Showing results for "british" in Literature & Fiction

We live in an age of waffle, mumbo-jumbo and bad thinking. We're forever being fed dodgy information by so-called experts, scientists, opinion-makers, politicians, journalists and jumped-up little graduates. Their combined bad thinking includes: *the idea that no one should win in running races...

Garth Marenghi - Frighternerman, Darkscribe, Doomsage - is back with volume two of his TerrorTome . . . Horror novelist Nick Steen is abducted and imprisoned at Nulltec, a shadowy technological research facility with excellent conference parking, concealed deep on the Stalkford Downs. There he...

A BEST BOOK OF 2024 IN STYLIST, DAILY MAIL, THE i PAPER, IRISH TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND RED SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 BRITISH BOOK AWARDS DEBUT FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 'ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS YOU WILL READ ALL YEAR' ELIZABETH DAY 'BRILLIANT. WHAT A WRITER' NIGELLA LAWSON 'INCREDIBLY FUNNY' CAITLIN...

A retired London bank manager is yanked out of the suburbs by his eccentric aunt for a "cheerfully irreverent" romp across Europe (The Guardian). Now that the dullish Henry Pulling has left his job with an agreeable pension and a firm handshake, he plans to spend more time weeding his dahlias...

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Paradise Lodge by Nina Stibbe, read by Helen Baxendale. This is the story of Lizzie Vogel, a 15 year old girl who finds herself working in an old people's home in the 1970s. The place is in chaos and it's not really a suitable...

Four women. One man. And a secret that binds them all: This Charming Man is the number 1 hit novel by Marian Keyes. This abridged, downloadable audio edition is read by Niamh Daly. Lola Daly has just found out that her boyfriend - gorgeous, charming and powerful politician Paddy de Courcy - is...

What on earth has PG Wodehouse, the creator of the Inimitable Jeeves and the hapless Bertie Wooster, got to do with a serious topic like the decline and fall of the British Empire? The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is Quite a Lot. The British Empire depended on splendid show and display, but...

The audiobook adaptation of Marian Keye's The Brightest Star in the Sky, read by actress Niamh Daly. At 66, Star Street in Dublin, someone is watching over the lives of the people living in its flats. But no one is aware of it - yet... One of them is ready to take the plunge and fall in love...

Stella loves her life in London, being far from the foul-mouthed, flame-haired grandmother who raised her. Then, she gets the dreaded call in the middle of the night, and finds herself living with Gina in the crazy coastal town of Mapton on Sea.

'THE BEST SORT OF BRITISH COMIC WRITING . . . TRUTHFUL, TENDER AND VERY FUNNY' PANDORA SYKES An irresistible comic novel centred on the various crises of middle-aged Alison, for fans of Nina Stibbe and Maria Semple When the full catalogue of miseries that can be visited on a middle-aged woman...

"Jenny James' midlife road trip with a reclusive stranger gave me all sorts of ideas . . . Warm, witty, relatable, poignant--Jenny is a delight!" --Emma Grey, bestselling author of The Last Love Note Embark on a road trip around the British countryside with Jenny James Is Not a Disaster by...

The audiobook adaptation of Marian Keyes' No.1 bestseller, The Other Side of the Story, read by Niamh Daly. The agent: Jojo, a high-flying literary agent on the up, has just made a very bad career move: she's jumped into bed with her married boss Mark... The bestseller: Jojo's sweet-natured...

Life for Lucy Jenkins is going OK ... ish. Yes, she's 33, single, and has had to work as a waitress and children's party entertainer since her social worker salary suffered from budget cuts, but she stays positive and manages to pay the mortgage on her flat. Her home is her sanctuary -- until Tom moves in downstairs. Lucy and Tom quickly fall in love and into a serious relationship, which is complicated by Tom's recent separation from his wife, who he has two young sons with.

From the frenzy of the 2012 Olympics to the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, here Jonathan Coe chronicles the story of modern Britain by way of a cast of characters whose world is being upended. There are newlyweds who disagree about the country’s future and, possibly, their relationship; a political commentator who writes impassioned columns about austerity from his lavish town house while his radical teenage daughter undertakes a relentless quest for universal justice; and Benjamin Trotter, who embarks on an apparently doomed new career in middle age, and his father.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was born in Salem, Massachusetts. His ancestors include John Hathorne, the only judge involved in the Salem witch trials who never repented of his actions. Nathaniel later added W to make his name Hawthorne in order to hide his relation. The Scarlet Letter, his most famous novel, was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels, including The House of the Seven Gables, and various short stories. "The British Matron" is a satirical essay.

Events quickly escalate during a heated live TV interview when the B.B.C.’s very own Rottweiler is flattened when a punch is thrown by a former Canadian citizen who has become a new peer of the realm recently released from jail for pension fraud. The story becomes a national sensation with the B.B.C. Director General wanting to milk the story for all it is worth to bring the national institution back to its former glory.

If Scarlet Ray is such a wonderful psychic, then why is her life a bloody mess? Thirty-year-old Scarlet is about to marry the wrong man; has a mountain load of debt and eats chocolate croissants whenever she is depressed, which is a lot. Scarlet miraculously lands a job as a psychic TV host; the only catch is she has to share the studio with manipulative porn producers. A battle ensues at Mega TV as Scarlet has to fight dirty to keep “The Psychic Show,” on air and the “Pleasure Zone Babes” off her psychic sofa. Which one will win the airtime?

Two brothers in conflict. This is London, 1977. Little Bastard follows two feuding brothers over a six-month period in 1977 - from the Queen's Silver Jubilee to Christmas. Jason, the older brother, models himself on James Dean, rides a motorbike and enjoys easy success with girls. Younger brother Robin - known to Jason as "LB" Little Bastard - is sensitive, introspective, hero worships Marc Bolan, and fixates on Jason's girlfriend, Cherry. As their mother looks on in despair, tension builds between the siblings....