe.But when a bad omen sends Samkad's life in another direction, he discovers the brother he never knew he had. A brother who tells him of a people called "Americans." A people who are bringing war and destruction right to their home...A coming-of-age story set at the end of the 19th century in a remote village in the Philippines, this is a story about growing up, discovering yourself, and the impact of colonialism on native peoples and their lives.

Download or read book The Island at the End of Everything written by Kiran Millwood Hargrave and published by Chicken House. This book was released on 2017-05-04 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ami lives on Culion, an island for people who have leprosy. Her mother is infected. She loves her home - but then islanders untouched by sickness are forced to leave. Ami's desperate to return before her mother's death. She finds a strange and fragile hope in a colony of butterflies. Can they lead her home before it's too late?

Download or read book The Imperfectionists written by Tom Rachman and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2011-01-04 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set against the gorgeous backdrop of Rome, Tom Rachman's wry, vibrant debut follows the topsy-turvy private lives of the reporters, editors, and executives of an international English language newspaper as they struggle to keep it - and themselves - afloat. Fifty years and many changes have ensued since the paper was founded by an enigmatic millionaire, and now, amid the stained carpeting and dingy office furniture, the staff's personal dramas seem far more important than the daily headlines. Kathleen, the imperious editor in chief, is smarting from a betrayal in her open marriage; Arthur, the lazy obituary writer, is transformed by a personal tragedy; Abby, the embattled financial officer, discovers that her job cuts and her love life are intertwined in a most unexpected way. Out in the field, a veteran Paris freelancer goes to desperate lengths for his next byline, while the new Cairo stringer is mercilessly manipulated by an outrageous war correspondent with an outsize ego. And in the shadows is the isolated young publisher who pays more attention to his prized basset hound, Schopenhauer, than to the fate of his family's quirky newspaper. As the era of print news gives way to the Internet age and this imperfect crew stumbles toward an uncertain future, the paper's rich history is revealed, including the surprising truth about its founder's intentions. Spirited, moving, and highly original, The Imperfectionists will establish Tom Rachman as one of our most perceptive, assured literary talents.

Download or read book The Year Without Summer written by Guinevere Glasfurd and published by Two Roads. This book was released on 2020-02-06 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT HISTORICAL FICTION PRIZE 2021 SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA GOLD CROWN AWARD 2020 'A STRIKINGLY SHARP AND SUBTLE WRITER' Guardian 'SUPERB...BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN...UNFORGETTABLE' FT Weekend 'SKILFUL' Sunday Times 'RICH, INTRICATE, IMPRESSIVELY REALISED' Observer 'VIVIDLY REALISED' The Times 'A VISION OF THE PAST AND A VISION OF THE FUTURE' Irish Times 'A VIVID SLICE OF HISTORICAL FICTION' Sunday Express 1815, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia Mount Tambora explodes in a cataclysmic eruption, killing thousands. Sent to investigate, ship surgeon Henry Hoggcan barely believe his eyes. Once a paradise, the island is now solid ash, the surrounding sea turned to stone. But worse is yet to come: as the ash cloud rises and covers the sun, the seasons will fail. 1816 In Switzerland, Mary Shelley finds dark inspiration. Confined inside by the unseasonable weather, thousands of famine refugees stream past her door. In Vermont, preacher Charles Whitlock begs his followers to keep faith as drought dries their wells and their livestock starve. In Suffolk, the ambitious and lovesick painter John Constable struggles to reconcile the idyllic England he paints with the misery that surrounds him. In the Fens, farm labourer Sarah Hobbs has had enough of going hungry while the farmers flaunt their wealth. And Hope Peter, returned from the Napoleonic wars, finds his family home demolished and a fence gone up in its place. He flees to London, where he falls in with a group of revolutionaries who speak of a better life, whatever the cost. As desperation sets in, Britain becomes beset by riots - rebellion is in the air. The Year Without Summeris the story of the books written, the art made; of the journeys taken, of the love longed for and the lives lost during that fateful year. Six separate lives, connected only by an event many thousands of miles away. Few had heard of Tambora - but none could escape its effects. 'VIVID, VIBRANT, HARD TO PUT DOWN' Hilary Spurling 'THOUGHT-PROVOKING, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND VERY COMPELLING' Harriet Tyce 'INGENIOUS AND ABSORBING' Kirsty Wark 'ASTONISHING, RIVETING, MASTERFUL, POETIC' Emily Rapp Black 'A WORLDWIDE CANVAS BROUGHT TO LIFE IN VIVID, HEARTBREAKING DETAIL' Marianne Kavanagh

Download or read book A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better written by Benjamin Wood and published by Europa Editions. This book was released on 2021-03-09 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CWA Gold Dagger Award Finalist: “A slow-burn thriller about a road trip that takes a shocking turn, and the lasting impact of trauma.” —Shelf Awareness (starred review) Shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature “His mistakes are my inheritance. The rotten blood he gave me is the blood I will pass on.” For twenty years, Daniel Hardesty, who now goes by a different name, has lived with the emotional scars of a childhood trauma he is powerless to undo. One August morning, young Daniel and his estranged father, Francis—a character of irresistible charm and roiling self-pity—set out on a road trip that seems a promise to salvage their relationship. They have one shared interest: The Artifex—a children’s TV program where Fran works on set—and Daniel has been promised special access to the studio. But with every passing mile, the layers of Fran’s mendacity and desperation are exposed, pushing him to acts of violence that will define the rest of his son’s life. From the author of The Ecliptic, this is a “harrowing and unforgettable” novel about the bond between fathers and sons, and the invention and reconciliation of self—weaving a haunting story of lost innocence and love (Booklist, starred review). “A novel written from the gut, and with a correspondingly visceral power . . . superbly unsettling.” —Sarah Waters, author of The Paying Guests “A novel of expertly woven tension and frightening glimpses into the mind of the deranged other.” —The Guardian “Full of suspense and beautifully written . . . terrifically gripping.” —The Sunday Times

Download or read book London Spy written by Tom Rob Smith and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-11-03 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Starring Ben Whishaw, Charlotte Rampling and Jim Broadbent, this gripping, contemporary, emotional thriller from Tom Rob Smith, bestselling author of Child 44 and The Farm, tells the story of a chance romance between two people from very different worlds. Danny – gregarious, hedonistic and romantic – falls in love with the enigmatic and brilliant Alex. Then Alex disappears. When Danny finds Alex’s body, he is forced to pursue the truth behind his death. This volume of complete scripts is a brilliant companion to the ratings-winning BBC1 series first shown in November 2015 and set for DVD release in May 2016.