Visar resultat för..."missing diary"

The hilarious international bestselling novel that has had pensioners ditching their sticks and zimmers to follow the age-defying, youth inducing antics inside The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 ¼ Years Old . . . 'Terrific. This geriatric Adrian Mole made me laugh' Woman and Home'Funny and touching' BBC Radio 4Meet Hendrik Groen. An octogenarian in a care home who has no intention of doing what he's told, or dying quietly. To that end, he creates the Old-But-Not-Dead Club and with his fellow members sets about living his final years with careless abandon. Such anarchism infuriates the care home director but pleases Eefje, the woman who makes Hendrik's frail heart palpitate. If it's never too late to have fun, then can it ever be too late to meet the love of your life? 'So much more than just a comedy' John Boyne'A story with a great deal of heart' Graeme Simsion, The Rosie Project'Amusing and wickedly accurate. A handbook of resistance for our time.' Sunday Express'Very funny' Jeremy Paxman Financial Times

'Utterly, agonisingly compulsive ... a masterpiece' Liz Jensen, GuardianFollowing one woman's journey from a troubled girlhood in working-class Copenhagen through her struggle to live on her own terms, The Copenhagen Trilogy is a searingly honest, utterly immersive portrayal of love, friendship, art, ambition and the terrible lure of addiction, from one of Denmark's most celebrated twentieth-century writers.'Sharp, tough and tender ... wrenching sadness and pitch-black comedy ... Ditlevsen can pivot from hilarity to heartbreak in a trice' Boyd Tonkin Spectator'Astonishing, honest, entirely revealing and, in the end, devastating. Ditlevsen's trilogy is remarkable not only for its honesty and lyricism; these are books that journey deep into the darkest reaches of human experience and return, fatally wounded, but still eloquent' Observer'The best books I have read this year. These volumes slip in like a stiletto and do their work once inside. Thrilling' New Statesman

In derelict Dresden a cultivated, middle-class family does all it can to cope amid the Communist downfall. This striking tapestry of the East German experience is told through the tangled lives of a soldier, surgeon, nurse and publisher. With evocative detail, Uwe Tellkamp masterfully reveals the myriad perspectives of the time as people battled for individuality, retreated to nostalgia, chose to conform, or toed the perilous line between East and West. Poetic, heartfelt and dramatic, The Tower vividly resurrects the sights, scents and sensations of life in the GDR as it hurtled towards 9 November 1989.Uwe Tellkamp was born in 1968 in Dresden. After completing his military service, he lost his place to study medicine on the grounds of 'political sabotage'. He was arrested in 1989, but went on to study medicine in Liepzig, Dresden and New York, later becoming a surgeon. He has won numerous regional prizes for poetry, as well as the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize for The Sleep in the Clocks. In 2008, he won the German Book Prize for The Tower.

Anton Vowl is missing. Ransacking his Paris flat, a group of his faithful companions trawl through his diary for any hint as to his location and, insidiously, a ghost, from Vowl's past starts to cast its malignant shadow. This virtuoso story, chock-full of plots and subplots, shows the skill of both author and translator who impart all the action without a crucial grammatical prop: the letter 'e'.

“Old-school creepy… a five-star horror novel.” STEPHEN KING A mind-bending speculative thriller in which the sudden appearance of a mountain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean leads a group of scientists to a series of jaw-dropping revelations that challenge the notion of what it means to be human. IF YOU EVER READ THIS, TELL OTHERS. DON’T COME HERE. When a mountain mysteriously appears in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a group of scientists are sent to investigate.Explorer Harry Tunmore agrees to join the secret mission – and he has his own reasons beyond scientific curiosity . . .But the higher the team ascend, the stranger things become. Time moves differently. Memories of their lives before the mountain begin to fade.What, or who, will they discover at the top?‘Gripping and intriguing’ Daily Mail‘Jaw-dropping’ Cosmopolitan

‘Gow reinvents what it means to be a guardian of the countryside.’ Guardian‘This authentic, impassioned manifesto-cum-memoir will hopefully have a major impact on what is likely to be a long-running controversy.’ The Spectator‘Gow has a fire in his belly. We need more like him.’ BBC Wildlife MagazineA Waterstones Best Nature Writing Book of 2020‘Bringing Back the Beaver is a hilarious, eccentric and magnificent account of a struggle . . . to reintroduce a species crucial to the health of our ecosystems.’ George MonbiotBringing Back the Beaver is farmer-turned-ecologist Derek Gow’s inspirational and often riotously funny first-hand account of how the movement to rewild beavers into the British landscape became the single most dramatic and subversive nature conservation act of the modern era. Since the early 1990s – in the face of outright opposition from government, landowning elites and even some conservation professionals – Gow has imported, quarantined and assisted the reestablishment of beavers in waterways across England and Scotland.With a foreword by bestselling author of Wilding, Isabella Tree, Bringing Back the Beaver makes a passionate case as to why the return of one of nature’s great problem solvers will be critical as part of a sustainable fix for the UK’s growing flooding problems, whilst ensuring the creation of essential landscapes that enable the broadest spectrum of Britain’s wildlife to thrive. ‘It is wonderful to see that beavers are now officially back on the list of native species, having been absent for so long . . . far too long!’ Dame Judi Dench

'January 22nd - Robert startles me at breakfast by asking if my cold - which he has hitherto ignored - is better. I reply that it has gone. Then why, he asks, do I look like that? Feel that life is wholly unendurable, and decide madly to get a new hat'It's not easy being a Provincial Lady in Devonshire in the 1920s, juggling a grumpy husband, mischievous children and a host of domestic dilemmas - from rice mould to a petulant cook. But this Provincial Lady will not be defeated; not by wayward flower bulbs, not by unexpected houseguests, not even by the Blitz. She will continue to preside over the W.I., endure rain-drenched family picnics and succeed as a published author, all the while tending to her strawberries. The Diary of a Provincial Lady is a brilliantly observed comic novel, as funny and fresh today as when it was first written.Widely regarded as one of the funniest English authors and an heir to Jane Austen, E.M. Delafield was born in Sussex in 1890. She took the name Delafield to distinguish herself from her mother (De la Pasture), also a novelist, and wrote over 30 books which could be 'as laugh-out-loud funny as PG Wodehouse' before her death in 1943.

Eighty-five-year-old Hendrik Groen is fed up to his false teeth with coffee mornings and bingo.__________Along with fellow members of the Old-But-Not-Dead Club, he embarks on a wild spree of octogenarian anarchy. But the home's director will not stand for any more drunken bar crawls, illicit fireworks or geriatric romance. The good name of the care home will not be disgraced.But when Hendrik learns of a plan to close the home down he realises life outside it could be much worse. He and the gang must stop the closure before it's too late. Or drop dead trying . . . __________'A joy to read. An entertaining and uplifting story of a man in the winter of his days' John Boyne, Irish Times 'Highly entertaining, utterly convincing. A delightful and touching saga of one man's way of coping with old age'Daily Express 'Terrific. This geriatric Adrian Mole made me laugh' Fanny Blake, Woman and Home'A funny but also touching diary praised for its wit and realism' BBC Radio 4 Front Row

“Old-school creepy… a five-star horror novel.” STEPHEN KING A mind-bending speculative thriller in which the sudden appearance of a mountain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean leads a group of scientists to a series of jaw-dropping revelations that challenge the notion of what it means to be human. IF YOU EVER READ THIS, TELL OTHERS. DON’T COME HERE. When a mountain mysteriously appears in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a group of scientists are sent to investigate.Explorer Harry Tunmore agrees to join the secret mission – and he has his own reasons beyond scientific curiosity . . .But the higher the team ascend, the stranger things become. Time moves differently. Memories of their lives before the mountain begin to fade.What, or who, will they discover at the top?‘Gripping and intriguing’ Daily Mail‘Jaw-dropping’ Cosmopolitan

When journalist Laurie Forbes turns up on Beth Ashby's doorstep, minutes after Beth's husband, political high-flier Colin Ashby, has been arrested for murder, neither can even begin to guess the shocking repercussions that have just been triggered in both their lives. Beth attempts to escape from her shattered life by throwing herself into the kind of reckless high-living that seems destined for disaster, while Laurie finds herself being threatened, terrorised and even taken prisoner for what she knows. As the dangerous truth draws closer, Laurie realises that if she is to save Beth from those already preparing to destroy her, she must put her trust in hated rival journalist Elliot Russell and face up to a ghost from the past.

Asta's Book is a classic double-detective story by crime master Barbara VineFor a good, absorbing, well-told story, you could hardly better the unveiling of Asta's secret' Sunday TimesIt is 1905. Asta and her husband Rasmus have come to East London from Denmark with their two little boys. With Rasmus constantly away on business, Asta keeps loneliness and isolation at bay by writing a diary. These diaries, published over seventy years later, reveal themselves to be more than a mere journal. For they seem to hold the key to an unsolved murder and to the mystery of a missing child. It falls to Asta's granddaughter Ann to unearth the buried secrets of nearly a century before.'A dazzling domestic thriller' Guardian'Obsessively readable' Sunday Telegraph'Engrossing . . . a mixture of biography, true crime and romance people with vivid minor players and red with herrings' Independent on Sunday'Absolutely enthralling ... the best yet from the Vine/Rendell bureau. Essential reading' Literary Review'Simply put, Vine is one of the greatest writers ever' Scott TurowAsta's Bookis a modern crime masterpiece and will be enjoyed by readers of P.D. James, Ian Rankin and Scott Turow.Barbara Vine is the pen-name of Ruth Rendell. She has written fifteen novels using this pseudonym, including A Fatal Inversion and King Solomon's Carpet which both won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award. Her other books include: A Dark Adapted Eye; The House of Stairs; Gallowglass; Asta's Book; No Night Is Too Long; In the Time of His Prosperity; The Brimstone Wedding; The Chimney Sweeper's Boy; Grasshopper; The Blood Doctor; The Minotaur; The Birthday Present and The Child's Child.

Asta's Book is a classic double-detective story by crime master Barbara VineFor a good, absorbing, well-told story, you could hardly better the unveiling of Asta's secret' Sunday TimesIt is 1905. Asta and her husband Rasmus have come to East London from Denmark with their two little boys. With Rasmus constantly away on business, Asta keeps loneliness and isolation at bay by writing a diary. These diaries, published over seventy years later, reveal themselves to be more than a mere journal. For they seem to hold the key to an unsolved murder and to the mystery of a missing child. It falls to Asta's granddaughter Ann to unearth the buried secrets of nearly a century before.'A dazzling domestic thriller' Guardian'Obsessively readable' Sunday Telegraph'Engrossing . . . a mixture of biography, true crime and romance people with vivid minor players and red with herrings' Independent on Sunday'Absolutely enthralling ... the best yet from the Vine/Rendell bureau. Essential reading' Literary Review'Simply put, Vine is one of the greatest writers ever' Scott TurowAsta's Bookis a modern crime masterpiece and will be enjoyed by readers of P.D. James, Ian Rankin and Scott Turow.Barbara Vine is the pen-name of Ruth Rendell. She has written fifteen novels using this pseudonym, including A Fatal Inversion and King Solomon's Carpet which both won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award. Her other books include: A Dark Adapted Eye; The House of Stairs; Gallowglass; Asta's Book; No Night Is Too Long; In the Time of His Prosperity; The Brimstone Wedding; The Chimney Sweeper's Boy; Grasshopper; The Blood Doctor; The Minotaur; The Birthday Present and The Child's Child.

'Timely and timeless ... Will hold any reader to its last haunting page' Chicago TribuneThe early life of Joe Allston, the retired literary agent of Stegner's National Book Award-winning novel, The Spectator Bird, features in this disquieting and keenly observed novel. Scarred by the senseless death of their son and baffled by the engulfing chaos of the 1960s, Allston and his wife, Ruth, have left the coast for a California retreat. And although their new home looks like Eden, it also has serpents: Jim Peck, a messianic exponent of drugs, yoga and sex; and Marian Catlin, an attractive young woman whose otherworldly innocence is far more appealing - and far more dangerous. 'The Great Gatsby captures the twenties and yet transcends them. All the Little Live Things is a comparable achievement for the sixties ... Stegner's craft is here at an apex' Virginia Quarterly Review

Meet Sophie Applebaum, an everywoman who doesn't quite fit in anywhere. She's looking for a career - but lacks a calling; looking for love - but winds up with men who put her off instead of pull her in. The women she befriends want a girl who's strong but who can't say no. At drinks parties, she feels like a solid trying to do a liquid's job. It isn't easy to find your place in the world, but Sophie's willing to work at it. And with every false step, she might just be getting closer to creating the life she wants to have...

'January 22nd - Robert startles me at breakfast by asking if my cold - which he has hitherto ignored - is better. I reply that it has gone. Then why, he asks, do I look like that? Feel that life is wholly unendurable, and decide madly to get a new hat'It's not easy being a Provincial Lady in Devonshire in the 1920s, juggling a grumpy husband, mischievous children and a host of domestic dilemmas - from rice mould to a petulant cook. But this Provincial Lady will not be defeated; not by wayward flower bulbs, not by unexpected houseguests, not even by the Blitz. She will continue to preside over the W.I., endure rain-drenched family picnics and succeed as a published author, all the while tending to her strawberries. The Diary of a Provincial Lady is a brilliantly observed comic novel, as funny and fresh today as when it was first written.Widely regarded as one of the funniest English authors and an heir to Jane Austen, E.M. Delafield was born in Sussex in 1890. She took the name Delafield to distinguish herself from her mother (De la Pasture), also a novelist, and wrote over 30 books which could be 'as laugh-out-loud funny as PG Wodehouse' before her death in 1943.

February is persecuting the townspeople. It has been winter for more than three hundred days. All forms of flight are banned and the children have started to disappear, taken from their beds in the middle of the night. The priests hang ominous sheets of parchment on the trees, signed 'February'. And somewhere on the outskirts of the town lives February himself, with the girl who smells of honey and smoke...In short bursts of intensely poetic language, this beautifully strange and otherworldly first novel tells the story of the people in the town and their efforts to combat the mysterious spectre of February. Steeped in visual imagery, this is a hauntingly enigmatic modern fairy tale - in which nothing is as it seems.

'Utterly, agonisingly compulsive ... a masterpiece' Liz Jensen, GuardianFollowing one woman's journey from a troubled girlhood in working-class Copenhagen through her struggle to live on her own terms, The Copenhagen Trilogy is a searingly honest, utterly immersive portrayal of love, friendship, art, ambition and the terrible lure of addiction, from one of Denmark's most celebrated twentieth-century writers.'Sharp, tough and tender ... wrenching sadness and pitch-black comedy ... Ditlevsen can pivot from hilarity to heartbreak in a trice' Boyd Tonkin Spectator'Astonishing, honest, entirely revealing and, in the end, devastating. Ditlevsen's trilogy is remarkable not only for its honesty and lyricism; these are books that journey deep into the darkest reaches of human experience and return, fatally wounded, but still eloquent' Observer'The best books I have read this year. These volumes slip in like a stiletto and do their work once inside. Thrilling' New Statesman

Best remembered as a member of the Algonquin Round Table, the fabled Jazz Age literay coterie, Dorothy Parker built a reputations as one of the era's most beloved poets. Parker's satirical wit and sharp-edged humour earned her a reputation as the wittiest woman in America. This Penguin Classics edition of her poetry - the companion to Parker's Complete Stories and introduced by her noted biographer, Marion Meade - is the only complete collection available, showcasing the dry quips and piercingly introspective verse of a writer whose legend continues to fascinate.

In derelict Dresden a cultivated, middle-class family does all it can to cope amid the Communist downfall. This striking tapestry of the East German experience is told through the tangled lives of a soldier, surgeon, nurse and publisher. With evocative detail, Uwe Tellkamp masterfully reveals the myriad perspectives of the time as people battled for individuality, retreated to nostalgia, chose to conform, or toed the perilous line between East and West. Poetic, heartfelt and dramatic, The Tower vividly resurrects the sights, scents and sensations of life in the GDR as it hurtled towards 9 November 1989.

Keynote:The much-anticipated final journey in the story of Felix, hero of Morris Gleitzman's multi-award-winning Once, Then, After, Soon, Maybe and Now.It's fifteen years since readers were first introduced to Felix in Once and across six celebrated books, our brave young hero has survived many unforgettable and emotional journeys. Now comes the seventh and final part of Felix's story, bringing to a powerful climax a series that countless young readers around the world will remember - Always.

'Utterly, agonisingly compulsive ... a masterpiece' Liz Jensen, GuardianThe second volume in The Copenhagen Trilogy, the searing portrait of a woman's journey through love, friendship, ambition and addiction, from one of Denmark's most celebrated twentieth-century writersForced to leave school early, Tove embarks on a chequered career in a string of low-paid, menial jobs. But she is hungry: for poetry, for love, for real life to begin. As Europe slides into war, she must navigate exploitative bosses, a Nazi landlady and unwelcome sexual encounters on the road to hard-won independence. Yet she remains ruthlessly determined in the pursuit of her poetic vocation - until at last the miracle she has always dreamed of appears to be within reach. Youth, the second volume in The Copenhagen Trilogy, is a strikingly honest and immersive portrait of adolescence, filled with biting humour, vulnerability and poeticism.

Lizzie Vogel's story continues in Paradise Lodge, the brilliantly comic sequel to Nina Stibbe's hilarious Man at the Helm.'LOVE it! Instant classic - funny, wise, touching, entirely delightful' MARIAN KEYES*****Working in a care home is not really a suitable job for a schoolgirl but 15-year-old Lizzie Vogel went for it. It just seemed too exhausting to commit to being a full-time girlfriend or a punk (it is the 1970s after all), plus she has some knowledge of old people. They're not suited to granary bread, and you mustn't compare them to toddlers, but she doesn't know there's a right way to get someone out of the bath - or what to do when someone dies.When a rival old people's home with better parking and daily chairobics threatens to take all their residents, Paradise Lodge's cast of staff and helpers have to come together to save the home before it's too late.From the bestselling author of Love, Nina comes a story of being very young, and very old, and the laughter and tears in between.LIZZIE'S STORY CONTINUES IN REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL!*****'The one problem with reviewing Stibbe is that I just want to quote entire pages: it's all so brilliant' THE I'Stibbe looks at another chapter of her life through the prism of her trademark deadpan, acutely observed humour' STYLIST'A dollop of nostalgia and very British humour' GLAMOUR

Lizzie Vogel's story continues in Paradise Lodge, the brilliantly comic sequel to Nina Stibbe's hilarious Man at the Helm.'LOVE it! Instant classic - funny, wise, touching, entirely delightful' MARIAN KEYES*****Working in a care home is not really a suitable job for a schoolgirl but 15-year-old Lizzie Vogel went for it. It just seemed too exhausting to commit to being a full-time girlfriend or a punk (it is the 1970s after all), plus she has some knowledge of old people. They're not suited to granary bread, and you mustn't compare them to toddlers, but she doesn't know there's a right way to get someone out of the bath - or what to do when someone dies.When a rival old people's home with better parking and daily chairobics threatens to take all their residents, Paradise Lodge's cast of staff and helpers have to come together to save the home before it's too late.From the bestselling author of Love, Nina comes a story of being very young, and very old, and the laughter and tears in between.LIZZIE'S STORY CONTINUES IN REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL!*****'The one problem with reviewing Stibbe is that I just want to quote entire pages: it's all so brilliant' THE I'Stibbe looks at another chapter of her life through the prism of her trademark deadpan, acutely observed humour' STYLIST'A dollop of nostalgia and very British humour' GLAMOUR