In the mythic city of Troy, amidst the shanty-towns, factories, opulent
hotels, fading heritages and steadfast dreams, the children and grandchildren
of rural peasants pursue meagre livings as best they can. And two young lovers
embark upon a passionate journey of love and survival.
The story of the actor Jack Burns. His mother, Alice, is a Toronto tattoo artist. When Jack is four, he travels with Alice to several North Sea ports; they are trying to find Jack's missing father, William, a church organist who is addicted to being tattooed. But Alice is a mystery, and William can't be found. Even Jack's memories are subject to doubt. Jack Burns goes to schools in Canada and New England, but what shapes him are his relationships with older women. John Irving renders Jack's life as an actor in Hollywood with the same richness of detail and range of emotions he uses to describe the tattoo parlors in those North Sea ports and the reverberating music Jack heard as a child in European churches.
Een Australische acteur belandt op het eiland Korfoe en besluit daar voor een paar maanden een huis te huren om de recente gebeurtenissen in zijn persoonlijk leven te overpeinzen. Terwijl hij het eiland verkent en nieuwe vrienden maakt, raakt hij geobsedeerd door de bijzondere levenswandel van degene wiens huis hij tijdelijk bewoont. Naarmate hij meer over hem weet te achterhalen, lijken zijn eigen ervaringen steeds sterker het leven van zijn afwezige huisbaas te weerspiegelen. Met de Griekse eilanden Adelaide en Londen op de achtergrond schrijft Robdert Dessaix in Korfoe over vriendschap en liefde, het alledaagse en onalledaagse, over ballingschap en thuiskomen. Maar Korfoe is ook een ode aan de literaire landschappen van Homerus, Sapfo en Tsjechov en aan het vermogen van de kunst om schoonheid te brengen in het leven.
Set against the backdrop of early 20th-century Shanghai, the narrative explores the intertwined lives of a Chinese woman seeking to escape her past and a Western girl drawn to the possibilities ahead. Through themes of love, revenge, and the quest for belonging, the story delves into the complexities of identity and the contrasts between cultures. Kathryn Harrison's elegant prose captures the essence of travel and the profound emotional journeys of its characters.
From the author of THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, a novel about an acclaimed writer which examines three critical moments of her life. The first part deals with an incident in the Hamptons when she is a toddler, the second is concerned with a crisis in her romantic life, and the third with her adjustments to motherhood and life without her husband.
Adventure fiction. Suspense fiction. This thriller involves a kidnapping of an amateur jockey and accountant and is written by the former National Hunt Jockey and author of many thrillers.