Søgeresultater: 10

Summary: From the Orange Prize-winning author of WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN comes a bold and savage story of the intersection of politics and human relationships, set in turbulent Northern Ireland. Having abandoned Philadelphia for the life of an international nomad, Estrin Lancaster has a taste for hot spots. She now finds herself in Belfast, a city scarred by twenty years of ritualised violence. As the former purveyor of his own bomb-disposal service, Farrell O'Phelan courts the company of destruction. Technically a Catholic, he shuns allegiance of any kind. For these two, normal life is anathema; love is a trap. What ensues is an affair between two loners who are beset with a fear of domesticity and a hunger for devastation

Summary: The first ever story collection from the inimitable Lionel Shriver 'Genius' Stylist 'Phenomenal' Observer 'Brilliant' The Times In her first ever story collection, Lionel Shriver illuminates one of the modern age's most enduring obsessions: property. A woman creates a deeply personal wedding present for her best friend; a thirty-something son refuses to leave home; a middle-aged man subjugated by service to his elderly father discovers that the last place you should finally assert yourself is airport security. This landmark publication explores the idea of "property" in both senses of the word: real estate, and stuff. Immensely readable, it showcases the biting insight that has made Lionel Shriver one of the most acclaimed authors of our time

Summary: A best fiction book of 2021 for The Times 'Hilarious... Fiery phrases spit and crackle. Disgust expands and bursts into belly laughs... a very funny book' Sunday Times 'Thought-provoking, timely, and extremely funny' Metro 'Shriver said that her favourite novels are those that pack both an intellectual and emotional punch. With Should We Stay or Should We Go, she's added triumphantly to their number' The Times 'Witty and thought-provoking' Woman's Weekly 'I think Shriver's novels are wonderful... fun, smart and, perhaps because of their author's unconventional political views, unlike anything else you'll read' Financial Times 'Entertaining and poignant' Daily Mail 'Very moving... Shriver has the magic ability to make the reader invested in the fate – fates, I should say – of her characters'Daily Telegraph 'Wickedly witty' Spectator 'Decidedly timely' Scotsman 'This sharp-elbowed satire is also a brusquely tender portrait of enduring love' Washington Post ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––- Determined to die with dignity, Kay and her husband Cyril – both healthy and vital medical professionals in their early fifties – make a pact: to commit suicide together once they've both turned eighty. A lot can change in thirty years, however... By turns hilarious and touching, playful and grave, Should We Stay or Should We Go portrays twelve parallel universes, each exploring a possible future for Kay and Cyril. Do they honour their agreement? And if not, will they live to regret it? 'Some books become so popular that the lucky author can thereafter churn out any old cobblers, confident in the knowledge that it will be published and find an audience. Lionel Shriver never took that easy route' Irish Independent

Summary: From the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin 'Enjoyably abrasive... a compelling read... sardonic and elegant' Evening Standard 'Scabrously funny... few authors can be as entertainingly problematic as Shriver' Guardian 'With laugh-out-loud and sad moments, it's a pinpoint-sharp novel' Woman and Home 'A satire on fitness zealotry with a side serving of culture-war intrigue... diverting' Financial Times 'Darkly funny... Shriver is so good at making wry observations about human behaviour and this is particularly witty on the dynamics between couples who have been together a long time' Good Housekeeping 'Shriver is an exuberant novelist, fertile in ideas, robust in argument and disdainful of economy... She writes bold and fearless comedy and delights in slaughtering the sacred cows of the stupid times we live in. Few novelists now raise a laugh. Shriver does so time and again' Allan Massie, The Scotsman 'Mischievous Lionel Shriver takes aim at the narcissistic modern cult of exercise. When Serenata's usually sedentary husband, Remington, takes up exercise and engages an attractive personal trainer called Bambi, the couple's lives are turned upside down.' The Times Best Books for Summer 2020 All her life Serenata has run, swum, and cycled – but now that she's hit 60, all that physical activity has destroyed her knees. And her previously sedentary husband Remington chooses this precise moment to discover exercise. As he joins the cult of fitness, her once-modest husband burgeons into an unbearable narcissist. When he announces his intention to compete in a legendarily gruelling triathlon, Serenata is sure he's going to end up injured or dead – but the stubbornness of an ageing man in Lycra is not to be underestimated. The story of an obsession, of a marriage, of a betrayal: The Motion Of The Body Through Space is Lionel Shriver at her hilarious, sharp-eyed, audacious best

Summary: 'When feminism has become the politics that dare not speak its name, it is refreshing to find an author who will bring such renewed vigour to the gender wars' Guardian "Love me, love my game," says professional tennis player Willy Novinsky at twenty-three. Tennis has been Willy's one love, until she meets the uncannily confident Eric Oberdorf. Low-ranked but untested, Eric, too, aims to make his mark on the international tennis circuit. They marry. But their life together soon grows poisoned by full-tilt competition over which spouse can rise to the top first. Willy discovers that her perfect partner may also prove her most devastating opponent. An unflinching look at the ravages of rivalry in the two-career relationship, Double Fault is not so much about tennis as about marriage—a slightly different sport

Summary: The new novel from the Orange Prize winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin Irina McGovern's destiny hinges on a single kiss. Whether she gives into its temptation will determine whether she stays with her reliable partner Lawrence, or runs off with Ramsey, a hard-living snooker player. Employing a parallel universe structure, Shriver spins Irina's competing futures with two drastically different men. An intellectual and fellow American, Lawrence is clever and supportive, but rigid and emotionally withdrawn. A British celebrity, Ramsey is passionate and spontaneous, but jealous, undereducated, and prone to pick arguments. Their contrasting characters will colour her other relationships, her career, and the texture of her daily life. If love is always about trade-offs—if every romantic prospect is flawed—how can we ever know whom to choose?

Summary: 'Seldom is a book as funny, important and timely ... I was laughing out loud at the same time as my blood was running cold' JOHN CLEESE What if calling someone stupid was illegal? In a reality not too distant from our own, where the so-called Mental Parity Movement has taken hold, the worst thing you can call someone is 'stupid'. Everyone is equally clever, and discrimination based on intelligence is 'the last great civil rights fight'. Exams and grades are all discarded, and smart phones are rebranded. Children are expelled for saying the S-word and encouraged to report parents for using it. You don't need a qualification to be a doctor. Best friends since adolescence, Pearson and Emory find themselves on opposing sides of this new culture war. Radio personality Emory – who has built her career riding the tide of popular thought – makes increasingly hard-line statements while, for her part, Pearson believes the whole thing is ludicrous. As their friendship fractures, Pearson's determination to cling onto the 'old, bigoted way of thinking' begins to endanger her job, her safety and even her family. Lionel Shriver turns her piercing gaze on the policing of opinion and intellect, and imagines a world in which intellectual meritocracy is heresy. Hilarious, deadpan, scathing and at times frighteningly plausible, MANIA will delight the many fans of her fiction and journalism alike

Summary: The first essay collection from one of the most acclaimed writers of our time. 'This trenchant, unrepentant collection reminds you that she's a brilliant writer... Order a copy in case she's cancelled by Christmas' THE TIMES (Book of the Year) 'You may disagree with Lionel Shriver's bracing journalism, but her right to spark disquiet goes to the heart of the freedom of expression issue' Rachel Cooke, OBSERVER 'Mutinous essays about modern politics and culture... An independent mind and a sense of humour are dangerous things to possess. The spiky, politically incorrect novelist Lionel Shriver has them in abundance' THE TIMES 'Testament to the fierce intelligence of a writer who wants us to think more, probe more, challenge more — and who also makes it fun' THE SUNDAY TIMES Novelist, cultural observer and social satirist Lionel Shriver is among the sharpest talents of our age. A writer who embraces 'under-expressed, unpopular or downright dangerous' points of view, she regularly deplores the conformity of thought and attitude that has overtaken society. Bringing together thirty-five works curated from her many columns, features, essays and op-eds for the likes of the Spectator and Guardian, speeches and reviews, and some unpublished pieces, Abominations reveals Shriver at her most iconoclastic and personal. Relentlessly sceptical, cutting and contrarian but also frequently moving and vulnerable, this collection showcases her piquant opinions on a wide range of topics, including religion, politics, illness, mortality, family and friends, tennis, gender, immigration, consumerism, health care and taxes. Though some of the more divisive essays in Abominations have 'brought hell and damnation down on my head,' as she cheerfully explains, she also offers insights on her novels and explores the perks and pitfalls of becoming a successful artist. Readers will find plenty to challenge them here, but they may also find many nuanced and considered insights with which they agree

Summary: THE BRILLIANT NEW NOVEL FROM THE ORANGE PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN. 'Distinctly chilling' Independent 'Unsettling as it is entertaining' Financial Times 'It's scaring the hell out of me' Tracy Chevalier In this eerily prophetic novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin, a once-wealthy family faces the prospect of ruin. This apocalypse is financial – the dollar is in meltdown, America's national debt far beyond repayment. It is 2029. The Mandibles have been counting on a sizable fortune filtering down when their 97-year-old patriarch dies, but now their inheritance is turned to ash. Each family member must contend with disappointment, but also — as the effects of the downturn start to hit — the challenge of sheer survival. Recently affluent Avery is petulant that she can't buy olive oil, while her sister Florence is forced to absorb strays into her increasingly cramped household. As their father Carter fumes at having to care for his demented stepmother now that a nursing home is too expensive, his sister Nollie, an expat author, returns from abroad at 73 to a country that's unrecognizable. Perhaps only Florence's oddball teenage son Willing, an economics autodidact, can save this formerly august American family from the streets...

Summary: Following the success of 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' and 'The Post-Birthday World', 'Game Control' is coming back into print after being unavailable for years. Eleanor Merritt, a do-gooding American family-planning worker, was drawn to Kenya to improve the lot of the poor. Unnervingly, she finds herself falling in love with the beguiling Calvin Piper despite, or perhaps because of, his misanthropic theories about population control and the future of the human race. Surely, Calvin whispers seductively in Eleanor's ear, if the poor are a responsibility they are also an imposition. Set against the vivid backdrop of shambolic modern-day Africa – a continent now primarily populated with wildlife of the two-legged sort – Lionel Shriver's 'Game Control' is a wry, grimly comic tale of bad ideas and good intentions. With a deft, droll touch, Shriver highlights the hypocrisy of lofty intellectuals who would 'save' humanity but who don't like people