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The Birdcatcher
by Gayl JonesBy the author of Pulitzer-Prize finalist, PalmaresThe new novel from a major voice in American literature - exploring artists in exile, dangerous relationships and the demands of creativity.'A literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers' - Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage'I am living on the white-washed island of Ibiza with my friend Catherine Shuger, a sculptor who has been declared legally insane, and her husband, Ernest. Standing on the terrace, sheltered in the smell of oranges and eucalyptus, washed in sunlight, you'd swear this was a paradise. But to tell the truth the place is full of dangers. You see, Catherine sometimes tries to kill her husband. It has been this way for years . . .''My name's Amanda Wordlaw. Wonderful name for a writer, isn't it? . . . I guess I'm sort of a choice companion for the Shugers - professional watcher and listener that I am. It's like they need someone else to witness the shit, the spectacle they make of themselves.'
Butter: Novellas, Stories and Fragments
by Gayl Jones'A literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers' Tayari Jones, author of AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE'Gayl Jones is a literary legend' - Yara Rodrigues Fowler, author of THERE ARE MORE THINGS'Her prose is intricate, mesmerizing, and endlessly inventive and subversive' Deesha Philyaw, author of THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIESGayl Jones's long career began with her blistering 1975 debut, Corregidora, which was edited by Toni Morrison, and she is increasingly recognised as one of the great literary writers of the twentieth century. In this new collection of short fiction, Jones's unique talents are displayed in a range of settings and styles, from the hyper-realist to the mystical, in novella-length stories, intricate multi-part narratives and in compelling fragments. Endlessly inventive, challenging and surprising, Jones writes about our diverse world. Her characters are spies, photographers, baristas, cartoonists and revolutionaries; her settings are historical and contemporary, in Europe and the Americas. With sharp observation, wit and poignancy, Jones explores complex identities and unorthodox longings. 'Jones's writing powerfully blends narrative and lyricism . . . Her imagination seems to thrive on outstripping one's expectations' Margo Jefferson'Every Jones publication is a major event, but this one is particularly precious . . . Jones's settings, which span time and geography, vary as much as the identities of her protagonists, which include women and men, Black, brown, and Indigenous people, artists and spies. The common threads are creativity and devastating insight' Oprah Daily, 'The Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2023'
The Unicorn Woman
by Gayl Jones'A literary giant' TAYARI JONES A richly imaginative and moving new novel from the Pulitzer finalist and acclaimed author of CorregidoraA cook and tractor repairman, Buddy was known as Budweiser to his army pals because he's a wise guy. But underneath that surface, he's a man on a quest: looking for religion, looking for meaning, looking for love.Returning from the Second World War not to a hero's welcome, but to the discrimination of the Jim Crow laws, Buddy stumbles across the Unicorn Woman, a carnival sideshow with a horn growing from her forehead, whose strange beauty he can't forget.As he drifts across the South, from Kentucky to Memphis, Buddy encounters a dazzling array of almost mythic characters: circus barkers, topiary trimmers, landladies who provide shelter and plenty of advice for their all-Black clientele, proto feminists and bigots - dreaming all the while of the unforgettable Unicorn Woman herself.With her inimitable eye for beauty, tragedy and humour, Jones offers a rich, intriguing exploration of the Black imagination in a time of frustration and hope.'Her truth-telling, filled with beauty, tragedy, humour, and incisiveness, is unmatched' IMANI PERRY'Gayl Jones is enjoying a dazzling late-career renaissance' SUZI FEAY, TLS'Intricate, mesmerising and endlessly inventive' DEESHA PHILYAW
Trespass
by Clare ClarkAs a teenager, Tess falls into environmental activism - and the arms of an older, charismatic protester. She has never been happier. When he suddenly disappears, leaving her pregnant and alone, she is shattered. Slowly, though, she rebuilds a life for herself and her daughter Mia. 'We're all we need,' she sings to Mia as they dance around the kitchen. 'Me and you, us two.'But, as Mia nears her thirteenth birthday, the death of a relative sparks questions - about activism, about her family, about her father - that Tess cannot answer. And when a hidden letter is found, Tess suddenly has urgent questions of her own. As mother and daughter pull apart, caught up in their own private quests for answers, the certainties of memory and history begin to unravel and a single shocking question emerges: if your past is all a lie, then who are you?Complex, profound and devastatingly timely, this brilliant psychological suspense explores the twisted world of undercover operations, the most secretive part of the secret state where nothing is sacred and no one cares to count the cost.
Trespass
by Clare ClarkAs a teenager, Tess falls into environmental activism - and the arms of an older, charismatic protester. She has never been happier. When he suddenly disappears, leaving her pregnant and alone, she is shattered. Slowly, though, she rebuilds a life for herself and her daughter Mia. 'We're all we need,' she sings to Mia as they dance around the kitchen. 'Me and you, us two.'But, as Mia nears her thirteenth birthday, the death of a relative sparks questions - about activism, about her family, about her father - that Tess cannot answer. And when a hidden letter is found, Tess suddenly has urgent questions of her own. As mother and daughter pull apart, caught up in their own private quests for answers, the certainties of memory and history begin to unravel and a single shocking question emerges: if your past is all a lie, then who are you?Complex, profound and devastatingly timely, this brilliant psychological suspense explores the twisted world of undercover operations, the most secretive part of the secret state where nothing is sacred and no one cares to count the cost.
Zarifa: A Woman's Battle in a Man's World. As Featured in the NETFLIX documentary IN HER HANDS
by Hannah Lucinda Smith Zarifa Ghafari'Zarifa will break your heart' Christina Lamb, author of Our Bodies, Their Battlefields and I Am MalalaZarifa Ghafari was three years old when the Taliban banned girls from schools, and she began her education in secret. She was seven when American airstrikes began. She was twenty-six when she became mayor of Maidan Wardak, Kabul. An extremist mob barred her from her office; her male staff walked out in protest; assassins tried to kill her six times. Through it all, Zarifa stood her ground. She ended corruption in the province, promoted peace, and tried to lift up women, despite constant fear for herself and her family. When the Taliban took Kabul in 2021, Ghafari had to flee. But even that couldn't stop her. Six months later, she returned, to continue her work empowering women.Zarifa is an astonishing memoir that offers an unparalleled perspective of the last two decades in Afghanistan from a citizen, daughter, woman and mayor. Written with honesty, pain, and ultimately, hope, Zarifa describes the work she did, the women she still tries to help as they live under Taliban rule, and her vision for how grassroots activism can change their lives and the lives of women everywhere.
Furies: Stories of the wicked, wild and untamed
by Margaret Atwood Emma Donoghue Helen Oyeyemi Ali Smith Linda Grant Kamila Shamsie Rachel Seiffert Stella Duffy Kirsty Logan Susie Boyt Caroline O'Donoghue CN Lester Chibundu Onuzo Eleanor Crewes Claire KohdaA FUN AND FEARLESS ANTHOLOGY OF FEMINIST TALES, to celebrate Virago's 50th birthday, featuring NEW AND ORIGINAL STORIES by Margaret Atwood, Susie Boyt, Eleanor Crewes, Emma Donoghue, Stella Duffy, Linda Grant, Claire Kohda, CN Lester, Kirsty Logan, Caroline O'Donoghue, Chibundu Onuzo, Helen Oyeymi, Rachel Seiffert, Kamila Shamsie and Ali Smith - introduced by Sandi Toksvig. DRAGON. TYGRESS. SHE-DEVIL. HUSSY. SIREN. WENCH. HARRIDAN. MUCKRAKER. SPITFIRE. VITUPERATOR. CHURAIL. TERMAGANT. FURY. WARRIOR. VIRAGO. For centuries past, and all across the world, there are words that have defined and decried us. Words that raise our hackles, fire up our blood; words that tell a story.In this blazing cauldron of a book, fifteen bestselling, award-winning writers have taken up their pens and reclaimed these words, creating an entertaining and irresistible collection of feminist tales for our time.
Furies: Stories of the wicked, wild and untamed
by Margaret Atwood Emma Donoghue Helen Oyeyemi Ali Smith Linda Grant Kamila Shamsie Rachel Seiffert Stella Duffy Kirsty Logan Susie Boyt Caroline O'Donoghue CN Lester Chibundu Onuzo Eleanor Crewes Claire KohdaA FUN AND FEARLESS ANTHOLOGY OF FEMINIST TALES, to celebrate Virago's 50th birthday, featuring NEW AND ORIGINAL STORIES by Margaret Atwood, Susie Boyt, Eleanor Crewes, Emma Donoghue, Stella Duffy, Linda Grant, Claire Kohda, CN Lester, Kirsty Logan, Caroline O'Donoghue, Chibundu Onuzo, Helen Oyeymi, Rachel Seiffert, Kamila Shamsie and Ali Smith - introduced by Sandi Toksvig. DRAGON. TYGRESS. SHE-DEVIL. HUSSY. SIREN. WENCH. HARRIDAN. MUCKRAKER. SPITFIRE. VITUPERATOR. CHURAIL. TERMAGANT. FURY. WARRIOR. VIRAGO. For centuries past, and all across the world, there are words that have defined and decried us. Words that raise our hackles, fire up our blood; words that tell a story.In this blazing cauldron of a book, fifteen bestselling, award-winning writers have taken up their pens and reclaimed these words, creating an entertaining and irresistible collection of feminist tales for our time.
Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women's Health - 'Powerful and inspiring' Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women
by Sophie HarmanA powerful call to confront the reasons why politics is jeopardising women's health across the world, by a prize-winning academic'A powerful and inspiring must-read' Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women'Radical and thought-provoking, this book should drive us all to action - and the author tells us how' Gina Rippon, author of The Gendered BrainWe know the causes of disease and death among women all over the world. We have the funding from governments and philanthropists to tackle them. So why are women still dying when they don't have to? Across the globe, women's health is being caught in the crossfire of politics: from the repeal of abortion rights and the bombing of Ukrainian maternity hospitals, to lesser-known issues like healthwashing and the exploitation of vulnerable patients as well as women health workers.Exploring urgent questions including populism, big data and the undervaluing of women's work, Sick of It also offers smart solutions on how to fix this crisis through activism and political work.'A very powerful read' Lucy Easthope, author of When The Dust Settles'Illuminating, accessible and important' Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan, author of Unheard: The Medical Practice of Silencing'Sophie Harman has gathered both the disturbing and heartbreaking facts and the vital possibilities open to all of us for action and engagement' Stella Duffy, OBE
Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women's Health - 'Powerful and inspiring' Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women
by Sophie HarmanA powerful call to confront the reasons why politics is jeopardising women's health across the world, by a prize-winning academic'A powerful and inspiring must-read' Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women'Radical and thought-provoking, this book should drive us all to action - and the author tells us how' Gina Rippon, author of The Gendered BrainWe know the causes of disease and death among women all over the world. We have the funding from governments and philanthropists to tackle them. So why are women still dying when they don't have to? Across the globe, women's health is being caught in the crossfire of politics: from the repeal of abortion rights and the bombing of Ukrainian maternity hospitals, to lesser-known issues like healthwashing and the exploitation of vulnerable patients as well as women health workers.Exploring urgent questions including populism, big data and the undervaluing of women's work, Sick of It also offers smart solutions on how to fix this crisis through activism and political work.'A very powerful read' Lucy Easthope, author of When The Dust Settles'Illuminating, accessible and important' Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan, author of Unheard: The Medical Practice of Silencing'Sophie Harman has gathered both the disturbing and heartbreaking facts and the vital possibilities open to all of us for action and engagement' Stella Duffy, OBE
The Rooster House: A Ukrainian Family Memoir
by Victoria Belim'Wild Swans for Ukraine ... rich and magnificent' Bookseller'A paean to hope and home. I loved it and it will haunt me' HELEN MACDONALD'Marvellously vivid and often heartbreaking... I read it in a single enthralled sitting'MIRANDA SEYMOUR'An instant classic: an essential book in these darkening times'SOPHY ROBERTS'Compelling, beautifully written... an insight into the complexity of Ukraine's history'MERIEL SCHINDLERIn the Ukrainian city of Poltava stands a building known as the Rooster House, an elegant mansion with two voluptuous red roosters flanking the door. It doesn't look horrifying. And yet, when Victoria was a girl growing up in the 1980s, her great-grandmother would take pains to avoid walking past it. In 2014, while the Russian state was annexing Crimea, Victoria visited her grandmother in Bereh, the hamlet near Poltava that was a haven in her childhood. Just before the trip she came across her great-grandfather's diary, one page scored deep with the single line: 'Brother Nikodim, vanished in the 1930s fighting for a free Ukraine.' She had never heard of this uncle and no one - especially her grandmother - seemed willing to tell her about him.Victoria became obsessed with recovering his story, and returned to her birth country again and again in pursuit of it. In the end, after years of sifting through Ukraine's post-Soviet bureaucracy, after travelling to tiny, ruined villages and speaking to the wizened survivors of that era, her winding search took her back to the place she had always known it would - to the Rooster House, and the dark truths contained in its basement. Inspired by the author's love for her family, and peopled by warm, larger-than-life characters who jostle alongside the ghostly absences of others, The Rooster House is at once a riveting journey into the complex history of a wounded country and a profoundly moving tribute to hope and the refusal of despair.
Genuine Human Hair: A Story Told by Two Women
by Sharma Taylor**Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize**'Me name Petal. Mi pretty except fi mi picky-picky hair. Mi nah tell nuh lie. Mi head tough. It bruk comb. Well, is a good thing God invent weave.'Petal is a young woman trying to make a life in the Kingston ghetto. Flower is a girl taken by force to a Uyghur re-education camp.In a short story that spans two worlds, Petal and Flower are connected through the most intimate of ways: their hair. Shocking, beautiful and empowering, Genuine Human Hair reveals the cost of racism in two very different ways, and how two women overcome it. Read Sharma Taylor's exciting first novel What a Mother's Love Don't Teach You now!'Outstanding' Cherie Jones'Cacophonic, alive, heart-breaking' Kiran Millwood Hargrave'Rich and exuberant' Claire Adam
The Work We Need: 'The humane revolutionary our turbulent century needs’ Jonathan Freedland
by Hilary Cottam'Brimming with ideas to transform the future, Hilary Cottam takes us on a fascinating journey to discover how to make work work' KATE RAWORTH, author of DOUGHNUT ECONOMICS'Cottam is the humane revolutionary our turbulent century needs - and this book our roadmap to a better future' JONATHAN FREEDLAND, author of THE ESCAPE ARTIST'An act of radical hope, radical listening and radical humility . . . I loved it' RORY STEWARTWork, for decades, has been debated and discussed as a narrow economic category. Instead, Hilary Cottam identifies work as a cultural force at the heart of good lives, strong communities and a sense of a shared national destiny. Crucially, in these dramatic times, she shows how we can shape this force to meet technological change, our ecological crisis and the challenges of the world's deep injustices. We can create a work revolution. Ambitious but rooted in the ideas of everyday experts - real workers from all walks of life - this is a realistic and hopeful book. Hilary Cottam has crossed the UK and the USA; she's spent time in communities considered by outsiders as 'left behind' and in places at the centre of financial and technological power. Drawing on a fascinating range of sources - historians, trade unionists, business leaders, philosophers and most originally, hours of her imaginative workshops with workers - Hilary Cottam boldly asks: how can we redesign work? Our challenges - political, social, economic and environmental - are tangled and growing. But so are the imaginative solutions. In this exciting, inspiring and optimistic book, Hilary shows us how we could work differently and live better. 'Twenty-first century people cannot give their best if tied down to twentieth-century patterns of work. Hilary Cottam provides the roadmap for the required transformation. Timely . . . guides the changes needed' CARLOTA PEREZ'Exposes what motivates workers today - not the things most business leaders think - and shows how new thinking would benefit us all. Compelling' MARTHA LANE FOX'Urgent, compelling and ultimately hopeful . . . Cottam demonstrates that a better future, based on reciprocity and mutual collaboration, is not only possible but its seeds are already here. Necessary and Inspiring' CAROLINE LUCAS, Green Party MP and author of ANOTHER ENGLAND
The Work We Need: 'The humane revolutionary our turbulent century needs’ Jonathan Freedland
by Hilary Cottam'Brimming with ideas to transform the future, Hilary Cottam takes us on a fascinating journey to discover how to make work work' KATE RAWORTH, author of DOUGHNUT ECONOMICS'Cottam is the humane revolutionary our turbulent century needs - and this book our roadmap to a better future' JONATHAN FREEDLAND, author of THE ESCAPE ARTIST'An act of radical hope, radical listening and radical humility . . . I loved it' RORY STEWARTWork, for decades, has been debated and discussed as a narrow economic category. Instead, Hilary Cottam identifies work as a cultural force at the heart of good lives, strong communities and a sense of a shared national destiny. Crucially, in these dramatic times, she shows how we can shape this force to meet technological change, our ecological crisis and the challenges of the world's deep injustices. We can create a work revolution. Ambitious but rooted in the ideas of everyday experts - real workers from all walks of life - this is a realistic and hopeful book. Hilary Cottam has crossed the UK and the USA; she's spent time in communities considered by outsiders as 'left behind' and in places at the centre of financial and technological power. Drawing on a fascinating range of sources - historians, trade unionists, business leaders, philosophers and most originally, hours of her imaginative workshops with workers - Hilary Cottam boldly asks: how can we redesign work? Our challenges - political, social, economic and environmental - are tangled and growing. But so are the imaginative solutions. In this exciting, inspiring and optimistic book, Hilary shows us how we could work differently and live better. 'Twenty-first century people cannot give their best if tied down to twentieth-century patterns of work. Hilary Cottam provides the roadmap for the required transformation. Timely . . . guides the changes needed' CARLOTA PEREZ'Exposes what motivates workers today - not the things most business leaders think - and shows how new thinking would benefit us all. Compelling' MARTHA LANE FOX'Urgent, compelling and ultimately hopeful . . . Cottam demonstrates that a better future, based on reciprocity and mutual collaboration, is not only possible but its seeds are already here. Necessary and Inspiring' CAROLINE LUCAS, Green Party MP and author of ANOTHER ENGLAND
Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don't Want to Forget to Remember
by Lauren GrahamFrom the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and the New York Times bestselling author of Talking as Fast as I Can comes a candid, insightful, and wildly entertaining essay collection about her years in show business, featuring stories that range from the sublime to the ridiculous.Lauren Graham has graced countless television screens with her quick wit and larger-than-life personality, earning a reputation as a pop culture icon who always has something to say - and fast. Now Graham shares personal stories about her career in entertainment, from her early days navigating Los Angeles as a struggling actress in a red Volkswagen, to her first appearance on late-night TV, to the challenges of ageing gracefully in Hollywood. With her signature sense of humour and down-to-earth storytelling, she tells all and never spares a detail (as long as she hasn't forgotten it).In 'R.I.P. Barneys New York' she writes about an early job as a salesperson at the legendary department store (and the time she inadvertently shoplifted); in 'Ryan Gosling Cannot Confirm' she attempts to navigate the unspoken rules of Hollywood hierarchies; in 'Ne Oublie' she warns us about the perils of coming from an extremely forgetful family; and in 'Actor-y Factory' she recounts what a day in the life of an actor looks like (unless you're Brad Pitt). She also welcomes back her alter ego Old Lady Jackson to share some more homespun wisdom ('Buy wrapping paper in January when it goes on sale') and reveal the easiest recipe for orange marmalade you'll ever find (which isn't actually easy, because easy recipes for marmalade are a total time suck and just another internet lie).Filled with surprising anecdotes, sage advice, and laugh-out-loud observations, these all-new, original essays showcase the winning charm and wry humour that have delighted Graham's millions of fans.
Lost on Me
by Veronica RaimoThe 100,000 copy Italian bestseller for fans of Rachel Cusk and Deborah Levy'Deliciously enjoyable' Katherine Heiny'I adored it' Naoise Dolan'Hilarious' Roddy Doyle'Thrillingly original' Monica AliVero has grown up in Rome with her eccentric family: an omnipresent mother who is devoted to her own anxiety, a father ruled by hygienic and architectural obsessions, and a precocious genius brother at the centre of their attention. As she becomes an adult, Vero's need to strike out on her own leads her into bizarre and comical situations: she tries (and fails) to run away to Paris at the age of fifteen; she moves into an unwitting older boyfriend's house after they have been together for less than a week; and she sets up a fraudulent (and wildly successful) street clothing stall to raise funds to go to Mexico. Most of all, she falls in love - repeatedly, dramatically, and often with the most unlikely and inappropriate of candidates.As she continues to plot escapades and her mother's relentless tracking methods and guilt-tripping mastery thwart her at every turn, it is no wonder that Vero becomes a writer - and a liar - inventing stories in a bid for her own sanity.Narrated in a voice as wryly ironic as it is warm and affectionate, Lost on Me seductively explores the slippery relationship between deceitfulness and creativity (beginning with Vero's first artistic achievement: a painting she steals from a school classmate and successfully claims as her own). Deceptively simple, its tenderness offset by moments of cool brutality, Lost on Me is a masterwork of human observation.
It's Terrible the Things I Have to Do to Be Me: 'A brutal and brilliant study of female celebrity' Megan Nolan, Telegraph
by Philippa Snow'Turns female celebrity inside-out. One of the most enjoyable books of the year' Nicole Flattery, author of Show Them A Good Time'A brutal and brilliant study of female celebrity ... a joy to read, fizzing with intelligence' Megan Nolan, Telegraph---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------How does an icon become an icon? How did Anna Nicole Smith model herself on Marilyn Monroe? What connects Lindsay Lohan with Elizabeth Taylor? How is self-made beauty Pamela Anderson like trans bond girl Caroline 'Tula' Cossey?In a series of interconnected essays about pairs of famous women, award-nominated essayist and art critic Philippa Snow explores the echoes and connections between a constellation of female stars and lays bare the artful and gruelling demands of femininity - from the golden age of Hollywood to the Instagram era. Full of the fascinating, entertaining and lurid details you might expect from the lives of mega-famous celebrities, dissected with icicle-sharp intelligence and rendered in stylish, flamboyant prose, Philippa Snow's first full-length non-fiction work is a radically insightful book about the complex meanings and layers of femininity in a male-dominated world.
It's Terrible the Things I Have to Do to Be Me: 'A brutal and brilliant study of female celebrity' Megan Nolan, Telegraph
by Philippa Snow'Turns female celebrity inside-out. One of the most enjoyable books of the year' Nicole Flattery, author of Show Them A Good Time'A brutal and brilliant study of female celebrity ... a joy to read, fizzing with intelligence' Megan Nolan, Telegraph---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------How does an icon become an icon? How did Anna Nicole Smith model herself on Marilyn Monroe? What connects Lindsay Lohan with Elizabeth Taylor? How is self-made beauty Pamela Anderson like trans bond girl Caroline 'Tula' Cossey?In a series of interconnected essays about pairs of famous women, award-nominated essayist and art critic Philippa Snow explores the echoes and connections between a constellation of female stars and lays bare the artful and gruelling demands of femininity - from the golden age of Hollywood to the Instagram era. Full of the fascinating, entertaining and lurid details you might expect from the lives of mega-famous celebrities, dissected with icicle-sharp intelligence and rendered in stylish, flamboyant prose, Philippa Snow's first full-length non-fiction work is a radically insightful book about the complex meanings and layers of femininity in a male-dominated world.
Big Girl
by Mecca Jamila SullivanMalaya Clondon hates when her mother drags her to Weight Watchers meetings in the church's stuffy basement community centre. A quietly inquisitive eight-year-old struggling to suppress her insatiable longing, she would much rather paint alone in her bedroom, or sneak out with her father for a sampling of Harlem's forbidden street foods.For Malaya, the pressures of going to an exclusive, predominantly white prep school are compounded by the high expectations passed down over generations from her sharp-tongued grandmother and her mother, Nyela, a professor struggling to earn tenure at a prestigious university. But their relentless prescriptions - fad diets, African dance classes, endless doctors' appointments - don't work on Malaya.As Malaya comes of age in a rapidly gentrifying 1990s Harlem, she strains to fit within society's suffocating confines that hold no room for her body. She finds solace in the lyrical riffs of Biggie Smalls and Aaliyah, and in the support of her sensitive father, Percy; still, tensions at home mount as rapidly as Malaya's weight. Nothing seems to help - until a family tragedy forces her to finally face the source of her hunger on her own terms.
Little Rabbit
by Alyssa SongsiridejA wholly new kind of coming-of-age story about lust, punishment, artistic drive and desires that defy the hard-won boundaries of the self'Deeply empathetic and horny' CARMEN MARIA MACHADO'Will quietly engulf you in flames' LING MA'So incredibly hot' RACHEL YODER'Hypnotic, sexy, smart' MELISSA FEBOSWhen she first meets the choreographer at an artists' residency, they don't hit it off. She finds him loud, conceited, domineering. He thinks her serious, guarded, too precious about her work. But when he invites her to watch his dance company perform, something shifts.Their interaction at the show sets off a summer of expanding sexual boundaries. Over weekends sequestered at his summer house in upstate New York, her body learns to obediently follow his, and his desires quickly become inextricable from her pleasure - and her pain. Back in Boston, her roommate's concern amplifies her own doubts about these heady weekend retreats. What does it mean for a young, queer woman to be with an older man? For a fledgling artist to attach herself to an established one? Is she following her own agency, or is she merely following him? And does falling in love have to mean eviscerating yourself?
Amphibian
by Tyler Wetherall'Haunting and visceral as a fairytale' Lilly Dancyger'Brims with sex and violence and threat, and moves to a crescendo of strange and magical beauty' Rebecca Stott'Gorgeously written ...resurrected for me the exquisite and ecstatic pains of girlhood' Hannah Lillith Assadi, author of Sonora and The Stars Are Not Yet Bells'Exhilirating' Allison BehringerSissy is used to being on the outside. The new girl in her West Country school, she recently arrived with her troubled mother, prone to letting Sissy fend for herself.But from the day Sissy fights a boy in front of Tegan, she's no longer alone. Bonded by violence, they grow so close they feel like one being: wrapped around each other in bed at sleepovers, sending photographs to men they meet online, and scaring each other with reports of the girls being snatched at night in their town.Over the course of the school year, they find themselves on the threshold of girlhood, with threats gathering thick and fast around them. And as their make-believe worlds bleed into their daily lives, Sissy feels herself transforming into something strange and terrifying.Amphibian is a tender, haunting coming-of-age debut about desire, precocity and the intensity of early friendships that have the power to upend our lives.
The Vulnerables: 'As funny as it is painfully honest' (Paula Hawkins)
by Sigrid Nunez'A sharp-eyed and tender novel about human connection' (PAULA HAWKINS) from the bestselling, National Book Award-winning author of The Friend'A must-read about unlikely friendships' SUNDAY TIMES STYLE'One of my favourite authors' NATALIE PORTMAN'A novel that truly, truly speaks to the soul' GLAMOUR'Makes you feel smarter and more alive' PEOPLEThree strangers are thrown together in one Manhattan apartment: a solitary writer; a Gen Z college drop-out; and a spirited parrot named Eureka. As the world outside descends into turmoil, the three of them must learn how to live with and care for one another - and discover what happens when strangers are willing to open their hearts to each other.'Compulsively readable' ELLE'A gorgeous, funny novel about connection' iPAPER'A breath of fresh air for a time when it still sometimes feels there isn't any' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING'Beautiful and profound' MEG MASON'Infused with moments of hilarity and wisdom. Beautiful' WOMAN'S WEEKLY'Filled with moments of the sublime' CAROLINE O'DONOGHUE'Once you discover Sigrid Nunez, you don't look back' ANNE ENRIGHT'Cracks open windows and offers a reassuring breeze, reminding us that it's OK - and perhaps even necessary - to need each other; it's only human' SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE'I am committed, until one of us dies, to Nunez's novels. They are short, wise, provocative, funny' NEW YORK TIMES
Ghostroots
by 'Pemi AgudaThe supernatural looms over the grime and sweat of everyday life in Lagos in this dazzling collection of stories from a prize-winning young Nigerian writer.'You'll find it hard to tear yourself away' Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us'Each story is a tiny wonder' Kirsty Logan, author of The Unfamiliar'Marvellously unsettling' Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love'An astonishing talent' Lauren Groff, author of The Vaster WildsThe Lagos of these twelve sinister and beguiling stories is multi-faceted, peopled by Pentecostal Christians and exasperated atheists; by tight-knit extended families and struggling single fathers. Here are characters cursed by guilt, bound by the ties of ancestors and community; or enchanted by the allure of mysticism and would-be prophets. There are gossips and party girls - and a schoolboy followed home by a group of tribal masquerades, cloaked in feathers and twinkling beads. Yes, his mother has warned him not to bring strangers home, but he is sure she will understand ... Exploring the dark borders between psychology and superstition, these feverishly imaginative stories of trauma, betrayal, terror and love lay bare the forces of myth, tradition, gender, sexuality and modernity in Nigerian society. Powered by a deep empathy, and glinting with humour and insight, they announce a major new literary talent.
Wise Women: Myths and stories for midlife and beyond - 'Extraordinary . . . beautifully and vividly retold stories' TLS
by Sharon Blackie Angharad WynneAn unforgettable collection of retold myths and folk tales, celebrating the wisdom and power of women in midlife and beyond, from the award-winning author of Hagitude'An extraordinary selection of stories ... beautifully and vividly retold' TLS'Genius' Irish Times'Treasure it!' Shahrukh Husain'Wonderful' Victoria Smith'The book I've been longing for' Jill Dawson'Thrilling' Stella Duffy This dazzling array of not-to-be-messed-with characters from a lost tradition of European myth and folklore - from ungainly giantesses and sequin-strewn fairy godmothers to misunderstood witches and craggy crones - provides inspiration for how women can walk boldly and live authentically in the second half of life.'Features an exuberant cast ... The collection is precious, because it's the first time that these rare, patriarchy-surviving remnants of powerful elder female folk stories have been deliberately anthologised' Irish Times 'A fascinating collection of female myths and legends' Sara Sheridan'I adored Wise Women' Eleanor Mills, author of Much More to Come: Lessons on the mayhem and magnificence of midlife'Wondrously wise, clever and insightful as well as slyly funny' AG Slatter, author of The Briar Book of the Dead
A Green Equinox (Virago Modern Classics #820)
by Elizabeth Mavor'Funny and brave and moving and absolutely bonkers. I love this novel' CHARLOTTE MENDELSON'Elizabeth Mavor relishes spirited, unorthodox women, free with their tongues and ready to snap their fingers at convention' LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKSHero Kinoull is an antiquarian bookseller whose sedate life in the picturesque English town of Beaudesert is turned upside down between the spring and autumn equinoxes of a single year. First her quiet but forbidden liaison with Hugh Shafto, the curator of the country's finest collection of Rococo art, comes to an abrupt halt when she develops an adoration for his straight-talking, do-gooding wife Belle. But this relationship leads to other, even more unexpected feelings for Belle's widowed mother-in-law, the majestic Kate Shafto, who spends her days tending her garden and sailing her handmade boats in the waters of the miniature archipelago she's constructed in a disused gravel pit.