Explore the latest books of this year!
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Massimo Ortelio

    Remarkable Creatures
    Caleb's Crossing
    The Last Runaway
    The House at Riverton
    People of the Book
    Kes
    • FROM THE GLOBALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING 'A triumph... a brilliant idea carried out with confidence and brio and a deep love of an extraordinary city. The ingenuity of the time-skipping is beyond admiration' PHILIP PULLMAN 'Spellbinding.... Chevalier at her fabulous best. A rich, vivid and gently enchanting novel' ELIF SHAFAK Venice, 1486. Across the lagoon lies Murano. Time flows differently here - like the glass the island's maestros spend their lives learning to handle. Women are not meant to work with glass, but Orsola Rosso flouts convention to save her family from ruin. She works in secret, knowing her creations must be perfect to be accepted by men. But perfection may take a lifetime. Skipping like a stone through the centuries, we follow Orsola as she hones her craft through war and plague, tragedy and triumph, love and loss. The beads she creates will adorn the necks of empresses and courtesans from Paris to Vienna - but will she ever earn the respect of those closest to her? Tracy Chevalier is a master of her own craft, and The Glassmaker is vivid, inventive, spellbinding: a virtuoso portrait of a woman, a family and a city that are as everlasting as their glass.

      The Glassmaker2024
      3.8
    • Pandora : a novel in three parts

      • 352 pages
      • 13 hours of reading

      There is a fine line between coincidence and fate... In London 1799, Dora Blake is an aspiring jewellery artist who lives with her uncle in what used to be her parents' famed shop of antiquities. When a mysterious Greek vase is delivered, Dora is intrigued by her uncle's suspicious behaviour and enlists the help of Edward Lawrence, a young man seeking acceptance into the Society of Antiquaries. Edward sees the ancient vase as key to unlocking his academic future. Dora sees it as her chance to restore her parents' shop to its former glory, and to escape her uncle. But what Edward discovers about the vase has Dora questioning everything she has ever known, about her life, her family and the world as she knows it. As Dora uncovers the truth she starts to realise that some mysteries are buried, and some boxes are locked, for a reason. Gorgeously atmospheric and deliciously page-turning, Pandora deals with themes of secrets and deception, love and fulfilment, fate and hope.

      Pandora : a novel in three parts2022
      3.6
    • Kes

      • 135 pages
      • 5 hours of reading

      Jedes Heft hat seinen Schwerpunkt in einem der vier Hauptziele der Reihe: Einführung in eine bestimmte Thematik, in das Werk eines Autors, in eine literarische Gattung, in das kontrastive Analysieren von Texten. Die Textausgaben enthalten auch Worterklärungen und zum Teil Fragen, 'Study Helps' und Zusatztexte zu verschiedenen Aspekten der Texte. Die Handreichungen für den Unterricht bieten Interpretationsansätze und geben Anregungen für die Textbehandlung im Unterricht und die Eingliederung in Unterrichtsreihen.

      Kes2020
      4.1
    • It is 1932, and the losses of the First World War are still keenly felt. Violet Speedwell, mourning for both her fiance and her brother and regarded by society as a 'surplus woman' unlikely to marry, resolves to escape her suffocating mother and strike out alone. A new life awaits her in Winchester. Yes, it is one of draughty boarding-houses and sidelong glances at her naked ring finger from younger colleagues; but it is also a life gleaming with independence and opportunity. Violet falls in with the broderers, a disparate group of women charged with embroidering kneelers for the Cathedral, and is soon entwined in their lives and their secrets. As the almost unthinkable threat of a second Great War appears on the horizon Violet collects a few secrets of her own that could just change everything... Warm, vivid and beautifully orchestrated, A Single Thread reveals one of our finest modern writers at the peak of her powers.

      A single thread2020
      3.6
    • The Lady and the Unicorn

      • 292 pages
      • 11 hours of reading

      The new novel from the author of the much-loved Girl with a Pearl Earring and Falling Angels. The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries are a set of six medieval tapestries. Beautiful, intricate and expertly made, they are also mysterious in their origin and meaning. Tapestries give an appearance of order and continuity, as if designed and made by one person, belying the complicated process required to create them. Weavers, patrons, designers, artists, merchants and apprentices were involved in their making, and behind them were the wives, daughters and servants who exercised influences over their men. Like the many strands of wool and silk woven together into one cloth, so these people came together in a complex dance to create the whole picture. Jean le Viste, a newly wealthy member of the French court, commissions the tapestries to hang in his chateau. Nicolas, his chosen designer, meets le Viste's wife Genevieve and his daughter Claude, both of whom take a keen interest in the tapestries. From Paris, Nicolas moves to a weaver's workshop in Brussels. meet -- their lives become entangled, and so do their desires. As they fall in love, are shunned, take revenge, find unrequited love, turn to the church or to pagan ideals, the tapestries become to each an ideal vision of life -- yet all discover that they are unable to make this ideal world their own.

      The Lady and the Unicorn2020
      3.7
    • Paris Echo

      • 320 pages
      • 12 hours of reading

      'Faulks is beyond doubt a master' Financial Times Here is Paris as you have never seen it before - a city in which every building seems to hold the echo of an unacknowledged past, the shadows of Vichy and Algeria. American postdoctoral researcher Hannah and runaway Moroccan teenager Tariq have little in common, yet both are susceptible to the daylight ghosts of Paris. Hannah listens to the extraordinary witness of women who were present under the German Occupation; in her desire to understand their lives and through them her own, she finds a city bursting with clues and connections. Out in the migrant suburbs, Tariq is searching for a mother he barely knew. For him in his innocence each boulevard, Metro station and street corner is a source of surprise. In this urgent and deeply moving novel, Faulks deals with questions of empire, grievance and identity. With great originality and a dark humour, Paris Echo asks how much we really need to know if we are to live a valuable life. 'Faulks captures the voice of a century' Sunday Times 'The most impressive novelist of his generation' Sunday Telegraph

      Paris Echo2019
      3.4
    • Sweet Sorrow

      • 395 pages
      • 14 hours of reading

      One life-changing summer Sixteen-year-old Charlie meets Fran... 8 million copies since STARTER FOR TEN first introduced us to his incomparable talent for making us laugh, cry and wince with recognition in the space of a single sentence; ten years after ONE DAY became the iconic love story for a generation; five years since the journey of US took him to the Man Booker Prize long-list; DAVID NICHOLLS has written a major new novel, SWEET SORROW: a hymn to the tragicomedy of ordinary lives, a celebration of the reviving power of friendship and that brief, blinding explosion of first love that perhaps can only be looked at directly once it has burned out. 'Nicholls writes with such tender precision about love' The Times 'There is a sharp empathetic intelligence to his writing that makes his characters real . . . the clear writing often dazzles with truth . . . sad funny, soulful' Observer 'A sublime talent for illuminating the murky causeway that most of us have to navigate between darkness and light' Donal Ryan 'Nicholls' ability to create and then subvert the traditional plot for comedy is the secret of his success. It makes us confront the gap between what we expect from storytelling and what happens in real life' Spectator

      Sweet Sorrow2019
      3.8
    • Melmoth

      • 288 pages
      • 11 hours of reading

      From the author of the bestselling The Essex Serpent comes a darkly inventive and deeply moving novel that speaks urgently to our times.

      Melmoth2018
      3.5
    • At the Edge of the Orchard

      • 304 pages
      • 11 hours of reading

      The sweeping and compelling new novel from the bestselling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring. Dark, brutal, moving, powerful' Jane Harris A wonderful book; rich, evocative, original. I loved it' Joanne Harris

      At the Edge of the Orchard2016
      3.7
    • At a critical point in her career, painter Angelika Rossdal moves to Kvaloya, a small island deep in the Arctic Circle, to dedicate herself to the solitary pursuit of her craft. With her, she brings her young daughter, Liv, who grows up isolated and unable or unwilling to make friends her own age. Now 28, Liv looks back on her life.

      A Summer of Drowning2016
      3.6
    • Remarkable Creatures

      • 352 pages
      • 13 hours of reading

      In 1810, a sister and brother uncover the fossilized skull of an unknown animal in the cliffs on the south coast of England. With its long snout and prominent teeth, it might be a crocodile – except that it has a huge, bulbous eye.Remarkable Creatures is the story of Mary Anning, who has a talent for finding fossils, and whose discovery of ancient marine reptiles such as that ichthyosaur shakes the scientific community and leads to new ways of thinking about the creation of the world.Working in an arena dominated by middle-class men, however, Mary finds herself out of step with her working-class background. In danger of being an outcast in her community, she takes solace in an unlikely friendship with Elizabeth Philpot, a prickly London spinster with her own passion for fossils.The strong bond between Mary and Elizabeth sees them through struggles with poverty, rivalry and ostracism, as well as the physical dangers of their chosen obsession. It reminds us that friendship can outlast storms and landslides, anger and jealousy.

      Remarkable Creatures2014
      3.9
    • Us

      • 416 pages
      • 15 hours of reading

      "The highly anticipated new novel from David Nicholls, author of the mega-bestselling fiction sensation One Day, which follows one man's efforts to salvage his marriage--and repair his troubled relationship with his teenaged son--during the course of a trip around Europe"--

      Us2014
      3.7
    • The stunning new novel from the bestselling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring.

      The Last Runaway2013
      3.9
    • As she sits in her Bloomsbury home, with her two birds for company, elderly Harriet Baxter sets out to relate the story of her acquaintance, nearly four decades previously, with Ned Gillespie, a talented artist who never achieved the fame she maintains he deserved.Back in 1888, the young, art-loving, Harriet arrives in Glasgow at the time of the International Exhibition. After a chance encounter she befriends the Gillespie family and soon becomes a fixture in all of their lives. But when tragedy strikes - leading to a notorious criminal trial - the promise and certainties of this world all too rapidly disorientate into mystery and deception.Featuring a memorable cast of characters, infused with atmosphere and period detail, and shot through with wicked humour, Gillespie and I is a tour de force from one of the emerging names of British fiction.

      Gillespie and I2012
      3.8
    • Caleb's Crossing

      • 306 pages
      • 11 hours of reading

      Pulitzer Prize winning-author Geraldine Brooks transports the reader to 1660s Martha's Vineyard and Cambridge to tell the dramatic tale of the intertwined destinies of Caleb Cheshahteaumuck, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard, and Bethia Mayfield, a young woman who is struggling to find her own place in the world even as she helps enable Caleb to cross from his world into hers.

      Caleb's Crossing2011
      3.9
    • Luncheon of the Boating Party

      • 448 pages
      • 16 hours of reading

      From the bestelling author of GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE, "A vivid exploration of one of the most beloved Renoir paintings in the world, done with a flourish worthy of Renoir himself" (USA Today) With her richly textured novels, Susan Vreeland has offered pioneering portraits of artists' lives. As she did in Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Vreeland focuses on a single painting, Auguste Renoir's instantly recognizable masterpiece, which depicts a gathering of Renoir's real friends enjoying a summer Sunday on a café terrace along the Seine. Narrated by Renoir and seven of the models, the novel illuminates the gusto, hedonism, and art of the era. With a gorgeous palette of vibrant, captivating characters, Vreeland paints their lives, loves, losses, and triumphs so vividly that "the painting literally comes alive" (The Boston Globe).

      Luncheon of the Boating Party2011
      3.7
    • Clara and Mr. Tiffany

      • 405 pages
      • 15 hours of reading

      Set against the vibrant backdrop of late 19th-century New York, this extraordinary novel brings to life a woman once overshadowed by her male counterparts. In 1893, at the Chicago World’s Fair, Louis Comfort Tiffany unveils his innovative stained-glass windows, aiming to elevate his family business. Behind the scenes in his New York studio, however, is Clara Driscoll, the head of Tiffany's women’s division, who is instrumental in designing the iconic leaded-glass lamps that define his legacy. Despite her crucial contributions, Clara remains publicly unrecognized, grappling with her desire for artistic acknowledgment and the challenges of being a professional woman in a male-dominated field. Her struggle leads her to protest against the company she has dedicated herself to, while she also navigates her yearning for love and companionship with five different men, including Tiffany, who imposes strict rules against hiring married women. Ultimately, Clara faces a pivotal choice between her professional ambitions and her personal desires, reflecting the broader struggles of women in her era.

      Clara and Mr. Tiffany2010
      3.7
    • People of the Book

      • 400 pages
      • 14 hours of reading

      The novel tells the fictional story of Hanna Heath, an Australian book conservator who is responsible for restoring the Haggadah. The story alternates between sections set in the present day with Heath and other sections showing the history of the Haggadah.

      People of the Book2010
      4.0
    • Sacred hearts

      • 471 pages
      • 17 hours of reading

      Santa Catarina, a convent near Venice, is home to over one hundred women in 1567. But with powerful forces for change raging outside the convent, and with the world of the women within threatened by a new arrival, passions, hysteria, and conflict will come to threaten their very survival.

      Sacred hearts2009
      3.7
    • The Journal of Dora Damage

      • 453 pages
      • 16 hours of reading

      Lambeth, London, 1859. By the time Dora Damage discovers that there is something wrong with her husband, Peter, it is too late. His arthritic hands are crippled, putting his book-binding business into huge debt and his family in danger of entering the poorhouse. Summoning her courage, Dora proves that she is more than just a housewife and mother. Taking to the streets, she resolves to rescue her family at any price-and finds herself lured into illegally binding expensive volumes of pornography commissioned by aristocrats. Then, when a mysterious fugitive slave arrives at her door, Dora realises she's entangled in a web of sex, money, deceit and the law. Now the very family she fought so hard for is under threat from a host of new, more dangerous foes. Belinda Starling's debut novel is a startling vision of Victorian London, juxtaposing its filth and poverty with its affluence. In Dora Damage we meet a daring young heroine, struggling in a very modern way against the constraints of the day, and whose resourcefulness and bravery has us rooting for her all the way.

      The Journal of Dora Damage2008
      3.4
    • Burning Bright

      • 416 pages
      • 15 hours of reading

      Against the backdrop of a city jittery over increasingly bloody French Revolution, a surprising bond forms between Jem, the youngest Kellaway boy, and streetwise Londoner Maggie Butterfield. Their friendship takes a dramatic turn when they become entangled in the life of their neighbour, the printer, poet and radical, William Blake. (Buchdeckel verso).

      Burning Bright2007
      3.4
    • The House at Riverton

      • 496 pages
      • 18 hours of reading

      An alternate cover edition can be found here . The House at Riverton is a gorgeous debut novel set in England between the wars. Perfect for fans of "Downton Abbey," it's the story of an aristocratic family, a house, a mysterious death, and a way of life that vanished forever, told in flashback by a woman who witnessed it all. The novel is full of secrets -- some revealed, others hidden forever, reminiscent of the romantic suspense of Daphne du Maurier. It's also a meditation on memory and the devastation of war and a beautifully rendered window into a fascinating time in history.

      The House at Riverton2007
      4.0
    • The observations

      • 432 pages
      • 16 hours of reading

      A darkly humorous and intriguing story of one woman's journey from a difficult past into an even more disturbing present.

      The observations2006
      3.6
    • The Lambs of London

      • 228 pages
      • 8 hours of reading

      At the centre of this intriguing, irresistible novel are the young Lambs: Charles, constrained by the tedium of his work as a clerk at the East India Company, taking refuge in a drink or three too many while spreading his wings as a young writer, and his clever, adoring sister Mary, confined by domesticity, an ailing, dotty father and a maddening mother- Into their lives comes William Ireland, an ambitious 17-year-old antiquarian and bookseller, anxious not only to impress his demanding showman of a father, but to make his mark on the literary world. When Ireland turns up a document in the handwriting of Shakespeare himself, he takes Mary into his confidence - but soon scholars and actors alike are beating a path to the little bookshop in Holborn Passage. Touching and tragic, ingenious, funny and vividly alive, this is Ackroyd at the top of his form in a masterly retelling of a nineteenth-century drama which keeps the reader guessing right to the end.

      The Lambs of London2005
      3.1
    • The compelling story of two women, born centuries apart, and the ancestral legacy that binds them.

      The virgin blue2004
      3.7