Sarah Thomas – författare

Peter Lorre described himself as merely a ‘face maker’. His own negative attitude also characterizes traditional perspectives which position Lorre as a tragic figure within film history: the promising European artist reduced to a Hollywood gimmick, unable to escape the murderous image of his role in Fritz Lang’s M. This book shows that the life of Peter Lorre cannot be reduced to a series of simplistic oppositions. It reveals that, despite the limitations of his macabre star image, Lorre’s screen performances were highly ambitious, and the terms of his employment were rarely restrictive. Lorre’s career was a complex negotiation between transnational identity, Hollywood filmmaking practices, the ownership of star images and the mechanics of screen performance.

Smart Stardom explores how contemporary celebrities are digitally replicated and re-circulated through advanced technologies including artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer-generated imagery, real-time rendering, and virtual and augmented media.Discussing how these digital developments produce highly compelling virtual versions of real stars - what the book terms the “smart star” - whose digital identities remain anchored to recognisable, real-world figures, the authors explore how these virtual celebrities generate economic and cultural value through familiarity, affective connection, and nostalgia, while also embodying urgent questions about consent, ownership, and the control of famous faces and voices. Drawing on a wide range of global case studies from film, music, advertising, activism, and politics, Smart Stardom examines how key figures are mobilised to help audiences engage with emerging digital environments, and how celebrity operates as a key point of entry into complex and often opaque technologies, used to authenticate new experiences while negotiating public anxieties around AI, data, and digital identity. Structured around the themes of image, likeness, nostalgia, and trust, Smart Stardom asks why celebrity remains vital to the adoption of new digital technologies, exploring both the agency of public figures in extending their identities into virtual spaces and the ways the global entertainment industry has expanded and exploited the appeal of licensed digital stardom.This book will appeal to researchers, students and scholars working in film and media industries, human-computer interaction (HCI), business, cultural theory, fandom studies, technology studies, sociology, and media stardom.

A beautifully taut, uncommonly rich novel about the myths we inherit, set between London and KenyaWhen Lara was a baby, her father had a life-altering accident. Her mother left England and began a new life in Kenya, where Lara grew up.Thirty-five years later, Lara lives in London with her partner Max, a musician, and his young daughter Paloma, who stays with them every week. She is absorbed by her work as a historian on a project to find the lost burial grounds of Kenyans who died fighting for the British in the two world wars – absorbed too by the experience of stepmotherhood, the learning of Paloma and her ways.Lara’s quiet contentment is punctured when their landlady asks them to move out. But a serendipitous encounter with her father’s cousin, Patrick, offers sanctuary in the form of an unoccupied stuccoed townhouse. Ensconced, with her fledgling family, in the space and solidity of this house, Lara can close her eyes and feel the outline of the life that might have been hers, and slip back into the past.Patrick seems intrigued – perhaps too intrigued – by Lara’s connection to Kenya and her colleague Gideon, who is being pressured to sell a tract of land he owns. As moral unease does battle with her desire to remain in Patrick’s house, what bargains will Lara be willing to make, what negotiations of conscience, and at what cost?Set between London and Kenya, Inheritance is a taut and uncommonly rich novel that asks us to examine the myths that we believe – about history, about our country’s past, about the people we think we know, and what we think we understand about ourselves.

Although children have proliferated in Spain’s cinema since its inception, nowhere are they privileged and complicated in quite the same way as in the films of the 1970s and early 1980s, a period of radical political and cultural change for the nation as it emerged from almost four decades of repressive dictatorship under the rule of General Francisco Franco. In Inhabiting the In-Between: Childhood and Cinema in Spain’s Long Transition, Sarah Thomas analyses the cinematic child within this complex historical conjuncture of a nation looking back on decades of authoritarian rule and forward to an uncertain future.Examining films from several genres by four key directors of the Transition – Carlos Saura, Antonio Mercero, Víctor Erice, and Jaime de Armiñán – Thomas explores how the child is represented as both subject and object, and self and other, and consistently cast in a position between categories or binary poles. She demonstrates how the cinematic child that materializes in this period is a fundamentally shifting, oscillating, ambivalent figure that points toward the impossibility of fully comprehending the historical past and the figure of the other, while inviting an ethical engagement with each.

Includes: a discussion of historical placement of “digital equity” content in teacher education programs; research- and evidence-based vignettes demonstrating best practices; examples of ISTE Standards in action; practical tips for preparing future teachers to navigate the process; and positive applications of digital equity.

Author Sarah Thomas goes all in with this must-have quilting guide. This is not just a collection of 15 beautiful quilts to make, but also a course study on how to confidently choose fabric for multi-color and monotone designs. Sarah shares her approach to selecting a harmonious palate that achieves design strength through colour placement. She then goes on to explain how she uses color saturation and colour value to make the same quilt with alternate coloration. For example, her rainbow version of her Twinkle pattern takes on a patriotic feel when it's made with reds, creams, and blues. Filled with techniques that, in many cases, let the consumers choose their own preferences to achieve their own results, it also includes instruction for basic patchwork, curves, English and foundation paper piecing, plus appliqué options if paper piecing isn't your cup of tea. Quilt patterns include Blast Off, Double Dip, Eden, Fan Dancer, and Soft Serve. Improve your own quilting skills by learning from a master.

Peter Lorre described himself as merely a ‘face maker’. His own negative attitude also characterizes traditional perspectives which position Lorre as a tragic figure within film history: the promising European artist reduced to a Hollywood gimmick, unable to escape the murderous image of his role in Fritz Lang’s M. This book shows that the life of Peter Lorre cannot be reduced to a series of simplistic oppositions. It reveals that, despite the limitations of his macabre star image, Lorre’s screen performances were highly ambitious, and the terms of his employment were rarely restrictive. Lorre’s career was a complex negotiation between transnational identity, Hollywood filmmaking practices, the ownership of star images and the mechanics of screen performance.

'A superb debut novel... Anyone who enjoyed The White Lotus will love Thomas's scalpel-sharp skewering of the mores and idiocies of the idle rich' Observer''A classy thriller that will appeal to fans of Leila Slimani's Lullaby . . . A hot holiday read to brighten up the last few weeks of winter' Sunday TimesQueen K is as compulsive as a Netflix binge, but it also asks timely questions about status and what constitutes a dignified life' Sheena Patel, Guardian'Balzac in Balenciaga... Queen K lures you in with escapist, beach-read vibes, then bares its teeth with a devastating portrait of the emotional cost of greed' Times'Patricia Highsmith-esque ... an untrustworthy narrator judging her employer's life of excess and desperate attempts to infiltrate a glittering world' Evening Standard, 'The Debuts You'll Love in 2023''A dark and brilliant read . . . our bet is that this is going to be on the small or big screen' GlamourOn a balmy evening in late March, an oligarch's wife hosts a party on a superyacht moored in the Maldives. Tables cover the massive deck, adorned with orchids, champagne bottles, name cards of celebrities. Uniformed staff flank a red carpet on the landing dock. This is what Kata has wanted for a long time: acceptance into the glittering world of high society. But there are those who aim to come between Kata and her goal, and they are closer to home than she could have imagined.Witness to the corruption and violence underneath the shiny surfaces is Mel, a young English woman employed to tutor Kata's precocious daughter and navigate her through the class codes of English privilege. Now the closest Mel gets to such privilege is as hired help to the wealthy, and she is deeply resentful.Exquisitely written and deliciously unreliable, Queen K takes the reader to some of the most luxurious places in the world. But a dark refrain sounds from the very beginning of the story and grows towards its operatic finale: a novel about insatiable material desire can only ever be a tragedy.'A world of butter-cream-beige luxury, brimming with toxicity and darkness, that pulls you in, and under' Calla Henkel, author of Other People's Clothes

'A classy thriller that will appeal to fans of Leila Slimani's Lullaby... A hot holiday read' Sunday Times'A superb debut novel... Anyone who enjoyed The White Lotus will love Thomas's scalpel-sharp skewering of the mores and idiocies of the idle rich' Observer'A dark and brilliant read . . . our bet is that this is going to be on the small or big screen' GlamourOn a balmy evening in late March, an oligarch's wife hosts a party on a superyacht moored in the Maldives. Tables cover the massive deck, adorned with orchids, champagne bottles, name cards of celebrities. This is what Kata has wanted for a long time: acceptance into the glittering world of high society. But there are those who aim to come between Kata and her goal, and they are closer to home than she could have imagined.Witness to the corruption and violence underneath the shiny surfaces is Mel, a young English woman employed to tutor Kata's precocious daughter and navigate her through the class codes of English privilege. Now the closest Mel gets to such privilege is as hired help to the wealthy, and she is deeply resentful.Exquisitely written and deliciously unreliable, Queen K takes the reader to some of the most luxurious places in the world. But a dark refrain sounds from the very beginning of the story and grows towards its operatic finale: a novel about insatiable material desire can only ever be a tragedy.

'A superb debut novel... Anyone who enjoyed The White Lotus will love Thomas's scalpel-sharp skewering of the mores and idiocies of the idle rich' Observer''A classy thriller that will appeal to fans of Leila Slimani's Lullaby . . . A hot holiday read to brighten up the last few weeks of winter' Sunday TimesQueen K is as compulsive as a Netflix binge, but it also asks timely questions about status and what constitutes a dignified life' Sheena Patel, Guardian'Balzac in Balenciaga... Queen K lures you in with escapist, beach-read vibes, then bares its teeth with a devastating portrait of the emotional cost of greed' Times'Patricia Highsmith-esque ... an untrustworthy narrator judging her employer's life of excess and desperate attempts to infiltrate a glittering world' Evening Standard, 'The Debuts You'll Love in 2023''A dark and brilliant read . . . our bet is that this is going to be on the small or big screen' GlamourOn a balmy evening in late March, an oligarch's wife hosts a party on a superyacht moored in the Maldives. Tables cover the massive deck, adorned with orchids, champagne bottles, name cards of celebrities. Uniformed staff flank a red carpet on the landing dock. This is what Kata has wanted for a long time: acceptance into the glittering world of high society. But there are those who aim to come between Kata and her goal, and they are closer to home than she could have imagined.Witness to the corruption and violence underneath the shiny surfaces is Mel, a young English woman employed to tutor Kata's precocious daughter and navigate her through the class codes of English privilege. Now the closest Mel gets to such privilege is as hired help to the wealthy, and she is deeply resentful.Exquisitely written and deliciously unreliable, Queen K takes the reader to some of the most luxurious places in the world. But a dark refrain sounds from the very beginning of the story and grows towards its operatic finale: a novel about insatiable material desire can only ever be a tragedy.'A world of butter-cream-beige luxury, brimming with toxicity and darkness, that pulls you in, and under' Calla Henkel, author of Other People's Clothes

'Fascinating' - Robert Macfarlane, author of The Old Ways'Truly a thing of wonder' - Kerri ní Dochartaigh, author of Thin Places'Lyrical [and] thoughtful' - Cal Flyn, author of Islands of AbandonmentVisiting Iceland as an anthropologist and film-maker in 2008, Sarah Thomas is spellbound by its otherworldly landscape. An immediate love for this country and for Bjarni, a man she meets there, turns a week-long stay into a transformative half-decade, one which radically alters Sarah's understanding of herself and of the living world.She embarks on a relationship not only with Bjarni, but with the light, the language, and the old wooden house they make their home. She finds a place where the light of the midwinter full moon reflected by snow can be brighter than daylight, where the earth can tremor at any time, and where the word for echo - bergmál - translates as 'the language of the mountain'. In the midst of crisis both personal and planetary, as her marriage falls apart, Sarah finds inspiration in the artistry of a raven's nest: a home which persists through breaking and reweaving - over and over.Written in beautifully vivid prose The Raven's Nest is a profoundly moving meditation on place, identity and how we might live in an era of environmental disruption.

Sarah Thomas's study moves beyond the image of the brooding, destructive man at odds with employers and his own star status to explore the complexity of Mason’s career and star persona. Her analysis is structured around three strands central to understanding stardom: the star persona, industry and power, and screen performance. Thomas addresses the incredible range of Mason’s star career – 1930s ‘quota quickies’; 1940s Gainsborough melodramas; the desperate IRA man in Carol Reed’s ‘Odd Man Out’ (1947); from the 1950s onwards, Hollywood classics including starring in Hitchcock’s ‘North by Northwest’ (1959) and playing Humbert Humbert in Kubrick’s ‘Lolita’ (1962). She also considers in depth his undervalued post-1962 career, off-screen celebrity status, non-film work, comic and vocal performances, and the star’s own self-commentary. In doing so, she offers a new perspective on such subjects as power and powerlessness; public image and national identity, contextualizing Mason's career in wider histories of British, American and European transnational filmmaking.

A timely and original look at the role of the eyewitness account in the representation of slavery in British and European artGathering together over 160 paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints, this book offers an unprecedented examination of the shifting iconography of slavery in British and European art between 1760 and 1840. In addition to considering how the work of artists such as Agostino Brunias, James Hakewill, and Augustus Earle responded to abolitionist politics, Sarah Thomas examines the importance of the eyewitness account in endowing visual representations of transatlantic slavery with veracity. “Being there,” indeed, became significant not only because of the empirical opportunities to document slave life it afforded but also because the imagery of the eyewitness was more credible than sketches and paintings created by the “armchair traveler” at home. Full of original insights that cast a new light on these highly charged images, this volume reconsiders how slavery was depicted within a historical context in which truth was a deeply contested subject.Distributed for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

Richard Dadd (1817–1886) constructed fairytale worlds and other highly original works of art. After making his name as an exceptional student at the Royal Academy in the late 1830s, he travelled to the Eastern Mediterranean, where he developed a psychotic illness that led to the killing of his father. Dadd spent the rest of his life in London’s Bethlem Royal Hospital and then Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire, in both of which he was encouraged to paint.Dadd’s output encompasses much more than the fairy paintings for which he is renowned. There are also highly detailed sketches evocative of his Eastern Mediterranean travels, remarkable characterisations of the human passions, and perceptive portraits of his doctors. Profusely illustrated throughout, this new account of his life and art by Nicholas Tromans and other leading scholars re-examines the legacy of one of the most fascinating figures in the visual arts of the Victorian era.