The shadow man
En Anglais – In Berlin in 1943, he was known and dreaded as Der Schattenmann–a merciless « catcher » of Jews for the Nazis. Few saw his face and lived. In present-day Miami Beach, he has resurfaced–to silence forever the survivors who remember. Unless retired homicide detective Simon Winter can find him first.
Sam’s letters to Jennifer
En Anglais – Grief-stricken by a recent tragedy, Jennifer returns to the resort village where she grew up to help her beloved grandmother. There, Jennifer will discover new meaning in life and experience not one, but two of the most amazing love stories ever.
Martha Quest
En Anglais – Intelligent, sensitive, and fiercely passionate, Martha Quest is a young woman living on a farm in Africa, feeling her way through the torments of adolescence and early womanhood. She is a romantic idealistic in revolt against the puritan snobbery of her parents, trying to live to the full with every nerve, emotion, and instinct laid bare to experience. For her, this is a time of solitary reading daydreams, dancing — and the first disturbing encounters with sex. The first of Doris Lessing’s timeless Children of Violence novels, Martha Quest is an endearing masterpiece.
Earthly powers
En Anglais – Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange, is regarded as one of the most original and daring writers in the English language. His work is illuminated by a dazzling imagination, by a gift for character and plot, by a talent for surprise. In Earthly Powers Burgess created his masterpiece. At its center are two twentieth-century men who represent different kinds of power—Kenneth Toomey, eminent novelist, a man who has outlived his contemporaries to survive into honored, bitter, luxurious old age as a celebrity of dubious notoriety; and Don Carlo Campanati, a man of God, eventually beloved Pope, who rises through the Vatican as a shrewd manipulator to become the architect of church revolution and a candidate for sainthood. Through the lives of these two modern men Burgess explores the very essence of power. As each pursues his career—one to sainthood, one to wealthy exile—their relationship becomes the heart of a narrative that incorporates almost everyone of fame and distinction in the social, literary, and political life of America and Europe. This astonishing company is joined together by the art of a great novelist into an explosive and entertaining tour de force that will captivate fans of sweeping historic fiction.
En Anglais – Andrew Marshall has written an unforgettable adventure story, the wry account of two journeys into the untraveled heart of Burma. Part travelogue, part history, part reportage, The Trouser People recounts the story of George Scott, the eccentric British explorer, photographer, adventurer, and later Colonial Administrator of Burma, who introduced the Empire’s best game (soccer!) to Burmese natives and to the forbidden Wa state of headhunters, who were similarly enthusiastic about it. The second, contrasting journey is Marshall’s own, taking the same dangerous path one hundred years later in a country now devastated by colonial incompetence, war, and totalitarianism. Wonderfully observed, mordantly funny, and skillfully recounted, this is journalistic travel writing at its best.
En Anglais – « Provocative and delightfully discursive essays on natural history. . . . Gould is the Stan Musial of essay writing. He can work himself into a corkscrew of ideas and improbable allusions paragraph after paragraph and then, uncoiling, hit it with such power that his fans know they are experiencing the game of essay writing at its best. »–John Noble Wilford, New York Times Book Review
Batavia’s graveyard
En Anglais – In 1628 the Dutch East India Company loaded the Batavia, the flagship of its fleet, with a king’s ransom in gold, silver, and gems for her maiden voyage to Java; the ship itself was a tangible symbol of the world’s richest and most powerful monopoly. The company also sent along a new employee to guard its treasure. He was Jeronimus Corneliszoon, a disgraced and bankrupt man with great charisma and dangerously heretical ideas. With the help of a few disgruntled sailors, he hatched a plot to seize the ship and her riches. The mutiny might have succeeded, but in the dark morning hours of June 3, 1629, the Batavia smashed through a coral reef and ran aground on a small chain of islands near Australia. The captain and skipper escaped the wreck, and in a tiny lifeboat they set sail for Java—some 1,500 miles north—to summon help. More than 250 frightened survivors waded ashore, thankful to be alive. Unfortunately, Jeronimus and the mutineers had survived too, and the nightmare was only beginning.
Beautiful Thing
En Anglais – Sonia Faleiro was a reporter in search of a story when she met Leela, a beautiful and charismatic bar dancer with a story to tell. Leela introduced Sonia to the underworld of Bombay’s dance bars: a world of glamorous women, of fierce love, sex and violence, of customers and gangsters, of police, prostitutes and pimps. When an ambitious politician cashed in on a tide of false morality and had Bombay’s dance bars wiped out, Leela’s proud independence faced its greatest test. In a city where almost everyone is certain that someone, somewhere, is worse off than them, she fights to survive, and to win. Beautiful Thing, one of the most original works of non-fiction from India in years, is a vivid and intimate portrait of one reporter’s journey into the dark, pulsating and ultimately damaged soul of Bombay.
En Anglais – In the tradition of The Godfather, The Westies is a powerful tale spanning 60 years. A gang of Irish-Americans, the Westies patrolled Manhattan’s West Side throughout the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. They ruled the tough blue-collar neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen, where bodies were known to literally fall from the sky.
An affair of sorcerers
En Anglais – Three apparently separate investigations involving the New York City occult underground of covens, warlocks, tarot readers, faith healers, and palm readers dovetail into a single, explosive climax.
Polar Star
En Anglais – In the long-awaited sequel to Gorky Park, Arkady Renko returns to Russia to work on the Polar Star, a huge fishing-factory ship. When a young girl is murdered, Renko is asked to investigate . . . and enters a case as chilling and gripping as his previous adventure.
Arènes Sénégalaises – Livre neuf
Livre bilingue français/anglais – Matar Ndour, photographe, montre ici les diverses facettes, aussi bien sportives que folkloriques, mystiques et populaires, qui se font jour dans un stade lors des grands combats.
A crime so monstrous
En Anglais – To be a moral witness is perhaps the highest calling of journalism, and in this unforgettable, highly readable account of contemporary slavery, author Benjamin Skinner travels around the globe to personally tell stories that need to be told — and heard. As Samantha Power and Philip Gourevitch did for genocide, Skinner has now done for modern-day slavery. With years of reporting in such places as Haiti, Sudan, India, Eastern Europe, The Netherlands, and, yes, even suburban America, he has produced a vivid testament and moving reportage on one of the great evils of our time. There are more slaves in the world today than at any time in history. After spending four years visiting a dozen countries where slavery flourishes, Skinner tells the story, in gripping narrative style, of individuals who live in slavery, those who have escaped from bondage, those who own or traffic in slaves, and the mixed political motives of those who seek to combat the crime. Skinner infiltrates trafficking networks and slave sales on five continents, exposing a modern flesh trade never before portrayed in such proximity. From mega-harems in Dubai to illicit brothels in Bucharest, from slave quarries in India to child markets in Haiti, he explores the underside of a world we scarcely recognize as our own and lays bare a parallel universe where human beings are bought, sold, used, and discarded. He travels from the White House to war zones and immerses us in the political and flesh-and-blood battles on the front lines of the unheralded new abolitionist movement.
Homecomings
En Anglais – ‘Homecomings’ is the seventh in the ‘Strangers and Brothers’ series and sequel to ‘Time of Hope’. This complete story in its own right follows Lewis Eliot’s life through World War II. After his first wife’s death his work at the Ministry assumes a larger role. It is not until his second marriage that Eliot is able to commit himself emotionally.
A conspiracy of paper
En Anglais Benjamin Weaver, a Jew and an ex-boxer, is an outsider in eighteenth-century London, tracking down debtors and felons for aristocratic clients. The son of a wealthy stock trader, he lives estranged from his family – until he is asked to investigate his father’s sudden death. Thus Weaver descends into the deceptive world of the English stock jobbers, gliding between coffee houses and gaming houses, drawing rooms and bordellos. The more Weaver uncovers, the darker the truth becomes, until he realizes that he is following too closely in his father’s footsteps – and they just might lead him to his own grave. An enthralling historical thriller, A Conspiracy of Paper will leave readers wondering just how much has changed in the stock market in the last three hundred years …
The Katanga run
En Anglais It was in the Congo, after the bitter battle for independance had been won and peace had collapsed into chaos, that the word « mercenary » first hit the headlines … To the Congo came idealists and adventurers, revolutionaries with dreams and opportunists with desires …..
Skin privilege
En Anglais In a stifling jail cell in a run-down Georgia town, detective Lena Adams sits in self-imposed silence, bruised, angry, and the only suspect in a horrific murder that left a woman incinerated beyond recognition. A hundred miles away, police chief Jeffrey Tolliver receives the call.
Nightlines
En Anglais McGahern began his career as a schoolteacher at Scoil Eoin Báiste (Belgrove) primary school in Clontarf, Ireland, where, for a period, he taught the eminent academic Declan Kiberd before turning to writing full-time. McGahern’s second novel ‘The Dark’ was banned in Ireland for its alleged pornographic content and implied clerical sexual abuse. In the controversy over this he was forced to resign his teaching post. He subsequently moved to England where he worked in a variety of jobs before returning to Ireland to live and work on a small farm in Fenagh in County Leitrim, located halfway between Ballinamore and Mohill. His third novel ‘Amongst Women’ was shortlisted for the 1990 Man Booker Prize.
He died from cancer in Dublin on March 30, 2006.
Hard news
En Anglais Gideon McCarthy is a disgraced reporter trying to work his way off the night cops beat. Scarred by personal tragedy, locked in a bitter custody battle for two young children, he believes his career is all but over. If he has any hope of redemption, he must solve a series of savage killings. Prentice LaFontaine is McCarthy’s best friend, gossip extraordinaire and the black’s
The pillars of the earth
En Anglais – Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance. But what makes The Pillars of the Earth extraordinary is the time the twelfth century; the place feudal England; and the subject the building of a glorious cathedral. Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, the castles, and the monasteries become a familiar landscape. Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters into their dreams, their labors, and their loves: Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge; Jack, the artist in stone; and Ellen, the woman of the forest who casts a terrifying curse. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, each character is brought vividly to life. The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.
Pale saint – Dark homecoming
En Anglais – 2 volumes – Pale Satin : Eric Lustbader takes us to the cutting edge of technology with this unique novel of suspense. New York City Homicide Detective Jon Christopher has a perfect record bringing serial killers to justice, but now all that has changed: the genocidal maniac dubbed the Pale Saint has eluded him for 18 months. When Christopher’s best friend, assistant D.A. Bobby Austin becomes the Pale Saint’s latest victim, Christopher’s need to catch the killer becomes of matter of personal obsession. Forced to take desparate measures in order to track down the Pale Saint, Christopher enlists an unexpected partner, the great lost love of his life, Austin’s widow, Cassandra, a brilliant genetic engineer. Together they make a cataclysmic decision: they will create and train a clone of the Pale Saint, his mirror image, to become the human bullet that will bring the wily killer down. Eric Lustbader’s new novel is an intense, breathless chase to root out and destroy the ultimate evil. And in redefining the age-old mysteries of love and death, loyalty and betrayal, sin and redemption, Pale Saint forces us to confront the most profound questions of our time: What defines a human being? What constitutes a family? What right do scientists have to breach the barrier of the unknown? – Dark Homecoming : Lew Croaker is trying to mind his own business in Miami when he gets caught up with the sinister Bonita brothers. When his niece takes an overdose and needs a kidney transplant, Croaker has to make a terrifying decision – can he kill a friend to save his own flesh and blood?
Devil’s peak
En Anglais – From rising South African thriller writer Deon Meyer, a gripping suspense novel about revenge, forgiveness, and the race to catch a trained killer. A young woman makes a terrible confession to a priest. An honorable man takes his own revenge for an unspeakable tragedy. An aging inspector tries to get himself sober while taking on the most difficult case of his career. From this beginning, Deon Meyer weaves a story of astonishing complexity and suspense, as Inspector Benny Griessel faces off against a dangerous vigilante who has everything on his side, including public sympathy. A gruesome abuse case has hit the newsstands, and one man has taken it upon himself to stand up for the children of Cape Town. When the accused is found stabbed through the heart by spear, it’s only the beginning of a string of bloody murders – and of a dangerous dilemma for detective Griessel. The detective is always just one step behind as someone slays the city’s killers. But the paths of Griessel and the avenger collide when a young prostitute lures them both into a dangerous plan – and the two find themselves with a heart-stopping problem that no system of justice could ever make right.
Reading in the Dark
En Anglais – Hugely acclaimed in Great Britain, where it was awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize and short-listed for the Booker, Seamus Deane’s first novel is a mesmerizing story of childhood set against the violence of Northern Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s. The boy narrator grows up haunted by a truth he both wants and does not want to discover. The matter: a deadly betrayal, unspoken and unspeakable, born of political enmity. As the boy listens through the silence that surrounds him, the truth spreads like a stain until it engulfs him and his family. And as he listens, and watches, the world of legend–the stone fort of Grianan, home of the warrior Fianna; the Field of the Disappeared, over which no gulls fly–reveals its transfixing reality. Meanwhile the real world of adulthood unfolds its secrets like a collection of folktales: the dead sister walking again; the lost uncle, Eddie, present on every page; the family house « as cunning and articulate as a labyrinth, closely designed, with someone sobbing at the heart of it. » Seamus Deane has created a luminous tale about how childhood fear turns into fantasy and fantasy turns into fact. Breathtakingly sad but vibrant and unforgettable, Reading in the Dark is one of the finest books about growing up–in Ireland or anywhere–that has ever been written.
Falling Angels
En Anglais – In her New York Times bestselling follow-up, Tracy Chevalier once again paints a distant age with a rich and provocative palette of characters. Told through a variety of shifting perspectives- wives and husbands, friends and lovers, masters and their servants, and a gravedigger’s son-Falling Angels follows the fortunes of two families in the emerging years of the twentieth century.
Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas
En Anglais – Beautifully captures the joys of a new family as it builds to an overwhelmingly moving climax. This is an unforgettable love story, at once heartbreaking and full of hope. James Patterson has written a love story!–a powerfully moving and suspenseful novel about families, loss, new love, and hope. Katie Wilkinson has found her perfect man at last. He’s a writer, a house painter, an original thinker–everything she’s imagined she wanted in a partner. But one day, without explanation, he disappears from her life, leaving behind only a diary for her to read. This diary is a love letter written by a new mother named Suzanne for her baby son, Nicholas. In it she pours out her heart about how she and the boy’s father met, about her hopes for marriage and family, and about the unparalleled joy that having a baby has brought into her life. As Katie reads this touching document, it becomes clear that the lover who has just left her is the husband and father in this young family. She reads on, filled with terror and hope, as she struggles to understand what has happened–and whether her new love has a prayer of surviving. Written with James Patterson’s perfect pitch for emotion and suspense, Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas captures beautifully the joys of a new family as it builds to an overwhelmingly moving climax. This is an unforgettable love story, at once heartbreaking and full of hope.
Little Brother
En Anglais – A state-of-the-art computerized killing machine bids to destroy world peace. Ed Howard discovers that he is confronting the world’s most effective mercenary force, the East German Stasi, with the team he led into and out of Iraq, augmented by a female Korean agent.
The song dog, a Kramer and Zondi Mystery
En Anglais – A unique mystery series that focuses not only on fascinating crimes, but also on the evils of apartheid in South Africa. When Lieutenant Tromp Kramer joins forces with brilliant Bantu Detective Sergeant Mickey Zondi to investigate an accidental murder, they are confronted by the mysterious and legendary Song Dog.
Swimming to Catalina
En Anglais – Stone Barrington thought he’d heard the last of former girlfriend Arrington after she left him to marry Vance Calder, Hollywood’s hottest star. The last thing Stone expected was a desperate call from Calder. Arrington has vanished, and her new fiancé wants Stone to come to LA and find her. In a town where the sharks drive Bentleys and no one can be trusted, Stone soon discovers he’s drowning in a sea of empty clues that takes him from Bel Air to Malibu to Rodeo Drive. Running out of time and leads, he needs to keep his head above water and find Arrington fast, or end up swimming with the fishes himself.
The choir
In the rustic town of Aldminster, a crisis looms. Funds are short and the cathedral is in need of major repair. Some hope to finance the work by abolishing the costly boy’s choir-while others are aghast at the idea. Drawn into the fray is Sally Ashworth, the lonely mother of a ten-year-old chorister. She is anchored only by her unexpected love for the brilliant choirmaster-and by her young son, whose melodic voice may be the only thing that can unite a divided community.
Marrying the Mistress
The court official leaned closer. / . »What’s gone past, » he said, « is not just an advocate, any old lady advocate. What’s gone past is his Honour’s totty. » … And what’s going past is the life of Guy Stockdale, a 62-year-old judge, who has been married forever, has two sons–Simon and Alan–and three grandchildren. For the past seven years, he’s also had a mistress. Merrion Palmer is intelligent, attractive, and half Guy’s age, which also makes her younger than both Simon and Alan. Her dad died when she was a toddler and she’s well aware that Guy is something of a father substitute. For years the role of mistress has suited her, but, suddenly, this style of relationship isn’t enough for either of them. They’ve both had enough of sneaking around and avoiding people, so Guy has momentously made up his mind to leave his wife, Laura, and marry Merrion….Marrying the Mistress dives into the shock waves that buffet the Stockdale family after Guy leaves Laura. The novel addresses the question of how his sons are going to cope, the explosive opinions of his forthright daughter-in-law Carrie and what his teenage grandchildren make of it all. Can any of them avoid taking sides? Should they? And what about the abandoned wife, Laura, a woman apparently so long-sufferingly self-sacrificing she makes Mother Teresa look selfish?
Fame by chance
All over the world there are places that became famous forever by chance—battles briefly waged, scenes of triumph and disaster, sites of murder and intrigue, centers of influential creativity, and noted mythical places from books and film. How and why did; Angora, Tabasco, Duffel, and Fray Bentos give us products good and bad; Kohima’s tennis court save India; Storyville’s 269 brothels helped it to create jazz; Botany Bay never saw any British convicts; Tay Bridge was a disaster avoided by Marx and Engels; « OK » stands for a farmhouse; Ferrari chose the « Prancing Horse of Maranello »; Kyoto was saved from Hiroshoma’s terrible fate; The British built the Great Hedge of India; With 432 pages beautifully illustrated and carefully researched, Fame By Chance covers 380 of these places with new insights and facts that are amusing, surprising, and sometimes controversial.
Empire of silver
… « Terrific. Simply. This is my all time fav book series. Easily. (well, maybe the Boxcar Children was close). Conn Iggulden continues to write great historical fiction with this Khan series. Is it all historically correct? I don’t know. Is it geographically correct? I don’t know. Is it a great story filled with great characters? Definitely. I was super excited when I saw this book at our library and it was one of those books you read slowly because you don’t want to finish. Surely there is another book coming about Kublai Khan, the grandson of Ghengis. Highly recommend not only for people who like historical fiction but also for those who like great story lines. » …
When the eagle hunts
After a series of bloody battles, Camulodunum (modern-day Colchester) has fallen to the invading Roman army. The Emperor has returned to Rome, leaving the fearless Centurion Macro and his young Optio, Cato, to rest and regroup, along with the rest of the Second Legion. As their leader General Plautius plans the next phase of their campaign, word arrives that the ship carrying his family to join him was wrecked in a storm off the south coast. His wife and children have fallen into the hands of a dark sect of Druids, who now demand the return of those of their brotherhood taken prisoner by the Romans. Unless their demands are met within one month, Plautius’s family will be burned alive. Will Cato and Macro discover where the Druids are hiding their hostages? And can they find some way to rescue them before time runs out?
For 150 years, the Aga Khans–all lineal descendants of Mohammed–have been the spiritual leaders of the Ismailis, a sect of the Shia Muslims, found primarily in East Africa. This first in-depth biography of the Aga Khans takes a mesmerizing look at a colorful dynasty that is still a recognizable force in world affairs and in the development of the Third World.
Cheers my arse !
Ricky Tomlinson, author and entertainer, has worked in pubs and clubs up and down the country and seen more than his fair share of last orders. CHEERS . . . MY ARSE! is his hilarious collection of classic tales from the heart of publand. Featuring riotous stories that celebrate our best-loved hell raisers – Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole, Oliver Reed and Richard Burton, to name a few – and the escapades of modern-day drinking heroes (like the Gallagher brothers and Johnny Vegas), this is the perfect book for anyone who’s ever had one too many . . .
The messengers
Nick Bunick was confronted by angels. It will change your life forever… Prominent and successful Portland, Oregon, businessman Nick Bunick never considered himself a particularly religious person. But he knew in his heart that he had experienced something extraordinary in a past life. Anxious to share it, but convinced that his story would seem unbelievable to most people, he kept it to himself. Then, two years ago, angels intervened. Nick came to understand that angels were prevailing upon him to tell his story — a story that began 2,000 years ago when he lived as Paul the Apostle, and walked alongside Jesus. An inspiring chronicle of the angelic visitations that led Nick to finally share his memories, The Messengers also illuminates the events of his life as Paul. Rich with the wisdom and awe borne of Nick’s incredible encounter with Jesus, this magnificent book truly signals a return to the Age of Miracles.
Sacred hunger
Winner of the 1992 Booker Prize for Fiction. Sacred Hunger is a stunning and engrossing exploration of power, domination, and greed. Filled with the « sacred hunger » to expand its empire and its profits, England entered full into the slave trade and spread the trade throughout its colonies. In this Booker Prize-winning work, Barry Unsworth follows the failing fortunes of William Kemp, a merchant pinning his last chance to a slave ship; his son who needs a fortune because he is in love with an upper-class woman; and his nephew who sails on the ship as its doctor because he has lost all he has loved. The voyage meets its demise when disease spreads among the slaves and the captain’s drastic response provokes a mutiny. Joining together, the sailors and the slaves set up a secret, utopian society in the wilderness of Florida, only to await the vengeance of the single-minded, young Kemp.
Burning Man
En Anglais – Peter Hale is a young attorney with a lot to prove. Crossing his father, one of Portland’s most powerful lawyers, was a costly mistake. Now, cut loose from his job and from his inheritance, Peter’s landed in the public defender’s office of a small Oregon town — and in the middle of a high-profile case that could make or break his career. His mentally retarded client, accused of the savage murder of a college coed, faces the death penalty. And Peter faces a choice — between the pursuit of headlines and the pursuit of truth, between the compulsion to save himself and the courage to save his client — in a devastating trial by fire.
Culture and Society – 1780-1950
En Anglais – Acknowledged as perhaps the masterpiece of materialist criticism in the English language, this omnibus ranges over British literary history from George Eliot to George Orwell to inquire about the complex ways economic reality shapes the imagination.
En Anglais – A wonderful, immersive tale about Cortes’s conquest of the Mexican Empire. Bernal Diaz, the narrator of the tale, was one of Cortes’s soldiers. As the story progressed, I became his confidant, travelling companion, and friend. Rarely have I found a story as exciting, bewildering, and interesting as this. I loved it. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of Mexico, its people, or Hernan Cortes.
The horse’s mouth
En Anglais – The Horse’s Mouth, the third and most celebrated volume of Joyce Cary’s First Trilogy, is perhaps the finest novel ever written about an artist. Its painter hero, the charming and larcenous Gulley Jimson, has an insatiable genius for creation and a no less remarkable appetite for destruction. Is he a great artist? a has-been? or an exhausted, drunken ne’er-do-well? He is without doubt a visionary, and as he criss-crosses London in search of money and inspiration the world as seen though his eyes appears with a newly outrageous and terrible beauty.
One night in winter
En Anglais – Inspired by a true story, prize-winning historian and acclaimed novelist Simon Sebag Montefiore explores the consequences of forbidden love in this heartbreaking epic of marriage, childhood, danger, and betrayal that unfolds in Stalin’s Moscow during the bleak days after World War II. … As Moscow celebrates the motherland’s glorious victory over the Nazis, shots ring out on the crowded streets. On a nearby bridge, a teenage boy and girl—dressed in traditional nineteenth-century costumes—lie dead. But this is no ordinary tragedy, because these are no ordinary teenagers. As the son and daughter of high-ranking Soviet officials, they attend the most elite school in Moscow. Was it an accident, or murder? Is it a conspiracy against Stalin, or one of his own terrifying intrigues? On Stalin’s instructions, a ruthless investigation begins into what becomes known as the Children’s Case. Youth across the city are arrested and forced to testify against their friends and their parents. As families are ripped apart, all kinds of secrets come spilling out. Trapped at the center of this witch-hunt are two pairs of illicit lovers, who learn that matters of the heart exact a terrible price. By turns a darkly sophisticated political thriller, a rich historical saga, and a deeply human love story, Montefiore’s masterful novel powerfully portrays the terror and drama of Stalin’s Russia.
A Man in Full
En Anglais – The setting is Atlanta, Georgia — a racially mixed, late-century boomtown full of fresh wealth and wily politicians. The protagonist is Charles Croker, once a college football star, now a late-middle-aged Atlanta conglomerate king whose outsize ego has at last hit up against reality. Charlie has a 29,000 acre quail-shooting plantation, a young and demanding second wife, and a half-empty office complex with a staggering load of debt. Meanwhile, Conrad Hensley, idealistic young father of two, is laid off from his job at the Croker Global Foods warehouse near Oakland and finds himself spiraling into the lower depths of the American legal system. And back in Atlanta, when star Georgia Tech running back Fareek “the Canon” Fanon, a homegrown product of the city’s slums, is accused of date-raping the daughter of a pillar of the white establishment, upscale black lawyer Roger White II is asked to represent Fanon and help keep the city’s delicate racial balance from blowing sky-high. Networks of illegal Asian immigrants crisscrossing the continent, daily life behind bars, shady real estate syndicates — Wolfe shows us contemporary America with all the verve, wit, and insight that have made him our most admired novelist. Charlie Croker’s deliverance from his tribulations provides an unforgettable denouement to the most widely awaited, hilarious and telling novel America has seen in ages — Tom Wolfe’s most outstanding achievement to date.
Mama Mia !
En anglais – It was no country for young men. Or women … Unemployment, emigration and do-it-yourself hair colour kits were once again a fact of life. Taxes were on the up, the IMF were on the way and there was a cash for gold outlet in Foxrock Village … But the signs for recovery were good – for me, at least. I was the chief executive of one of the few businesses turning a profit in this town, a shredding company helping to dispose of the Celtic Tiger’s dirty little secrets. And I was getting plenty of love action – as the boy-toy of an attractive sixty-year-old woman who was totally rolling in it. I never imagined myself ending up as a gigolo. But, as the saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way-hey-hey! With presents galore, sex on demand and a hot meal on the table every night, life was storting to look up again. All I had to do to aovid focking it up was to keep my chinos buttoned. And, well, you can probably guess how that went.
Ghost Light
En Anglais – Dublin 1907, a city of whispered rumours. A young actress begins an affair with a damaged older man, the leading playwright at the theatre where she works. Rebellious and flirtatious, Molly Allgood is a girl of the inner city tenements, dreaming of stardom in America. She has dozens of admirers but in the backstage of her life there is a secret.
Small Island
En Anglais – Hortense Joseph arrives in London from Jamaica in 1948 with her life in her suitcase, her heart broken, her resolve intact. Her husband, Gilbert Joseph, returns from the war expecting to be received as a hero, but finds his status as a black man in Britain to be second class. His white landlady, Queenie, raised as a farmer’s daughter, befriends Gilbert, and later Hortense, with innocence and courage, until the unexpected arrival of her husband, Bernard, who returns from combat with issues of his own to resolve … Told in these four voices, Small Island is a courageous novel of tender emotion and sparkling wit, of crossings taken and passages lost, of shattering compassion and of reckless optimism in the face of insurmountable barriers—in short, an encapsulation of the immigrant’s life.
True Tales of American life
En Anglais – Chosen by Paul Auster out of the four thousand stories submitted to his radio programme on National Public Radio, these 180 stories provide a wonderful portrait of America in the twentieth century. The requirement for selection was that each of the stories should be true, and each of the writers should not have been previously published. The collection that has emerged provides a richly varied and authentic voice for the American people, whose lives, loves, griefs, regrets, joys and sense of humour are vividly and honestly recounted throughout, and adeptly organised by Auster into themed sections. The section composed of war stories stretches as far back as the Civil War, still the defining moment in American history; while the sequence of ‘Meditations’ conclude the volume with a true and abiding sense of transcendence … The resultant anthology is both an enduring hymn to the strange everyday of contemporary American life and a masterclass in the art of storytelling.