Fen


Book Description

A singular debut that “marks the emergence of a great, stomping, wall-knocking talent” (Kevin Barry) Daisy Johnson’s Fen, set in the fenlands of England, transmutes the flat, uncanny landscape into a rich, brooding atmosphere. From that territory grow stories that blend folklore and restless invention to turn out something entirely new. Amid the marshy paths of the fens, a teenager might starve herself into the shape of an eel. A house might fall in love with a girl and grow jealous of her friend. A boy might return from the dead in the guise of a fox. Out beyond the confines of realism, the familiar instincts of sex and hunger blend with the shifting, unpredictable wild as the line between human and animal is effaced by myth and metamorphosis. With a fresh and utterly contemporary voice, Johnson lays bare these stories of women testing the limits of their power to create a startling work of fiction.




A Scattering of Daisies


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Daisy Miller, a Study


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Bluebell Windows


Book Description

Bluebell Windows continues the story of the Rising Girls, begun in A Scattering of Daisies and The Daffodils of Newent. Fans of Rosamunde Pilcher, Maeve Binchy and Fiona Valpy will love this captivating and compelling saga from multi-million copy seller and Sunday Times bestselling author Susan Sallis, that expertly captures the lives and emotions of a family in the run up to World War Two. READERS ARE LOVING BLUEBELL WINDOWS! 'An engrossing read' -- ***** Reader review 'An amazing inter-generational story that I kept reading way too fast' -- ***** Reader review 'Excellent read, very enjoyable.' -- ***** Reader review 'Loved this book [...], well written and down to earth. Just the way I like it!' -- ***** Reader review ************************************************************************************************** BEHIND SEEMINGLY HAPPY FAMILIES, ANYTHING CAN LIE HIDDEN... The Rising sisters - the Daffodil Girls - are older now. The anguish of growing up in the twenties has gone. All three are - apparently - happily married and there are children to swell the vibrant Rising family. But the problems that had begun in youth still remained. March, the eldest and the most difficult, loves but cannot trust her clever, manipulating husband. He deserted her once and she has never quite forgiven him. May has her own worries - a son who seems more than usually promiscuous, and a husband who grows more attractive and handsome even as she approaches her fortieth birthday. April has a husband she loves, and two small, gentle daughters. But she is the only one who knows that Davina is not her husband's child. As the country heads towards unsettling times, can they find the strength and unity they'll need? Bluebell Windows is the third book in the Rising Family sequence and is followed by Rosemary for Remembrance. The story began in A Scattering of Daisies and The Daffodils of Newent.




The Orchid Thief


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK A modern classic of personal journalism, The Orchid Thief is Susan Orlean’s wickedly funny, elegant, and captivating tale of an amazing obsession. Determined to clone an endangered flower—the rare ghost orchid Polyrrhiza lindenii—a deeply eccentric and oddly attractive man named John Laroche leads Orlean on an unforgettable tour of America’s strange flower-selling subculture, through Florida’s swamps and beyond, along with the Seminoles who help him and the forces of justice who fight him. In the end, Orlean—and the reader—will have more respect for underdog determination and a powerful new definition of passion. In this new edition, coming fifteen years after its initial publication and twenty years after she first met the “orchid thief,” Orlean revisits this unforgettable world, and the route by which it was brought to the screen in the film Adaptation, in a new retrospective essay. Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. Praise for The Orchid Thief “Stylishly written, whimsical yet sophisticated, quirkily detailed and full of empathy . . . The Orchid Thief shows [Orlean’s] gifts in full bloom.”—The New York Times Book Review “Fascinating . . . an engrossing journey [full] of theft, hatred, greed, jealousy, madness, and backstabbing.”—Los Angeles Times “Orlean’s snapshot-vivid, pitch-perfect prose . . . is fast becoming one of our national treasures.”—The Washington Post Book World “Orlean’s gifts [are] her ear for the self-skewing dialogue, her eye for the incongruous, convincing detail, and her Didion-like deftness in description.”—Boston Sunday Globe “A swashbuckling piece of reporting that celebrates some virtues that made America great.”—The Wall Street Journal




The Daisy Picker (best-selling novel)


Book Description

The Daisy Picker is a warm and engaging read – everyone can relate to the idea of wanting to change your life! Lizzie seems to have it all: loving parents, a nice creative sideline in mouth-watering cakes, and the most eligble man in Kilmorris waiting to marry her. But one day she stumbles across something that will change her life. Soon she's chucked a backpack into her car and set off into the Wild West – of Ireland, that is – in search of adventure. She's in for a few surprises – there's sexy Pete for a start, a charming new home, true friendship and an offer that will make her sweet dreams a reality. She begins to think that things could hardly be more perfect. And then she meets Joe, who's about to turn her life upside down ... Praise for Roisin Meaney No matter where Roisin's career takes her, her fans will follow. Her books have touched many The Limerick Leader Her novels are about the pulsating, vibrating Ireland inhabited by different people with different outlooks ... Roisin's style reminded reviewers of Joanne Trollope's hugely successful domestic thrillers, negotiating complex situations with thoughtfulness and humanity. Daily Ireland A warm and engaging read about self-discovery. The Limerick Leader




Saturday


Book Description

"Dazzling. . . . Profound and urgent" —Observer "A book of great maturity, beautifully alive to the fragility of happiness and all forms of violence. . . . Everyone should read Saturday" —Financial Times Saturday, February 15, 2003. Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon, stands at his bedroom window before dawn and watches a plane—ablaze with fire like a meteor—arcing across the London sky. Over the course of the following day, unease gathers about Perowne, as he moves among hundreds of thousands of anti-war protestors who’ve taken to the streets in the aftermath of 9/11. A minor car accident brings him into confrontation with Baxter, a fidgety, aggressive man, who to Perowne’s professional eye appears to be profoundly unwell. But it is not until Baxter makes a sudden appearance at the Perowne family home that Henry’s earlier fears seem about to be realized. . .




Cheveley Novels


Book Description




The Daffodils Of Newent


Book Description

The Daffodils of Newent continues the story of the Rising Girls, begun in A Scattering of Daisies. Fans of Rosamunde Pilcher, Maeve Binchy and Fiona Valpy will love this emotional and wonderfully enthralling saga, from multi-million copy seller and Sunday Times bestselling author Susan Sallis, that expertly captures the lives and emotions of a family in the run up to World War Two. READERS ARE LOVING THE DAFFODILS OF NEWENT! 'A captivating read, satisfyingly long, that will hold the reader's attention to the very last page!' -- ***** Reader review 'The ending was perfect, and completely unexpected!' -- ***** Reader review 'Fascinating characters and beautifully described settings.' -- ***** Reader review 'A well-crafted book, with beautifully drawn characters.' -- ***** Reader review ************************************************************* IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE GREAT WAR, CAN THEY FIND HAPPINESS? They were called the Daffodil Girls, spirited and bright, enduring, loving and dancing their way through the gay and desperate twenties. April, who married the tortured and sexually suspect David Daker, convinced she could blot out his memories of the trenches. May, pregnant by her handsome music-hall star husband, who refused to settle down and become a family man. March, loved and betrayed by the man who had fathered her child, and who still wanted her, in spite of everything. WHAT WILL THE FUTURE HOLD IN STORE FOR THEM? The Daffodils of Newent is the second book in the Rising Family sequence and is followed by Bluebell Windows and Rosemary for Remembrance. The story began in A Scattering of Daisies.




Daisy Miller


Book Description

Henry James’s Daisy Miller was an immediate sensation when it was first published in 1878 and has remained popular ever since. In this novella, the charming but inscrutable young American of the title shocks European society with her casual indifference to its social mores. The novella was popular in part because of the debates it sparked about foreign travel, the behaviour of women, and cultural clashes between people of different nationalities and social classes. This Broadview edition presents an early version of James’s best-known novella within the cultural contexts of its day. In addition to primary materials about nineteenth-century womanhood, foreign travel, medicine, philosophy, theatre, and art—some of the topics that interested James as he was writing the story—this volume includes James’s ruminations on fiction, theatre, and writing, and presents excerpts of Daisy Miller as he rewrote it for the theatre and for a much later and heavily revised edition.