Tjadine Stheeman Books

After her own father's death from dementia, the writer and campaigner Nicci Gerrard set out to explore the illness that now touches millions of us, yet which we still struggle to speak about. What is it to be oneself, and what is it to lose one's self. Who are we when we are not ourselves, and where do we go? This is book is an attempt to understand thorough a touching exploration of dementia, structured around the stages of the disease from the outside and, as far as possible, from the inside as well. Full of people's stories, both sad and optimistic, it is a journey into the dusk and then the darkness - and then out on to the other side, where, once someone is dead, a life can be seen whole again.

'I thought I had made myself clear. I want something that conveys her majesty, her bloodline. Do you understand? She is no ordinary mortal. Treat her thus.'Florence, the 1560s. Lucrezia, third daughter of Cosimo de' Medici, is free to wander the palazzo at will, wondering at its treasures and observing its clandestine workings. But when her older sister dies on the eve of marriage to Alfonso d'Este, ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father to accept on her behalf.Having barely left girlhood, Lucrezia must now make her way in a troubled court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate her appears before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble?As Lucrezia sits in uncomfortable finery for the painting which is to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court's eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferrarese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, her future hangs entirely in the balance.

Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and collector of butterflies. When his father is killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre, Oskar sets out to solve the mystery of a key he disovers in his father's closet. It is a search which leads him into the lives of strangers, through the five boroughs of New York, into history, to the bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima, and on an inward journey which brings him ever closer to some kind of peace.

Possessing encyclopedia-like intelligence, unusual zookeeper's son Pi Patel sets sail for America, but when the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain.

Now that all the others have run out of air, it's my turn to do a little story-making.In Homer's account in The Odyssey, Penelope—wife of Odysseus and cousin of the beautiful Helen of Troy—is portrayed as the quintessential faithful wife, her story a salutary lesson through the ages. Left alone for twenty years when Odysseus goes off to fight in the Trojan War after the abduction of Helen, Penelope manages, in the face of scandalous rumors, to maintain the kingdom of Ithaca, bring up her wayward son, and keep over a hundred suitors at bay, simultaneously. When Odysseus finally comes home after enduring hardships, overcoming monsters, and sleeping with goddesses, he kills her suitors and—curiously—twelve of her maids.In a splendid contemporary twist to the ancient story, Margaret Atwood has chosen to give the telling of it to Penelope and to her twelve hanged maids, asking: "What led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to?" In Atwood's dazzling, playful retelling, the story becomes as wise and compassionate as it is haunting, and as wildly entertaining as it is disturbing. With wit and verve, drawing on the story-telling and poetic talent for which she herself is renowned, she gives Penelope new life and reality—and sets out to provide an answer to an ancient mystery.

"Hodgkinson's portrait of the primal bond between mother and child . . . leaves an indelible impression." --"The New York Times Book Review" Debuting its first week on the "New York Times" bestseller list and earning comparisons to "Sophie's Choice" and "Sarah's Key," "22 Britannia Road" is an astonishing first novel that powerfully chronicles one family's struggle to create a home in the aftermath of war. With World War II finally over, Silvana and her seven-year-old son, Aurek, board the ship that will take them to England, where Silvana's husband, Janusz--determined to forget his ghosts--has rented a little house at 22 Britannia Road. But after years spent hiding in the forests of Poland, Aurek is wild, almost feral. And for Silvana, who cannot escape the painful memory of a shattering wartime act, forgetting is not a possibility.

Connected solely by a desk of enormous dimension and many drawers that exerts a power over those who possess it or give it away, three people--a lonely American novelist clinging to the memory of a poet who has mysteriously vanished in Chile, an old man in Israel facing the imminent death of his wife of 51 years, and an esteemed antiques dealer tracking down the things stolen from his father by the Nazis--struggle to create a meaningful permanence in the face of inevitable loss.

Een jonge, mysterieuze vrouw komt net na de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Montreal aan, in de verwachting te trouwen met Sol Kramer. Maar wanneer Sol haar ziet staan op het station, wijst hij haar af. Uit medelijden trouwt zijn broer Nathan met haar. Al snel wordt duidelijk dat Lily Azerov niet degene is die ze beweert te zijn. Ze verdwijnt spoorloos en laat haar man en pasgeboren dochtertje verbijsterd achter met slechts een dagboek en een grote ongeslepen diamant. Wie is Lily en wat is er gebeurd met de jonge vrouw wier identiteit ze heeft gestolen? Waarom is ze weggegaan en waarheen? Jaren later wil Ruth het antwoord op deze vragen weten en begint aan een zoektocht naar haar moeder.

Voor De zeemantel & andere verhalen heeft Nayrouz Qarmout zich laten inspireren door haar eigen ervaringen als opgroeiend meisje in een Syrisch vluchtelingenkamp en als jonge vrouw in ‘de grootste gevangenis ter wereld’, Gaza. Met haar verhalen creëert zij een adembenemend mozaïek dat laat zien wat het betekent om Palestijn te zijn. Of ze nu schrijft over de dagelijkse strijd van dakloze weeskinderen om te overleven tussen de brokstukken van een gebombardeerde stad, of de culturele spanningen tussen verschillende generaties vluchtelingen in Gaza laat zien, Qarmout biedt een intieme inkijk in een van de meest veelbesproken en tegelijkertijd meest onbegrepen steden in het Midden-Oosten. Hiermee geeft ze ons een lokaal perspectief op een globaal verhaal: de zoektocht naar de eigen wortels, naar de meest geliefde plek van allemaal: een thuis.