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Just
in for June 2008
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The Road Home Rose Tremain PB £7.99 |
| 'On the coach, Lev chose a seat near
the back and he sat huddled against the window, staring out at the
land he was leaving
...' Lev is
on his way to Britain to seek work, so that he can
send money back to Eastern Europe to support his mother and
little daughter. Readers will become totally involved with
his story, as he struggles with the mysterious rituals of
'Englishness', and the fashions and fads of the London scene.
We see the road Lev travels through Lev's eyes, and
we share his dilemmas: the intimacy of his friendships, old and new; his
joys and sufferings; his aspirations and his hopes of finding his way
home, wherever home may be. | |
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Tip and Teddy are becoming men under the very eyes of their adoptive father, Bernard Doyle. A student at Harvard, Tip is happiest in a lab, whilst Teddy thinks he has found his calling in the Church, and both are increasingly strained by their father's protective plans for them. But when they are involved in an accident on an icy road, the Doyles are forced to confront certain truths about their lives, how the death of Doyle's wife Bernadette has affected the family, and an anonymous figure who is always watching. | |
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"The Stuff of Thought" is an exhilarating work of non-fiction. Surprising, thought-provoking and incredibly enjoyable, there is no other book like it - Steven Pinker will revolutionise the way you think about language. He analyses what words actually mean and how we use them, and he reveals what this can tell us about ourselves. He shows how we use space and motion as metaphors for more abstract ideas, and uncovers the deeper structures of human thought that have been shaped by evolutionary history. He also explores the emotional impact of language, from names to swear words, and shows us the full power that it can have over us. And, with this book, he also shows just how stimulating and entertaining language can be. | |
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Lucinda Hoekke works at The Complaint Line, listening to anonymous callers air their random grievances. She becomes captivated by the ruminations of one particular caller, and they fall desperately in love. Lucinda also plays bass in a struggling band whose lyricist, Bedwin, is suffering from writer's block, and whose lead singer, Matthew, has kidnapped a kangaroo from the local zoo. Hoping to re-charge the band's creative energy, Lucinda 'suggests' some of The Complainer's philosophical musings to Bedwin, who transforms them into brilliant songs - with disastrous consequences. What results is a comedy of plagiarism, usurpation, and sex, with delightful echoes of Jane Austen's "Emma". | |
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1891. Seventeen-year-old Leonie Vernier and her brother
abandon Paris for the sanctuary of their aunt's isolated country
house near Carcassonne, the Domaine de la Cade. But in the nearby
woods, Leonie stumbles across a ruined sepulchre - and a timeless
mystery whose traces are written in blood. | |
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Paddington -- the beloved, classic bear from Darkest Peru -- is back in this fantastically funny, long-awaited, brand new illustrated novel from master storyteller Michael Bond! 'I'm not a foreigner,' exclaimed Paddington hotly. 'I'm from Darkest Peru.' Paddington Bear always manages to find himself in tricky situations, sometimes extraordinary situations. Like the time he had a difficult encounter with a policeman or when he found himself in deep water with a newspaper reporter. But since arriving from his native Peru after an earthquake Paddington has always felt at home with the Brown family who found him on Paddington station. Then one day, a surprise visitor arrives at thirty-two Windsor Gardens. Is it time for Paddington to decide where 'home' really is? In 2008 Michael Bond's first novel featuring the adventures of Paddington Bear will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. Paddington's amazing ability to get into and out of trouble is at the heart of the countless stories that have been loved the world over ever since.However, it is many years since a new novel has been published, and in celebration of this landmark, Michael Bond has written the funniest and the most moving Paddington novel ever. | |
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Joann Sfar's beloved, humorous, and wise talking cat is back for more beautifully illustrated adventures in Algiers and across Africa in the 1930s. While the rabbi is away, his cat tags along with Malka of the Lions (the rabbi's enigmatic cousin), who roams the desert with his ferocious-on-demand lion. Some believe Malka to be a pious Jew, others think he's a shrewd womanizer, but the cat will be the one to discover the surprising truth. Back in Algiers, the rabbi's daughter, Zlabya, and her new husband fill the house with their fighting, while the city around them fills with a rising tide of anti-Semitism. On a whim, the rabbi's cat, the rabbi, a sheikh (also a cousin of the rabbi), and a very misplaced Russian painter set out on a fantastic journey (even encountering a young reporter named Tintin in the Congo) in search of an African Jerusalem. It turns out to be very fortuitous that the rabbi's cat is not just a talking cat, but a multilingual talking cat. | |
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The lost final novel by the master of the epic swashbuckling adventure stories: The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. The last cavalier is Count de Sainte-Hermine, Hector, whose elder brothers and father have fought and died for the Royalist cause during the French Revolution. For three years Hector has been languishing in prison when, in 1804, on the eve of Napoleon's coronation as emperor of France he learns what is to be his due. Stripped of his title, denied the honour of his family name as well as the hand of the woman he loves, he is freed by Napoleon on the condition that he serves in the imperial forces. So it is in profound despair that Hector embarks on a succession of daring escapades as he courts death fearlessly. Yet again and again he wins glory - against brigands, bandits, the British, boa constrictors, sharks, tigers and crocodiles. At the Battle of Trafalgar it is his bullet that fells Nelson. But however far his adventures take him - from Burma's jungles to the wilds of Ireland - his destiny lies always with his father's enemy, Napoleon . | |
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A variety
of authors have written 007 novels since the death
of Bond's creator, Ian Fleming -- and the results have
been mixed. Now, after a decade of less successful entries,
we have another serious writer, Sebastian Faulks taking up the
challenge. Faulks' author
credit on the book ('Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming') is
both revealing and encouraging – the author has reportedly said that
he undertook the task with total seriousness, and he has tried to
work within the parameters of the Ian Fleming formula, rather than
the more glossy film incarnation. Among several very canny moves by
the author is his decision to keep his 007 in the 1960s rather than
catapulting him into the 21st century. | |
