Lilian Schreuder Book order (chronological)

A woman's cryptic dying words in a Venetian hospice lead Guido Brunetti to uncover a regional threat in this haunting tale. When Dottoressa Donato informs the Questura about a dying patient wishing to speak to the police, Commissario Brunetti and his colleague, Claudia Griffoni, respond promptly. Benedetta Toso gasps about her deceased husband, Vittorio Fadalto, claiming, "They killed him. It was bad money. I told him no." Despite uncertainty about her awareness, Brunetti assures her they will investigate what seems to be a private tragedy. They learn Fadalto collected contamination samples for a company monitoring Venice's water quality and died in a mysterious motorcycle accident. While briefly distracted by Vice Questore Patta's focus on youth crime, Brunetti benefits from the research skills of Patta's secretary, Signora Elettra Zorzi. As he untangles the threads of the case, Brunetti realizes the gravity of the woman's accusation and the broader implications for the region's health. However, justice remains ambiguous, echoing the complexities of guilt and responsibility, themes that resonate throughout the narrative, as Brunetti seeks solace in Aeschylus's The Eumenides.

In Death at La Fenice , Donna Leon’s first novel in the beloved Commissario Brunetti series, readers were introduced to the glamorous and cutthroat world of opera and to one of Italy’s finest living sopranos, Flavia Petrelli, who became the prime suspect in the poisoning of a renowned German conductor. Years after Brunetti cleared her name, Flavia has returned to the illustrious La Fenice to sing the lead in Tosca . As an opera superstar, Flavia is well acquainted with attention from adoring fans and aspiring singers. But when one fan inundates her with bouquets of yellow roses – on stage, in her dressing room and even inside her locked apartment – it becomes clear that Flavia has an anonymous stalker on her hands. Distraught and horrified, she turns to an old friend for help. In steps Commissario Brunetti. Familiar with Flavia’s melodramatic temperament, he is at first unperturbed by her story, only realising the situation is more threatening when another young opera singer is attacked. Desperate to keep Flavia out of danger, Brunetti is determined to find the culprit before more harm is done.

Starring Academy Award-winner Eddie Redmayne and directed by Academy Award-winner Tom Hooper, this major motion picture portrays an unforgettable celebration of love. It starts with a question, a simple favour asked by a wife of her husband, setting off a transformation neither can anticipate. Einar Wegener and his American wife Greta Waud have been married for six years, but are yet to have a child. Both painters, they live a life of bohemian languor in Copenhagen until one day their lives are irreversibly altered. The Danish Girl eloquently shows the intimacy that defines a marriage and the nearly forgotten story of the love between a man who discovers that he is, in fact, a woman, and his wife who would sacrifice anything for him. Set against the glitz and decadence of 1920s Copenhagen, Paris and Dresden, and inspired by a true story, The Danish Girl is about one of the most passionate and unusual marriages of the twentieth century. 'a story of true love, suffering and sacrifice' - Sunday Telegraph

This novel of sex, secrecy, and escape explores the truth about love and sex. Following the sexual awakening of its female protagonist who gradually becomes embroiled in a world of fantasy and recklesness, it will make readers question whether it is ever entirely possible to know another person.

In the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, rare-gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested, wrongly accused of being a spy. Terrified by his disappearance, his family must reconcile a new world of cruelty and chaos with the collapse of everything they have known. As Isaac navigates the tedium and terrors of prison, forging tenuous trusts, his wife feverishly searches for him, suspecting, all the while, that their once-trusted housekeeper has turned on them and is now acting as an informer. And as his daughter, in a childlike attempt to stop the wave of baseless arrests, engages in illicit activities, his son, sent to New York before the rise of the Ayatollahs, struggles to find happiness even as he realizes that his family may soon be forced to embark on a journey of incalculable danger. A page-turning literary debut, The Septembers of Shiraz simmers with questions of identity, alienation, and love, not simply for a spouse or a child, but for all the intangible sights and smells of the place we call home.

De personages in Het bloedoffer zijn vogelaars. Of ze nu in een café zitten, slapen of uitgaan, zodra hun pieper afgaat met nieuws over een nieuwe locatie van een bijzondere vogel, wringen Bish, de mooie, roodharige Stevie Red Bus en de rest van de groep zich in een oude bestelwagen op weg naar de ultieme kick. Ze zijn eigenlijk verslaafden: zeldzame vogels zijn hun favoriete drug. De rest van het leven van deze twintigers stelt niet zoveel voor: Stevie is kunstenares maar verdient haar geld met het maken van illustraties, Bish speelt in een band, en de hoofdpersoon maakt de huizen van rijke Londenaars schoon. Pas als de heimelijke liefde van de hoofdpersoon voor Stevie eindelijk wordt beantwoord, lijkt het echte leven te beginnen. Ongepolijst, maar ook lyrisch en intens spannend maakt Het bloedoffer korte metten met onze opvattingen over obsessies.

Winnie vindt dat ze een zorgeloos leven leidt. Ze is tevreden met de sleur van haar bestaan, heeft genoeg aan zichzelf en is niemand tot last. Maar haar zelfverkozen rust wordt ruw verstoord wanneer een meisje haar enige bezit steelt: een koffer en een pruik. Winnie gaat op zoek naar de dief. Wat begint als een zoektocht, wordt de herontdekking van een verleden waarvan ze afstand had gedaan. Winnie beleeft opnieuw haar jeugd, de vetes in haar familie, de verwoestende Tweede Wereldoorlog, en ten slotte de onthullingen en het verraad die haar hebben gemaakt tot wie ze nu is: een dakloze vrouw in een niemandsland.

Als een gescheiden Tunesische vrouw in Parijs kamermeisje wordt van een veeleisende gravin, heeft ze door haar warmte en grote intuïtie positieve invloed op haar omgeving.

Thirty-nine-year-old Sirine, never married, lives with a devoted Iraqi-immigrant uncle and an adoring dog named King Babar. She works as a chef in a Lebanese restaurant, her passions aroused only by the preparation of food—until an unbearably handsome Arabic literature professor starts dropping by for a little home cooking. Falling in love brings Sirene's whole heart to a boil—stirring up memories of her parents and questions about her identity as an Arab American.

A hypnotic tale of myth, romance and self-discovery.

Als de schrijfster ontdekt de dochter te zijn van twee Franse verzetshelden probeert ze hun leven in de Tweede Wereldoorlog te reconstrueren.

Een creatief Hongaars-Amerikaans echtpaar probeert zijn dagdroom te verwezenlijken: een huis in Toscane.

It is 1921 and a terrible discovery has been made at a manor house in Surrey - the bloodied bodies of Colonel Fletcher, his wife and two of their staff. The victims have all been stabbed and the lack of disturbance in the house suggests that the attack was one of terrifying speed. The Surrey police force seem ready to put the murders town to robbery with violence, but Detective Inspector Madden from Scotland Yard sees things slightly differently. For he has experienced the horrors of World War I and has seen madness at first hand. And he is certain this crime has been perpetrated by a psychopath who will strike again...and soon. 'One of the most gripping thrillers I have ever read' - Country Life

Told from Gretel's sly and knowing perspective, this story charts her progress as she navigates from childhood to the brink of womanhood, picking her way through the tragedies and absurdities of everyday life in the Samuelson family that is rocked by disaster, bad judgement and fierce attachments.

Now in trade paperback, updated with a new chapter, here is the definitive biography of Keith Richards, legendary guitarist of the Rolling Stones. Certain to astound readers, it is one of the most entertaining and informative rock biographies ever. Photographs throughout.

Een medewerkster van de Engelse geheime dienst wordt naar Amerika gestuurd om te onderzoeken of de beschuldigingen die geuit zijn tegen de Britse consul aldaar, op waarheid berusten.

Zana Muhsen, born and bred in Birmingham, is of Yemeni origin. When her father told her she was to spend a holiday with relatives in North Yemen, she jumped at the chance. Aged 15 and 13 respectively, Zana and her sister discovered that they had been literally sold into marriage, and that on their arrival they were virtually prisoners. They had to adapt to a completely alien way of life, with no running water, dung-plastered walls, frequent beatings, and the ordeal of childbirth on bare floors with only old women in attendance. After eight years of misery and humiliation Zana succeeded in escaping, but her sister is still there, and it seems likely that she will now never leave the country where she has spent more than half her life. This is an updated edition of Zana's account of her experiences.