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Awakening: #MeToo and the Global Fight for Women's Rights
by Meighan Stone Rachel B. Vogelstein'YOU'LL BE MOVED BY THE BRAVE WOMEN IN AWAKENING' MALALA YOUSAFZAI'AWAKENING GOES WHERE NO BOOK HAS GONE BEFORE. INSPRIRING, INSIGHTFUL, PROFOUNDLY MOVING' HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON#MeToo #EnaZeda #MieuPrimeiroAssedio #tystnadtagning #ArewaMeTooAll over the world, #MeToo inspired generations of women to fight in new ways for their rights. Yet so far, the news is dominated by narratives of celebrities and politicians in the US and UK. These are the stories you haven't heard. Stories of campaigning in the face of censorship, arrest and murder. Stories from favelas, film sets and feted institutions. Stories of passing groundbreaking laws against sexual harassment. For these women, #MeToo was not the beginning - and it is not the end.In Nigeria, women rise up against systemic abuse in universities and megachurches. Chinese activists drown out internet censors and defy arrests. In Egypt, protestors remain tenacious even as their president calls them terrorists. Pakistani actresses confront accused predators in court. Brazilian women run for office at the risk of intimidation and murder. And in Sweden, a country prided on its commitment to gender equality, the movement rocks citizens to their core.Some had been campaigning for years on feminist causes; some were galvanised by a movement that spread like wildfire on social media. Awakening brings together personal stories with expert political analysis to champion their courage, understand their societies and gauge the battles yet to be won. It will open your eyes to the greatest global reckoning on women's rights in history.
A Wild & True Relation: A ‘remarkable’ (Hilary Mantel) feminist adventure story of smuggling and myth-making
by Kim SherwoodA gripping feminist adventure story of smuggling and myth-making, by award-winning author Kim Sherwood'Remarkable' HILARY MANTEL'A vivid, narrative-packed splice of historical fiction' DAILY MAIL'A thrilling adventure novel' FIONA MOZLEY'Tremendous' EMMA STONEXA Wild & True Relation opens during the Great Storm of 1703, as smuggler Tom West confronts his lover Grace for betraying him to the Revenue. Leaving Grace's cottage in flames, he takes her orphaned daughter Molly on board ship disguised as a boy to join his crew. But Molly, or Orlando as she must call herself, will grow up to outshine all the men of Tom's company and seek revenge - and a legacy - all of her own. Woven into Molly's story are the writers - from Celia Fiennes and George Eliot to Daniel Defoe and Charles Dickens - who are transfixed by her myth and who, over three centuries, come together to solve the mystery of her life. With extraordinary verve , Sherwood remakes the eighteenth-century novel and challenges women's writing and women's roles throughout history.'A young writer of immense talent' ANDREW MILLER'A breathtaking feat of historical fiction and utterly astounding. It is wise, urgent and entirely compelling. I was bereft when it ended' WYL MENMUIR'This book is a rarity - a novel as remarkable for the vigour of the storytelling as for its literary ambition. Kim Sherwood is a writer of capacity, potency and sophistication' HILARY MANTEL'Vividly imagined, relentlessly entertaining, rich and resonant in scope and context, it's both a thrilling adventure and a vital witness to women's voices' EMMA STONEX, author of The Lamplighters
The Evening Of The Holiday: A Novel
by Shirley HazzardPassionate undercurrents sweep in and out of this eloquent novel about a love affair in the summer countryside in Italy and its inevitable end. It takes place in a setting of pastoral beauty during a time of celebration -- a festival. Sophie, half English, half Italian, meets Tancredi, an Italian who is separated from his wife and family. In telling the story of their love affair, author Shirley Hazzard punctures the placid surface of polite Italian society to reveal the intense yearnings and surprising responses in sophisticated people caught up in emotions they do not always understand.
The Transit Of Venus (Virago Modern Classics #176)
by Shirley HazzardCaro, gallant and adventurous, is one of two Australian sisters who have come to post-war England to seek their fortunes. Courted long and hopelessly by young scientist, Ted Tice, she is to find that love brings passion, sorrow, betrayal and finally hope. The milder Grace seeks fulfilment in an apparently happy marriage. But as the decades pass and the characters weave in and out of each other's lives, love, death and two slow-burning secrets wait in ambush for them.
The Bay Of Noon: A Novel (Virago Modern Classics #175)
by Shirley HazzardThe scene is Naples, against whose ancient and fantastic background the modern action takes place. Among the protagonists is Jenny, young and pretty, who has come to Naples in flight from a sombre drama, unaware that a larger drama waits her there. She has an introduction to a Neapolitan woman, and one day she idly follows it up. This is her leap through the looking glass.
People In Glass Houses: A Novel
by Shirley HazzardThe 'People in Glass Houses' work for an American-based concern devoted to 'inflicting improvement' the world over. Amongst them are sloppy but erudite Algie Wyatt, Swoboda, a Slav DP, who finally rebels against a daily inflow of documentation; modest Ashmole-Brown, whose surprise best-seller unseats Sadie Graine, the all-time corridor fixer; Jaspersen, who falls in and out of love with the Organization; and Clelia Kinslake, who meets the most critical non-crisis of her career in Crete. Shirley Hazzard's eight dazzling stories are linked by a scorching contempt for the Organization.
Cliffs Of Fall: And Other Stories
by Shirley HazzardShirley Hazzard's stories are sharp, sensitive portrayals of moments of crisis. Whether they are set in the Italian countryside or suburban Connecticut, the stories deal with real people and real problems. In the title piece, a young widow is surprised and ashamed by her lack of grief for her husband. In 'A Place in the Country,' a woman has a passionate, guilty affair with her cousin's husband. In 'Harold,' a gawky, lonely young man finds acceptance and respect through his poetry. Moving and evocative, these ten stories are written with subtlety, humour and a keen understanding of the relationships between men and women.
The Great Fire: A Novel (Picador Modern Classics Ser.)
by Shirley HazzardThe Great Fire is Shirley Hazzard's first novel since The Transit of Venus, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1981. The conflagration of her title is the Second World War. In war-torn Asia and stricken Europe, men and women, still young but veterans of harsh experience, must reinvent their lives and expectations, and learn, from their past, to dream again. Some will fulfill their destinies, others will falter. At the centre of the story, a brave and brilliant soldier finds that survival and worldly achievement are not enough. His counterpart, a young girl living in Occupied Japan and tending her dying brother, falls in love, and in the process discovers herself.In the looming shadow of world enmities resumed, and of Asia's coming centrality in world affairs, a man and a woman seek to recover self-reliance, balance, and tenderness, struggling to reclaim their humanity.
Greene On Capri: A Memoir
by Shirley HazzardWhen friends die, one's own credentials change: one becomes a survivor. Graham Greene has already had biographers, one of whom has served him mightily. Yet I hope that there is room for the remembrance of a friend who knew him - not wisely, perhaps, but fairly well - on an island that was ''not his kind of place,'' but where he came season after season, year after year & where he, too, will be subsumed into the capacious story.'For millennia the cliffs of Capri have sheltered pleasure-seekers & refugees alike, among them the emperors Augustus & Tiberius, Henry James, Rilke & Lenin, plus hosts of artists, eccentrics & outcasts. Here in the 1960s Graham Greene became friends with Shirley Hazzard & her husband, the writer Francis Steegmuller; their friendship lasted until Greene's death in 1991. In GREENE ON CAPRI, Hazzard uses their ever volatile intimacy as a prism through which to illuminate Greene's mercurial character, his work & talk & the extraordinary literary culture that long thrived on this ravishing, enchanted island.
Love Marriage: The new masterpiece for 2022 from the bestselling author of Brick Lane
by Monica AliTWO CULTURES. TWO FAMILIES. TWO PEOPLE.The new novel from the bestselling, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of BRICK LANE_____________________________________'Exquisitely written with big-heartedness, intelligence and passion' RUTH JONES'Funny, warm, powerful' DIANA EVANS'Big-hearted, pitch-perfectly written, and utterly unputdownable' NEEL MUKHERJEEYasmin Ghorami has a lot to be grateful for: a loving family, a fledgling career in medicine, and a charming, handsome fiancée, fellow doctor Joe Sangster.But as the wedding day draws closer and Yasmin's parents get to know Joe's firebrand feminist mother, both families must confront the unravelling of long-held secrets, lies and betrayals.As Yasmin dismantles her own assumptions about the people she holds most dear, she's also forced to ask herself what she really wants in a relationship and what a 'love marriage' actually means. Love Marriage is a story about who we are and how we love in today's Britain - with all the complications and contradictions of life, desire, marriage and family. What starts as a captivating social comedy develops into a heart-breaking and gripping story of two cultures, two families and two people trying to understand one another.'Ali's wit and insight illuminate the complications of modern love in Britain today. A joy' HARPER'S BAZAAR'Lit from end to end with storytelling brilliance' ANDREW O'HAGAN'No one captures the modern family like Monica Ali. Love Marriage is full of surprises and unexpected twists, with an ending that will take your breath away' TAHMIMA ANAM'A truly astonishing piece of writing - exquisite storytelling, featuring the most human portrayal of doctors I've ever read. I defy you to put this book down' ADAM KAY'Every bit as compelling, as charming as Brick Lane. A joyous novelist at the peak of her formidable powerswriting fresh lives into our literary tradition' DALJIT NAGRAA gloriously vibrant and tender novel packed with wit, intelligence and wisdom. Her two juniordoctor protagonists are superbly drawn - flawed, courageous, flailing, human. Just brilliant' RACHEL CLARKE
What A Mother's Love Don't Teach You: 'An outstanding debut' Cherie Jones
by Sharma Taylor'An outstanding debut' CHERIE JONES, author of How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps her House'Vivid and authentic' LEONE ROSS, author of This One Sky Day'Cacophonic, alive and heartbreaking' KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE, author of The MerciesAt eighteen years old, Dinah gave away her baby son to the rich couple she worked for before they left Jamaica. They never returned. She never forgot him.Eighteen years later, a young man comes from the US to Kingston. From the moment she sees him, Dinah never doubts - this is her son.What happens next will make everyone question what they know and where they belong.A powerful story of belonging, identity and inheritance, What a Mother's Love Don't Teach You brings together a blazing chorus of voices to evoke Jamaica's ghetto, dance halls, criminal underworld and corrupt politics, at the beating heart of which is a mother's unshakeable love for her son.'Irresistible' CURDELLA FORBES, author of A Tall History of Sugar'Arresting' LISA ALLEN-AGOSTINI, author of The Bread the Devil Knead'Wonderful' JACOB ROSS, author of The Bone Readers'Exciting' YEWANDE OMOTOSO, author of An Unusual Grief'Thrilling' CELESTE MOHAMMED, author of Pleasantview
Woman, Eating: 'Absolutely brilliant - Kohda takes the vampire trope and makes it her own' Ruth Ozeki
by Claire Kohda'Absolutely brilliant - tragic, funny, eccentric . . . Claire Kohda takes the vampire trope and makes it her own' RUTH OZEKILydia is hungry.She's always wanted to try sashimi, ramen, onigiri with sour plum stuffed inside - the food her Japanese father liked to eat. And then there is bubble tea and the vegetables grown by the other young artists at the London studio space she is secretly squatting in. But Lydia can't eat any of this. The only thing she can digest is blood, and it turns out that sourcing fresh pigs' blood in London - where she is living away from her vampire mother for the first time - is much more difficult than she'd anticipated. Then there are the humans: the people at the gallery she interns at, the strange men who follow her after dark, and Ben, a goofy-grinned artist she is developing feelings for. Lydia knows that they are her natural prey, but she can't bring herself to feed on them. If Lydia is to find a way to exist in the world, she must reconcile the conflicts within her - between her demon and human sides, her mixed ethnic heritage, and her relationship with food, and, in turn, humans. Before any of this, however, she must eat.'Witty and thought-provoking' Stylist'Blistering' Glamour'A modern day vampire thriller' BBC'Unusual, original and strikingly contemporary' Guardian'Deliciously fresh' Waterstones'A wholly 21st century take on bloodsucking' Observer'Fascinating' BookRiot'Subversive and gratifying' KirkusA BOOK OF 2022 IN HARPER'S BAZAAR, DAILY MAIL, GLAMOUR, BBC, HUFFPOST, TOR.COM
My Autobiography of Carson McCullers: A Memoir
by Jenn ShaplandFINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDLonglisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Non-fictionHow do you tell the real story of someone misremembered - an icon and idol - alongside your own? Jenn Shapland's celebrated debut is both question and answer: an immersive, surprising exploration of one of America's most beloved writers, alongside a genre-defying examination of identity, queerness, memory, obsession, and love.Shapland is a graduate student when she first uncovers letters written to Carson McCullers by a woman named Annemarie. Though Shapland recognizes herself in the letters, which are intimate and unabashed in their feelings, she does not see McCullers as history has portrayed her. Her curiosity gives way to fixation, not just with this newly discovered side of McCullers's life, but with how we tell queer love stories. Why, Shapland asks, are the stories of women paved over by others' narratives? What happens when constant revision is required of queer women trying to navigate and self-actualize in straight spaces? And what might the tracing of McCullers's life?her history, her secrets, her legacy?reveal to Shapland about herself?In smart, illuminating prose, Shapland interweaves her own story with McCullers's to create a vital new portrait of one of our nation's greatest literary treasures, and shows us how the writers we love and the stories we tell about ourselves make us who we are.
Womb: The Inside Story of Where We All Began - 'Gripping' New Statesman
by Leah HazardA landmark book on the womb - its history, its present and the possibilities for its future - by the bestselling author of Hard Pushed: A Midwife's Story'Page for page, I may not have ever learned more from a book' Rob Delaney, author of A Heart that Works'It will change the way you think about bodies forever' Rachel Clarke, author of Dear Life 'A phenomenal book' Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women 'Sharp and political, learned and wise' Katherine May, author of Wintering The womb is the most miraculous organ in the body - with the power to bring life or cause death; to yield joy or pain - yet most of us know almost nothing about it.In this book, midwife and bestselling author Leah Hazard sets out on a journey to explore the rich past, complex present and dynamic future of the uterus. She speaks to the Californian doctor who believes women deserve a period-free life; walks in the footsteps of the Scottish woman whose Caesarean section changed childbirth forever; uncovers America's long history of forced and coercive sterilisation; observes uterine transplant surgery in Sweden and takes a very personal dive into the world of 'womb wellness'.Written with wisdom, warmth and nuance, and combining the author's years of experience as a midwife with medical history, scientific discovery and journalistic inquiry, Womb is an extraordinary exploration of a woefully under-researched and misunderstood organ. Above all, the book reveals that the uterus is more than the sum of its biological parts: it influences all our lives in the twenty-first century, and how we celebrate, medicate and legislate the womb might yet control where we go from here.
Six Conversations We're Scared to Have: 'An essential guide for fostering nuanced and intricate conversations in today’s polarized society’ (Gillian Anderson)
by Deborah Frances-WhiteFrom the bestselling author of The Guilty Feminist, a book about how to change minds - including your own'An essential guide for fostering nuanced and intricate conversations in today's polarized society' GILLIAN ANDERSON'The book we need right now about the dilemmas of our time. Deborah's insight & clarity gives us something to aspire to' DAVID TENNANT'A bold and timely manifesto for dialogue over division' JEMIMA KHAN'If you have ever felt shut down, this book is a godsend' EMMA THOMPSON'Finally! A book to succinctly express the complexity of our age. Fiercely intellectual, thought provoking and inspiring' TOM ALLEN'Compassionate, rigorous, electric!'' TRAVIS ALABANZA***Are you ready to talk?Why have disagreements become so flammable? Why are progressive people calling for censorship in comedy? How has the so-called 'transgender debate' become so toxic and what can we do to help? How is our empathy being manipulated by the internet? How does AI operate like a psychopath? How do we achieve progress in today's, y'know, screaming hellscape? We are understandably scared to have difficult conversations right now. But comedian and bestselling writer Deborah Frances-White is even more scared of not having them.Having grown up in a cult which shut down any dissent, Deborah sees the same tactics being used in our rapidly changing society. She knows the value of freedom of speech, critical thinking and the ability to argue well. And as the host of hit podcast The Guilty Feminist, she has been having difficult conversations in public for almost a decade.In her new, urgent page-turner Deborah examines how the world has come to this and what we can actually do about it. Most importantly, she explores how to change minds, including our own. Deborah invites us to boldly meet this moment in history with hope, clarity and courage. She has written, as Desiree Burch says, 'a book to leave you transformed.'***'A wonderful invitation to open your mind, open your heart and let some nuance and compassion in' MARY ANN SIEGHART'A must read. In a world full of noise and confusion, this book illuminates a pathway to real debate' JULIA GILLARD'Humane, rigorous and important' BRIDGET CHRISTIE''I can't believe that the best conversation I've ever had about some of the most heated topics of today, was with this book' DAN SCHREIBER'Stimulating, challenging, disarming, original, pithy, gritty and witty - a must read' KATHY LETTE Praise for Deborah Frances-White and THE GUILTY FEMINIST:'Quite possibly the defining feminist of our generation' ELIZABETH DAY'Very funny, very clever, very thoughtful and very relevant' DOLLY ALDERTON'Breathes life into conversations about feminism' PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE
The Fran Lebowitz Reader
by Fran LebowitzAcerbic, wisecracking and hilarious, this is the definitive essay collection from New York legend and satirist, Fran Lebowitz, star of Martin Scorsese's hit Netflix series, Pretend It's a City.'The gold standard for intelligence, efficiency and humour. Now and forever' DAVID SEDARIS'She's inexhaustible - her personality, her knowledge, her brilliance, most of all her humour' MARTIN SCORSESE'The rare example of a legend living up to her own mythology. She really is THAT funny' HADLEY FREEMANLebowitz turns her trademark caustic wit to the vicissitudes of life - from children ('rarely in the position to lend one a truly interesting sum of money') to landlords ('it is the solemn duty of every landlord to maintain an adequate supply of roaches'). And her attitude to work is the perfect antidote to our exhausting culture of self-betterment ('3.40pm. I consider getting out of bed. I reject the notion as being unduly vigorous. I read and smoke a bit more').'Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things and small people talk about wine''Think before you speak. Read before you think' 'All God's children are not beautiful. Most of God's children are, in fact, barely presentable' 'There is no such thing as inner peace. There is only nervousness and death''The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting'
A Stone is Most Precious Where It Belongs: A Memoir of Uyghur Loss, Exile and Hope
by Gulchehra Hoja'This gripping memoir shows the courage and cost of telling a truer story' GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE DAY'Revelatory' SUNDAY TELEGRAPHA powerful and urgent memoir by Uyghur activist Gulchehra Hoja - a remarkable woman who went from being a beloved star on Chinese children's TV to a journalist whose reporting on the oppression of her people led to her entire extended family being imprisoned.In 2018, twenty-four members of Gulchehra Hoja's family, including her elderly parents, were arrested by the Chinese state. Gulchehra had been forced to leave her family behind when she fled to a new life in the United States, and the arrests were an act of retaliation against her investigations for Radio Free Asia into the plight of the Uyghur people. For the Uyghurs, this kind of oppression is not unusual. In her stunning memoir, Gulchehra shares her story: an account of life under Chinese rule in East Turkestan, and her journey to becoming a spokesperson against genocide. The grandchild of a musician and the daughter of an archaeologist, Gulchehra grew up with Uyghur culture and history running through her veins. She showed her gifts early on as a dancer, actress and storyteller, and she became a major television star. But she began to understand what China was doing to her people, as well as her own complicity as a journalist. As her growing fame and political awakening coincided, she made it her mission to expose the crimes Beijing is committing against its own citizens. Filled with the beauty of East Turkestan and its people, A Stone is Most Precious Where it Belongs is the story of a woman who has been willing to risk her own life to expose the truth.'This revelatory memoir pulses with energy and beauty, making us care about what is being erased at mass scale by telling a deeply personal tale ... Her account is not just timely but timeless ... Hoja is a brave woman. The particulars of her story speak for the losses of a people' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
My Turn to Make the Tea: 'I envy anyone yet to discover the joy of Monica Dickens ... she's blissfully funny' Nina Stibbe (Virago Modern Classics #808)
by Monica DickensINTRODUCED BY LISSA EVANS'I envy anyone yet to discover the joy of Monica Dickens. She's beady eyed, big hearted and blissfully funny' Nina StibbePoppy, newly recruited cub reporter at the Downingham Post, is determined to prove to the editor that he's wrong in his belief that 'Women are a nuisance in the office'. He certainly doesn't think she's a nuisance when it's time for the tea round - a job which never fails to fall to the only female reporter.What Poppy lacks in experience, she makes up for in spirit and ambition. She'll make the Downingham Post the best regional newspaper there is - even if she occasionally gets the names wrong in court hearings. Life, for a single professional woman in the post-war years, certainly has its challenges - from finding a room, when the tyrannical landlady doesn't consider Poppy to be quite respectable, to changing her editor's deeply entrenched ways. This semi-autobiographical novel, recounted with Monica Dickens's wit, warmth and wry observation, will charm all who read it.If you enjoyed My Turn to Make the Tea, you will love One Pair of Feet, Dickens's novel of being a wartime trainee nurse, also published in Virago Modern Classics.
My Turn to Make the Tea: 'I envy anyone yet to discover the joy of Monica Dickens ... she's blissfully funny' Nina Stibbe (Virago Modern Classics #808)
by Monica DickensINTRODUCED BY LISSA EVANS'I envy anyone yet to discover the joy of Monica Dickens. She's beady eyed, big hearted and blissfully funny' Nina StibbePoppy, newly recruited cub reporter at the Downingham Post, is determined to prove to the editor that he's wrong in his belief that 'Women are a nuisance in the office'. He certainly doesn't think she's a nuisance when it's time for the tea round - a job which never fails to fall to the only female reporter.What Poppy lacks in experience, she makes up for in spirit and ambition. She'll make the Downingham Post the best regional newspaper there is - even if she occasionally gets the names wrong in court hearings. Life, for a single professional woman in the post-war years, certainly has its challenges - from finding a room, when the tyrannical landlady doesn't consider Poppy to be quite respectable, to changing her editor's deeply entrenched ways. This semi-autobiographical novel, recounted with Monica Dickens's wit, warmth and wry observation, will charm all who read it.If you enjoyed My Turn to Make the Tea, you will love One Pair of Feet, Dickens's novel of being a wartime trainee nurse, also published in Virago Modern Classics.
Mama Day (Virago Modern Classics #809)
by Gloria NaylorWith a new introduction by Robert Jones, Jr, author of The New York Times bestselling novel, The Prophets'Gloria Naylor is a brilliant word-worker and a breathtaking story-teller. Mama Day is her masterpiece' Tayari Jones'A sweeping, ambitious, gorgeous novel - takes you by the throat and refuses to let go. Mama Day is a stone-cold masterpiece' Carmen Maria MachadoBetween Georgia and South Carolina is an island you won't find on any map. Only a single wooden bridge connects it to the world. In Willow Springs people still honour their ancestors, who arrived as slaves back in the time of Sapphira Wade, the 'true conjure woman' who set them all free.It is said that Mama Day has inherited Sapphira's power. She is a healer whose hands have delivered almost every soul on the island - and rumour has it that she can summon lightning storms. When Cocoa, her great-niece, returns to Willow Springs from New York, she brings her husband, George. But can Mama Day save them from the island's darker powers?Mama Day is a powerful story of love, belonging, magic and inheritance.'One of my favourite novels of all time. Naylor's skill in weaving together culture, heartbreak, joy, magic, terror, laughter, pain, and love - which is to say, life - is extraordinary' Robert Jones, Jr'Gloria Naylor's exceptional books are deftly acute examinations of the beauty and tenacity of Black lives' Irenosen Okojie
All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess
by Becca RothfeldA spiky, funny and intellectually dazzling response to modern culture - from BDSM to mindfulness to Sally Rooney'Bracing and brilliant ... scintillating writing of breadth and power' Kate Kellaway, Observer'A radical and important book' James Wood, author of Serious Noticing'Seriously precise ... and very funny' TelegraphIn All Things Are Too Small, virtuoso young critic and philosopher Becca Rothfeld turns her clear gaze to a series of interconnected cultural and political questions - about aesthetics, taste, literature, equality, power and sexuality. In a healthy culture, she argues, economic security allows for wild extremes of aesthetic experimentation, yet in our society we've got it flipped. The gap between rich and poor yawns hideously wide, while we compensate with misguided attempts to effect equality in love and art, where it does not belong.Our culture's embrace of minimalism has left our souls impoverished: decluttering has reduced our living spaces to empty non-places; the mindfulness trend has emptied our minds of the thoughts that make us who we are; the regularization of sex has drained it of unpredictability and therefore true eroticism; and our quest for balance has yielded fictions whose protagonists aspire to excise their appetites. As intellectually illuminating as it is gloriously carnal and earthy, All Things Are Too Small is a much needed tonic in a world of oppressive sterility and limitation, and a soul cry for derangement, imbalance, obsession, ravishment and disorder.
Islanders
by Cathy Thomas'Wonderful, vivid, bittersweet' Sara Baume, author of Spill Simmer Falter Wither'Gritty, dark and joyful' Michelle Gallen, author of Big Girl, Small Town'Riotously human and authentic' Niamh Campbell, author of This Happy'Elegant, gritty, funny and unflinching' Luiza Sauma, author of Everything You Ever WantedAnnie needs to lose her virginity, so she's waiting in a car park for Paul.Paul needs drugs for the party, but he's got to keep an eye on his sister, Josie.Josie needs a father figure. Or that's how it seems to her driving instructor, Neil.Eva needs to get away from the island. She could do without bumping into the school bully, Kat.Claire needs to drink herself into the mood for the hen do. But she's been betrayed by her childhood friend, Becky. And she can't stop thinking about what's happened to her sister, Kat ...Set on the island of Guernsey over a period of twenty years, these closely linked stories reveal the desires, friendships, betrayals, regrets and heartaches of twelve intertwined people. Against a backdrop of picturesque cliffs and beaches, grimy clubs and pubs and chip shops, their stumbling attempts to connect with each other are depicted with wrenching pathos, wry humour and moving empathy.
Wayward
by Dana Spiotta*'Furious and addictive' New York Times *'Urgent, deeply moving, wholly original' GEORGE SAUNDERS*'A dazzling lightning bolt of a novel' JENNY OFFILL*'Fiercely funny and deliciously subversive' YIYUN LIJust as it seems she has it all, Samantha Raymond's life begins to come apart: Trump has been elected, her mother is ill and her teenage daughter is increasingly remote. At fifty-two she finds herself staring into 'the Mids' - those night-time hours of supreme wakefulness where women of a certain age contemplate their lives. In Sam's case, this means motherhood, mortality, and the state of an unravelling nation. When Sam falls in love with a beautiful, decrepit house on the wrong side of town, she buys it on a whim and flees her suburban life - and her family - in an attempt to find beauty in the ruins. 'Exhilarating. . . A virtuosic, singular and very funny portrait of a woman seeking sanity and purpose in a world gone mad' New York Times Book Review'What begins as a vertiginous leap into hilarious rabbit holes ends as a brilliant meditation on mortality and time. How does she do it? Only Dana Spiotta knows. I'm just happy to see her work her magic' Jenny Offill
The Queens Of Sarmiento Park
by Camila Sosa Villada'Every so often, a slim book absolutely clobbers you with its exuberance and beauty - for me, this was that book' Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby'A beautiful novel, moving, disturbing, raw and honest' Fernanda Melchor, author of Hurricane Season'Fun, tragic, political and full of marvel ... It will break your heart and at the same time make you want to laugh and dance' Mariana EnriquezAuntie Encarna's is the queerest boarding house in the world.For Camila, it is a refuge, and the raggle-taggle band of queens who gather there are like family. At night they dress up and head out to Sarmiento Park to earn money. They stand together in the cold, sharing stories and a hip flask of whiskey, waiting for a car to slow down.Until, one freezing evening, Auntie Encarna hears crying in the bushes and wades in to investigate. When she finds an abandoned baby boy, she will hear no arguments: she is bringing him home to care for him. Life for Camila and the others will never be the same again.With a cast of larger-than-life, unforgettable characters, The Queens of Sarmiento Park combines brutal, unflinching realism with flourishes of surrealism to tell a story about the clash of hope with prejudice and fear. Wildly imaginative, darkly funny and devastatingly sad, it is a queer fairy tale about sex work, gender identity and chosen family; an anguished howl of pain and rage; and an unruly hymn to love and care on the outskirts of society.
No Judgement: On Being Critical
by Lauren OylerA brilliant and addictive collection of brand-new essays on modern culture - from 'the pre-eminent and most widely read critic of her generation' The Times Included as a 2024 highlight in the Observer, Stylist, the Skinny, BBC Online and the Independent 'Funny, insightful and bang on the money' Stylist--------------------------------------------I heard this crazy story, and I want you to know.It is the age of internet gossip; of social networks, repackaged ideas and rating everything out of five stars. Mega-famous celebrities respond with fury to critics who publish less-than-rapturous reviews of their work (and then delete their tweets); CEOs talk about reclaiming 'the power of vulnerability'; and in the world of fiction, writers eschew actually making things up in favour of 'always just talking about themselves'.In this blistering, irreverent and very funny first book of non-fiction, Lauren Oyler - one of the most trenchant, influential, and revelatory critics of her generation - takes on the bizarre particularities of our present moment in a series of interconnected essays about literature, the attention economy, gossip, the role of criticism and her own relentless, teeth-grinding anxiety.Illuminating and thought-provoking, by turns drily scathing and disarmingly open, No Judgement excavates the layers of psychology and meaning in how we communicate, tell stories and make critical judgements - to offer dazzling insights into how we live and think today.'Brisk, honest and soaring with élan' Naoise Dolan, author of The Happy Couple'Smart and unafraid and (thank God) funny. This is exactly what I want to read' Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually'Oyler is the kind of dangerous contemporary writer we need more of' Niamh Campbell, author of We Were Young