Marie Odile Fortier Masek Books

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE® IN LITERATURE 2013 The ten miraculously accomplished stories in Alice Munro's Friend of My Youth not only astonish and delight but also convey the unspoken mysteries at the heart of all human experience. "[Friend of My Youth is] a wonderful collection of stories, beautifully written and deeply felt."--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

Isabel vient de fêter ses quarante ans. Ce n'est pas le désastre annoncé par son amie Carlotta. À peine une ponctuation dans la douce fuite des jours. Un mari, une fille, un atelier de confection de masques : la vie continue. Toutefois, Dan, le mari, lassé de son métier, ne vit plus que pour le théâtre. Il a connu un premier succès à Oxford et n'aime pas voir ses manuscrits refusés. Sylvie, la fille, a beau porter un regard affectueux sur le couple que forment ses parents, elle n'en est pas moins une adolescente en conflit ouvert avec sa mère et n'en fait qu'à sa tête. Quant à Bert, l'ami de jeunesse de Dan, de retour après avoir travaillé à New York, il n'est ni aveugle, ni sourd, ni muet vis-à-vis des femmes qui l'entourent. Et Carlotta, la bonne copine célibataire, qui cumule les aventures, éprouve un gros faible pour Dan. Des êtres fragiles et ambigus, les troubles du désir, une valse des sentiments, des épilogues amoureux inattendus... Un roman fort et tendre sur la vie contemporaine.

'For a while, she wasn't sure that her husband was her husband. Sometimes she thought he was, and sometimes not.' Berta and Tomas meet in Madrid and, though both young, they decide to spend their lives together. Eighteen and betrothed, Tomas leaves to study at Oxford. His talent for languages quickly catches the interest of a certain government agency, but Tomas resists their offers - until one day he makes a mistake that will affect the rest of his life, and that of his beloved Berta. After university he returns to marry her, knowing he won't be able to stay for long . . . Gripping and intricate, Berta Isla is about a relationship built on secrets and lies - and the counter forces of resentment and loyalty at its core.

The Sunday Times bestseller - an intensely moving and beautifully written new novel from the Booker-prize winning author of Last Orders and Waterland

Holland in the 1600s comes alive as sixteen-year-old Griet serves as the inspiration for one of Vermeer's best-known paintings.

The compelling story of two women, born centuries apart, and the ancestral legacy that binds them.

William and Grace share what seems to them an ideal marriage. William enjoys a successful career in a relatively famous string quartet, and Grace is a children's book illustrator. Both in their 50s, neither have any reason to believe that their relationship could be threatened. But when Andrew, the quartet's viola player, retires with arthritis, he is replaced by the beautiful Bonnie, and the remaining male trio find the internal relations of the quartet have changed dramatically. Soon William can't think of anyone or anything else, and begins to work out stratagems for inviting Bonnie to lunch or to prevent her from spending too much time with Grant, the cello player, who is his main rival for her attention. It is not long before William has even begun to think the unthinkable: that his faithful, loving wife Grace Has Got To Go... Angela Huth has been compared to Jane Austen and Mrs Gaskell, and her novels gleam with beautiful observations and utterly convincing characters. In this, her ninth novel, she is at her superlative best, casting a wise and witty eye on mid-life crises and modern marriage.