Stefania Bertola Books

Sasha has had it. She cannot bring herself to respond to another inane, “urgent” (but obviously not at all urgent) email or participate in the corporate employee joyfulness program. She hasn’t seen her friends in months. Sex? Seems like a lot of effort. Even cooking dinner takes far too much planning. Sasha has hit a wall.Armed with good intentions to drink kale smoothies, try yoga, and find peace, she heads to the seaside resort she loved as a child. But it’s the off season, the hotel is in a dilapidated shambles, and she has to share the beach with the only other a grumpy guy named Finn, who seems as stressed as Sasha. How can she commune with nature when he’s sitting on her favorite rock, watching her? Nor can they agree on how best to alleviate their burnout ( manifesting, wild swimming; drinking whisky, getting pizza delivered to the beach).When curious messages, seemingly addressed to Sasha and Finn, begin to appear on the beach, the two are forced to talk—about everything. How did they get so burned out? Can either of them remember something they used to love? (Answer: surfing!) And the question they try and fail to ignore: what does the energy between them—flaring even in the face of their bone-deep exhaustion—signify?

»Den geliebten Mann beim Schlafen zu betrachten, ist eine der unheilbringendsten weiblichen Aktivitäten überhaupt.« Adele ist 32 Jahre alt und hat noch keinen Tag im Leben gearbeitet. Aber eines Morgens muss sie feststellen, dass ihre perfekte Welt ein Scherbenhaufen ist: Ihr Mann hat Konkurs angemeldet, die Bankkonten geplündert und ist mit seiner Geliebten getürmt. Nur den riesigen Hund seiner neuen Lebensgefährtin hat er dagelassen. Genau als Adele sich dieses Köters elegant entledigen will, passiert es: Eine junge Frau mit Baby auf dem Arm springt in ihr Auto und bestürmt sie, sofort loszufahren: es gehe um Leben und Tod ... Der Beginn einer wunderbaren Freundschaft - zwischen zwei Frauen, die verschiedener nicht sein könnten: Adele könnte einem Prada-Prospekt entlaufen sein, Eva einer Greenpeace-Broschüre. Adele ist organisiert und missmutig, Eva ein Katastrophenmagnet, aber tiefenentspannt. Bald teilen sie nicht nur ein Haus, sondern auch eine erbitterte Feindin und einen viel zu verführerischen Tunichtgut. Zwangsläufig lernt die eine von der anderen, die eigenen Gewissheiten auf den Kopf zu stellen.

Mit 58 Jahren, da fängt das Leben an. Und für die Liebe ist man nie zu alt! Olimpia, 58 Jahre alt, Bibliothekarin und Single mit zwei Katzen, träumt schon lange von der Schriftstellerei. Wenn nicht jetzt, wann dann? Kurzerhand kratzt sie ihre Ersparnisse zusammen und besucht einen Schreibworkshop, der ihr in einer Woche das nötige Handwerkszeug vermitteln soll, um einen Heftchenroman zu schreiben. Unter den Augen der gestrengen Kursleiterin Leonora, einer Grande Dame der Groschenliteratur, verfassen die sechzehn Teilnehmer Geschichten voller Liebe und Leidenschaft. Doch Herzflattern und amouröse Verwicklungen gibt es nicht nur auf dem Papier – sondern auch im echten Leben ...

THE NO.1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY introduced the world to the one and only Precious Ramotswe - the engaging and sassy owner of Botswana's only detective agency. TEARS OF THE GIRAFFE, McCall Smith's second book, takes us further into this world as we follow Mama Ramotswe into more daring situations ... Among her cases this time are wayward wives, unscrupulous maids, and the challenge to resolve a mother's pain for her son who is long lost on the African plains. Indeed, Mma Ramotswe's own impending marriage to the most gentlemanly of men, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, the promotion of Mma's secretary to the dizzy heights of Assistant Detective, and the arrival of new members to the Matekoni family, all brew up the most humorous and charmingly entertaining of tales. * TEARS OF THE GIRAFFE was selected as one of the GUARDIAN's top ten 'Fiction Paperbacks of the Year, 2000

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue meets Jane Austen in this witty, winking historical romance with a dash of mystery! Lady Victoria Aston has everything she could want: an older sister happily wed, the future of her family estate secure, and ample opportunity to while her time away in the fields around her home. But now Vicky must marry--or find herself and her family destitute. Armed only with the wisdom she has gained from her beloved novels by Jane Austen, she enters society's treacherous season. Sadly, Miss Austen has little to say about Vicky's exact circumstances: whether the roguish Mr. Carmichael is indeed a scoundrel, if her former best friend, Tom Sherborne, is out for her dowry or for her heart, or even how to fend off the attentions of the foppish Mr. Silby, he of the unfortunate fashion sensibility. Most unfortunately of all, Vicky's books are silent on the topic of the mysterious accidents cropping up around her...ones that could prevent her from surviving until her wedding day.

Stewart Dubinsky knew his father. David, had served in World War II, but had told very little about his experiences. When he finds, after his father's death, a packet of wartime letters to a former fiancee and learns of David's court-martial, Stewart is driven to uncover the truth about the enigmatic distant man he never knew. Using military archives, old letters, and David's own notes, he discovers that David, a JAG lawyer, had pursued a maverick U.S. officer in Europe, fallen in love with a beautiful resistance fighter, and fought in the war's deadliest conflicts. In reconstructing the terrible events and agonizing choices his father faced on the battlefield, in the courtrfoom, and in love, Stewart gains a closer understanding of his father's secret past and of the brutal nature of war itself.

This is the story of Mickey Sabbath, a disgraced puppeteer who, after the death of his long-time mistress, embarks on a raging journey into dionysian extremism, madness and bitter understanding. Philip Roth won the 1995 National Book Award.

It is the summer of 1950 - and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds an man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath. For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begings in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. "This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life."

Emma, aiutante pasticcera, perde l'amore della sua vita tre giorni dopo averlo trovato. Elena lo sta cercando da trent'anni. Camelia, invece, si innamora continuamente, di chiunque. Bianca è impegnata in una battaglia contro un giovane dottore, più volte ladro, il tutto gravita, fra ricette paradisiache, intorno alla pasticceria Delacroix.

Sofia è appena stata piantata dal marito e quel fetente, non contento di spassarsela con una collega, pretende anche di toglierle la casa. È il momento, dunque, di radunare le cugine-amiche per una cena di consulto. Ed eccole là, tutte e cinque, attorno al tavolo, davanti a un bel risottino: c'è Costanza - la voce narrante - che non si è mai sposata perché l'uomo che ama è già sposato; Bibi, divorziata ma che sogna di riconciliarsi col marito; Irene, sempre sul punto di separarsi, ma che non si decide mai e Veronica, l'unica senza problemi e per questo terrorizzata che tanta felicità non possa durare in eterno. Così, tra il primo e il dessert scorrono le vite delle cinque amiche con i loro amori, i loro dolori, le loro follie, le loro prese in giro, i loro battibecchi, le loro critiche, costruttive o distruttive, ma sempre piene di humour e di quelle verità che possono essere accettate solo grazie a una bella e sana risata e a un profondo sentimento di complicità.