A Little Switch sees Max Falkland on a new mission, this time posing as a maid of honour at the Queen¿s coronation. Out of her comfort zone with an assignment that reminds her she is the daughter of a viscount, and out of her depth with the silent men in her life, she takes refuge in an archeological expedition, but a chance meeting leads to a trip that will force Max to face the most frightening moments of her career while trying to protect those she loves. The final novel in this Cold War spy trilogy comes to an exciting conclusion to Max Falkland novels following on from Cold Crash and A Running Lie.
Thrust into a hostile world, and unable to comprehend the language, Heike, an immigrant and ¿enemy¿ child, struggles to understand the English islanders as she adjusts to the new identity demanded of her. Intent on escaping the traumas of growing up in fascist Germany and the horrors of its post-war desolation, Heike¿s mother will marry the charismatic English officer she met during the Allied occupation of Lüneburg. Her daughter, who will be known as ¿Susannä from now on, must be kept innocent of her mother¿s past and grow up to be English. As this memoir of displacement, national character, and misunderstandings unfolds, S M Saunders becomes the detective in her own story, searching for the truth that will reconcile her double identity and conflicting emotions. But this is far from a misery memoir. This is a tale of love¿the narrator¿s intense love for the extraordinary and eccentric English people whose positive influences not only shaped her and her mother, but also lent her the strength to come to terms with both her own identity and with her mother¿s complex, harrowing story. Susanna: the Making of an English Girl explores a childhood that is sad, beautiful, funny, rich in detail and marked, above all, by love.
Freewheeling and sharp-witted short fiction that reminds us of Beckett less for the style but for the sheer insight. Brilliant writing.
In The Third Sister Speaks Liliana A Pasterska immerses us in the voice of Anne Brontë¿a frontierswoman and trailblazing writer of the mid 19th century who stepped out of ¿female¿ territory to expose the taboos of her age, including gender inequality, marital abuse, the terrible conditions in which many women teachers worked and the effects of alcohol and substance abuse. A woman at the margins of her time, Anne Brontë lived for only 29 years, yet left a wealth of acute observation and sharp insight in her writing, as well as poetry that witnesses to her personal, spiritual and literary intelligence. For all of this, her voice is the one not often heard amongst the extraordinary Brontë sisters. But here is a corrective to this. In lyrical poetry originally commissioned for a programme of music and words celebrating Anne Brontë¿s bicentenary, we enter Anne¿s world. In this careful and beautifully achieved debut pamphlet, the voice of the poet reaches into the voice of a young woman still calling to the modern reader across time: elegant, spare, leaving space for silence and allowing its questions to resonate long after reading:I am a teller of truth a seer¿can you hear me?
In the initial sequence of this pamphlet, and following short lyrics, the writer explores the experience of living with long-term, and severe mental states. There is no safe haven of medical ¿pathology¿ here, but an urgent rite of passage for the damaged and conflicted soul. A form of modern Purgatory¿escaping the grasping jaws of Inferno, to find itself stumbling towards a rarefied, yet earthy, Paradiso.Ian Marriott¿s marvellous poems inhabit rather than observe nature ¿ in fact they do both ¿ but are as much concerned with the human condition. They work in the area of what Hopkins called instress. The voice is calm, contained and precise, as when he watches a Pond Skater, ¿So perilous / this thin meniscus ¿ / six legs spread out¿. The poems too seem to tremble on the water of their vision.¿ George Szirtes
The manifestations and properties of water are excitingly explored in Edward Ragg¿s new collection. Here are living poems where narrative and lyric work together to contemplate the energies implicit in water. The intriguing emphases laid upon the meanings of the word ¿present¿ give a unique edge to the poems. Glass, tears, ice, rivers, wine, salinity, tides: all these elements are woven into the texture of this collection, where the illuminations and fluidities of language are beautifully captured.¿ Penelope Shuttle
Lynn Valentine is a distinctive new voice in Scottish poetry. With hints of fairytale and gothic, she writes precise and poignant poems embracing what is often overlooked or peripheral ¿ a father who drives the snowplough, a childless woman seeking consolation from a Sheela-na-gig. This collection is alive with horses, crows, deer, and as the title suggests, bees; all points north. ¿ Jay Whittaker Enhanced by her apt and confident use of Scots, which glimmers like gold leaf throughout, Lynn Valentine¿s poems weave the ethereal with the everyday, and reveal to us a glimpse of the natural and unnatural world we stride and stumble through. From council workers to prophetic aunts, Mills and Boon to the winter solstice, the poems here are full of making do and doing without, of childhood and childlessness, of the grief of loss and the grief of absence. This is a special collection, and a wonderful debut. ¿ Aoife Lyall Lynn Valentine is a fearless writer who tackles the great unspeakables head-on ¿ bereavement, loss, childlessness, exile; and yet it¿s not death that prevails in these poems, but rather the sovereignty of life and, with all its gifts and with all its heartbreaks, the obstinate beauty of the living world.¿ John Glenday
Exquisite and honed collection that finds the extraordinary in ordinary life.
Part physical journey, part journey through memory, this poetry pamphlet is journey alongside an old friend and a beloved river.
Beautiful and personal meditation on fatherhood, marriage and bereavement.
Vivid and absorbing exploration of the phenomenon of Shabtai Zvi of Smyrna
Passionate and varied poetry collection that digs beneath the surface of experience in search of the authentic.
Deeply felt, observational poetry that delves into everyday experience as a way of understanding deeper questions.
Poetry pamphlet from the author of the acclaimed nature diary, Marram.
An all-in-old guide to writing utopian fiction.
In a near-future world without privacy or freedom, life is unravelling for Luke, a teenager whose questions and individuality have no place in surveilled society. A virtual encounter with a girl who claims to live beyond the all-controlling grip of E-Government sets him on a quest not only for answers, but for escape. But is Alys real? Why are there echoes of her world in his father, Nazir Malik¿s home, especially since Nazir is a celebrity artist trusted by E-Government? And what role can characters from Celtic Arthurian legend possibly play in saving the future? Most urgently, can Luke overcome the threats that surround him and find the Standing Ground?"A wonderful novel¿ a fresh rendition of the future that draws on technologies that are currently emerging¿ and on Arthurian legend¿ akin to Philip Pullman¿s street-smart, other-worldly creations, complete with convincing, humorous and likeable characters¿ a gripping read."Anna Kiernan
In this prequel to The Standing Ground, we travel back two generations to the origins of the oppressive E-Government state that infiltrates every aspect of people¿s lives in the decade following Brexit and a global pandemic. But, as the darkness overtakes Britain and other areas of Europe, the light of resistance wakes in a community that spans the Celtic outposts of Brittany and North Wales. And in a strange child, Myrddin Emrys, also known as Merlin.Weaving together Arthurian legend and exploratory fiction of the near future, The Roots of the Ground explores the human cost of a monoculture that tramples freedom and privacy and asserts with Carl Jung that:'As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.'
Subtle eco-poetry exploring the interconnectedness of the human and other-than-human world.
Follow up poetry collection to Nigel Hutchinson's warmly received debut, The Humble Family Interviews.
An inventive, honest and distinctive debut collection, filled with humour and yet sometimes unsettling in the directness of its gaze.
An extraordinary sequel to the powerful events recounted in The Green Table, this is a courageous, heart-rending and important story.
A wry, sideways look beneath the surface of our everyday lives, this second collection by Robin Thomas is creative, witty and warm.
A collection of interconnected short stories set in Michigan during the late 1960s. -- Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
357 microfictions exploring viewpoint and the human condition. For dream students but also the general reader wanting to peel away the masks we wear.
An historical novel based on the life of pioneering photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron.
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