Lidwien Biekmann Books

The instant Sunday Times bestseller from the acclaimed author of Hamnet, The Marriage Portrait is a dazzling evocation of the Italian Renaissance in all its beauty and brutality. Winter, 1561. Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara, is taken on an unexpected visit to a country villa by her husband, Alfonso. As they sit down to dinner it occurs to Lucrezia that Alfonso has a sinister purpose in bringing her here. He intends to kill her. Lucrezia is sixteen years old, and has led a sheltered life locked away inside Florence's grandest palazzo. Here, in this remote villa, she is entirely at the mercy of her increasingly erratic husband. What is Lucrezia to do with this sudden knowledge? What chance does she have against Alfonso, ruler of a province, and a trained soldier? How can she ensure her survival. The Marriage Portrait is an unforgettable reimagining of the life of a young woman whose proximity to power places her in mortal danger.

Cristina Garcia traces the treacherous path of immigration and assimilation that faced the Chinese who were enslaved and brought to Cuba in the 19th century. Chen Pan is one such Chinese man, who escapes from slavery and makes a prosperous career in Havana as a free man running a well-regarded second-hand store. The fates of his children and grandchildren are more problematic. Chen Fang, his granddaughter, is raised in China as a boy, so that her father, who returned to Cuba before she was born, will send money for her schooling; she dies in Mao Zedong's prisons. Domingo Chen, his great-grandson, applies for American citizenship when Castro comes to power, only to be caught up in Vietnam. This is a thrilling and unusual family saga.

This gripping thriller from bestselling author Nicci French captivates readers with its intense plot and psychological depth. It weaves a complex narrative filled with suspense, unexpected twists, and richly developed characters, ensuring an exhilarating reading experience. As the story unfolds, it explores themes of trust, betrayal, and the darker sides of human nature, keeping readers on the edge of their seats until the final page.

Not everyone who's missing is lost Hard-hitting and unputdownable, THE LOST follows Forensic psychologist Maguire back to her hometown in the search for two missing girls. This exhilarating introduction to the Paula Maguire series by Claire McGowan is sure to grip fans of Elly Griffiths and LJ Ross. 'Claire McGowan is a knockout new talent' - Lee Child When two teenage girls go missing along the Irish border, forensic psychologist Paula Maguire has to return to the hometown she left years before. Swirling with rumour and secrets, the town is gripped by fear of a serial killer. But the truth could be even darker. Not everyone who's lost wants to be found Surrounded by people and places she tried to forget, Paula digs into the cases as the truth twists further away. What's the link with two other disappearances from 1985? And why does everything lead back to the town's dark past- including the reasons her own mother went missing years before? Nothing is what it seems As the shocking truth is revealed, Paula learns that sometimes, it's better not to find what you've lost... What readers are saying about The Lost: 'Well written and keeps you guessing. The best book I have read this year' 'Fantastic read. Had me gripped from start to finish - I just couldn't put it down. Highly recommended' 'Compelling and thrilling. Claire McGowan has a clever ease of storytelling that draws you in and leaves you wanting more'

Een vrouw komt niet opdagen op het verjaardagsfeest van haar man. Haar dochter denkt aan kwade opzet. Jaren later keert de dochter terug naar huis en worden de dramatische gebeurtenissen uit het verleden opgerakeld.

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.

Tillie Harris's life is in disarray—her husband is away on business, the boxes in her new home aren't unpacked, and the telephone isn't even connected yet. Though she's not due for another month, sudden labor pains force Tillie to reach out to her estranged father for help, a choice that means facing the painful memories she's been running from since she was a little girl. An extraordinary debut from a talented new voice, Up from the Blue untangles the year in Tillie's life that changed everything: 1975, the year her mother disappeared.

Aan het eind van de 19e eeuw groeit de vriendschap van een intelligent, belezen meisje en de pastoor van het Zuid-Franse Rennes-le-Château uit tot een diepe liefde.

When the world's largest search engine / social media company merges with the planet's dominant e-commerce site, it creates the richest and most dangerous-and, oddly enough, most beloved-monopoly ever known: The Every. Delaney Wells is an unlikely new hire. A former forest ranger and unwavering tech skeptic, she charms her way into an entry-level job with one goal in mind: to take down the company from within. With her compatriot, the not-at-all-ambitious Wes Kavakian, they look for the company's weaknesses, hoping to free humanity from all-encompassing surveillance and the emoji-driven infantilization of the species. But does anyone want what Delaney is fighting to save? Does humanity truly want to be free? Studded with unforgettable characters and lacerating set-pieces, The Every blends satire and terror, while keeping the reader in breathless suspense about the fate of the company - and the human animal.

From one of our boldest, most celebrated new literary voices, a novel about a young woman’s efforts to duck the ills of the world by embarking on an extended hibernation with the help of one of the worst psychiatrists in the annals of literature and the battery of medicines she prescribes. Our narrator should be happy, shouldn’t she? She’s young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn’t just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It’s the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong? My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.