The known world
- 400pages
- 14 heures de lecture
An epic narrative that takes a look at slavery in all of its moral complexities.






An epic narrative that takes a look at slavery in all of its moral complexities.
When Owen Sheers discovers a book in his father's study he stumbles upon the life of an obscure relative: Arthur Cripps, lyric poet and maverick missionary to Rhodesia. Compelled by the description of Cripps' extraordinary life in Africa, Sheers embarks on a journey through contemporary Zimbabwe in an attempt to better understand his ancestor's devotion to the country and its people and the dramatic, often bloody, differences that echo across the years.
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.
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.
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 ?
Ludo's mother, Sibylla, is obsessed with Kurosawa's famous film, "The Seven Samurai" and it plays as a bizarre running backdrop to his childhood. His search for his real father ends in disappointment but he does find out more than he needs about his mother's shaky past.
'This book ranks alongside PADDY CLARKE HA HA HA as one of the very few great contemporary novels about childhood' William Sutcliffe, Independent on Sunday 'Everything was going to be different this year' - Tess is nine years old and wants her new family to work out, even though her brother Jake is not so sure. THE WILD is a brilliant, clear-eyed evocation of the collision of families and step families, adult and childhood worlds.
Bored with their lives and tired of their marriage, Paul and Elaine turn a family barbecue into a bonfire and watch their dreams go up in smoke. But will burning down their house solve all their problems?
From Cairo to America – A Woman's Journey. Readers Guide Inside
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.
Na de dood van haar moeder wordt een veertienjarig Iers meisje in toenemende mate door haar vader seksueel misbruikt, waardoor ze in verwachting raakt en wegloopt van huis.
BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A tale of two young scholars researching the secret love affair of two Victorian poets that's an exhilarating novel of wit and romance, an intellectual mystery, and a triumphant love story. “Gorgeously written … A tour de force.” —The New York Times Book Review Winner of England’s Booker Prize and a literary sensation, Possession traces the lives of a pair of young academics as they uncover a clandestine relationship between two long-dead Victorian poets. As they unearth their letters, journals, and poems, and track their movements from London to Yorkshire—from spiritualist séances to the fairy-haunted far west of Brittany—what emerges is an extraordinary counterpoint of passions and ideas.
From “one of the great short story writers of our time” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)—nine stories and a poem that offer a searing portrait of American innocence and loss—and formed the basis for the film “Short Cuts” directed by Robert Altman. With deadpan humor and enormous tenderness, this is the work of “one of the true contemporary masters” (The New York Review of Books). Features stories from the collections Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, Where I’m Calling From, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and A New Path to the Waterfall; including an introduction by Robert Altman.
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.
By the author of The Handmaid's Tale and Alias Grace Zenia is beautiful, smart and greedy, by turns manipulative and vulnerable, needy and ruthless; a man's dream and a woman''s nightmare. She is also dead. Just to make sure Tony, Roz andd Charis are there for the funeral. But five years on, as the three women share an indulgent, sisterly lunch, the unthinkable happens; 'with waves of ill will flowing out of her like cosmic radiation', Zenia is back...
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.