Engelska

Intermezzo [Bok / Pocket]

Parade [Bok / Pocket]

<b>From the author of the Bargainer series comes the prequel to <i>Bewitched</i>. Before Selene Bowers, there was Roxilana. The Empress. This is her and Memnon's origin story: of blood, bonds, and betrayal.</b>

<p><b>SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024<br/><br/>An exhilarating tale of twisted desire, histories and homes, and the unexpected shape of revenge - for readers of Patricia Highsmith, Sarah Waters and Ian McEwan's <i>Atonement</i>.</b><br/><br/>It is fifteen years after the Second World War, and Isabel has built herself a solitary life of discipline and strict routine in her late mother's country home, with not a fork or a word out of place. But all is upended when her brother Louis delivers his graceless new girlfriend, Eva, at Isabel's doorstep - as a guest, there to stay for the season...<br/><br/>In the sweltering heat of summer, Isabel's desperate need for control reaches boiling point. What happens between the two women leads to a revelation which threatens to unravel all she has ever known.<br/><br/><b>'A thrilling, razor-sharp, perfectly plotted debut novel'</b> <i>Sunday Times</i><br/><br/><b>'Moving, unnerving and deeply sexy'</b> Tracy Chevalier, bestselling author of <i>GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING</i><br/><br/><b>'A brave and thrilling debut about facing up to the truth of history, and to one's own desires... Van der Wouden brings stunning power and control to her page-turner about trauma and repression'</b> Justine Jordan, Booker Prize Judge 2024</p>

Purple Hibiscus [Bok / Pocket]

<p></p><p><strong>In the boiling heat of summer, a broken remote control for an air conditioner threatens life as we know it in this reality-bending, time-slipping sequel to <em>The Tatami Galaxy.</em></strong></p> <p></p><p>During a scorching August in Kyoto, our protagonist and his worst friend, Ozu, are locked in a glaring contest in a four-and-a-half-tatami-mat room. Ozu has spilled Coke on the air conditioner's remote control-the only AC in Shimogamo Yusuisuiso, their famously shabby sweatbox of an apartment building. Vengeful and despairing, our protagonist discusses countermeasures with his secret crush, the reliably blunt Akashi, when Tamura, a strange young man with a bad haircut, appears.</p><p>Tamura claims to be a time traveler from 25 years in the future, and shows off the time machine he uses to travel. Our protagonist has a brilliant idea: the sweetest revenge would be to go back one day in time and retrieve the functioning remote control. His simple fix is complicated by Ozu and several others who are also eager to take a ride back in time. But in attempting to alter the past, our protagonist foresees the world's extinction. Even more troublingly, Akashi mentions she's bringing someone to the upcoming bonfire . . . and it's not him. Only one thing remains certain: it's going to be a very long month.</p><p>Obliteration? Salvation? Coca-Cola? Castella cake? What does the time machine hold for our (not quite) heroes? It all depends on which one gets there first.</p><p>Translated from the Japanese by Emily Balistrieri</p>

<p><strong>"A powerhouse story, a powerhouse voice, that wrestles with intragenerational fractures and complicated entanglements. At the center of the book is an obsessive kind of love, a love that gives but also takes, but a love that only forms from bonds forged in fire."-Weike Wang, award-winning author of <em>Joan Is Okay</em> and <em>Chemistry</em></strong></p><p><strong>From one of Australia's most celebrated authors comes a powerful mother-daughter drama that explores the fault lines between love and control-<em>My Year of Rest and Relaxation</em> meets <em>Freshwater.</em></strong></p><p>Sixteen and pregnant, Karuna finds herself trapped in her mother's Melbourne public housing apartment for one hundred days, awaiting the birth of her child-and her mother's next move in a shocking power struggle over who will raise the baby. She writes to her unborn child, so there's a record of what really happened.</p><p>Karuna's pregnancy is the result of a heady whirlwind of independence, lust, and defiance-but it wasn't entirely by accident, either. Karuna's mother, already overprotective, confines her to keep her safe from the outside world-and make sure she can't get into any more trouble. Stuck inside for endless hours, Karuna battles her mother and herself for a sense of power in her own life, as a new life forms and grows within her. As the due date nears, the question of who will get to raise the baby festers between them.</p><p>At times tense and unnerving, <em>One Hundred Days</em> nevertheless brims with humor and warmth. Alice Pung's authorial voice is crisp and relatable, channeling the angst of youth with grace.</p><p>This realistic coming-of-age fiction book set in Melbourne's public housing will captivate readers with its psychological drama and exploration of motherhood, poverty, and power struggles. </p>