North South by Glenn Colquhoun & Nigel Brown $34.99 Steele Roberts Poet Colquhoun and artist Brown imagine a new mythology for the country, forged by the clash and finally the co-operation of Celtic gods from the north and atua Maori from the South. Using traditional song and poetry forms from both traditions, Colquhoun suggests new interpretations and Brown illustrates these with figures familiar from carving and knot-work, amongst other motifs. Buy now *Now due mid-November. | Aphrodite's Island by Anne Salmond $65.00 HB Viking During the early contact period between Europe and Tahiti, the mythologies of both became entwined. It is well-known Europeans envisioned the island as the embodiment of the exotic, sensual and savage and that debate ranged over whether this denoted a noble culture, a primitive existence, or both. Here Salmond uses insights gleaned from Tahitian oral history and artifacts in conjunction with European writings and artworks to provide an account of the visitors' adventures and how they were perceived by Tahitians at the time. Buy now
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Access Road by Maurice Gee $37.00 Penguin Three brothers and sisters in their eighties still have not come to terms with events that happened a long time ago. Yet two of them remain living in the old family home in Loomis, the fictional town which is the setting for many of Gee's books. A figure from their past resurfaces with sinister intentions, and all the things they've been dreading seem about to come true. Buy now | Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak $19.99 PB or $39.99 HB Red Fox The classic children's tale about a rebellious boy's voyage to the land where the wild things are is a favourite for many people. It's both exciting and mildly alarming that it is being made into a feature film, but the calibre of the co-writers - Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers - and the fact they've chosen "live action" over digital creation offers some hope. Still, we recommend you make sure any children you care about encounter the story as a book first! Paperback Buy now Hardback Buy now |
The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson $30.00 Penguin Books Ferguson contends that finance is an integral part of society, aligned with the forces of progress. He stacks British War Bonds, the role of the stock-market in the French Revolution and patronage in the Italian Renaissance against events like the Wall Street Crash and today's many crises as evidence that a thorough understanding of money has never been more important. Buy now | A Life Like Other People's by Alan Bennett $32.99 HB Faber & Faber Playwright and author Alan Bennett's memoir of his parent's marriage and his childhood in Leeds surrounded by his close relatives takes a tragic turn as he relates the story of his mother's depression and dementia. Buy now |
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood $49.99 HB Bloomsbury The predictions of Adam One, the leader of God's Gardeners - a religion dedicated to melding science and sanctity - are coming true. A natural disaster has wiped out all but a handful of the human race and those who survived are all incarcerated in one way or another. If the trapeze-artist Ren can free herself from the brothel she's trapped in and Toby can venture outside a barricaded luxury spa, will the murderous detainees of the Painball prison also escape? And in a world where species barriers are increasing indistinct and environmental and social cohesiveness are all but destroyed, what possible future can any of them hope for? Buy now
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson $37.99 Quercus Only the fact that she is in Intensive Care after being shot in the head keeps Lisabeth Salander from facing trial for her alleged involvement in three murders and one attempted murder. As she recovers she is already planning how to identify and denounce the corrupt individuals and institutions responsible for her current state, prove her innocence and have her revenge. The eagerly awaited third and final installment in the Millennium Trilogy. Buy now
Small Wars by Sadie Jones $39.99 Chatto & Windus Hal is sent to lead the forces defending the British colony of Cyprus in the 1950s, and he takes his wife Clara and their children with him. It's a war with little glory for those involved, but initially he enjoys the sense of achievement each successful operation gives him. Clara is not happy, but resolves to make do as best as she can. But when her husband becomes involved in dubious activities the distance between them grows and Hal's own view of himself and his country changes for the worse. Buy now
| Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger $38.99 Jonathan Cape The author of The Time Traveller's Wife seems set to transcend genres again with this twenty-first century ghost story. Mirror-twins Julia and Valentina are regular American teenagers - except for their lack of interest in anything outside their home. But when their mother's sister dies and leaves them a flat overlooking London's Highgate Cemetery, everything changes. Before their aunt died, they had not even known she existed. Now, as they become entangled in her world and get to know those who knew her, the twins come face to face with a potentially deadly legacy. Buy now
Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd $38.99 Bloomsbury A young man's life is turned upside-down when a series of accidents causes him to lose his home, family, friends, job, money and phone in quick succession. With no hope of regaining any of them, and hunted both by the police and a hired killer, he comes to the conclusion the safest place for him is underground, amongst the anonymous victims of the pitiless city. Struggling to adjust to a life as just one more outcast in a sea of invisibles, and trying to figure out just where he went wrong, he begins instead to uncover a new kind of social identity. Buy now
Notwithstanding by Louis de Bernieres $39.99 Harvill Press Looking back at the Surrey village he grew up in during the ‘sixties and ‘seventies, Louis de Bernieres realised that the odd characters who seemed part of the landscape at the time could furnish a story far stranger than many of his fictions. The result is a portrait of a community of eccentrics which is only just removed from the truth. Buy now
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