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Orion Books
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In the seamy theatre world of 1970s New York, where rents are cheap and love is free, aspiring actor Edward Day joins his friends for a summer weekend on the New Jersey Shore. But something happens — and Edward's life will never be the same again. He is saved from drowning by the mysterious Guy Margate, a man with whom he shares both a marked physical resemblance and an implacable attraction to the beautiful, talented, neurotic Madeleine. Ever after, in encounters provoked by envy and resentment, Edward is torn between his desire for Madeleine and his indebtedness to the querulous Guy. Professional and personal jealousies come to a head when Edward is cast opposite Madeleine in an acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya, their respective roles painfully mirroring the reality of their personal situations. As the sexual tensions of the play spill over outside the theatre walls, Guy — Edward's reluctant saviour and now Madeleine's husband — makes the ultimate act of protest... |
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Born in 1918 into a working-class Edinburgh family, Muriel Spark ended as the epitome of literary chic, one of the great writers of the twentieth century. It is a Cinderella story, the first thirty-nine years of which she presented in her autobiography, CURRICULUM VITAE (1992), politely blurring the intensity of her darker moments: her relations with her brother, mother, son, husband; a terrifying period of hallucinations and subsequent depression; and the disastrously misplaced love she had felt for two men she had wanted to marry, Howard Sergeant and Derek Stanford. Aged nineteen, Spark left Scotland to marry in Southern Rhodesia, escaping back to Britain on a troopship in 1944 after her divorce. Her son returned in 1945 to be brought up by her parents in Edinburgh while she established herself as a poet and critic in London. After becoming a Roman Catholic in 1954, she began a novel, THE COMFORTERS (1957), and with MEMENTO MORI, THE BALLAD OF PECKAM RYE and THE BACHELORS rose rapidly into the literary stratosphere. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (1961), with its adaptation into a successful stage-play and film, marked her full translation into international celebrity and from that point she went to live first in New York, then Rome, and finally Tuscany where for over thirty years, until her death in 2006, she shared a house with her companion, the artist Penelope Jardine. In 1992 Spark invited Martin Stannard to write her biography, offering interviews and full access to her papers. The result is a compelling portrait of an extraordinary life. |
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It began with a dead bird. Then state-wide school closure. Before long, the whole town is in lockdown and the Brooks family are quarantined in their own home — with a faceless enemy on their doorstep. They must cope as best they can, battling hunger, cold and boredom. But as the threat inches closer, and neighbour turns against neighbour, single mother Ann doesn't know who she can trust — including those taking refuge in her house. With no end in sight, Ann knows that if she is to protect her daughters from untold danger, she must make impossible decisions in order to survive... |
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Paris, 1968. Four young hopefuls are following their dreams, making their way in the ruthless world of haute couture. Seamstress Monique, standing with her tatty suitcase in hand, watches shop assistants spray Chanel No. 5 in the street outside Coco's world-famous store. Can all her dreams come true in this magical place? Christopher, London born and bred, the handsome up-and-coming designer is determined to leave his mark on the city where glamour and power go hand in hand and every man has a mistress. Samantha, the daddy's girl with an uncanny eye for PR, understands what sells — sex, sex and more sex. But can a loud, brash American ever conquer the sophisticated wives of Paris? And hauntingly beautiful Sophie, the top model with her face in a thousand magazines and the world at her feet, has a secret in her past that won't stay buried... Four lives collide in the dizzying world of French fashion as Harold Carlton weaves a spellbinding tale of ambition, passion and rivalry. |
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At 21, James Farrell has the world at his feet. A gifted violinist, his successful career seems assured. Until a chance encounter with Ella changes everything. Ella, bewitching, irresistible, haunted by the ghosts of her family's past — James cannot help falling in love with her, and she with him. But as the power and dangerous fragility of their relationship overwhelm them, James can only watch helplessly as the most beautiful thing in his life is strangled by deception, betrayal and ultimately murder... |
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The subtitle of this wonderful memoir declares its contents: this is 'my life with Harold Pinter', not Lady Antonia Fraser's complete life, and certainly not his. It is a love story, and as with many love stories, the beginning and the end, the first light and the twilight, are dealt with more fully than the high noon in between. The result is a marvellously insightful testimony to modern literature's most celebrated marriage, between the greatest playwright of the age and a beautiful and famous prize-winning biographer. MUST YOU GO is based partly on Antonia Fraser's own diaries, which she has kept since October 1968 when she suffered from withdrawal symptoms after finishing her first historical biography, MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. Antonia Fraser has also used her own recollections, both immediate reactions (she always writes her Diary the next morning, unless otherwise noted) and memories. She has quoted Pinter where he told her things about his past, once again noting the source, and has occasionally quoted his friends talking to her on the same subject. Intriguingly her Diaries always pay special attention to any green shoots where Pinter's writing is concerned, perhaps a consequence of a biographer living with a creative artist and observing the process first hand. Harold Pinter and Antonia Fraser lived together from August 1975 until his death thirty-three years later on Christmas Eve 2008. |
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Samuel 'Sailor' Doyle has transferred from Vice to Homicide in the Virginia State Police. He has a mistress, an alcohol problem, a prescription drug dependency, and a burgeoning self-loathing that alienates his wife and family. On Friday 3 July, the rookie investigator is assigned to a double homicide on a rural farm some 15 miles outside Richmond. One of the victims has been interred in a makeshift tomb, while the other is stuck half-in, half-out of a hope chest overflowing with cat litter. And the farm is covered with dead bodies: dozens of cats, sheep, goats, cows, and one dead horse. The mentally handicapped daughter of the victims, Carl and Claire Bruckner, is missing. Doyle soon discovers that Bruckner was a Marine captain who lost his leg in Vietnam thanks to the incompetence of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Lake — now retired General Robert Lake, and Republican Party presidential hopeful, who will be speaking in Richmond on July fourth — the following evening. What Doyle fails to realise as he follows the various clues is that wherever he goes, he is spreading disease — and not just any disease, but Yersinia pestis. The plague. Is the dead Marine planning revenge, even from beyond the grave? |
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The last time Maureen O'Donnell saw Ann Harris, she was in the Glasgow Women's Shelter smelling of a long binge on cheap drink. A month later Ann's mutilated body, stitched into a mattress, is washed up on the banks of the Thames. No-one, except for Maureen and her best mate, Leslie, seems to care about what happened to her, and Maureen is the only person who thinks Ann's husband is innocent. But solving Ann's murder comes as light relief. Maureen's father is back in Glasgow, Leslie is sloping about like a nervous spy, and then there's Angus, Maureen's old therapist, who's twice as bright as she is and making her play a dangerous game with the police. In the long tradition of Scots in trouble, Maureen runs away to London. Looking for answers to the mystery surrounding Ann's death, she becomes embroiled in a seedy world of deceit and violence. Alone in a strange city, Maureen starts to piece together Ann's final days. But time is not on her side, and Maureen needs just twelve hours, just twelve, to put things right, and she doesn't care what it costs... |
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Maureen O'Donnell wasn't born lucky. A psychiatric patient and survivor of sexual abuse, she's stuck in a dead-end job and a secretive relationship with Douglas, a shady therapist. Her few comforts are making up stories to tell her psychiatrist, the company of friends, and the sweet balm of whisky. She is about to end her affair with Douglas when she wakes up one morning to find him in her living room with his throat slit. Viewed in turn by the police as a suspect and as an uncooperative, unstable witness, Maureen is even suspected by her alcoholic mother and self-serving sisters of being involved. Worse than that, the police won't tell her anything about Douglas' death. Panic-stricken and feeling betrayed by friends and family, Maureen begins to doubt her own version of events. She retraces Douglas' desperate last days and picks up a horrifying trail of rape, deception and suppressed scandal at a local psychiatric hospital where she had been an inmate. But the patients won't talk and the staff are afraid, and when a second brutalised corpse is discovered, Maureen realises that unless she gets to the killer first, her life is in danger. |
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Clover Grace is finally getting married. Or she will be if she drinks enough champagne to pluck up the courage for her trip down the aisle. The problem is that after months spent bickering over menus and table placements, Clover's never felt more distant from the man she's supposed to be spending the rest of her life with. As last minute nerves take hold, a night of soul-searching sees Clover reflecting back on old flames in a bid to reassure herself she's making the right decision. There's Rupert — adoring but dull; Jay — the teenage crush; Oliver — sexy but toxic; and Xander — a true friend. But as the sun rises and the ceremony looms ever closer, Clover is still unsure if she's doing the right thing. Then an unexpected encounter turns her world upside down. Should she take a chance? Or should she stick with the choices she's made? As Clover makes her way to the church, only one question remains: who will be waiting for her at the altar? |
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Max and Tine arrive on the Greek island of her childhood holidays. Both are in their mid twenties and this is their first serious relationship. Max is relatively inexperienced with women and his previous encounters have been predominantly sexual. With Tine he feels an emotional bond, and he wants to get to know her better, both sexually and emotionally. It ought to be perfect — a secluded house on a stunning cove; rich local food and wine; sunbathing. And yet the minute they arrive Tine seems tense. As the days progress, she seems increasingly distant and is obsessed that the house is being watched. The present day is interspersed with scenes from Max's childhood. A talented child from a relatively poor family, he received a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school but nothing has prepared the young boy for the loneliness and vulnerability of living away from his family. Max is dyslexic and soon this creates difficulties with his teachers and his classmates. But when things come to a head, Max finds a way of surviving. Back in the present day, the idyllic holiday seems to be turning into a nightmare. But can Max find a way back to intimacy and overcome the demons of his past? |
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England, 1911. The Reverend Albert Canning, a vicar with a passion for spiritualism, leads a happy existence with his naive wife Hester in a sleepy Berkshire village. As summer dawns, their quiet lives are changed for ever by two new arrivals. First comes Cat, the new maid: a free-spirited and disaffected young woman sent down from London after entanglements with the law. Cat quickly finds a place for herself in the secret underbelly of local society as she plots her escape. Then comes Robin Durrant, a leading expert in the occult, enticed by tales of elemental beings in the water meadows nearby. A young man of magnetic charm and beauty, Robin soon becomes an object of fascination and desire. During a long spell of oppressive summer heat, the rectory at Cold Ash Holt becomes charged with ambition, love and jealousy; a mixture of emotions so powerful that it leads, ultimately, to murder. |
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Twelve-year-old Hans Thomas lives alone with his father, a man who likes to givehis sons lessons about Life and has a penchant for philosophy. Hans Thomas' mother left when he was four (to find' herself) and the story begins when father and son set off on a trip to Greece, where she now lives, to try to persuade her to come home. En rout, in Switzerland, Hans Thomas is given a magnifying glass by a dwarf at a petrol station, and the next day he finds a tiny book in his bread roll which can only be read with a magnifying glass. How did the book come to be there? Why does the dwarf keep showing up? It is all very perplxing and Hans Thomas has enough to cope with, with the daunting prospect of seeing his mother. Now his journey has turned into an encounter with the unfathomable... or does it all have a logical explanation? |
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Kate is a rising star in one of London's top barristers' chambers. Smart, competitive and driven, she is jubilant when she lands a high-profile case representing the TV talent show mogul Jez Carnaby. Children are involved, as are houses, helicopters, racehorses, private islands, and money — lots of it. Winning this case will guarantee Kate the success and stability she craves. There's only one problem: on the opposing legal team is her own husband, Rikki. Frost settles on their previously hot marriage. Kate is outraged by Rikki's sympathy for his female client, whom Kate sees as a negligent mother and freeloader. Rikki is disgusted that contact with Carnaby is making her as selfish as her client. Suddenly issues which they could laugh off or resolve in bed erupt into quarrels, whether about who puts out the rubbish bin or about Kate's ambivalence towards having children. Fighting the case in the court by day while sharing a bed by night, both must reassess their ideas about parenthood, fidelity and the equality of men and women in a modern marriage. From the leafy quadrangles and panelled chambers of London's legal heartland to glitzy country mansions, THE PERFECT COUPLE is a fun and fast battle of the sexes, packed with wit and emotional truth. |
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Greece 1936. A young British diplomat and his wife have been posted to Athens. Hugh loves the life there but his spirited and unconventional wife, Evadne, finds it hard to fit into the whirl of endless parties and socialising. When Hugh is sent to Crete to sort out a problem, they stay in a rundown house owned by his family. His wife falls in love with the place and the people, and stays on when Hugh returns to his duties. As she tries to rebuild the ramshackle home, Evadne — known as Heavenly by the locals — makes firm friends with Anthi, a young woman from the village and Christo, the handsome and charismatic young builder. But the dark clouds of war are gathering and the island will become a crucible of violence and bloodshed in the days to come. For Heavenly, her friends and family, it will be the greatest test they have ever known. |
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After caring for his mother in her last days, Alex has gone off round the world — with no plan other than to travel and maybe recapture some of his lost youth. Beginning his travels in Indonesia, the idea of finding himself sounds appealing... but soon, he finds himself in real trouble. It starts with a bus crash on a terrifying mountain road. Lucky to escape with his life, Alex loses everything else — even his identity. But then he meets Domino, a beautiful girl who takes Alex under her wing. At first it's an intoxicating adventure, but Alex starts to realise that danger seems to follow her around. As they approach the magnificent Lake Toba, and head to the remote community of free spirits that Domino calls home, it seems there's trouble in paradise. The ideals of the camp seem honourable — a simple life, shared by friends in a beautiful place hidden from the world. But Domino has no answers for the questions that are forming in Alex's mind: Why do the local villagers hate them so much? Why are people leaving the camp in the dead of night? And what are the strange shapes lurking just beyond the clearing? A taut, atmospheric and emotive thriller, DARK HORIZONS transports you to the lush landscapes of Sumatra, and the twisted ideals and deadly secrets lying in wait there... |
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5 August 2005. While conducting a secret mission thirty miles off the remote cost of Kamchatka, the Russian Navy submarine AS-28 became snared in the thick cables anchored to 60-tonne concrete blocks. Without power the stricken boat sunk to the seafloor. Trapped 600 feet down — too deep to escape — her crew of seven now had just seventy two hours before the air onboard ran out. Twenty-four hours later — still haunted by the loss of the Kursk — the Russian Navy requested assistance. And on their side of the world, Commander Ian Riches, Boss of the Royal Navy's Submarine rescue team got the call: there was a sub down. With their expertise and specialist equipment, he knew his team had a chance to save the men, but Kamchatka was at the very limit of their range. And the clock was ticking. As Riches and his men prepared to deploy to Russia's Pacific coast aboard a giant Royal Air Force C-17 airlifter, rescue teams from the United States and Japan were also scrambled to the area. After the failure of the Russian Navy's own attempts to resucue them, the crew of the AS-28 shut down all of their boat's non-essential systems, climbed into thick thermal suits to keep the freezing cold at bay and waited, desperate to eke out the stale, thin air inside the pressure hull of their submarine. But as the first of them began to drift in and out of consciousness, they knew their time was running out... 72 Hours tells the story of an extraordinary, edge-of-the-seat real-life drama. It's the gripping, inside story of one of the most dramatic rescue attempts of recent years. And there were no guarantees of success. |
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WAS is the story of Dorothy. Orphaned as a child in the 1870s, she goes to live in Kansas with her Aunty Em and Uncle Henry. They face drought and poverty. They face each other. Alone, abused, Dorothy meets an itinerant actor called Frank and inspires a masterpiece. From the settling of the West and the heyday of the Hollwywood studios to the glittering megalopolis of modern Los Angeles, WAS is the story of all our childhoods. |
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Fin, an Irish journalist with little more than a rumpled linen suit to his name, wakes at dawn with a fierce hangover and an excruciating bruise on his thigh. As the first prayer call of the day sounds over Cairo, Fin stumbles into an exotic adventure that will take him to the very edge of his courage, his endurance and his sense of self. He seeks a story — a story about treasure — and to find it, he must first find his friend Farouk, the mercurial teller of tales, who alone knows what Fin needs to hear. Fuelled by whisky and a thousand glasses of tea Fin pursues his quest under the shadow of the Great Pyramid, through crowded kebab shops and into the great emptiness of the desert itself. |
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Who is Barack Obama and why do we care? Hope for the World includes everything you need to know about the most important man on the planet. With every page bursting with facts and photos, read about Barack Obama's childhood days, his rise to the top job in the world and how he plans to change America, and the world, for good. In celebration of the great man, Hope for the World provides an easy to follow history of America and how a new day dawned with Barack's election to the White House. With global peace, climate change and our futures on top of his to-do list Hope for the World will fascinate, entertain and educate knowledge-hungry fans. It will inspire and inform and be a must have for every bookshelf in the world. Barack Obama fans, schools, pre-teens and teens market, and general readers who want a handsome and accessible biography of one of the most important men in history. |
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