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Lionel Shriver's novels include the New York Times bestseller The Post-Birthday World and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, which won the 2005 Orange Prize and has now sold over a million copies worldwide. Other books include Double Fault, A Perfectly Good Family, and So Much for That. Lionel’s novels have been translated into twenty-five different languages and. Her journalism has appeared in the Guardian, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. She lives in London.
Sometimes we are given gifts we really don't want. And when that gift comes from an ex-love and is a sculpture that you and your partner are meant to live with forever, there's no giving it back. The Standing Chandelier is a brilliant gem of a novella from the resonant and searing voice Lionel Shriver.
A huge tale of a future America and its economic downfall. It centres on four generations of one family, the Mandibles, and attempts to explain how the economics of 2029 works. Whites are in the minority, the Hispanics the majority, along with the obese and the elderly. Robots are fully functional so employment opportunities are minimal. There is a water shortage and later a shortage of everything. Theft and extortion shine. There are many families to a house, even to a room. By 2047 quite a lot has recovered and people are now ‘chipped’. We learn all this as our family struggles to survive. Strangely it seems very plausible as it gives us a glimmer of light in one State, Nevada. It is a challenging read, a story of optimism as well as destruction, impressive and fascinating.
May 2016 Book of the Month. A huge tale of a future America and its economic downfall. It centres on four generations of one family, the Mandibles, and attempts to explain how the economics of 2029 works. Whites are in the minority, the Hispanics the majority, along with the obese and the elderly. Robots are fully functional so employment opportunities are minimal. There is a water shortage and later a shortage of everything. Theft and extortion shine. There are many families to a house, even to a room. By 2047 quite a lot has recovered and people are now ‘chipped’. We learn all this as our family struggles to survive. Strangely it seems very plausible as it gives us a glimmer of light in one State, Nevada. It is a challenging read, a story of optimism as well as destruction, impressive and fascinating.
A blackly comic novel from the author of We need to talk about Kevin, this was first published in 1994 and languished out of print for years till the success of ‘Kevin’ shone a spotlight on her earlier work. Set in 90s Africa this is a deeply un-PC novel that pits a liberal family planning activist do-gooder against a misanthrope as darker forces than they are at work to consider population ‘management’. Not one to read if you want to like the characters but a dark and still prescient work.
Once again Shriver takes on a contentious topic head-on. In the case of Big Brother it is the effects on a family of a morbidly obese ‘big brother'. Rich with Shriver's distinctive wit and ferocious energy, Big Brother is about fat: why we overeat and whether extreme diets ever really work. It asks just how much sacrifice we'll make to save single members of our families, and whether it's ever possible to save loved ones from themselves. Click here to view the page for New Republic by the same author, out now in paperback.
May 2013 eBook of the Month. Once again Shriver takes on a contentious topic head-on. In the case of Big Brother it is the effects on a family of a morbidly obese ‘big brother'. Rich with Shriver's distinctive wit and ferocious energy, Big Brother is about fat: why we overeat and whether extreme diets ever really work. It asks just how much sacrifice we'll make to save single members of our families, and whether it's ever possible to save loved ones from themselves. Click here to view the page for New Republic by the same author, which is just out in paperback.
Through the character of Edgar Kellogg, ex fat kid, ex corporate lawyer and now wannabe journalist, Shriver explores the lengths you’ll go to and the things you’ll do when you are desperate to be known. It’s also important to remember, and interesting to note, when you read this that it was written in 1998, five years before her Orange Prize winner. A time capsule piece of wit, cynicism and satire. Click here to view the page for Big Brother by the same author, which is due out in hardback on 9 May 2013.
June 2012 Book of the Month and eBook of the Month. Through the character of Edgar Kellogg, ex fat kid, ex corporate lawyer and now wannabe journalist, Shriver explores the lengths you’ll go to and the things you’ll do when you are desperate to be known. It’s also important to remember, and interesting to note, when you read this that it was written in 1998, five years before her Orange Prize winner. A time capsule piece of wit, cynicism and satire.
Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2005. Narrated by a mother, Eve, in letters to her estranged husband, this is a truly horrific story of a 15-year old boy’s killing spree but more than that it's the tale of how he got there rather than of the crime itself. It harks back to Eve’s relationship with her husband and the upbringing of the child. The big question is how much she is, or not, to blame for the tragedy that unfolds. Stark and unbelievably painful, it touches on truths not often spoken of. A great book.
Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2005. Narrated by a mother, Eve, in letters to her estranged husband, this is a truly horrific story of a 15-year old boy’s killing spree but it is more the tale of how he got there than of the crime itself. It harks back to Eve’s relationship with her husband and the upbringing of the child. The big question is how much she is, or not, to blame for the tragedy that unfolds. Stark and unbelievably painful, it touches on truths not often spoken of. A great book. Similar this month: None but try Clare Sambrook.Comparison: Douglas Coupland, Alex Garland, Jodi Picoult.
Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005Lionel Shriver tells a compelling, absorbing, and resonant story while framing these horrifying tableaux of teenage carnage as metaphors for the larger tragedy - the tragedy of a country where everything works, nobody starves, and anything can be bought but a sense of purpose. This title is also available as an Audiobook, in either CD or cassette format.
Shepherd Knacker has been saving all his working life for a one way ticket away from the daily grind. When he sells his handyman business for $1million, 'The Afterlife' seems tantalisingly within reach. Yet his wife has concocted one reason after another why now isn't the time to go. Determined to take the plunge, Shep announces that he is leaving for an island off the coast of Tanzania: with or without her. However, Glynis has an announcement of her own -- she needs his health insurance. Illustrating how a marriage is both stressed and strengthened by medical crisis, So Much for That puts the uncomfortable fiscal question: how much is one life worth?
Shortlisted for the prestigious U.S. National Book Award 2010. Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 15 April 2010. A book about terminal illness and battling the healthcare system may not sound much fun but Lionel Shriver adds her marvellous touch to every page making it a compelling and moving read.
Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2005. Narrated by a mother, Eve, in letters to her estranged husband, this is a truly horrific story of a 15-year old boy’s killing spree but more than that it's the tale of how he got there rather than of the crime itself. It harks back to Eve’s relationship with her husband and the upbringing of the child. The big question is how much she is, or not, to blame for the tragedy that unfolds. Stark and unbelievably painful, it touches on truths not often spoken of. A great book.
Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2005. Narrated by a mother, Eve, in letters to her estranged husband, this is a truly horrific story of a 15-year old boy’s killing spree but it is more the tale of how he got there than of the crime itself. It harks back to Eve’s relationship with her husband and the upbringing of the child. The big question is how much she is, or not, to blame for the tragedy that unfolds. Stark and unbelievably painful, it touches on truths not often spoken of. A great book. Similar this month: None but try Clare Sambrook.Comparison: Douglas Coupland, Alex Garland, Jodi Picoult.
Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005Lionel Shriver tells a compelling, absorbing, and resonant story while framing these horrifying tableaux of teenage carnage as metaphors for the larger tragedy - the tragedy of a country where everything works, nobody starves, and anything can be bought but a sense of purpose. This title is also available as an Audiobook, in either CD or cassette format.
The latest offering from the author of We Need to Talk About Kevin. A dazzling novel with perceptive insights on love and marriage. As you'd expect from a past winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, Shriver's writing is spellbinding. Even if you hate tennis with a passion, you won't be able to put this down.
Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2005. Narrated by a mother, Eve, in letters to her estranged husband, this is a truly horrific story of a 15-year old boy’s killing spree but more than that it's the tale of how he got there rather than of the crime itself. It harks back to Eve’s relationship with her husband and the upbringing of the child. The big question is how much she is, or not, to blame for the tragedy that unfolds. Stark and unbelievably painful, it touches on truths not often spoken of. A great book.
Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2005. Narrated by a mother, Eve, in letters to her estranged husband, this is a truly horrific story of a 15-year old boy’s killing spree but it is more the tale of how he got there than of the crime itself. It harks back to Eve’s relationship with her husband and the upbringing of the child. The big question is how much she is, or not, to blame for the tragedy that unfolds. Stark and unbelievably painful, it touches on truths not often spoken of. A great book. Similar this month: None but try Clare Sambrook.Comparison: Douglas Coupland, Alex Garland, Jodi Picoult.
Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005Lionel Shriver tells a compelling, absorbing, and resonant story while framing these horrifying tableaux of teenage carnage as metaphors for the larger tragedy - the tragedy of a country where everything works, nobody starves, and anything can be bought but a sense of purpose. This title is also available as an Audiobook, in either CD or cassette format.
Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2005. Narrated by a mother, Eve, in letters to her estranged husband, this is a truly horrific story of a 15-year old boy’s killing spree but it is more the tale of how he got there than of the crime itself. It harks back to Eve’s relationship with her husband and the upbringing of the child. The big question is how much she is, or not, to blame for the tragedy that unfolds. Stark and unbelievably painful, it touches on truths not often spoken of. A great book. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
From the Orange Prize-winning author of WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN comes a bold and savage story of the intersection of politics and human relationships, set in turbulent Northern Ireland.Having abandoned Philadelphia for the life of an international nomad, Estrin Lancaster has a taste for hot spots. She now finds herself in Belfast, a city scarred by twenty years of ritualised violence.As the former purveyor of his own bomb-disposal service, Farrell O'Phelan courts the company of destruction. Technically a Catholic, he shuns allegiance of any kind.For these two, normal life is anathema; love is a trap. What ensues is an affair between two loners who are beset with a fear of domesticity and a hunger for devastation.
From the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin comes the most entertaining novel about illness and death one's ever likely to read and asks the uncomfortable fiscal question: how much is one life worth? Shepherd Knacker has been saving all his working life for a one way ticket away from the daily grind. When he sells his handyman business for $1million, `The Afterlife' seems tantalisingly within reach. Yet his wife has concocted one reason after another why now isn't the time to go. Determined to take the plunge, Shep announces that he is leaving for an island off the coast of Tanzania: with or without her. However, Glynis has an announcement of her own - she needs his health insurance.
From the Orange Prize winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin, this is the novel Lionel Shriver wrote directly afterwards. The Post-Birthday World is an unflinching account of the choices that unfold before us and what our decisions really mean. Irina McGovern's destiny hinges on a single kiss. Whether she gives into its temptation will determine whether she stays with her reliable partner Lawrence, or runs off with Ramsey, a hard-living snooker player. Employing a parallel universe structure, Shriver spins Irina's competing futures with two drastically different men. An intellectual and fellow American, Lawrence is clever and supportive, but rigid and emotionally withdrawn. A British celebrity, Ramsey is passionate and spontaneous, but jealous, undereducated, and prone to pick arguments. Their contrasting characters will colour her other relationships, her career, and the texture of her daily life. If love is always about trade-offs-if every romantic prospect is flawed-how can we ever know whom to choose?
Following the success of We Need to Talk About Kevin this is a stunning examination of inheritance, literal and psychological: what we take from our parents, what we discard, and what we are stuck with, like it or not. After having escaped for years to London, Corlis McCrea returns to the grand Reconstruction mansion where she grew up in North Carolina, now willed to the three grown children following the death of their parents. All three want the house. Fiscal necessity dictates that two must buy a third out. Just as she was torn as a girl, the sister must choose between her decent younger brother and the renegade eldest-the black sheep who covets his legacy in order to destroy it. The adult siblings re-enact the deep enmities and loyalties of childhood, as each bids for a bigger slice of the pie.
The first novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk about Kevin is a compelling and provocative story of love and how we suffer for it. Still unattached and childless at fifty-nine, world-renowned anthropologist Gray Kaiser is seemingly invincible-and untouchable. Returning to make a documentary at the site of her first great triumph in Kenya, she is accompanied by her faithful middle-aged assistant, Errol McEchern, who has loved her for years in silence. When young graduate assistant Raphael Sarasola arrives on the scene, Gray is captivated and falls hopelessly in love-before an amazed Errol's eyes. As he follows their affair with jealous fascination, Errol watches helplessly from the sidelines as a proud and fierce woman is reduced to miserable dependence through miserable dependence.
A blackly comic novel from the author of We need to talk about Kevin, this was first published in 1994 and languished out of print for years till the success of ‘Kevin’ shone a spotlight on her earlier work. Set in 90s Africa this is a deeply un-PC novel that pits a liberal family planning activist do-gooder against a misanthrope as darker forces than they are at work to consider population ‘management’. Not one to read if you want to like the characters but a dark and still prescient work.
Irina McGovern kann sich ein Leben ohne den klugen, geistreichen und verlasslichen Lawrence nicht vorstellen - auch wenn die Leidenschaft ihrer Liebe mit den Jahren abgeflaut ist. Doch als Irina sich der uberwaltigenden Anziehungskraft von Ramsey hingibt, verandert ein Kuss ihr Leben, und ein Spiel mit zwei Wirklichkeiten beginnt ...
Pandora war immer nur die kleine Schwester. Ihr Bruder Edison, der geniale New Yorker Pianist, stand von Anfang an im Vordergrund und wurde irgendwann ganz oben stehen, da waren sich alle sicher. Als er nun Pandora und ihre Familie im landlichen Iowa besucht, muss sie erschreckt feststellen, dass der bewunderte groe Bruder sich nicht nur in der Lebensluge vom erfolgreichen Musiker eingerichtet hat, sondern inzwischen uber 150 Kilo wiegt. Vor allem die Spannungen zwischen Edison und ihrem Mann Fletcher nehmen mit jeder Mahlzeit, mit jedem Gesprach uber Disziplin und mavolles Leben zu. Statt ihn rauszuschmeien beschliet Pandora, Edison einer radikalen Diat zu unterziehen. Sie zieht mit ihm von zu Hause aus, um sich ganz diesem Ziel widmen zu konnen. Aber Fletcher weigert sich, Pandoras Plan zu unterstutzen - und sie begreift, dass sie nur eines retten kann: ihre Ehe oder ihren Bruder.
Once again Shriver takes on a contentious topic head-on. In the case of Big Brother it is the effects on a family of a morbidly obese ‘big brother'. Rich with Shriver's distinctive wit and ferocious energy, Big Brother is about fat: why we overeat and whether extreme diets ever really work. It asks just how much sacrifice we'll make to save single members of our families, and whether it's ever possible to save loved ones from themselves. Click here to view the page for New Republic by the same author, out now in paperback.
From the acclaimed author of the National Book Award finalist So Much for That and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin comes a striking new novel about siblings, marriage, and obesity.When Pandora picks up her older brother Edison at her local Iowa airport, she literally doesnt recognize him. In the four years since the siblings last saw each other, the once slim, hip New York jazz pianist has gained hundreds of pounds. What happened?And its not just the weight. Imposing himself on Pandoras world, Edison breaks her husband Fletchers handcrafted furniture, makes overkill breakfasts for the family, and entices her stepson not only to forgo college but to drop out of high school.After the brother-in-law has more than overstayed his welcome, Fletcher delivers his wife an ultimatum: Its him or me. Putting her marriage and adopted family on the line, Pandora chooses her brotherwho, without her support in losing weight, will surely eat himself into an early grave.Rich with Shrivers distinctive wit and ferocious energy, Big Brother is about fatan issue both social and excruciatingly personal. It asks just how much well sacrifice to rescue single members of our families, and whether its ever possible to save loved ones from themselves.
The new novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin.When Pandora picks up her older brother Edison at her local Iowa airport, she literally doesn't recognize him. The once slim, hip New York jazz pianist has gained hundreds of pounds. What happened?Soon Edison's slovenly habits, appalling diet, and know-it-all monologues are driving Pandora and her fitness-freak husband Fletcher insane. After the brother-in-law has more than overstayed his welcome, Fletcher delivers his wife an ultimatum: it's him or me.Rich with Shriver's distinctive wit and ferocious energy, Big Brother is about fat: why we overeat and whether extreme diets ever really work. It asks just how much sacrifice we'll make to save single members of our families, and whether it's ever possible to save loved ones from themselves.
Through the character of Edgar Kellogg, ex fat kid, ex corporate lawyer and now wannabe journalist, Shriver explores the lengths you’ll go to and the things you’ll do when you are desperate to be known. It’s also important to remember, and interesting to note, when you read this that it was written in 1998, five years before her Orange Prize winner. A time capsule piece of wit, cynicism and satire. Click here to view the page for Big Brother by the same author, which is due out in hardback on 9 May 2013.
Den Alltagsarger hinter sich lassen, die Welt sehen, nachdenken - so hat sich Shepherd den Rest seines Lebens vorgestellt. Seine Frau Glynis kann ihm dabei nicht folgen - sie stellt ihn vor eine tragische Wahl. Nach ihrem mitreienden Roman "e;Liebespaarungen"e; erzahlt Lionel Shrivers neues Buch von den Wandlungen einer Ehe in schweren Zeiten. Und auch von dem Gluck, das daraus entstehen kann.
A scalpel sharp political satire from the Orange Prize winning writer of We Need to Talk about Kevin.Edgar Kellogg has always yearned to be popular. Leaving his lucrative career as a lawyer for the sexier world of journalism, he's thrilled to be offered the post of foreign correspondent in a Portuguese backwater with a home-grown terrorist movement. Barrington Saddler, the disappeared larger-than-life reporter he's been sent to replace, is exactly the outsize character Edgar longs to emulate.'The Daring Soldiers of Barba' have been blowing up the rest of the world for years in order to win independence for Barba, a province so dismal, backward and windblown that you couldn't give the rat hole away. So why, with Barrington vanished, do the terrorist incidents suddenly dry up?A droll, playful novel, The New Republic addresses weighty issues like terrorism with the deft, tongue-in-cheek touch that is vintage Shriver. It also presses the more intimate question: What makes particular people so magnetic, while the rest of us inspire a shrug? What's their secret? And in the end, who has the better life - the admired, or the admirer?
Acclaimed author Lionel Shriverauthor of the National Book Award finalist So Much for That, The Post-Birthday World, and the vivid psychological novel We Need to Talk About Kevin, now a major motion pictureprobes the mystery of charisma in a razor-sharp new novel that teases out the intimate relationship between terrorism and cults of personality, explores what makes certain people so magnetic, and reveals the deep frustrations of feeling overshadowed by a life-of-the-party who may not even be present.Shriver is a master of the misanthrope. . . . [A] viciously smart writer. Time
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