Showing titles in Contemporary Fiction

In einer Villa am Zürichberg wohnt Alt-Nationalrat Dr. Stotz, umgeben von Porträts einer jungen Frau. Melody war einst seine Verlobte, doch kurz vor der Hochzeit – vor über 40 Jahren – ist sie verschwunden. Bis heute kommt Stotz nicht darüber hinweg. Davon erzählt er dem jungen Tom Elmer, der seinen Nachlass ordnen soll. Nach und nach stellt sich Tom die Frage, ob sein Chef wirklich ist, wer er vorgibt zu sein.

Winner of the National Book Award when it was first published in 1964, Herzog traces five days in the life of a failed academic whose wife has recently left him for his best friend. Through the device of letter writing, Herzog movingly portrays both the internal life of its eponymous hero and the complexity of modern consciousness.

Raimund Gregorious - Mundus, as his students affectionately call him - is a predictable character. A bookish Latin professor, well-respected but perhaps a little boring. One stormy morning, he encounters a beautiful, distraught Portuguese woman in a red leather coat... Later that day Raimund will realise: that moment changed everything. All of a sudden, nothing in his life feels right. His restlessness is further fuelled when he finds a book by a little-known Portuguese writer, Amadeo de Prado.

Barrytown, Dublin, has something to sing about. The Commitments are spreading the gospel of the soul. Ably managed by Jimmy Rabitte, brilliantly coached by Joel 'The Lips' Fagan, their twin assault on Motown and Barrytown takes them by leaps and bounds from Paris Hall to immortality on vinyl...

ONE OF THE EVENING STANDARD'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2015 Barney Campbell's Rain is a searingly powerful début that reads like a British Matterhorn ******** Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Rain by Barney Campbell, read by Mark Meadows. 'Corporal Thomas (my acting...

It's 1995, Joah Harrigan is the brash, enigmatic frontman of the biggest band in the world, and Ysolde is the iconic face of a generation. She's who people write their songs about-the kind of girl who could ruin a man. He doesn't fall, and she doesn't chase. But from the moment they meet, it's headfirst, reckless, and inevitable. Too much, too fast, too consuming.

Surreal and splendidly unconventional, The Hearing Trumpet is an apocalyptic fairy-tale quest about an occult old ladies' home and the spry nonagenarian who ends up there. After coming into possession of a hearing trumpet, 92-year-old Marian Leatherby discovers her son's plans to send her to a nursing home. But this is no ordinary place.... Here there are strange rituals, orgiastic nuns, levitating abbesses, animalistic humans, humanistic animals, a search for the Holy Grail, and a plan to escape to Lapland and knit a tent....

Eine Stunde vom Festland entfernt liegt die idyllische kleine Nordseeinsel, auf der die Familie Sander lebt. Drei Kinder hat Hanne großgezogen, ihr Mann hat die Familie und die Seefahrt aufgegeben, ihr Ältester ist gequält von alten Flutstatistiken und hat sein Kapitänspatent verloren, Tochter Eske fürchtet die Touristenströme. Nur Henrik, der Jüngste, ist mit sich im Reinen. Im Laufe eines Jahres verändert sich das Leben der Familie Sander von Grund auf, erst kaum spürbar, dann mit voller Wucht.

The unmissable third and final instalment of Jenny Colgan's return to the Little School by the Sea - perfect for anyone who ever dreamed of going to boarding school!    

'A comedy about tragedy. Séamas O'Reilly has written a brutal, profound, and very funny novel' NINA STIBBE 'Sparkling with heartache and wit. I'm in love with every character in this novel' CAROLINE O'DONOGHUE 'Prestige Drama is bristlingly funny, richly humane . . . Séamas O'Reilly is a...

Christmas is coming, and life is busy for vet Maz Harwood. She has a beautiful baby boy, George, and she will soon be marrying fellow vet Alex Fox-Gifford. But between arranging the wedding, performing life-saving animal surgery, and taking care of George, Maz doesn’t have much time left for Alex, and even if she did, he’s working even harder than her. And as Alex won’t do anything to make life easier, Maz has decided that she will have to take matters into her own hands.

The year is 1967. Thirteen-year-old Maisie is at her decaying family home, once a medieval abbey. Lucas, an artist and friend, is painting a portrait of Maisie and her sisters. Maisie embarks on a portrait of her own: telling the story of herself, her sisters and their lovers, and of her friend, Daniel Nunn. Twenty-three years later, Lucas's now-famous portrait features in a retrospective of his work. Daniel, obsessed by the sisters and determined to understand what happened that summer at the abbey, pursues answers.

There is a mystery surrounding the invitation by Craddock Fitch to the Big House. It is billed as a celebration of his business, but as everyone in the village has been invited, it is obviously more exciting than that. When everyone is assembled, they find that it is a lavish wedding reception for two very surprising people.

鳴りやまぬ拍手と眩しいほどの光、人生の境地がここにある。

It begins with a glimpse or a passing thought. It ends in obsession. One day a renowned author discovers that his wife, a war correspondent, has disappeared leaving no trace. Though time brings more success and new love, he remains mystified – and increasingly fascinated – by her absence...

‘The zombie novel with a heart', Guardian Now a major motion picture starring Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer and John Malkovich, Warm Bodies is the ultimate zombie read this Halloween. 'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories, and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from...

Shadow Moon has been away from America for nearly two years. His nights are broken with dangerous dreams. Sometimes he almost believes he doesn't care if he ever returns home. In the Highlands of Scotland, where the sky is pale white and it feels as remote as any place can possibly be, the beautiful and the wealthy gather at a grand old house in the glen. And when the strange local doctor offers him work at the party, Shadow is intrigued.

The mid-'70s: at an all-boys Catholic school in Melbourne, Timothy Conigrave falls wildly and sweetly in love with the captain of the football team. So begins a relationship that weathers disapproval, separation and ultimately death. With honesty and insight, Holding the Man explores the highs and lows of any partnership and the strength of heart both men have to find when they test positive for HIV. This is a book as refreshing and uplifting as it is moving - a funny and sad and celebratory account of growing up gay.

From the best selling author of A Woman of Substance comes an explosive novel about one woman's journey to success. Annette Remmington is a London art consultant and private dealer at the top of her game. When a rare and long-lost Rembrandt finds its way into her hands – and sells in a frantic and high profile auction - she is at the pinnacle of her career and becomes the most talked about art dealer in the world....

Jasper Jones has come to my window. I don't know why, but he has. Maybe he's in trouble. Maybe he doesn't have anywhere else to go.Late on a hot summer night at the tail end of 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by a knock on his window. His visitor is Jasper Jones. Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie.