Lynne Truss – författare

Anxious about the apostrophe? Confused by the comma? Stumped by the semicolon? Join Lynne Truss on a hilarious tour through the rules of punctuation that is sure to sort the dashes from the hyphens.We all had the basic rules of punctuation drilled into us at school, but punctuation pedants have good reason to suspect they never sank in. ‘Its Summer!’ screams a sign that sets our teeth on edge. ‘Pansy’s ready’, we learn to our considerable interest (‘Is she?’) as we browse among the bedding plants.It is not only the rules of punctuation that have come under attack but also a sense of why they matter. In this runaway bestseller, Lynne Truss takes the fight to emoticons and greengrocers’ apostrophes with a war cry of ‘Sticklers unite!’

From the bestselling author of ‘Eats, Shoots & Leaves’, this is the hilarious new book from Lynne Truss about her strange journey through the world of sport and sports journalism.‘Years ago, Boris Becker famously said, after losing at Wimbledon, “Nobody died. I just lost a tennis match.” And while some people applauded him for his healthy sense of proportion, it didn’t ring remotely true. While I was writing about sport, I was caught on the horns of this dilemma for the whole bloody time. I was like the poor confused jurors in ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ who sit in their jury box, writing emphatically on their little slates, both “important” and “not important” because they honestly don't have a clue.’In this magnificent book, Lynne Truss charts her often bizarre wanderings during her time as a sports journalist for the ‘Sunday Times’. From covering a heavyweight world title fight at Madison Square Garden, to watching England beat Holland from an airship above Wembley (while eating chocolate cake); from her extravagant feelings about Andre Agassi, to covering sports like cricket (where, initially, she didn’t have any idea what was going on), Lynne Truss manages to crystallize exactly the essence of what sport is about, and bring her characteristic wisdom and wry humour to it. The book will be a revelation to sport's foolish doubters, and a treat for the many of us who spend too much of our time watching it.

A battle-cry for civilised behaviour from the author of the multi-million selling Eats, Shoots and Leaves."Talk to the hand 'cause the face ain't listening," the saying goes. When did the world get to be so rude? When did society become so inconsiderate? It's a topic that has been simmering for years, and Lynne Truss says that it has now reached boiling point. Taking on the boorish behaviour that has become a point of pride for some, Talk to the Hand is a rallying cry for courtesy. Like Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Talk to the Hand is a spirited conversation, not a stuffy guidebook. It is not about forks, for a start.Why hasn't your nephew ever thanked you for that perfect Christmas present? What makes your builder think he can treat you like dirt in your own home? When you phone a utility with a complaint (and have negotiated the switchboard), why can't you ever speak to a person who is authorised to apologise? What accounts for the appalling treatment you receive in shops? Most important, what will it take to roll back a culture that applauds rudeness and finds it so amusing? For anyone who's fed up with the brutality inflicted by modern manners (and is naturally too scared to confront the actual yobs), Talk to the Hand is a colourful call to arms from the wittiest defender of the civilised world.

One woman's journal of single life on the margins.A brilliant collection of Lynne Truss’ journalism – recording the life of a metropolitan refugee from coupledom. The alternative ‘Bridget Jones’.For seven long years, starting in ‘The Listener’ in 1988 and continuing in ‘The Times’ and ‘Woman's Journal’, Lynne Truss has been trying to make her cat laugh. It has been an uphill task, which is why she deserves this book, a recognition of outstanding courage in the face of futility. Along the way, 'Margins', 'Single of Life' and 'One Woman's Journal' have collected a band of devoted fans, yet still the cat remains unimpressed.Never have so many jokes about Kitbits been found in such concentration as in ‘Making the Cat Laugh’. But under the headings such as 'The Single Woman Considers Going Out but Doesn't Fancy the Hassle' and 'The Single Woman Stays at Home and Goes Quietly Mad', we discover a writer not only obsessed with cats, but prone to over-reacting generally – to news stories, shopping, passive smoking, Christmas, coupledom, boyfriends, snails, sheds, Andre Agassi, cooking instructions, requests of 'How's the novel going?' and personal remarks of any kind.

From the bestselling author of ‘Eats Shoots & Leaves’, a wonderfully funny collection of twelve monologues.In the tradition of Alan Bennett's ‘Talking Heads’ come Lynne Truss's twelve bittersweet tales about love, romance, friendship and family. Her six men and six women each have very different stories to tell, ranging from the wife who feels better when her husband disappears to the pedant who undergoes a TV makeover and the swimmer who can't escape the shadow of her sister…but all are funny, touching and as beautifully observed as would be expected from the bestselling author. Whether describing fathers and daughters, married men, cat-lovers or ‘other women’, she is always brilliantly perceptive.

A wonderful comic novel from the bestselling author of ‘Eats Shoots & Leaves’.Belinda Johansson is a woman frantic, overwhelmed by the demands of work and home. Having it all? Pah. Belinda doesn't want any of it. Deep in research for her magnum opus – a definitive account of the doppelgänger in classic gothic fiction – she fails to notice the echoes of these ghoulish tales disturbingly close at hand. For not only is the cleaning lady taking over her life, but the identity of her husband, Stefan, is also in question. Is he a harmless geneticist from Sweden, or actually a cunning clone? Why is the cleaning lady's previous employer having a breakdown, and what on earth has the rat circus got to do with any of this?

From the bestselling author of ‘Eats Shoots & Leaves’, an unexpectedly moving, luminously wise and brilliantly funny novel about a Victorian Poet Laureate.In July 1864, a corner of the Isle of Wight is buzzing with literary and artistic creativity. A morose Tennyson is reciting 'Maud' to empty sofas; the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron is white-washing the roses for visual effect and the mismatched couple, actress Ellen Terry and painter G. F. Watts, are thrown into the company of the remarkable Lorenzo Fowler, the American phrenologist, and his daughter Jessie. Enter mathematician Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll), known to Jessie as the 'fiendish pedagogue', and Lynne Truss's wonderfully imaginative cocktail of Victorian seriousness and riotous farce begins to take flight.

Lynne Truss's first novel, in which she shows herself to be one of the very best comic writers.'It was nobody's fault, this widely held assumption that “Come Into the Garden” had long since sought eternal peace in the great magazine rack in the sky. Nevertheless, it required strength of character for those intimately acquainted with the title not to take the comments personally. After all, it was a bit like being dead but not lying down'.Osborne Lonsdale, a down-at-heel journalist, mysteriously attractive to women, writes a regular celebrity interview for ‘Come Into the Garden’. This week his 'Me and My Shed' column will be based on the charming garden outhouse owned by TV sitcom star Angela Farmer. Unbeknown to Osborne, driving down to Devon to interview Angela in her country retreat, the sleepy magazine has been taken over by new management. So it happens that Osborne's research trip is interrupted by a trainload of anxious hacks from London – Lillian the fluffy blonde secretary, Michelle the sub-editor who has a secret crush on Osborne, and Trent Carmichael, crime novelist and bestselling author of S is for… Secateurs!

The punctuation workout for sticklers and rookies alike.The punctuation panda is back!Armed with a permanent marker, a smidgen of confidence, and a copy of ‘Can You Eat, Shoot and Leave?’, everyone now has the chance to become a member of the punctuation elite.Established punctuation sticklers:Fine-tune existing skills, taking guilty pleasure from testing your (already somewhat unsettling) seventh sense.Confused novices:Never again inflict flawed and perplexing punctuation on your innocent readers.The only official workbook for the international bestseller ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves.’ Introductory Cosmo-style questionnaire helps readers identify their level of punctuation prowess.Mirrors the structure and light-hearted style of Lynne Truss’s hugely popular ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’. Topics include apostrophes, commas, colons and semicolons, hyphens and more.Each chapter concentrates on one particular punctuation mark. Origin, usage rules and their exceptions introduce the entertaining activities which have a ‘challenge-yourself’ format.The bite-sized exercises in each chapter and longer texts in ‘The Final Challenge’ put punctuation skills to the test.

***Shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2021***THE ACCLAIMED MURDER MYSTERY FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, PERFECT FOR FANS OF RICHARD OSMAN'Funny, clever, charming, imaginative and nostalgic' The Times'Terrific' Mail on Sunday'A giddy spell of sheer delight' Daily MailThe August bank holiday is approaching and after two extremely high-profile murder cases, Constable Twitten is eagerly anticipating a quiet spell at work. But then they find the bodies – and the milk bottles.Three seemingly unconnected victims – a hard-working AA patrolman, a would-be Beauty Queen, a catty BBC radio personality – have all been killed with the same, highly unusual murder weapon. Constable Twitten, Sergeant Brunswick and Inspector Steine are initially baffled, the town is alarmed, and the local newspaper is delighted: after all, what sells papers better than a killer on the loose? Can our redoubtable trio solve the case and catch this most curious of killers before they strike again?'The glorious return of Constable Twitten is a cause for celebration... the fun is in Truss's keen ear for dialogue, original comic characters and affectionate(ish) recreation of a seaside resort in its slightly sleazy heyday' Sunday Times Crime Club

'Another delectable crime story... While between the covers of her books, the world seems a better place' The Times'A giddy spell of sheer delight!' Praise for the Constable Twitten Series, Daily MailIn the latest installment of this prize-winning crime mystery series, our trio of redoubtable detectives are faced with the arrival in town of an escaped convict...It’s September in Brighton and the town is playing host to weeks of endless rain and lashings of villainy. A trusted member of a local gang has disappeared part way through planning a huge heist; a violent criminal obsessed with hunting policemen has escaped Broadmoor and is rumoured to be headed towards the town, while at Gosling’s department store an American researcher has been found dead in the music section.Inspector Steine has other things on his mind as he typically bathes in unearned glory, but Sergeant Brunswick and Constable ‘Clever Clogs’ Twitten are both on the case. If only they could work out just who is behind these dastardly acts…'Glorious... The fun is in Truss's keen ear for dialogue, original comic characters and affectionate recreation of a seaside resort' Praise for the Constable Twitten Series, Sunday Times Crime Club'Outstanding. In her ability to blend crime and farce, Truss is in a class of her own' Publishers WeeklyDISCOVER THE AWARD-WINNING CONSTABLE TWITTEN MYSTERY SERIES NOW

Guardian Crime Book of the Month_______________'A giddy spell of sheer delight' Daily Mail'Ingenious ' Sunday Times Crime ClubBrighton, 1957. Inspector Steine rather enjoys his life as a policeman by the sea. No criminals, no crime, no stress.So it’s really rather annoying when an ambitious new constable shows up to work and starts investigating a series of burglaries. And it’s even more annoying when, after Constable Twitten is despatched to the theatre for the night, he sits next to a vicious theatre critic who is promptly shot dead part way through the opening night of a new play.It seems Brighton may be in need of a police force after all…A sparkling historical mystery set in sunny Sussex by the sea, perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Robert Thorogood and Elly Griffiths._______________'Entertaining' Observer'Will make you laugh out loud' Sunday Times

A Times Crime Novel of the Year, the perfect murder mystery read for fans of Richard Osman and Elly GriffithsIn the second instalment of Lynne Truss's joyfully quirky crime series, our trio of detectives must investigate the murder of a hapless romantic; an aristocratic con man on the prowl; and a dodgy Brighton nightspot...It is summer in Brighton and the Brighton Belles are on hand to answer any holidaymaker’s queries, no matter how big or small. The quickest way to the station, how many pebbles are on the beach and what exactly has happened to that young man lying in the deckchair with blood dripping from him?Constable Twitten has a hunch that the fiendish murder may be connected to a notorious Brighton nightspot and the family that run it, but Inspector Steine is – as ever – distracted by other issues, not least having his own waxwork model made, while Sergeant Brunswick is just delighted to have spied an opportunity to finally be allowed to go undercover…Our incomparable team of detectives are back for another outing in the second instalment of Lynne Truss's joyfully quirky crime series.

***Shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2021***THE ACCLAIMED MURDER MYSTERY FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, PERFECT FOR FANS OF RICHARD OSMAN'Funny, clever, charming, imaginative and nostalgic' The Times'Terrific' Mail on Sunday'A giddy spell of sheer delight' Daily MailThe August bank holiday is approaching and after two extremely high-profile murder cases, Constable Twitten is eagerly anticipating a quiet spell at work. But then they find the bodies – and the milk bottles.Three seemingly unconnected victims – a hard-working AA patrolman, a would-be Beauty Queen, a catty BBC radio personality – have all been killed with the same, highly unusual murder weapon. Constable Twitten, Sergeant Brunswick and Inspector Steine are initially baffled, the town is alarmed, and the local newspaper is delighted: after all, what sells papers better than a killer on the loose? Can our redoubtable trio solve the case and catch this most curious of killers before they strike again?'The glorious return of Constable Twitten is a cause for celebration... the fun is in Truss's keen ear for dialogue, original comic characters and affectionate(ish) recreation of a seaside resort in its slightly sleazy heyday' Sunday Times Crime Club