"Sibylla, a single mother from a long line of frustrated talents, has unusual ideas about child rearing. Yo Yo Ma started piano at the age of two; her son starts at three. J.S. Mill learned Greek at three; Ludo starts at four, reading Homer as they travel round and round the Circle Line. A fatherless boy needs male role models, so she plays the film of Seventh Samurai as a running backdrop to his childhood. Ludo, aged five, moves on to Hebrew, Arabic and Japanese, edible insects of the world and aerodynamics. At last, he embarks on the search for his father. A dazzling concoction of a book, by turns hilarious and heartbreaking, it is a book for anyone who has ever wanted better parents than those fate has provided - a novel for anyone who has ever learned an alphabet and never wanted to eat an insect."
Marian Lameris Livres






Possession
- 511pages
- 18 heures de lecture
'Byatt has contrived a masterly ending to a fine work; intelligent, ingenious and humane, Possession bids fair to be looked back upon as one of the most memorable novels of the 1990s' Times Literary Supplement
A Border Passage
From Cairo to America – A Woman's Journey. Readers Guide Inside
- 307pages
- 11 heures de lecture
An Egyptian woman's reflections on her changing homeland—updated with an afterword on the Arab SpringIn language that vividly evokes the lush summers of Cairo and the stark beauty of the Arabian desert, Leila Ahmed movingly recounts her Egyptian childhood growing up in a rich tradition of Islamic women and describes how she eventually came to terms with her identity as a feminist living in America. As a young woman in Cairo in the forties and fifties, Ahmed witnessed some of the major transformations of this century—the end of British colonialism, the rise of Arab nationalism, and the breakdown of Egypt's once multireligious society. As today's Egypt continues to undergo revolutionary change, Ahmed's inspirational story remains as poignant and relevant as ever.
Les corrections
- 694pages
- 25 heures de lecture
La famille Lambert est une famille comme les autres, c'est-à-dire unique. Contradictoire, en guerre perpétuelle, dévorée par sa propre histoire, par ses conflits passés et à venir, ses silences. Derrière les visages, les cerveaux abritent des choses que, désespérément, on tente de cacher : Alfred, le père, derrière un caractère de fer dissimule l'impossibilité d'exprimer ses sentiments, tout comme ses désirs les plus profonds. Enid, sa femme, derrière sa soif inextinguible de moralité, tente d'affirmer sa personnalitém - et sa libération. Gary, le banquier, le fils modèle est dévoré par la certitude paranoïaque du mensonge et de la trahison, du besoin de richesse. Chip, l'intellectuel, à la poursuite d'une gloire littéraire et de ses contradictions politiques, et Denise, en quête d'un amour véritable et de cette liberté qui la révélera à elle-même, complètent le tableau. Au travers d'une histoire aux multiples rebondissements, haletante, tout ce petit monde va s'aimer, se déchirer et tenter d'approcher de la vérité : quel visage pour l'Amérique ? Et quelle place pour les vivants en quête de bonheur, parmi les multiples névroses que ce monde s'efforce d'engendrer ?
The known world
- 400pages
- 14 heures de lecture
An epic narrative that takes a look at slavery in all of its moral complexities.
Charades
- 301pages
- 11 heures de lecture
This stunning and intoxicating novel speaks of passion and obsession, ranging in setting from an Australian rainforest to Boston and Toronto. A mysterious and elusive love affair haunts the lives of three women in Australia. Twenty years later, on the other side of the world, Charade Ryan sorts through story and counter-story for her father, the legendary Nicholas, and the truth about her origins.
In the Forest
- 272pages
- 10 heures de lecture
Michael O'Kane's problems go beyond early loss and abuse--the killing instinct is already kindled in him as he earns the title of Kinderschreck: someone of whom children are afraid.
The Seal Wife
- 240pages
- 9 heures de lecture
A scientist in Alaska becomes fascinated by an Aleut woman's muteness, and her disappearance ignites his desperation. This novel intertwines myth and a gripping tale of erotic compulsion, set against the haunting backdrop of the Great North.
Persoonlijk verslag van een moeder over de relatie met haar autistische zoon; over de veranderingen in haarzelf en in haar zoon, met betrekking tot elkaar en de buitenwereld.


