Revolving around the infamous gentlemen's club of London, Scoundrels: The Hunt For Hansclapp continues the combative joint memoirs of adventurer-spies, Major Cornwall and Major Trevelyan. In the second volume, the Majors recount tales of kidnapping in the Congo, manslaughter on the Orient Express and romance at the Stasi's Christmas Party. The Majors are reeling from a series of devastating attacks by their Moriarty-like nemesis, Gruber Hansclapp, who is exacting an unspeakably horrific revenge, even by the Majors' standards.
100 imagination-stretching writing exercises inspired by the idea of creative constraints, from the author of The Making of a Story. When you are facing down a blank page (or screen), a constraint-based prompt—for example, “you must use the words ‘cloud’ and ‘green’” or “you must set the scene in a crowded grocery store”—can get your brain working in unexpected ways. In this creative writing guide, longtime teacher and novelist Alice LaPlante shares 100 original exercises that will simultaneously push you into a corner and give you the tools to write yourself out of it. LaPlante explains the purpose of each exercise—to sharpen your ear for dialogue, generate surprising images, or access intense emotions—and breaks down student examples to reveal how to achieve these goals. Whether you are looking to jumpstart new ideas or find a fresh angle on a work in progress, and whether you write fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry, Write Yourself Out of a Corner will strengthen your imagination and your craft.
The Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A sumptuous garden maze of a novel that immerses readers in a complex, vanished world.” —Kirkus (starred review) An utterly transporting novel set in 1930s colonial Malaysia, perfect for fans of Isabel Allende and Min Jin Lee Quick-witted, ambitious Ji Lin is stuck as an apprentice dressmaker, moonlighting as a dancehall girl to help pay off her mother’s Mahjong debts. But when one of her dance partners accidentally leaves behind a gruesome souvenir, Ji Lin may finally get the adventure she has been longing for. Eleven-year-old houseboy Ren is also on a mission, racing to fulfill his former master’s dying wish: that Ren find the man’s finger, lost years ago in an accident, and bury it with his body. Ren has 49 days to do so, or his master’s soul will wander the earth forever. As the days tick relentlessly by, a series of unexplained deaths racks the district, along with whispers of men who turn into tigers. Ji Lin and Ren’s increasingly dangerous paths crisscross through lush plantations, hospital storage rooms, and ghostly dreamscapes. Yangsze Choo's The Night Tiger pulls us into a world of servants and masters, age-old superstition and modern idealism, sibling rivalry and forbidden love. But anchoring this dazzling, propulsive novel is the intimate coming-of-age of a child and a young woman, each searching for their place in a society that would rather they stay invisible. "A work of incredible beauty... Astoundingly captivating and striking... A transcendent story of courage and connection." —Booklist (starred review)
Revolving around the infamous gentlemen's club of London, Scoundrels: Her Majesty's Pleasure concludes the combative joint memoirs of adventurer-spies Major Cornwall and Major Trevelyan. In this satisfying final denouement, Britannia is under attack! The Majors mount a daring jailbreak at London Zoo, play for their lives in a Monte Carlo casino, and stage a coup under the African sun, as they seek revenge on their Moriarty-like nemesis, Gruber Hansclapp. The stage is set for a right royal rumble at the heart of the British Establishment - which goes some way to explain why the Majors have been under house arrest for the last thirty years.
Don't Point That Thing At Me by Kyril Bonfiglioli - Book 1 of the Mortdecai Trilogy, now a major motion picture starring Johnny Depp Introducing the Hon. Charlie Mortdecai, art dealer, aristocrat and assassin, in the first of the Mortdecai novels Portly art dealer and seasoned epicurean Charlie Mortdecai comes into possesion of a stolen Goya, the disappearance of which is causing a diplomatic ruction between Spain and its allies. Not that that matters to Charlie ... until compromising pictures of some British diplomats also come into his possession and start to muddy the waters. All he's trying to do is make a dishonest living, but various governments, secret organizations and an unbelievably nubile young German don't see it that way and pretty soon he's in great need of his thuggish manservant Jock to keep them all at bay ... and the Goya safe. First published in the 1970s, this hilarious novel is part Ian Fleming part P G Wodehouse. It is now a major motion picture starring Johnny Depp as Mortdecai, Ewan McGregor as Jock and Gwyneth Paltrow. 'A rare mixture of wit and imaginative unpleasantness' Julian Barnes 'You couldn't snuggle under the duvet with anything more disreputable and delightful' Stephen Fry 'The jokes are excellent, but the most horrible things keep happening... Funny and chilling' Sunday Telegraph Kyril Bonfiglioli was born on the south coast of England in 1928 of an English mother and Italo-Slovene father. After studying at Oxford and five years in the army, he took up a career as an art dealer, like his eccentric creation Charlie Mortdecai. He lived in Oxford, Lancashire, Ireland and Jersey, where he died in 1985. He wrote four Charlie Mortdecai novels, and a fifth historical Mortdecai novel (about a distinguished ancestor).
A lifetime of restraint and placid affection erupts when a retired bank manager falls for a youngh girl. Set in Cumbria, this is an intensely moving evocation of an overwhelming passion and its destructive kernel of jealousy.
An Irish Independent Book of the Year. As the great John McGahern used to say, there's verse, and there's prose, and then there's poetry; William Wall is a poet in both mediums' John Banville. 'An underrated veteran at the peak of his powers' Sunday Times. 'It's this mood of lives irreparably spoiled that make this bitter-tasting tale so potent' Daily Mail. Grace and her mother and sisters live on an island off the west coast of Ireland. Their father is a successful writer of travel books that advocate a simpler way of life, though he is so seldom there that his family become the subjects of his social experiments and his children's freedom is indistinguishable from poverty. Grace and Jeannie take turns to look after their little sister Emily. Then one day – Grace's day – a terrible tragedy occurs that changes everything. This is novel about a world of adult self-indulgence and the consequences of careless decisions and dishonest compromises.
'TOUGH, TOUCHING... IT'S A RIGHT GOOD READ' - DAILY TELEGRAPHAt 16, Mark Time wants to become either a geologist or a Royal Marines Commando. So which does he choose? Despite his love of basalt, he chooses the career that teaches him how to kill... and sh*t in plastic bags.Knowing his weak body will have to shape up to complete thirty weeks of commando training, Mark prepares for the Royal Marines by sleeping in his shed wearing only plastic bags. He braves pain by ordering his mate to attack him while trapped in a sleeping bag. He starves himself in a stupid urban survival exercise, turning down the offer of crispy pancakes from his bewildered mother.He is ready.Some might say for the nut house...Often hilarious and yet shockingly sobering, this is the true story of a boy who joins one of the world's most elite military units with only naivety and incompetence equalling his will to succeed.'A cover to cover laughathon' - SOLDIER MAGAZINE
