This book is a lyrical explosion that left me in heart-pounding awe.
Don’t let the simplicity of the title fool you. The novel booms with fireworks from page one. Fueled by a gripping chase, a riotous history in miniature of the Caribbean, and the monologues of three mesmerizing characters strung together with all that is human and inhuman sounding within them, in sound and sense, it is one of the most exquisitely written books I have ever read.
While a furious pursuit propels the story, its author has taken risks that twist the telling in unexpected directions. Get lost in its Great Woods with characters who breathe, who dare, who cry, and who laugh with wild eyes as they take their place in the story of humanity.
The "heart-stopping" (The Millions), "richly layered" (Brooklyn Rail), "haunting, beautiful" (BuzzFeed) story of an escaped captive and the killer hound that pursues him
"Slave Old Man is a cloudburst of a novel, swift and compressed—but every page pulses, blood-warm. . . . The prose is so electrifyingly synesthetic that, on more than one occasion, I found myself stopping to rub my eyes in disbelief." —Parul Sehgal, The New York Times
Shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, Patrick Chamoiseau's Slave Old Man was published to accolades in hardcover in a brilliant translation by Linda Coverdale, winning the…
As a writer, I adored this novel for its love of language, elliptical sense of story, and refusal to lean on standard literary conventions such as plot, climax, resolution, or variations on hero/villain/victim formulae.
Though seemingly plotless, it tells the story of a person searching for his life’s origin story, biological parents, first home, and native country. Taken to England as a child on a Kindertransport, Jacques Austerlitz won’t learn of his real name until he's away at school. For anyone, myself included, who has been troubled by the mysteries of your origins, lost histories, hidden pasts, or family secrets, this novel speaks to the vertigo of the unknown and the solace of shared loss.
A story of the powers, failings, and obsessions of memory, this book traces the life of the mind in its zigzag wanderings through time and place.
This tenth anniversary edition of W. G. Sebald’s celebrated masterpiece includes a new Introduction by acclaimed critic James Wood. Austerlitz is the story of a man’s search for the answer to his life’s central riddle. A small child when he comes to England on a Kindertransport in the summer of 1939, Jacques Austerlitz is told nothing of his real family by the Welsh Methodist minister and his wife who raise him. When he is a much older man, fleeting memories return to him, and obeying an instinct he only dimly understands, Austerlitz follows their trail back to the world he…
If you appreciate stories that keep you off-balance, this novel is as suspenseful and flashback-inducing as any thriller or halfway-decent horror movie. Set in two lands of relentless social oppression, the novel unfolds a haunting, many-layered story of madness, betrayal, and abandonment.
As a poet, I found its language astounding and its structure uniquely moving. Partly because I trained as a sociologist, I can imagine that its portrait of cultural collision is as compelling as anything I could read about the Creole Caribbean and English societies that it's set in.
Much more than a book about colonialism, sexism, or racism, it was and is a literary marvel that singes even your conscience in its final pages.
Wide Sargasso Sea, a masterpiece of modern fiction, was Jean Rhys's return to the literary center stage. She had a startling early career and was known for her extraordinary prose and haunting women characters. With Wide Sargasso Sea, her last and best-selling novel, she ingeniously brings into light one of fiction's most fascinating characters: the madwoman in the attic from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. This mesmerizing work introduces us to Antoinette Cosway, a sensual and protected young woman who is sold into marriage to the prideful Mr. Rochester. Rhys portrays Cosway amidst a society so driven by hatred, so skewed…
Throughout history, herbs have been used medicinally to promote healing and vitality. Learning to heal at home was never more essential in modern times. This beginner-friendly guide welcomes a new generation to these trusted traditions.
Engagingly written for a wide audience, it profiles 60 herbs, including cultural history, uses, tips, and beautiful watercolor illustrations. Divided into nine chapters (Enhanced Energy; Strengthened Immunity & Cold Relief; Digestive Health; Emotional Balance & Stress Management; Hormonal Harmony; Pain Relief; Skin Care), Nature’s Remedies might just be your 2020s survival guide.
