Paola Mazzarelli Book order (chronological)

Early in 1941, having just seen off at Euston Station the two young men whom she has loved for the best part of her seventeen years, Juno Marlowe is hurrying down a London street with her ill-fitting shoes in her hands.  Airplanes thunder overhead; a battery of guns opens up.  When a stick of bombs falls she cowers, then takes to her heels in flight.  She is rescued from this nightmare by a gaunt stranger, frail and older than his years, and, guiding her up his front stairs, he offers her the protection of his house.Given this respite from the bleakness of having no home and no family to turn to, Juno first encounters tragedy, then a series of events which take her to a house in the West Country and the blossoming of an English spring into which war only occasionally intrudes.  Here she may find peace; here she will no longer be part of the furniture.  Part of the Furniture completes the triptych of wartime novels begun with The Camomile Lawn and A Sensible Life.

Shanghai, 1937. Pearl and May are two sisters from a bourgeois family. Though their personalities are very different - Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a true Sheep, adorable and placid - they are inseparable best friends. Both are beautiful, modern and living a carefree life... until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away the family's wealth, and that in order to repay his debts he must sell the girls as wives to two 'Gold Mountain' men: Americans. As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, the two sisters set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the villages of southern China, in and out of the clutches of brutal soldiers, and even across the ocean, through the humiliation of an anti-Chinese detention centre to a new, married life in Los Angeles's Chinatown. Here they begin a fresh chapter, despite the racial discrimination and anti-Communist paranoia, because now they have something to strive for: a young, American-born daughter, Joy. Along the way there are terrible sacrifices, impossible choices and one devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel by Lisa See hold fast to who they are - Shanghai girls. (Payot.ch)

A passionate and timely debut about mothers and daughters, roots and exile, from the streets of Iran to the suburbs of LondonIn what is certain to be one of the most talked-about fiction debuts of the year, Yasmin Crowther paints a magnificent portrait of betrayal and retribution set against a backdrop of Iran’s tumultuous history, dramatic landscapes, and cultural beauty. The story begins on a blustery day in London, when Maryam Mazar’s dark secrets and troubled past surface violently with tragic consequences for her pregnant daughter, Sara. Burdened by guilt, Maryam leaves her comfortable English home for the remote village in Iran where she was raised and disowned by her father. When Sara decides to follow her she learns the price that her mother had to pay for her freedom and of the love she left behind. Poetic, haunting, and brilliantly crafted, The Saffron Kitchen is sure to entrance fans of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake and Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club.

In a sweeping narrative, Fraser traces the cultural, familial and political roots of each of Henry's queens, pushes aside the stereotypes that have long defined them, and illuminates the complex character of each. The result is a superb work of history through which these six women become as memorable for their own achievements--and mistakes--as they have always been for their fateful link to Henry VIII. Illustrations.

Nel giugno 1985 due alpinisti britannici, Joe SImpson e Simon Yates, raggiungono la vetta del Siula Grande (6.536 m) nelle Ande peruviane, scalando per la prima volta la parete ovest. Durante la discesa Joe subisce un grave incidente e dopo vani tentativi per soccorrerlo Simon rinuncia e ritorna al campo, fisicamente esausto e distrutto moralmente: ha ucciso Joe per salvare la propria vita e il rimorso lo divora... Il romanzo non è solo la cronaca di un incidente, ma anche la storia di un'amicizia profonda, del trauma psicologico che costringe Simon a tagliare la corda del compagno e della incredibile forza di volontà che è richiesta a Joe per sopravvivere in una situazione impossibile. Touching the void è stato tradotto in francese, tedesco, danese, svedese, polacco, giapponese, olandese, coreano, norvegese, spagnolo, russo, finlandese.