Λογοτεχνία

In two remarkable historical novels, Mary Renault fashions from the myth of Theseus a convincingly flawed hero and weaves a thrillingly plausible account of the Labyrinth and the infamous Minotaur. The King Must Die follows the young Theseus as he discovers that his true father is the King of Athens, and volunteers to join the annual tribute of Athenian girls and youths sacrificed to a bull-worshipping cult on the island of Crete. Trapped in the labyrinthine palace of King Minos, Theseus enlists the help of high priestess Ariadne in a daring plan to free his people. The Bull From the Sea begins after Theseus's triumphal return to Athens. He is now king, but his confidence will be shaken by a life-changing encounter with the queen of the Amazons, the birth of a son who will insist on choosing his own path, and the tragic results of his wife's treachery. Renault's deep knowledge of the Greek world, her sure grasp of psychology and genius for inspired speculation bring the distant world of the legendary past enthrallingly to life.

The great French feminist writer we need to remember' Guardian

'Violette Leduc's novels are works of genius and also a bit peculiar' Deborah Levy, from the introduction

An old woman lives alone in a tiny attic flat in Paris, counting out coffee beans every morning beneath the roar of the overhead metro. Starving, she spends her days walking around the city, each step a bid for recognition of her own existence. She rides crowded metro carriages to feel the warmth of other bodies, and watches the hot batter of pancakes drip from the hands of street-sellers.

One morning she awakes with an urgent need to taste an orange; but when she rummages in the bins she finds instead a discarded fox fur scarf. The little fox fur becomes the key to her salvation, the friend who changes her lonely existence into a playful world of her own invention.

The Lady and the Little Fox Fur is a stunning portrait of Paris, of the invisibility we all feel in a big city, and ultimately of the hope and triumph of a woman who reclaims her place in the world.

In this mystery by US bestseller David Handler, sleuthing suthor Stewart Hoag investigates the murder of his wealthy neighbour, and discovers her dark past... 1990s New York. Muriel Cantrell lives in a luxury apartment building on Central Park West, where she's known for her pride and joy: a 1955 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. Her neighbours include beautiful movie star Merilee Nash - and author Stewart 'Hoagy' Hoag. Hoag, whose career crashed when he got into drugs and alcohol, is on the up and he and basset hound Lulu are glad to be sharing Merilee's life (and apartment) again.

Hoagy, Merilee and the building's other residents are shocked when delicate, sweet, elderly Muriel is murdered after a Halloween party. Who in the world would want to harm an old lady whose major vices were buying Chanel suits and watching daytime soap operas?

NYPD Lieutenant Romaine Very is called to investigate and again seeks assistance from his friend Hoagy, who is perfectly placed to help. Their sleuthing soon leads to the unexpected source of Muriel's wealth, the history of her years at the Copacabana nightclub, and how her Mob-linked chauffeur came to be called 'Bullets'... not to mention a desperate meth-head nephew, and wealthy neighbours with secrets of their own.

From bestselling authors Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris - a nugget of wisdom in the phenomenal Ladybirds for Grown Ups series. This delightful book is the latest in the series of Ladybird books which have been specially planned to help grown-ups with the world about them. The large clear script, the careful choice of words, the frequent repetition and the thoughtful matching of text with pictures all enable grown-ups to think they have taught themselves to cope. Featuring original Ladybird artwork alongside brilliantly funny, brand new text. Also available: How it Works: The Husband How it Works: The Wife How it Works: The Mum The Ladybird Book of the Mid-Life Crisis The Ladybird Book of the Hangover The Ladybird Book of Mindfulness The Ladybird Book of the Shed The Ladybird Book of Dating The Ladybird Book of the Hipster

Set against the backdrop of the Enlightenment, the delectable decadence of Versailles, and the French Revolution, "The Last Banquet" is an intimate epic that tells the story of one man's quest to know the world through its many and marvelous flavors. Jean-Marie d'Aumout will try anything once, with consequences that are at times mouthwatering and at others fascinatingly macabre (Three Snake Bouillabaisse anyone? Or perhaps some pickled Wolf's Heart?). When he is not obsessively searching for a new taste d'Aumout is a fast friend, a loving husband, a doting father, and an imaginative lover. He befriends Ben Franklin, corresponds with the Marquis de Sade and Voltaire, becomes a favorite at Versailles, thwarts a peasant uprising, improves upon traditional French methods of contraception, plays an instrumental role in the Corsican War of Independence, and constructs France's finest menagerie. But d'Aumout's every adventurous turn is decided by his at times dark obsession to know all the world's flavors before that world changes irreversibly. As gripping as Patrick Suskind's "Perfume," as gloriously ambitious as Daniel Kehlman's "Measuring the World," and as prize-worthy as Andrew Miller's Pure, The Last Banquet is a hugely appealing novel about food and flavor, about the Age of Reason and the ages of man, and our obsessions and about how, if we manage to survive them, they can bequeath us wisdom and consolation in old age.

The rightful king of crime’ i News'Deeply moving... some of his best writing yet' TelegraphShocking news reaches the Thursday Murder Club. An old friend in the antiques business has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing. As the gang springs into action they encounter art forgers, online fraudsters and drug dealers, as well as heartache close to home. With the body count rising, the package still missing and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out? And who will be the last devil to die?----------'As charming and funny as always but SO MOVING' Marian KeyesRichard Osman, Sunday Times bestseller, March 2024The Bullet that Missed broke the record for the fastest-selling adult fiction hardback ever, September 2022

'Come for the space archaeologists and adorably violent Pumpkin the cat, but stay for a science fiction novel that will repair your soul.’ Nadia El-Fassi‘Wistful, loving, and indescribably beautiful. I'd call it required reading for the end of the world… a poignant masterpiece that transcends the death of stars.’ Olivia Atwater‘A quietly profound story about grief, purpose, and our place in the universe – told with a touch of humor, and a dash of adventure. Come for the cat, stay for the story.’ Sunyi Dean-------A dying universe.

A search for answers. An adventure at the end of a trillion lifetimes. When the home worlds finally achieved the technology to venture out into the stars, they found a graveyard of dead civilisations.

What befell these worlds is unknown. All they know is that they are the last ones left – and whatever came for the others will one day come for them. Scout is an Archivist who scours the dead worlds of the cosmos for their last gifts: interesting technology, cultural rituals – anything left behind that might be useful to home and their survival.

During an excavation on a lifeless planet, Scout unearths something unbelievable: a surviving message from an alien who witnessed the world-ending entity thousands of years ago. Now Scout, their brother and their sometimes-fearless, space-faring cat, Pumpkin, must race to save what matters most.

The Roman invasion from the western seas is imminent, and from the south the Spartans are burning and pillaging their way north. Battle-hardened Philopoemen believes the Achean League is facing annihilation if it does not arm. But without a formal army or cavalry, they don't stand a chance. Convincing his friend and healer Alexanor that the threat is real, together they begin to build a massive cavalry guard from the ground up - one that will fight on all fronts. It is the last roll of the dice for the Achean League. But Alexanor knows Philopoemen is one of the greatest warriors Greece has ever known - the New Achilles. The Last Greek.

Thessaloniki 1942. Vasilis Tsitsanis, the last outstanding performer of rebetiko music opens an ouzo tasting bar, an ouzeri, in the centre of the city. It soon attracts lovers of rebetiko, police officers, black market traffickers, spies, informants and anonymous partisan fighters. The centuries old city is living out its last days. The German occupying forces have set in motion the deportation of the large Jewish Sephardic community, represented by Estrella, a young girl enrolled in the resistance and the love object of the narrator of the novel. As it experiences its most difficult and decisive period in its history, the fascinating mosaic of Thessaloniki springs to life from the pages of Skambardonis’s novel. A mosaic made up of rebetiko, intrigue, love and betrayal set against the backdrop of a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic city which is on the verge of changing for ever.

Kazantzakis's classic novel, blacklisted by the Vatican, filmed by Scorsese, has been labelled heretical, blasphemous, and also a masterpiece. His Christ is an epic conception, wholly original.

'When Kazantzakis describes the raising of Lazarus, the early life of Mary Magdalene, the domestic lives of Martha and Mary, it is as if an old box of lantern slides had suddenly become a moving picture. The author has achieved a new and moving interpretation of a truly human Christ.' Times Literary Supplement