So Much for That

Title	So Much for That
Author	Lionel Shriver
Publisher	Harper Collins Publ. UK, 2010
ISBN	0007271077, 9780007271078
Length	464 pages

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Book overview

The extraordinary new novel from the Orange Prize winning author of 'We Need to Talk About Kevin'.What do you pack for the rest of your life?Shepherd Knacker is bored with his humdrum existence. He's sold his successful handy-man business for a million dollars and is now ready to embark on his 'Afterlife' - a one way ticket to a small island off the coast of Africa. He tries to convince his wife Glynis to come with him, but she laughs off the idea as preposterous.There's no way she'll let Shepherd uproot the family to some far-flung African island.When Glynis is diagnosed with an extremely rare and aggressive form of cancer, Shepherd's dreams of an exotic adventure are firmly put on hold. He devotes himself to caring for his sick wife, watching her fade before his eyes.Shepherd's best friend Jackson knows all too well about illness. His sixteen year old daughter has spent her life dosed up on every treatment going while he and his wife Carol feed their youngest daughter sugar pills so she won't feel left out. But then Jackson undergoes a medical procedure of his own which has devastating consequences '¦So Much For That is a deeply affecting novel, told with Lionel Shriver's trademark originality, intelligence and acute perception of the human condition.

No preview available - 2010 - 464 pages

Reviews

worth every page
User Review - Sara - Amazon.com -
I just finished "So Much For That" and I feel uplifted and completely entranced with this author, whom I've never tried before. I recently finished "A Friend of the Family", another book peopled by ...

A Daring Novel -that doesn't completely work as a novel
User Review - ireadabookaday - Amazon.com -
What makes this novel daring? Most obviously, the topic- who isn't interested in the state of American healthcare these days, but how many authors would be able to build a novel around this topic ...

All 15 reviews »

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Captive Queen

Title	The Captive Queen
Author	Alison Weir
Publisher	HUTCHINSON, 2010
ISBN	0091926211, 9780091926212
Length	400 pages

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Book overview

It is the year 1152 and a beautiful woman of thirty, attended by only a small armed escort, is riding like the wind southwards through what is now France, leaving behind her crown, her two young daughters and a shattered marriage to Louis of France, who had been more like a monk than a king, and certainly not much of a lover. This woman is Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and her sole purpose now is to return to her vast duchy and marry the man she loves, Henry Plantagenet, a man destined for greatness as King of England. Theirs is a union founded on lust which will create a great empire stretching from the wilds of Scotland to the Pyrenees. It will also create the devil s brood of Plantagenets including Richard C ur de Lion and King John and the most notoriously vicious marriage in history. The Eagle and the Lion is a novel on the grand scale, an epic subject for Alison Weir. It tells of the making of nations, and of passionate conflicts: between Henry II and Thomas Becket, his closest friend who is murdered in Canterbury Cathedral on his orders; between Eleanor and Henry s formidable mother Matilda; between father and sons, as Henry s children take up arms against him; and finally between Henry and Eleanor herself.

Reviews

"Who will rid me of this turbulent queen?"
User Review - Luan Gaines "luansos" - Amazon.com -
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

"Who will rid me of this turbulent queen?"
User Review - Luan Gaines "luansos" - Amazon.com -
In 1202 the eighty-two-year old Eleanor of Aquitaine is at last ready to meet her Maker, nine of her eleven children dead before her, Henry II long in the grave after a brilliant reign, tumultuous ...

Entertaining look at the life of Henry and Eleanor
User Review - Lesley West - Amazon.com -
Alison Weir has written a very entertaining novel of the turbulent life that Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine spent together, ruling the greatest empire in Christendom. She paints Eleanor as a ...

Review: The Captive Queen
User Review - Christy English - Goodreads -
I am so excited to read this...Alison Weir's biography on Eleanor is a touchstone of mine...I can't wait to see how she tells Eleanor's story in fiction. How can I wait until July?

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Blood Harvest

Title	The Blood Harvest Bantam Press
Author	S. J. Bolton
Publisher	Transworld Publ. Ltd UK, 2010
ISBN	0593064127, 9780593064122
Length	432 pages

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Book overview

The terrifying, spine-tingling new thriller from the author ofSacrifice and Awakening. A TIME TO BE BORN. Twelve-year-old Tom and his family have just moved to a small town perched on the crest of the moor. But troubles begin when Tom sees a mysterious child lurking around the nearby churchyard. A TIME TO DIE. Psychiatrist Evi is trying to treat a young woman haunted by the disappearance of her little girl. A devastating fire burned down their home, but even two years on she is convinced her daughter survived. A TIME TO KILL. Harry is the town's new vicar, quickly befriended by the locals. But unusual events around the church suggest he isn't entirely welcome, and that this odd little town harbours a terrifying secret.

No preview available - 2010 - 432 pages

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Black Sea Twilight

Title	Black Sea Twilight
Author	Domnica Radulescu
Publisher	Transworld Publishers Limited, 2010
ISBN	0385614284, 9780385614283
Length	336 pages

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Book overview

1980s Romania: As the sun sets on the magical shore of the Black Sea and casts its last rays across the water, all Nora Teodoru can think about is pursuing her dream of becoming an accomplished artist - and of her love for Gigi, her childhood friend from the Turkish part of town. But storm clouds are gathering as life under Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu becomes increasingly unbearable. His secret police are circling, never far from the young couple's doors. Nora and Gigi make plans to escape to Turkey, but nothing can prepare them for the events that follow. Five years later, the Romanian revolution is over, and Nora is on her own in Paris trying to make it as an artist. But then Gigi unexpectedly reappears in her life - and they are both faced with shocking revelations about each other. Nora realizes her life can never be the same . . .

No preview available - 2010 - 336 pages

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We, the drowned

Title	We, the Drowned Harvill Secker
Author	Carsten Jensen
Translated by	Charlotte Barslund, Emma Ryder
Publisher	Random House, 2010
ISBN	1846553679, 9781846553677
Length	693 pages

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Book overview

An epic drama of adventure, courage, ruthlessness and passion by one of Scandinavia's most acclaimed storytellers. In 1848 a motley crew of Danish sailors sets sail from the small island town of Marstal to fight the Germans. Not all of them return - and those who do will never be the same again. Among them is the daredevil Laurids Madsen, who promptly escapes again into the anonymity of the high seas. As soon as he is old enough, his son Albert sets off in search of his missing father on a voyage that will take him to the furthest reaches of the globe and into the clutches of the most nefarious company. Bearing a mysterious shrunken head, and plagued by premonitions of bloodshed, he returns to a town increasingly run by women - among them a widow intent on liberating all men from the tyranny of the sea. From the barren rocks of Newfoundland to the lush plantations of Samoa, from the roughest bars in Tasmania, to the frozen coasts of northern Russia, We, The Drowned spans four generations, two world wars and a hundred years. Carsten Jensen conjures a wise, humorous, thrilling story of fathers and sons, of the women they love and leave behind, and of the sea's murderous promise. This is a novel destined to take its place among the greatest seafaring literature.

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Road to Wanting

Title	The Road to Wanting
Author	Wendy Law-Yone
Publisher	CHATTO & WINDUS, 2010
ISBN	0701184086, 9780701184087
Length	272 pages

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Book overview

Na Ga was always in search of a better life. So why is she stuck in a hotel room in Wanting, a godforsaken town on the Chinese-Burmese border? Before her arrival at the frontier, Na Ga (her borrowed name) careers from place to place, forced to take on a new identity each time. Born into the Wild Lu tribe, about whom she remembers almost nothing, she is 'rescued' from her life as a rural eel-catcher by a family of 'civilised' Americans who leave her behind in Rangoon when they run into visa problems. As a teenager Na Ga finds herself chasing the dream of a new life in Thailand - where further betrayals and violations await - yet for a time it seems that her fighting spirit will not be broken. But for how long can Na Ga belong nowhere and with no one? We follow her trail from the remote Burmese countryside to the pulsating streets of Bangkok and back to the dingy hotel in Wanting - where, finally, she is forced to confront her compulsion to run away, and to ask herself why it is that, until now, she's managed to resist the journey home.

No preview available - 2010 - 272 pages

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No ordinary love

Title	No Ordinary Love
Author	Anita Notaro
Publisher	Transworld Ireland, 2010
ISBN	1848270313, 9781848270312
Length	320 pages

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Book overview

Louisa is fed up with every aspect of her life. Boyfriend, job, flat u all these need an instant and radical makeover. And so she decides to change it all in favour of a carefree existence, exchanging her house for a trailer, her car for a motorbike, and her smart clothes for leisure wear. And, most of all, she starts a new business, as a dog counsellor. With her best friends Maddy and Clodagh she embarks on a new regime u to meet different people, discover new places and find a fabulous new man. Her business brings her immediate and extraordinary rewards, as she meets the owners of dogs whose problems often seem to echo those of their owners. But whatever the stresses of her new life, Louisa has the support of her two friends. If only that could last forevera

No preview available - 2010 - 320 pages

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