Lovereading Latest: Literary / Contemporary

Last Man in Tower - Aravind Adiga

Last Man in Tower
Aravind Adiga

Format: Paperback - Released: 01/02/2012
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February 2012 MEGA Book of the Month. The compelling, complex and multi-layered novel from Aravind Adiga is his first after White Tiger which won the Booker in 2008. A suspense-filled story of money and power, luxury and deprivation; a rich tapestry peopled by unforgettable characters, not least of which is Bombay itself.

Pure - Andrew Miller

Pure
Andrew Miller

Format: Paperback - Released: 05/01/2012
Lovereading Price: £6.74 - Saving £2.25 (25%)

Winner of the Costa Book of the Year award 2011. The author of the prize-winning, hugely acclaimed Ingenious Pain returns to the 18th century with an enthralling tale set in pre-revolutionary Paris. Following the judging, Geordie Greig, chair of the final judges, said: “Pure is a rich and evocative historical novel which engrosses with its vivid portrait of pre-revolutionary France. The qualities of Pure stood out for its memorable gothic tale of morality and mortality.” Greig chaired a final judging panel that included actor and comedian Hugh Dennis, actress Dervla Kirwan, broadcaster Mary Nightingale, novelist Patrick Gale, author Jojo Moyes, historical biographer Flora Fraser, author William Fiennes and children’s writer, Eleanor Updale.

Rescue - Anita Shreve

Rescue
Anita Shreve

Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
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February 2012 Book of the Month. A tale of love, banishment and renewal, Rescue is a perfectly paced novel, written with Shreve's skilful lightness of touch and perceptive characterisation. Alternating between the life-and-death scenarios Peter regularly encounters and the fraught family tension between father and daughter, the read is gripepd by the drama and emotion that Shreve so expertly builds. Shreve is the bestelling author of Testimony, A Change in Altitude and the Orange prize shotlisted The Weight of Water.

The Tiger's Wife - Tea Obreht

The Tiger's Wife
Tea Obreht

Format: Paperback - Released: 20/02/2012
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February 2012 Book of the Month. Shortlisted for the Galaxy International Author of the Year Award 2011. THE ORANGE PRIZE WINNING DEBUT FROM A TRULY EXTRAORDINARY TALENT. A Special Edition of The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht to celebrate Orion's 20th anniversary. A tiger escapes from a zoo during a Nazi bombing raid on a village in the balkans in 1941. His nocturnal visits hold the inhabitants of a local village in a terrified thrall. But for one boy, the tiger is a thing of magic. This is the beginning of a story about that boy's granddaughter, now a Doctor. She receives word of her beloved grandfather's death in circumstances shrouded in mystery. She realises he may have died searching for 'the deathless man', a vagabond who was said to be immortal. Struggling to understand why a man of science would undertake such a quest, she stumbles upon a clue that will lead her to the extraordinary story of the tiger's wife.

A Book for All and None - Clare Morgan

A Book for All and None
Clare Morgan

Format: Paperback - Released: 16/02/2012
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February 2012 Debut of the Month. A beautiful, haunting literary debut from an extraordinary new talent who we can see scooping future literary prizes. When you are the Director of the Creative Writing Course at Oxford University there is, understandably, quite a lot of interest when you decide to write your first novel but Clare Morgan clearly hasn’t let it effect her.Looking at the lives of two academics through their passions for the philosopher Nietzsche and novelist Virginia Woolf, A Book for All and None, is highly accessible and thought provoking. Why not try the free Opening Extract?

Care of Wooden Floors - Will Wiles

Care of Wooden Floors
Will Wiles

Format: Hardback - Released: 02/02/2012
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February 2012 Debut of the Month. Inhabiting the spaces in-between everyday events - a place where tiny oversights can have disastrous, farcical and even fatal consequences. This is a unique, bold and brilliant debut from a darkly funny new voice - which has a little bit of floorcare in it as well.

The Legacy of Eden - Nelle Davy

The Legacy of Eden
Nelle Davy

Format: Paperback - Released: 03/02/2012
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February 2012 Debut of the Month. A ‘Piece of Passion’ from Nelle’s editor, Jenny Hutton:When we first read The Legacy of Eden we were left breathless. Nelle is a phenomenal talent, writing with emotion and drama while still capturing the stark reality of the life of a dark, dysfunctional family in the American Midwest. The Legacy of Eden is a magnificent, sweeping epic that charts the rise and fall of the infamous Hathaway dynasty, the reader is drawn back through history into a tangled web of ambition and power, destruction and freedom, love and betrayal. Long-buried family secrets and scandal unfurl with a quiet, mesmerising power and the characters, who stay with you long after you’ve put the book down, are a testament to Nelle’s skill as a writer and storyteller. This is a captivating debut."

The Book of Lies - Mary Horlock

The Book of Lies
Mary Horlock

Format: Paperback - Released: 16/02/2012
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February 2012 Debut of the Month. A well-written insight into the twisted mind of an unashamed murderer, as she admits in the second paragraph of this book (see link to the Opening Extract on this page). In fact, The Book of Lies is so easy and approachable, and makes you so familiar with the writer, it feels like you are reading a personal letter from her to you. Alongside the subtly-woven, insightful narrative, throughout this book there are interesting footnotes about the island of Guernsey which add an interesting historical perspective as well as underpin the credibility of the story. A compelling read.

The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals - Wendy Jones

The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals
Wendy Jones

Format: Hardback - Released: 19/01/2012
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February 2012 Debut of the Month. This charming and beautifully told debut novel, set in 1920s rural Wales, follows Wilfred Price a young, and emotionally confused undertaker! Strange as the choice of setting and characters maybe the book is a wonderfully moving depiction of love and secrecy in a simpler time.

The Soldier's Wife - Joanna Trollope

The Soldier's Wife
Joanna Trollope

Format: Hardback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £14.24 - Saving £4.75 (25%)

Can a man trained to fight adjust again to family and domestic life? And how will the family cope, if he can't? Through the well observed, astute yet sensitive eye of the author this novel takes a keen look at the home lives of the modern Army. What happens, these days, when love and a vocation collide, head on?

Lyrics Alley - Leila Aboulela

Lyrics Alley
Leila Aboulela

Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
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The current situation in Africa and the Middle East is very much at odds with this nostalgic, lyrical and deeply moving novel by a twice ORANGE-listed rising star. Set in pre-Independence Sudan, Egypt and post-war Britain with it's subtly written characters we think it is a perfect choice for reading groups. Longlisted titles for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2011.

The Sealed Letter - Emma Donoghue

The Sealed Letter
Emma Donoghue

Format: Paperback - Released: 03/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)

From the bestselling author of Room comes a delicious tale of secrets, betrayal and forbidden love. Based on blow-by-blow newspaper reports of the 1864 Codrington Divorce, The Sealed Letter, full of sparkling characters and wicked dialogue, is a thought-provoking mystery and gripping drama of friends, lovers and marriage.

Q : A Love Story - Evan J. Mandery

Q : A Love Story
Evan J. Mandery

Format: Hardback - Released: 02/02/2012
Lovereading Price: £12.74 - Saving £4.25 (25%)

In a gripping tale of time travel and true love that will appeal to fans of The Time Traveler's Wife and The Confessions of Max Tivoli, a successful writer meets his future self, who advises him not to marry Q, the love of his life. Tissue boxes at the ready!

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - Paul Torday

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Paul Torday

Format: Paperback - Released: 20/02/2012
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A Special Edition of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday to celebrate Orion's 20th anniversary. Winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 2007.An unusual and delightful debut that all lovers of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian will adore. Normally I find novels written in emails, memos, diary entries and the like, such as this is, irritating but this succeeds on all levels. The different strains of the madcap story, reported in different voices, works a treat and as the characters are developed and the plot unfolds, so your interest is held vice-like. Part political satire, part scientific experiment, part spiritual enlightenment and part love story, it is highly accomplished, lightly amusing, unexpectedly touching and very rewarding. I truly loved it. Comparison: Marina Lewycka, Mark Haddon, Ben Elton.

Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder

Sophie's World
Jostein Gaarder

Format: Paperback - Released: 20/02/2012
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A Special Edition of Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder to celebrate Orion's 20th anniversary. Ex-philosophy teacher Jostein Gaarder & Albert Knos stimulate 15 year old Sophieto ask those fundamental questions which have exercised the imaginations of Children Philosophers since the dawn of civilisation.