Rights Guide - The Susijn Agency

THE SUSIJN AGENCY LTD Rights Guide 2014

Contacts: LAURA SUSIJN [email protected] PRIYA BORA [email protected]

THE SUSIJN AGENCY LTD - 64 Great Titchfield Street - London W1W 7QH Tel: 00 44 20 7580 6341 - Fax: 00 44 20 7580 8626 For full list of authors see: www.thesusijnagency.com

peter ackroyd ‘Ackroyd is a force of nature.’ Financial Times 'Ackroyd is that timeless figure, a man of letters, dipped in ink, apparently versatile in a breathtaking variety of genres.' Observer

CHARLIE CHAPLIN 'A haunting biography captures the brilliance and the blemishes of a comic who fought his way from poverty to worldwide fame. His method, filtering the life through the prism of his novelist's imagination, plunges you, in unsettling fashion, right into the subject's own experience. His assessment of the films is perceptive. His analysis of the Tramp is brilliant and unsparing. Chilling, wonderful stuff.' Simon Callow, The Guardian ‘Ackroyd offers a compact, engrossing, intelligent, resifting of the available evidence. Like many geniuses, Chaplin gave joy to millions and hell to a few close to him. Ackroyd leaves us to decide which matters more.’ The Sunday Times This masterful biography brings the Little Tramp, in his day the most famous man on the planet into vivid colour. Material: Finished copies (272pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK (Publication: 3rd April 2014); Nan A Talese Books USA; Atticus Russia; Font Forlag Norway; ISBN Italy; Editions Philippe Rey France; Zysk Poland; Edhasa Spain.

THREE BROTHERS 'The waspish vignettes of literary London and fusty academe are a delight. The air is full of poison – and echoes of other Ackroyd novels… The brilliant result is the quintessence of Ackroyd.' The Telegraph 'His (Ackroyd's) prose.. is simple yet possesses great consonance and depth. Ackroyd's own latest contribution to the London novel marks a further stage of his literary love affair with the city that he conjures so brilliantly in fiction and non-fiction alike.' Independent Ackroyd’s brilliant new novel follows the lives of Harry, Daniel and Sam Hanway, brothers born in the middle of last century, in a grim council estate in Camden. After their mother disappears, each boy is forced to make his own way. Harry, tough and ambitious, climbs high in the cut-throat world of Fleet Street; Daniel retreats into his books and becomes a professor; Sam is the dreamer who ends up as the odd-job man for a ruthless landlord. The London of newspapers, publishing offices, the comfort of Chelsea, the shadowy streets of Limehouse and Hackney, are presented in vivid detail in this gripping tale. Material: finished copies (280pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese Books USA; Editions Philippe Rey France; Neri Pozza Italy; Everest Turkey; Olga Morozova Russia; Edhasa Spain; Teodolito Portugal.

THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR: The Immortal Legend ‘In this ingenious decanting of an old wine into a new bottle, he has taken a glorious part of our glorious heritage and made it more accessible to the readers of the twenty-first century.' Telegraph (316pp). Sales: Penguin Classics UK; Viking USA; Alpina Russia; Zysk Poland.

VENICE: Pure City ‘The combustible mix of scholarly rigour and instinct brings his inimitable words to life.’ The Times (403pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese Books USA; Corpus Russia; BBArt Czech; Knaus Germany; Zysk Poland; Olga Morozova Russia.

THE CANTERBURY TALES ‘The welcome appearance of Peter Ackroyd's new prose version is compulsive, bold and rare.’ Observer (436pp). Sales: Penguin Classics UK; Viking USA; Achuzat Bayit Israel; Corpus Russia.

THE CASEBOOK OF VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN ‘Terrifying and fascinating in equal measure… Ackroyd's is a beast of a different nature: an intelligent, creepily beautiful and haunted thing.’ The Times (296 pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese Books USA; Corpus Russia; Zysk Poland; Editions Philippe Rey France; Saida de Emergencia Portugal; Record Brazil; Edhasa Spain; Yapi Kredi Turkey; Film option with Vespa Pictures.

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THAMES: Sacred River ‘Ackroyd's gift is to write history in the idiom of a poet. As soon as you open this you will want to immerse yourself in it.’ Telegraph 'As always with Ackroyd, it’s not just the subject that sets this book apart but also the compelling new perspectives he brings.’ The Times (490pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese Books USA; Knaus Germany; Neri Pozza Italy; Olga Morozova Russia.

THE FALL OF TROY NOMINATED FOR THE PRIX MEDICIS ‘However you read this - as a love story and mystery told in Homeric style, or as a deeper meditation on the relationship between reality and imagination - Ackroyd the novelist re-emerges triumphantly.’ The Times (215 pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan Talese USA; Meulenhoff NL; Diigisi Greece; Editions Philippe Rey France; Yapi Kredi Turkey; Record Brazil; Teorema Portugal; Edhasa Spain; Media Serbia; Olga Morozova Russia.

SHAKESPEARE: The Biography ‘Ackroyd at the height of his powers. A tour de force.’ Sunday Times ‘Superb. The book Peter Ackroyd was born to write.’ Daily Mail (488pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese USA; Meulenhoff NL; Knaus Germany; Neri Pozza Italy; Philippe Rey France; Edhasa Spain; Partvonal Hungary; Teorema Portugal; CoLibri Russia; Hakusui-Sha Japan; Mikri Arktos Greece; Beijing Normal University Press China (simplified); Jarrous Press Arabic; Alfa Turkey.

THE LAMBS OF LONDON ‘A delicious entertainment.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘Touching and ingenious.’ TLS (216pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Editions Philippe Rey France; Meulenhoff NL; Knaus Germany; Neri Pozza Italy; Edhasa Spain; Corpus Russia; Teorema Portugal.

THE CLERKENWELL TALES ‘A truly extraordinary feat of historical imagination.’ Sunday Telegraph (206pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese USA; Philippe Rey France; Edhasa Spain; Meulenhoff NL; Knaus Germany; Zysk Poland; Livanis Greece; Teorema Portugal; Folio Ukraine; Media Serbia; Corpus Russia; Monokl Turkey.

ALBION: The Origins of the English Imagination ‘Covers not only literature but art, architecture, music, almost everything else that has passed through the minds of the English. One damn interesting thing after another.’ Sunday Times ‘An explosion. Crammed, digressive, learned, brilliant.’ Telegraph (516pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese USA; BB ART Czech Republic; Tygodnik Powszechny Poland. Radio reading licence: Czech Radio 3-Vltava.

LONDON: The Biography ‘Ackroyd's superbly crafted, learned, intelligent LONDON is the best monument the capital could have. It is absolutely wonderful.’ Telegraph ‘Fizzes with vitality and originality.’ Sunday Times ‘You will not find a better, more visionary book.’ Observer (822pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese Books USA; Knaus Germany; Neri Pozza Italy; Stock France; Edhasa Spain; Olga Morozova & Innostranaya Literatura Magazine Russia; BB Art Czech Republic; Yilin Press China (simplified); Zysk Poland; Varrak Estonia. NOW ALSO AVAILABLE IN A CONCISE VERSION (688pp).

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THE PLATO PAPERS ‘A marvellous fable for our times…funny, wise and strange…He writes like an archangel…Ackroyd has written a timeless literary masterpiece.’ A.N.Wilson, Daily Mail ‘An invigorating mixture of satire, history, philosophy, morality and linguistic investigation…it reads like a spoof of a New Age intellectualism…a brave cry in the wilderness’ The Times (139pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese Books USA; Alma Lithuania; BZZToH NL; Chajak Korea; Edhasa Spain; Knaus Germany; Livanis Greece; Polirom Romania; Stock France; Teorema Portugal; Zysk Poland; Corpus Russia; Monokl Turkey.

BRIEF LIVES WILKIE COLLINS ‘Compulsive reading.’ The Economist ‘Everything about that odd little man makes him perfectly fitted to roam through Ackroyd's imaginative universe.’ Guardian. (144pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK.

LONDON UNDER ‘Irresistible’ Financial Times ‘Fascinating.’ Spectator (182pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese Books USA: Neri Pozza Italy; Edhasa Spain; Olga Morozova Russia; Zysk Poland.

THE ENGLISH GHOST: Spectres Through Time ‘Will make the hairs on the back of your neck bristle’ Mail on Sunday (276pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Olga Morozova Russia.

POE: A Life Cut Short ‘Wonderfully rewarding. Poe's brilliant, erratic, abbreviated career stands to gain rather than lose from the form of brief life patented by Ackroyd.’ Guardian (170pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese Books USA; Atena Finland; Editions Philippe Rey France; Edhasa Spain; Karaat NL; YKY Turkey; Sareni Ducan Croatia; Patakis Greece; Saida de Emergencia Portugal; Atticus Russia.

CHAUCER ‘A man in the thick of late 14th-century society: diplomat, customs officer, court official, member of parliament, justice of the peace. Ackroyd is never better.’ The Times (175 pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese Books USA; Philippe Rey France; Atticus Russia; Everest Turkey.

TURNER ‘Gets closer to the heart of Turner than a book ten times as long. Everything seems pertinent, vivid and miraculously revealed. Ackroyd has a sure instinct for what matters.' Mail on Sunday (161 pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese Books USA; Atticus Russia.

NEWTON ‘Ackroyd knows how to tell a story. His Isaac Newton is a strange man indeed: emotionally wounded, difficult, wilful, a hypersensitive narcissist, but equipped with this extraordinarily original and elastic imagination that allowed him to venture intellectually where no man had gone before.’ Spectator (163 pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Nan A Talese Books USA; Academia Czech; Atticus Russia; Fondo de Cultura Economica Mexico; Versmes Lithuania; Everest Turkey.

peter ackroyd was born in London in 1949. He achieved a Double First at Cambridge and studied in America at Yale as a Mellon Fellow. His first two publications were books of poetry. He is a successful novelist, author of such classics as CHATTERTON, HAWKSMOOR and THE LAST TESTAMENT OF OSCAR WILDE and has also written biographies of T.S. Eliot, Dickens, Blake and Thomas More. A Brief Life of Alfred Hitchcock will be published in Spring 2015. QUEER CITY: A Gay Biography of London will be delivered December 2016 and published Autumn 2017.

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a. alberts One of the few truly great masters. Winner of the Amsterdam Council Prose Prize 1953; Marianne Philips Prize 1973; Constantijn Huygens Prize 1975; Silver Honour Medal of the University of Utrecht 1994; and the P.C. Hooft Prize in 1995 for his complete oeuvre. His books include:

THE ISLANDS (DE EILANDEN) THE TREES (DE BOMEN) LIFTED IN AND OUT OF PARADISE (IN EN UIT HET PARADIJS GETILD) THE MEETING ROOM (DE VERGADERZAAL) THE DOGS NO LONGER HUNT (DE HONDEN JAGEN NIET MEER) THE SAND BEFORE THE COAST OF AVEIRO (HET ZAND VOOR DE KUST VAN AVEIRO) THE SILVER BULLET (DE ZILVEREN KOGEL) THE WOMAN WITH THE PARASOL (DE VROUW MET DE PARASOL) What and how Alberts wrote cannot be paraphrased and his perspective is utterly unique. He wrote short stories, novellas, novels, memoirs and historical studies. His storytelling is a kind of veiling. He kept himself at a distance, even in his language, which is stripped to the bone, sparing and undecorated, frugal, controlled and naked. The writer acts as the third silent participant in a conversation, letting readers make their own decisions, find their own enjoyment. Alberts listens, doesn’t leap in or explain, doesn’t want to appear wiser than his characters, and so leaves a mystery behind, an atmosphere of estrangement. He conjures a timelessness and creates some of the most beautiful and intriguing novels of the 20th Century. About DE HONDEN JAGEN NIET MEER, Alberts’ own personal favourite, he said: “Men go to sea and come back after several months. For them and their families, being out at sea is as natural as how, in the past, dogs hunted in packs. But every time they return, they have left something behind where they have been. Not lost, but left behind. And toward the end of their lives at sea they are just empty people, wondering what still exists of themselves beyond the horizon. But by then there is no more hunting.” This emptiness within is a strong theme throughout his work and is part of what makes this old master so contemporary. About THE ISLANDS: Alberts’s islands are a symbolic setting for those whom Herman Melville called “isolatoes” – people who live with constant loneliness, who occasionally break out of it, but who often encounter tragedy when they make the attempt. In taut prose, Alberts treats the modern theme of estrangement in memorable tales of discovery, surprise, death, and love. Equal to the highest standards of contemporary fiction. Material: Dutch editions (average length 140pp); English & German translations of THE ISLANDS available. Sales: Van Oorschot NL; Suhrkamp Germany; Piranha France; Univers Romania (THE ISLANDS).

a. alberts (1911 - 1995) was born in Haarlem NL and studied in Utrecht. At the age of 28 he left for Dutch Indonesia to work as a civil servant. He spent 7 years there, and three and a half in a Japanese concentration camp (these years were the most important ones of his life, he later claimed, and he wrote several books about his experiences there). From 1953 he was editor of the Groene Amsterdammer and spent the last years of his life living quietly with his wife in Blaricum NL.

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saud alsanousi THE BAMBOO STALK WINNER OF THE ARABIC BOOKER 2013 WINNER OF THE STATE OF KUWAIT PRIZE 2012 BAMBOO STALK is the story of Jose (also known as Eissa). Born to a Philippino mother, Josephine, and Kuwaiti father, Rashid, who fell in love while she worked as a maid in his mother's house. Set partly in the Philippines and partly in Kuwait the novel has been described as "a daring look at the plight of foreign workers in the Gulf region". However its primary themes are identity and belonging. Bamboo thrives wherever it is planted, putting down new roots, without a past or memory. José discovers through painful experience that this does not apply to human beings. Rashid and Josephine marry secretly but when their secret is discovered, they are evicted from the house. Eventually, bowing to family and social pressure, Rashid sends his wife and child back to the Philippines, continuing to support them financially until he is taken prisoner in Iraq during the first Gulf war and the letters and money stop. Rashid's best friend Ghassan seeks José out and brings him back to Kuwait. His arrival prompts a crisis in the respectable al-Tarouf household, in a society where the fear of tyrants and dictators is nothing compared to the fear of "what people will say". On condition that his identity is kept secret, the family give him a generous allowance but are stingy with their love. Finally, he is forced to leave the house and live independently. He begins work in a fast-food restaurant and meets his Philippino neighbours and young Kuwaitis. Just as it seems that he has found a niche in society and the Kuwaiti friends he had longed for, news of his identity leaks out, causing shame for the family. After his hostile aunt Nouria arranges for him to be sacked and his allowance cut off, he returns to the Philippines. Throughout the novel he has been searching for a single name, religion and homeland. At last he realizes his true self. He is both, José Mendoza and Eissa Al-Tarouf. He is Kuwaiti-Filipino. He is Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist. Alsanousi's style is engaging and accessible. The lush, humid Mendoza compound and barren, pristine streets of Kuwait are skilfully evoked. Characters are beautifully drawn and the pace never falters. An utterly gripping read and a worthy winner of the Arabic Booker. Material: Arabic text and English sample. Sales: Arab Scientific Publishers Lebanon; Bloomsbury UK/Bloomsbury US/Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation (Publication Spring 2015, English translation being delivered end July 2014).

saud alsanousi is a Kuwaiti novelist and journalist, born in 1981. His work has appeared in a number of Kuwaiti publications, including Al-Watan newspaper and Al-Arabi, Al-Kuwait and AlAbwab magazines. He currently writes for Al-Qabas newspaper. His first novel The Prisoner of Mirrors was published in 2010 and won the fourth Laila al-Othman Prize, a prestigious award for novels and short stories by young writers. He won the first prize for his story The Bonsai and the Old Man in the "Stories on the Air" competition organised in July 2011 by the Al-Arabi magazine with BBC Arabic.

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gilad atzmon ‘A seriously funny writer and the wittiest musician since Ronnie Scott.’ Robert Wyatt

THE WANDERING WHO? A Study of Jewish Identity Politics ‘The Wandering Who? should be widely read by Jews and non-Jews alike.’ John J. Mearsheimer Jewish identity is tied up with some of today’s most difficult and contentious issues. This book examines Jewish identity politics and Jewish contemporary ideology using both popular culture and scholarly texts. Since Israel defines itself openly as the ‘Jewish State’, we should ask what the notions of Judaism, Jewishness, Jewish culture and Jewish ideology stand for. Atzmon analyses secular Jewish political and cultural discourse, both Zionist and anti-Zionist. He looks at the Jewish political attitude towards history and time, the role of the holocaust, anti-Gentile ideologies, Jewish pressure groups, Zionist lobbying and more. ‘Intelligent, bold, unapologetic.’ Al Jazeera ‘A transformative story told with unflinching integrity that all (especially Jews) who care about real peace, as well as their own identity, should not only read, but reflect upon and discuss widely.’ Richard Falk ‘As witty and thought provoking as its title. But it is also an important book, presenting conclusions about Jews, Jewishness and Judaism which some will find shocking but which are essential to an understanding of Jewish identity politics and the role they play on the world stage.’ Karl Sabbagh Material: finished copies (202pp) Sales: Zero Books UK & USA; Editions Demi-Lune France; Zambon Verlag Germany & Italy; Oriente Y Mediterraneo Spain; Arab Institute for Research & Publishing Jordan; Ilimyurdu Publishing Turkey; Astarti Editions Greece.

A GUIDE TO THE PERPLEXED The life and philosophy of Professor Gunther Wünker, father of peepology. ‘A hilarious satire on modern Israel. It also serves as a taboo-busting treatise on the effect of diaspora on art, science, sexuality and racial identity. This is a fascinating, ugly, hilarious and bonkers book.’ Time Out ‘Atzmon writes with so much style and his gags are so hilarious.’ Guardian ‘A lot of irreverent fun, and a brilliant deconstruction of Jewishness done with Voltaire's pen.’ Israel Shamir ‘This is a brilliant parody of all of us and behind this comedy hides our terrible tragedy.’ Yediot Acharonot Sales: Serpent’s Tail (English language); Argo Czech Republic; Aschehoug Norway; DTV Germany; Emece World Spanish; Exandas Greece; Inostranka Russia; Phebus France; Teorema Portugal; Tokyo Sogen Japan; Ulpius-Haz Hungary. (151pp)

MY ONE AND ONLY LOVE Danny Zilber is a world-acclaimed trumpet player. A constant procession of women traipses through his dressing room, yet none can satisfy his need for love. Until, that is, an encounter with a mysterious woman. A scathingly comic take on Zionist politics and Israeli espionage. ‘A biting satire on Jewish identity, Zionist politics and sex.’ The Observer ‘Vanunu meets American Pie – involves cryogenically maintained war criminals, Mossad agents, a trumpeter who can bring women to orgasm by playing a single note.’ Time Out Sales: Saqi Books (English language); Al Saqi Arabic; Teorema Portugal; Nautilus Germany; Czarne Poland; Ultraculture Russia. (239pp).

gilad atzmon is a world-acclaimed jazz saxophonist and composer. Member of the Blockheads, he also fronts the Orient House Ensemble and continues to release albums to great acclaim. He teaches workshops across Europe and produces albums for other musicians as well as writing and publishing numerous political, cultural and ethical essays. He is asked to speak all over the world. His latest album is the highly acclaimed SONGS OF THE METROPOLIS. He lives in London. www.gilad.co.uk

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phil baker CHURCH OF OPIUM There has never been a truly outstanding book on opium. This book provides new and previously 'missing' material on opium culture around the world, in China, France, and even Britain. It will be a revisionist book, and a contribution to the current debate around the 'War on Drugs', revealing that this demonized substance is not as bad as generally believed. The combination of a non-condemnatory stance with moral seriousness is new. In particular, it will reveal the enormous extent of normal, non-addicted middle-class opium use in late Qing-dynasty China (through the 19th and into the early 20th centuries), and the enthusiastic opium smoking of several writers who came to no harm, including Graham Greene, Anthony Burgess, and D.J.Enright. Thomas De Quincey, self-styled "Pope of the Church of Opium", provides a unifying thread for the book. Embracing opium's seductive powers and the rituals of smoking, the culture and politics of the subject, and the art and genius of some famous opium users, this will be a wide ranging and engaging book by the highly acclaimed author of the hugely successful Book of Absinthe and biographies of Dennis Wheatley, Burroughs, Austin Osman Spare and Beckett. Material: proposal ready shortly. Sales: Work in progress.

AUSTIN OSMAN SPARE: The Occult Life of London’s Legendary Artist A controversial enfant terrible of the Edwardian art world, the young Austin Osman Spare (18861956) was hailed as a genius. But Spare was never made for worldly success and he went out of the gallery system to live in poverty and obscurity. Absorbed in occultism and sorcery, he continued to produce extraordinary art while developing a magical philosophy of pleasure, obsession, and the subjective nature of reality. Today Spare is both forgotten and famous - a cult figure. This ground-breaking biographical study offers wide-ranging insights into Spare’s art, mind and world, reconnecting him with the art history that ignored him and exploring his parallel London. ‘Phil Baker has established himself as among the very best contemporary biographers… What Baker has accomplished here is little short of marvellous.’ Alan Moore ‘A splendid biography of the early 20th-century artist Austin Osman Spare revives the supremely eccentric life of the visionary who, at a mere 17, was hailed as a genius… only to throw it all away.’ Sunday Times ‘The time is over-ripe for a proper biography of this curious figure, and it is a pleasure to report that Phil Baker's study is a first-rate performance, scrupulously researched, judicious and refreshingly sane [...] By the end of this admirable book, Spare comes to seem a strangely attractive figure: talented, stoical, randy, cantankerous, gentle and a magnificent English eccentric.’ Literary Review Sales: Strange Attractor UK; North Atlantic Books USA.

THE BOOK OF ABSINTHE: A CULTURAL HISTORY ‘This is the sort of book it would be very easy to do badly. Phil Baker has, instead, done a magnificent job; it is formidably researched, beautifully written, and abundant with telling detail and pitch-black humour’ Daily Telegraph ‘Literate and cheerfully squalid... a model of popular cultural history... brilliant’ Fortean Times ‘Engaging, curious, and gruesomely hilarious’ Evening Standard ‘Informative and hair-raising’ New Scientist ‘Hugely entertaining... excellent ... merits prolonged and repeated consumption.’ Independent ‘Friday Book’ ‘Informative, amusingly written and perceptive’ Guardian Paperback of the Week Sales: Dedalus UK; Grove Atlantic USA; Puerto de Palos Argentina; Nova Alexandra Brazil; Volvox Globator Czech; Voland Italy; New Literary Review Russia.

phil baker

is a writer, reviewer and journalist. His book on Samuel Beckett, BECKETT AND THE MYTHOLOGY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS, has been described “a breakthrough in the field”. Since then he has written highly acclaimed critical biographies, including Dennis Wheatley and William Burroughs. He has also taught literature at several universities including Oxford and London, and literary journalism on the MA in Creative Writing at Bath, and reviews regularly for a number of papers including the Sunday Times and Times Literary Supplement. Phil lives in central London and has keen interest in the byways of popular and not so popular culture.

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robin baker ‘Robin Baker is a living legend in evolutionary science, especially for his groundbreaking research on sperm competition in humans... I always considered Baker one of the very best scientific writers. I now consider him one of my favorite fiction novelists. These are wonderful books, captivating. All three novels weave modern evolutionary science into modern-day whodunits.’ Professor Todd K. Shackelford, Chair of Psychology, Oakland University, Michigan

THE HITCHHIKER’S CHILD A story of murder and mystery, love and sacrifice: a man gives a lift to a woman who has been thrown bound and naked from a car. As he hears her story, it seems that there is nobody who could be the father of her child, least of all her rich, vindictive husband. Mark de Vries teaches Zoology, the rest of his time he spends with his research team in the Kalahari Desert. Mark is drawn into the mystery of the hitchhiker’s child and his livelihood and survival depend on finding the answer. The innovative sexual science behind this novel is real. Material: finished copy (239pp). Sales: Hard Nut Books UK & USA.

CABALLITO Max, a young lecturer in anthropology, discovers a couple of handwritten pages written by a Victorian adventuress who once lived with an unknown tribe in the Amazon. Determined to discover more, Max is dragged into a world of mysterious suicides, pagan sects, child prostitution and police harassment, where cultures and moralities collide. A vision of an alternative society, one in which fatherhood and childhood innocence have no meaning, and where communities share everything, including each other. This was how all people once lived , and a few still do. Material: finished copy (210pp). Sales: Hard Nut Books UK & USA.

PRIMAL Lord of the Flies meets Lost meets The Beach. A story that shows what happens to mankind if you strip all the trappings of society away. ‘Primal is a fascinating examination of what human nature really is. Terrific stuff, a fitting addition to a very high quality line of literary, intelligent works of edgy fiction.’ British Fantasy Society Forum ‘Wow, double wow. One of the best books I have read this year by far.’ Coffee Time Romance & More US Material: finished copies (384pp). Sales: Virgin UK & US; Mistral/FMB NL; Kinneret Israel; JC Lattes France; Record Brazil; Metafora Czech.

SPERM WARS Now a modern classic of popular science writing, SPERM WARS is Robin Baker’s revolutionary thesis about sex. He reveals, through fictionalised scenes, the new facts of life: ten per cent of children are not fathered by their ‘fathers’, less than one per cent of a man’s sperm is capable of fertilising anything, and a woman is far more likely to conceive through a casual fling than through sex with her regular partner. SPERM WARS turns centuries-old biological assumptions on their head. ‘The most entertaining science book of the year.’ Sunday Times ‘Riveting.’ The Times (375pp). Sales: Thundersmouth Press/Perseus Books UK & USA; Boyabooks China (simple); Rye-Field China (complex); Limes Verlag Germany (Bastei paperback); Lattes France; Record Brazil; Rebis Poland; El Paradiso Estonia; Issihia Misztikus Kozpont Hungary; Jota Czech Republic; Ehak Korea; Litera International Romania; Lac Hong Books Vietnam; Alpina Russia; Paloma Turkey; Kawade Shobo Japan.

robin baker is a bestselling writer, lecturer and broadcaster in the field of sexual biology. His other titles include BABY WARS (Fourth Estate 1997), SEX IN THE FUTURE (Macmillan 1999) and FRAGILE SCIENCE (Macmillan 2001). He is currently at work on a non-fiction book provisionally entitled SEX BEFORE BELIEF: The Birth of the World's Religions, which shows how our (mis)understandings about sex and procreation have created the tenets of world religions. www.robin-baker.com

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ramzy baroud MY FATHER WAS A FREEDOM FIGHTER: Gaza’s Untold Story Gaza, the frontline in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, is rarely out of the news. This book explores the daily lives of the people in the region, giving us an insight into what is at risk in each round of violence. Ramzy Baroud tells his father's fascinating story: driven out of his village to a refugee camp, he took up arms and fought the occupation, at the same time raising a family and trying to do the best for his children. Baroud's vivid and honest account reveals the complex human beings; revolutionaries, great moms and dads, lovers, and comedians that make Gaza so much more than just a disputed territory. ‘Ramzy Baroud's searching, sensitive and thoughtful writing penetrates to the core of moral dilemmas that audiences evade at their peril. Few are spared his perceptive eye, and only the morally callous will fail to respond to his pleas to look into the mirror honestly, to question comforting beliefs that protect us from facing our elementary responsibilities, and to act to remedy the terrible misery and injustice that he exposes to our view, as we surely can.’ Noam Chomsky ‘Ramzy’s work is one of the few books written in English about the life, depopulation and struggle for survival (literally) of the people of a Palestinian village in southern Palestine. He portrays their ordeal over six decades, with no end in sight for their suffering. Gathered patiently from the recollections of the survivors, it stands out as an unblemished depiction of their plight. No amount of spin could obliterate this, or could deny the indefatigable persistence of Palestinians to survive and struggle to return home. In writing this book, Ramzy himself, the exiled son of Beit Daras, is proof of this persistence.’ Salman Abu Sitta, author and historian ‘This is a very fine book: both a loving tribute to the author's father and the struggle and pain of Palestine seen through the witness and insights of two generations. Together, they beckon freedom.’ John Pilger, Sydney Peace Prize-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist, and author of Freedom Next Time Material: finished copies (188pp). Sales: Pluto Press WEL; World Book Publishing Arabic; Sansuya Korea; Other Books Malayalam; Editions DemiLune France.

THE SECOND PALESTINIAN INTIFADA: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle

This is Ramzy Barou alarming escalation in suicide bombings, and the construction of the Separation Wall, he reports on the huge rate of unemployment and hunger in the Occupied Territories, statistics so critical that NGOs compare their magnitude to African nations such as the Congo. From the brutality of the Israeli army to the ever-compromising nature of the Palestinian Authority, few are spared Baroud’s thoughtful critique. The book is clear and concise, with one chapter dedicated to the major events of each year, and includes a comprehensive timeline. Material: finished copies (216pp). Sales: Pluto Press WEL; Scribest Publications France.

ramzy baroud,

born in Palestine, now living in the US, is an internationally syndicated columnist, an author and editor-in-chief of the Palestine Chronicle. He has appeared on numerous television programs including CNN International, BBC, ABC Australia, National Public Radio and AlJazeera. He taught mass communication at Australia’s Curtin University of Technology, Malaysia Campus. Baroud is also former head of Aljazeera.net. He is the author of several books, including SEARCHING JENIN: EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF THE ISRAELI INVASION (2003). www.ramzybaroud.net

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conny braam THE COCAINE SALESMAN (DE HANDELSREIZIGER VAN DE NEDERLANDSCHE COCAINE FABRIEK) On July 31st 1917, the 26-year-old Englishman Robin Ryder climbs out of a trench on the Flanders battlefields and charges recklessly towards the German artillery. Three days later he is heavily wounded by a German grenade; half his face will have to be hidden behind a mask from now on. At roughly the same moment, his contemporary Lucien Hirschland, travelling salesman for the flourishing Nederlandsche Cocaine Fabriek, brings in a big order from an English pharmaceutical company. Soon after this he closes a deal with a buyer for the German army. From his profits he treats himself to a much-longed-for Harley Davidson. When the war ends, extraordinary circumstances find Ryder living in the Hirschland family home where he is lovingly welcomed by Lucien’s younger sister Swaantje. Expectations and illusions grow, but through betrayal and self-deception their lives spin out of control because the war veteran has more to hide than his mutilated face. Intriguing, tense and very well-constructed, this novel will most definitely be talked about. About cocaine and war, love and vengeance, THE COCAINE SALESMAN is an unparalleled novel based on true events. ‘A suspenseful book with romance running through it, a tribute to all the research done beforehand. We thoroughly enjoyed the novel, also all the facts it brings to light.’ Pauw & Witteman (top Dutch book/chat show) ‘Addictive.’ Opzij ‘Fascinating novel based on the absurd fact that the Netherlands once had the largest legal cocaine factory in the world.’ Esta ‘An adventurous moral tale, in which the cocaine issue is looked at from various angles. Braam has a fresh, enthusiastic way of telling a story that makes one continually curious about what happens next. This makes De Handelsreiziger gripping till the last page.’ NRC Handelsblad ‘This novel shows great skill.****’ Algemeen Dagblad ‘A plot-driven novel, an eye-opener on the two-faced role a Dutch company played with the government’s knowledge during the war.’ De Telegraaf ‘The power lies in the convincing characters and the bringing to life of the period.’ Nederlands Dagblad ‘The Travelling Salesman of the Dutch Cocaine Factory takes place in an interesting time period, tells a dramatic story in which the vividly drawn characters are caught up, and touches on the more controversial sides of the Dutch spirit of trade. It is an entertaining novel, gripping to the very last page.’ HP/De Tijd ‘An addictive, intelligent and powerfully written novel.’ Happinez ‘An intelligent book with many levels and story lines that compliment and add to each other effortlessly. And it is exciting too. Rating: ****.’ derecensie.nl Material: finished copies of Dutch (416pp) and English editions (440pp). Sales: Uitgeverij Nieuw Amsterdam NL; Haus UK & US.

conny braam (1948) helped set up and lead the Dutch Anti-Apartheid Movement. She is a journalist and novelist. Her books include OPERATIE VULA; DE BOKKESLACHTER, ZWAVEL; the trilogy of novels about the family Abraham and MANDELA OP DE KOELKAST. www.connybraam.nl

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pauline butcher FREAK OUT! My Life with Frank Zappa 4th December 2013 = 20th anniversary of Zappa’s death Pauline Butcher was working for a secretarial agency in London in 1967 when one evening a call came through from a Mr Zappa asking for a typist to come to his hotel room. Pauline took the call and so was obliged to go. Expecting a dull Italian businessman, she was instead confronted by a long-haired, moustachioed, charismatic musician who asked her to type up the lyrics for his album Absolutely Free. At the time she was a ‘straight’ young English girl from Twickenham and, though instantly mesmerised by Frank Zappa himself, she was shocked by his writing of 'immoral' songs for impressionable teenage girls. At Frank’s request, she moved with him to the Hollywood Hills. There, in his Log Cabin above the Hollywood sign, she spent her days in the company of a succession of famous names. Captain Beefheart would jam all day with Zappa; Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful, Tiny Tim and many others all passed through. Pauline would work from ten at night to three in the morning, then get up at two. She also ran the fan club, the United Mutations, and looked after the GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously), a band who at the time were dancing with Frank in the live show. Pauline helped them record their album Permanent Damage, which has since become a cult 60s sought after classic. This is a thrilling, captivating portrait of a naïve young English girl thrust into the mad world of a musical legend. Her memoir gives a vivid window on the era, on Hollywood, and is the most intimate and revealing portrait of Frank Zappa ever written. ‘The book describes a formative time in the life of an innovative musical artist, which Zappa most certainly was. But it also captures a particularly intense experience of a very brief, yet enormously influential, period in the evolution of western womanhood.’ Guardian ‘The

insightful memoirs of Zappa's former secretary... Butcher paints a vivid picture of both the trappings of the LA rock lifestyle and Zappa himself, at once radical and reactionary; a complex man who saw himself as a commentator on humankind and was not always human himself (least of all the way he treated his band), who believed in free lust, but not for his wife from whom he demanded strict fidelity, who disdained plastic, ugly society but also drugs and revolution. Jagger and Clapton drop by; both are in thrall to Zappa, but Butcher maintains a healthy perspective on him in an account fascinating for Zappa fans.' Classic Rock ‘A fascinating insight into the life of Frank Zappa, it also stands as a wonderful fly on the wall account of a whirlwind era in the evolution of rock music. ClashMusic has gained a short extract, which includes a walk on appearance from a certain Mr M. Jagger and Miss M. Faithfull...’ ClashMusic ‘This is honest, accurate - and very well written. Entertaining and occasionally laugh-out loud funny, too.’ Andrew Greenaway, author of Zappa the Hard Way Material: finished copies (319pp). Sales: Plexus UK & US; Arcana/Elliot Edizioni Italy; BBC Radio 4 Play titled 'FRANK ZAPPA AND ME'.

pauline butcher (married name BIRD) moved back to England after her time with Zappa, studied at Cambridge University, and went on to teach psychology. She and her husband lived in Singapore before moving back to the UK in 2013. She has spent the last few years working on this memoir.

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ciaran carson EXCHANGE PLACE A bomb, a spy. A vanished friend. Multiple parallel worlds. ‘Exchange Place is gloriously uncategorisable. Robbe-Grillet would have welcomed it, as would Queneau and Perec, but Hammett and Chandler too would have tipped the brims of their trilbys in salute. A wonderful intellectual romp.’ John Banville He took out his watch and looked at it. He rested for one minute as timed on his watch. He opened the briefcase and took out a passport and a pair of spectacles. He put the spectacles on and looked at the passport, and realised he was the man in the picture. A gunshot rang out. Part thriller, part spy novel, Exchange Place is set between Belfast and Paris and tracks the individual movements of two men, John Kilfeather and John Kilpatrick, who are trying to solve a mystery concerning a lost friend, a missing notebook and a gun. But this is no ordinary mystery and the usual rules don’t apply. Appearances are deceptive; identities dissolve, become slippery; and it’s easy to lose track of who you are in the winding streets and passageways of the city. Ciaran Carson’s new novel is poetic, profound and gripping. It deals with identity and translation, with disappearing and reinventing yourself, with the effects of being continually observed – this is a mystery story that only Carson could have written. Material: finished copies (pp205). Sales: Blackstaff Press UK & Ireland; Del Vecchio Italy.

THE PEN FRIEND ‘Triumphant. Twisted and playful. The story is relatively easy to follow, which is not to say that it is not also a fiendishly intricate puzzle machine. This novel is an original creation. Technically complex but oddly simple, arcanely informative, humorously puzzling, sensible, sensational, compassionate, it deserves to win whatever prizes are going. For the Man Booker jury, here’s a book and a man.’ Brian Lynch, Irish Independent ‘If Seamus Heaney is the voice of rural Ulster, Ciaran Carson is the laureate of the urban North.’ Terry Eagleton, New Statesman ‘A novel not solely about the Troubles but also about the uneasy peace that has emerged since the Good Friday agreement and remains overshadowed by history. Reaches a climax of ingenuity and considerable power’ TLS More than twenty years after the end of their love affair, Gabriel receives an unexpected and cryptic postcard from his old flame. It is the first of thirteen cards from her, each one provoking a series of reveries about their relationship and prompting Gabriel to write a letter to his ex-lover in which he dwells in sensuous detail on perfumes, clothes, and conversations as he tries to recapture the spirit of their romance in 1980s Belfast. THE PEN FRIEND is, however, much more than a love story. As Gabriel teases out the significance of the cards, the layers of meaning in the images and messages, his reveries develop into richly textured meditations on writing, memory, spiritualism and surveillance. The result is an elaborate and intricate web of fact and fiction, a narrative that marries sharp historical insights with imaginative exuberance, a strange and wonderful novel confirming Ciaran Carson as one of Ireland's most exciting writers. The novel is also beautifully produced, with full-colour postcards throughout. Material: finished copies (224pp). Sales: Blackstaff Press UK & Ireland.

ciaran carson

was born in 1948 in Belfast. He is Professor of Poetry and Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen's University Belfast. His translation of the Old Irish epic TAIN BO CUAILNGE (THE TAIN) was published by Penguin Classics in 2007. He has published numerous collections of poetry that have been shortlisted for both the Irish Book Award for Literature and the Whitbread Poetry Award, and won the Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Poetry. He is the author of THE STAR FACTORY, a memoir of Belfast, FISHING FOR AMBER and SHAMROCK TEA. Previously Booker Prize nominated. Carson’s new translation of DANTE’S INFERNO was published to great acclaim.

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josé luis correa ‘Did someone say the roman noir had breathed its last? Correa shows the genre is alive and in very good health.’ La Verdad Digital ‘A skilled writer, a meticulous master of language, an exquisite storyteller.’ Teldeactualidad ‘The Canarian Marlowe, as intimate and full of humour.’ Berliner Morgenpost

BLUE CHRISTMAS The Day of Innocents is as good a day as any to die. So thinks Gervasio Alvarez when they tell him a corpse has been found. Andrea Merida, a soldier’s widow, mother of three, pensioner, has been poisoned with a cyanide capsule. No one heard or saw anything. There appears to be no motive for the crime. No one seems to gain by her death. So Alvarez calls on an old friend, asking him to come out of his voluntary retreat. Correa’s best yet. ‘The most interesting Spanish noir novel that I’ve read. José Luis Correa has managed to situate his bloodhound Ricardo Blanco among the top rank detectives in Spanish fiction.’ El País ‘A seductive Canarian thriller with magnificent dialogue. A tale that avoids the predictable, [with] a precise voice, full of small intimacies, [this is] a novel of magnificent dialogue that goes beyond the conventions of storyboards. A tale of high quality in its imagery, environment, situations, in the emotional baggage of the characters and the setting of a country in crisis.’ El Periódico ‘Correa has the ability to paint like an impressionist the colours of the distinct geographies that compose his town, one writer that knows how to write in the noir genre. Or better, utilises the noir crime genre to write a social novel.’ El Escobillon ‘Ricardo Blanco is one of those unique characters with whom one wouldn’t mind going out for a drink with to chat about the human and the divine, because one would probably agree with him on most issues, a character that generates a following among writers of the genre and fascination among readers. [Blanco] follows in the wake of those classic private eyes, Philip Marlowe’s Sam Spade, who in his turn served as an inspiration for Raymond Chandler’s Dashiell Hammet.’ Canarias 7, A vuelta de correo Material: Spanish edition (255pp). Sales: Alba Editorial Spain.

OUR LADY OF THE MOON (NUESTRA SENORA DE LA LUNE) A young journalist disappears without a trace; a pilgrim, seriously wounded, is found wandering in Tafira on Gran Canaria. From these seemingly unconnected events starts Ricardo Blanco’s fifth case. Priests hiding the truth, nuns who aren’t what they seem, lowlife extortionists and a sacred painting of great value which no one knew existed, are all part of a web of corruption. We find here a more intimate version of the detective and fans will recognise the agile, direct, ironic language full of the subtlety, humour and local colour. ‘With paragraphs full of ironies and subtleties, [Correa] leads us through the villages of the island and the streets of the capital in a plot in which nothing is impossible… We will continue reading the adventures of Ricardo Blanco, that’s for sure.’ LNE, Diario Independiente de Asturias ‘José Luisa Correa has a fluent and sharp style that constantly piques the reader’s curiosity… An inner universe full of cynicism in the style of Chandler, but with the originality [of] a Canarian Marlowe, [Correa] breaks established clichés that few authors dare to break and the result is spectacular.’ El Garito del Verso ‘Cinematic and sometimes frantic, the narrative flows; direct, natural, sincere and concise.’ La Provincia, Diario de Las Palmas ‘Did someone say the roman noir was exhaling its dying breath? Correa shows that the genre is in robust health.’ La Verdad Material: Spanish edition (349pp). Sales: Alba Oscura Spain.

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A TRACE OF THE SIREN (UN RASTRO DE SIRENA) Blanco discovers a girl’s dismembered corpse on the coast at La Laja. A tattoo and a necklace are the only things that might help him solve the crime, and they lead him deep into the world of prostitution and drug trafficking on the island. Correa’s great prose and dark humour guarantee his position in the Spanish literary landscape. ‘José Luis Correa explores organized crime for the first time in A TRACE OF THE SIREN, his fourth detective novel featuring Ricardo Blanco… A universal story that promises the perfect dose of action and adventure in his usual controlled and refined style.’ La Opinion a Coruña (239pp). Sales: Alba Oscura Spain; Del Vecchio Italy.

DEATH OF A VIOLINIST (MUERTE DE UN VIOLINISTA) The first violinist of the New York Philharmonic dies suddenly during a concert in the Auditorio de Las Palmas. ‘Readers will recognise some familiar traits: his disastrous personal life; his tendency to fall in love, his lack of interest in money. But in Death of a Violinist we get new information about his past. These elements, together with a great cast of secondary characters and a surprising final twist, full of drama, create a story that grips the reader and keeps him on the edge of his seat.’ La Voz de la Gran Canaria ‘Highly recommended… A formidable main character and a very well-crafted plot.’ Mis LiBlogs (301pp). Sales: Alba Editorial Spain; Tammi Finland.

DEATH IN APRIL (MUERTE EN ABRIL) This is Correa’s second novel starring Ricardo Blanco, lover of jazz, women, film and crime fiction, who is destined to become one of the greats of the literary detective novel. (223pp). ‘He has managed to create a new space in the competitive world of the roman noir.’ La Provincia Sales: Alba Editorial Spain; Unionsverlag ‘Metro’ Germany; Tammi Finland; Del Vecchio Italy.

FIFTEEN DAYS IN NOVEMBER (QUINCE DIAS DE NOVIEMBRE) ‘A contemporary version of Hammett’s Sam Spade or Chandler’s Marlowe from the Canary Islands, Ricardo Blanco is a cynical, crestfallen detective with a unique sense of smell and an instinct telling him nothing is as it seems. The novel also gives an extraordinary portrait of Las Palmas.’ Faro de Vigo (186pp). Sales: Alba Editorial Spain; Unionsverlag ‘Metro’ Germany; Tammi Finland; German Radioplay WDR; Del Vecchio Italy; Fama Bulgaria.

josé luis correa (Las Palmas, 1962) teaches at the University of Las Palmas in Gran Canaria. He has won many prizes for his writing including the Premio Benito Perez Armas and the Premio Vargas Llosa. www.jlcorrea.com

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gwynne dyer CLIMATE WARS AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER From one of the world’s great geopolitical analysts, here is a terrifying glimpse of the none-toodistant future, when climate change will force the world’s powers into a desperate struggle for advantage and even survival. Dwindling resources. Massive population shifts. Natural disasters. Spreading epidemics. Drought. Rising sea-levels. Plummeting agricultural yields. Crashing economies. Political extremism. These are some of the expected consequences of runaway climate change in the decades ahead, and any of them could tip the world towards conflict. Prescient, unflinching, and based on exhaustive research and interviews. ‘This is a truly important and timely book. No one, not even the IPCC, really knows what the world climate will be ten years from now, but we and our governments have to make intelligent guesses. Gwynne Dyer has made the best and most plausible set of guesses I have yet seen about the human consequences of climate change, of how drought and heat may ignite wars, even nuclear wars, around the globe.’ James Lovelock, British geophysicist, author of The Revenge of Gaia ‘Like a Stephen King novel, it's scary, but you can't put it down.’ G Magazine ‘Gwynne Dyer is one of the few who are both courageous enough to tell the unvarnished truth, and have the background to understand, not misrepresent the inputs. This book does a superb job of detailing the emerging realities of Climate/Energy. These realities are not pretty.’ Dennis Bushnell, Chief Scientist, NASA ‘Dyer writes in a direct and personal style… an engaging read.’ Jeffrey Mazo, Survival Journal Material: finished copies of Canadian and Australian editions (256pp); recently updated. Sales: Random House Canada; Scribe ANZ; Oneworld UK & US; Laffont France; Klett Cotta Germany; Citic Press China (simplified); Shinchosha Japan; AST Russia; Wealth Press Taiwan (complex); Hermes Publishing Bulgarian; Gimmyoung Korea; Spectrum NL; Marco Tropea Italy; Jarrous Press Lebanon; Paloma Turkey; Librooks Spain.

CRAWLING FROM THE WRECKAGE Nobody will admit it, but the world is getting better. At least compared to five years ago. Mortal threats still abound but Bush is gone, the terrorists are only background noise, people and governments are starting to take climate change seriously, and the Great Recession wasn't as bad as advertised. Gwynne Dyer traces his five-year transition from despair to faint hope through his columns, reworked into a coherent whole. (359pp). Sales: Random House Canada.

AFTER IRAQ: Anarchy & Renewal in the Middle East Published in Canada and Australia as THE MESS THEY MADE: THE MIDDLE EAST AFTER IRAQ ‘Dyer writes with easy fluency, with gentle, teasing wit, and with an intelligent balance between the populist and academic that makes his argument all the more persuasive.’ Irish Times ‘Dyer writes with a racy style and provokes as much as he informs. He leaves one amazed at the sheer incompetence of the American and British governments of recent years.’ The Independent ‘Not only does he place current events in a balanced and historical context, he also examines their significance in terms of the future.’ Courier Mail, Australia (267pp). Sales: McClelland & Stewart Canada; Scribe Australia; Thomas Dunne (SMP) USA; Yale University Press UK; Arab Scientific Publishers Lebanon; Campus Verlag Germany.

gwynne dyer

has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for more than twenty years. His twice-weekly column on international affairs is published by 175 papers in some forty-five countries and is translated into more than a dozen languages. He is the author of the bestselling IGNORANT ARMIES, WAR and FUTURE: TENSE. He is currently working on a history of Canada’s military background for Random House Canada, A CENTURY OF CANADA AT WAR. Born in Canada, he lives in London. www.gwynnedyer.com

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stephan enter WINNER OF THE CCS CRONEPRIJS, UTRECHT GRIP WINNER OF THE GOUDEN BOEKENUIL PRIZE WINNER OF THE F. BORDEWIJKPRIJS NOMINATED FOR LIBRIS LITERATURE PRIZE ‘Classic, rich and profound.’ Trouw ‘Reminiscent of W.F. Hermans. Enter achieves, with his vivid writing style, immortality.’ Het Parool ‘This is classically constructed novel in which Enter’s style combines with a flawless composition, strong characters, existential themes and a brilliant climax.’ NRC 20 years after their university years and their first climbs as a group of alpinists, Vincent, Martin, Paul and Lotte are going to be reunited. An incident way back then, on the Lofoten mountains in Norway, above the arctic circle, altered their lives in dramatic ways. Confusion still reigns about what really happened, and in the run up to the reunion the past is illuminated by each of them in new and often humiliating ways. Three men in love with the same woman, this is a mountaineering novel as well as a gripping tale of friendship and passion. Enter is a prose artist, you’ll want to read and reread this finely crafted novel. Material: Dutch edition (183pp); English sample available. Sales: Uitgeverij Van Oorschot NL; Berlin Verlag Germany; Iperborea Italy; Font Forlag Norway; Actes Sud France.

GAME (SPEL) ‘This whole book is for me a paradise of sensual sensations. Spel is beautiful, tender, impressive.’ Jan Siebelink GAME tells the story of Norbert Vijgh as he grows up in a protestant village on the Veluwe; we follow him from his ninth to his nineteenth year. Each of the chapters involves a game, from playing cowboys and Indians in the forest to mischief on the building site. But for Norbert these are serious games that teach him about the world. The first story hits you like a sledgehammer; it is a simple tale about a boy who plays Indians in the woods, a meeting with an African who is following a course locally; the establishment of a kind of friendship, after which, at an unfortunate moment, the African departs. GAME is written in a sensual, playful style that changes with each chapter. Through both style and story, Enter expertly evokes the emotions and feelings of youth. ‘The story is beautifully written with a great sensibility for the physical surroundings. Enter writes magnificent rhythmic sentences.’ NRC Material: Dutch edition (269pp); German edition; English chapters. Sales: Uitgeverij Van Oorschot NL; Berlin Verlag Germany; Chapter to appear in Words Without Borders; Chapter in Dalkey Archive Best European Fiction anthology; Turbine Forlaget Denmark.

LIGHTYEARS (LICHTJAREN) NOMINATED FOR THE LIBRIS PRIZE AND THE GERARD WALSCHAP PRIZE ‘In Lightyears Stephan Enter plays continually on two time levels. On one side there is the story of the present, the protagonist who faces the initiation ritual of his doctoral presentation and is inadvertently sucked into a series of happenings in which the ghosts of his past keep playing a central role. On the other side the researcher – who through his telescope studies events which took place in the universe a long time ago – relives his own past in the smallest details. The almost sensuous precision of the cherished memories show the cracks in that picture. Lightyears looks for a lost love, but at the same time asks how the relationship between two people fell apart and if the intensity of the love was perhaps to blame. Stephan Enter elaborates that classic theme subtly, through a play of motives and memories which make his novel into an enigmatic puzzle of elements. He avoids all superficial sentiment. The sentences are strung together associatively, in a slow rhythm, through his precise use of language, his continuous nuances and repetitions. This makes Lightyears a particularly successful and layered novel which compels rereading, rethinking and retaining.’ Libris Prize Jury rapport Material: Dutch edition (320pp). Sales: Uitgeverij Van Oorschot NL.

stephan enter’s 1999 debut was his highly acclaimed story collection WINTERHANDEN which was nominated for the Libris Prize and the Gerard Walschap Prize.

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olivia fane WINNER OF BETTY TRASK AWARD AND AN ARTS COUNCIL AWARD ‘Brings to mind comparisons with Shena Mackay, and, in her hero’s philosophical quest, with early Iris Murdoch.’ Times

THE CONVERSATIONS ‘Superbly ingenious – this book will make you think and argue’ Oliver James, author of Affluenza, Office Politics and They F*** You Up We have all known the heady thrill of a conversation that goes on all night. Once we had opinions on everything but as life becomes more humdrum we often lose that passion. This brilliant book encourages us all to think anew. Olivia Fane provides the starting points for 66 conversations to be had with a partner, friend, stranger, or simply ourselves. These thought-provoking and provocative short discussions on happiness, vanity, infidelity, education and more, ask you the questions that will help you get to know those with whom you share your life. Whether you agree, or vehemently disagree, THE CONVERSATIONS provides endless food for thought and a surprising window into some of the big subjects that define who we are and how we live. ‘Full of wisdom about how to live, what it means to be you and how to communicate that knowledge to the people you love.’ Andrew G. Marshall, author of I Love You But I’m Not in Love with You ‘This book is so unusual, and so good, that I want to spend as much time as possible just quoting it.’ Charles Moore, The Sunday Telegraph Material: UK hardback edition (261pp). Sales: Square Peg/Random House UK (paperback due April 2014); Nieuw Amsterdam NL; Droemer Knaur Germany.

ON LOVING JOSIAH Glorious, passionate, beautiful, uncontrollable Eve is in her early twenties when she checks herself into a mental institution. There, she meets Gibson, the gardener. They marry and have a son, Josiah, and bring him up in an unconventional idyll. But social services intervene and her beloved boy is removed from her, and ends up in a children’s home in Cambridge. He meets a professor of Classics and the two form a close bond but the professor is arrested and imprisoned on suspicion of abuse. It is left to Josiah’s mother, the irrepressible Eve, to save her son and his friend – and herself. A deeply moving, highly entertaining tale of family, love, loss and the limits modern society imposes, ON LOVING JOSIAH is also a brilliant satire, full of wisdom and insight. ‘A contentious subject, thoughtfully tackled’ Daily Mail ‘Fane unearths thorny moral ambiguities, forcing the reader to consider circumstances in which the unthinkable may be the only sound option.’ Publishers Weekly (315pp). Sales: Arcadia Books UK (WEL); Nieuw Amsterdam NL.

GOD'S APOLOGY ‘A very distinctive novel.’ Hilary Mantel ‘This extraordinary story is told very readably. There is a good spicing of satire and humour. Besides being a good tale, God’s Apology is something of an essay in natural theology.’ Tablet (240pp). Sales: Arcadia Books UK (WEL).

THE GLORIOUS FLIGHT OF PERDITA TREE ‘This book is a delight. I loved it. It is an extremely serious novel, posing as one which is simple and beguiling. It races along at a rate of knots, leaving the reader smiling, satisfied, and impressed.’ Fay Weldon ‘A captivating book – original, intelligent and very entertaining.’ Isabel Wolff ‘Fane toys with chick-lit conventions, but consistently focuses her smart, fluid prose and sophisticated thought on rendering a thoughtful, sorrowful and often highly amusing novel.’ The Times (368pp). Sales: Arcadia Books UK (WEL).

olivia fane studied Classics at Cambridge and worked as a probation officer before taking a degree in Theology. Fane’s combination of intellectual ideas and clear, involving prose won her a Betty Trask Award for LANDING ON CLOUDS, and drew comparisons with Iris Murdoch.

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paul gogarty and ian williamson WINNING AT ALL COSTS: Sporting Gods and their Demons What raises outstanding champions above their rivals? What drives our greatest sports men and women to jump further, run faster, play better? Journalist Paul Gogarty and Jungian-analyst Ian Williamson take an in-depth look at the devils and demons that force great sporting geniuses to push themselves beyond the limits. Aimed at laymen, the authors explore the psychological triggers that just might provide the electricity for some of the world’s most outstanding sporting successes. What Gogarty and Williamson discover on their journey through the stadium of the mind is that the seed of greatness and domination can also be a curse. Why did Dean Karnazes head off on a 1000-mile ‘fun run’ after completing his 50th back-to-back marathon in the US? Why so many pranks and pratfalls for Gazza and how come Michael Jordan retired from basketball three times when he was already universally acknowledged as the greatest player of all time? What makes Jonny Wilkinson and David Beckham practice endlessly? What made Mike Tyson graphically describe his aim in the ring to catch his opponent ‘right on the tip of the nose, because I try to push the bone into the brain’? And just why is it that Romanian striker Adrian Mutu insists on wearing his underpants inside out? This book follows the lives, the heroic feats, the wild behaviour and the relentless quest for perfection of some of the great sporting icons of our time. ‘A book that touches more intelligently on the cerebral nature of sport than anything similar I have come across.’ Guardian ‘It is a compelling and thought- provoking read, a challenge to the time-worn and widely accepted amateur psychology that is applied to sport.’ The Times Material: finished copies (242pp). Sales: JR Books WEL; Toho Shuppan, Japan.

paul gogarty is a journalist, television presenter, and award-winning author of THE WATER ROAD and THE COAST ROAD and regularly writes for many of the national newspapers. His personal sporting past is very much Everyman’s – a reasonable footballer, squash-player, hurdler and swimmer, lacking the necessary psychological profile to compensate for his ordinariness.

ian williamson

is a practising Harley Street child-and-adolescent Jungian-analyst who for 15 years, under the nickname Crazy Horse, captained Blackheath and was on the fringes of the England rugby team. He is also a former Cambridge Blue in rugby and general sporting all-rounder and obsessive.

For 30 years the pair have been close friends, viewing, talking and arguing about sport. The book is a result of those ongoing discussions.

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hwang sok-yong 'Hwang Sok-yong is undoubtedly the most powerful voice of the novel in East Asia today' Kenzaburo Oe ‘The author proves in a downright brilliant way, again and again, why he is seen in Korea as one the most important national writers’ Le Monde ‘Authors such as Hwang, who are amongst the most important writers in their homeland, try to ensure with their work and political activities, that the ideals of the past are not forgotten’ Duetsche Presse Argentur

PRINCESS BARI (BARIDEKI) The latest novel of Hwang Sok-yong’s to be translated into French, PRINCESS BARI is a book about immigration and harmony. It tells the story of a young girl, frail and brave, who escapes from North Korea in the 1990s, seeks refuge in China before crossing the oceans in the hold of a cargo ship and disembarking in clandestine London where all religions and languages mix. In London Bari becomes a masseuse, but she doesn’t just heal the body, she also comforts souls. Because she has inherited from her beloved grandmother the talent to read the pain and nightmares of others and to travel through dreams into the past and the future. She finds her way amongst other immigrants, finds love in the most unlikely place, and suffers set-backs that drive her close to the edge. And finally this young girl takes on alone, with confidence and persistence, terrible tests from ancient Korean shamanism: transfiguring an old legend where an abandoned princess travels to the ends of the earth to find the elixir of life which will bring peace to the souls of the dead. ‘Mixing the popular Korean legend of Princess Bari, the young abandoned girl who takes a long journey to the end of the world to find the water of life which will bring peace to the dead, with the fate of the book’s heroine, Hwang Sok-yong creates a magnificent female character who fights relentlessly to find her place in a brutal world. Poetic, hallucinatory, Princesse Bari is also and above all a beautiful novel about displacement, exile and immigration. A modern fable you urgently need to discover.’ Page des Librairies ‘Bari dives over and over again into black misery, described by Hwang in his inimitable modest and minimalist style, which makes the narrative that much more powerful. Bari’s personality - strong, positive, forward looking - allows her to overcome hardships to continually find ‘l'eau de la vie’. Hwang has given us a very beautiful contemporary novel.’ CritiqueLibres Material: Korean and French editions (256pp). English sample and synopsis (supported by English PEN). Sales: Garnet Publishing (for new international imprint, headed by Mitch Albert) UK; Scribe Australia and NZ; Editions Philippe Picquier France; Changbi Publishing Corp Korea; Iwanami Shoten Japan; Einaudi Italy; Alianza Spain and Latin America; Font Forlag Norway; Polirom Romania; CoLibri Bulgaria; Tiderne Skifter Denmark. Hwang Sok-yong has been published in Japan, China and Taiwan for years.

hwang sok-yong was born in 1943 and is arguably Korea's most renowned author. In 1993, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for an unauthorized trip to the North to promote exchange between artists in North and South Korea. Five years later, he was released on a special pardon by the new president. The recipient of Korea's highest literary prizes and shortlisted for the Prix Femina Etranger, his novels and short stories are published in North and South Korea, Japan, China, France, Germany, and the United States.

Previous novels include THE ANCIENT GARDEN, THE STORY OF MISTER HAN, THE GUEST and THE SHADOW OF ARMS. 20

radhika jha ‘Perhaps no Indian since Ruskin Bond has used the English language so beautifully.’ The Statesman

MY BEAUTIFUL SHADOW Radhika Jha’s novel is set in Japan, delves into its darkest heart but the novel’s themes are thoroughly universal. The female narrator belongs to a club, one that millions of women belong to. It involves beautiful clothes and accessories and is the most important thing in their lives. For Kayo it is an obsession, one that threatens to destroy her life as a good wife and mother. Reunited with her beautiful childhood friend, whose life appears so glamorous, Kayo is pulled ever deeper into a dark underworld of lies, debt, prostitution, even death. A powerfully atmospheric account of one woman losing her way and a mesmerising tale of consumerism gone mad. Material: pdf. Sales: HarperCollins India; Editions Philippe Picquier France; Sellerio Italy; AST Russia.

LANTERNS ON THEIR HORNS ‘Radhika Jha's second novel is about transformations in the heart and body of India - a highly affecting and finely crafted story. Lanterns is a seductive novel about the potential change beckoning hundreds of millions of Indians: a witness to India's complex interiors, and the revolutionary "churn" underway. This wonderfully warm and properly grounded novel is a great place to become familiar with it.’ Independent ‘Lanterns on their Horns is a marvellous book. Radhika Jha deals with that most serious of subjects, how to introduce modern methods to backward rural communities, with a sensitivity, a playfulness and an empathy which forces the reader to understand what is at stake. The village of Old Nandgaon will live on in the reader’s heart long after progress has swept its real life counterparts into the dustbin of history. Through the passions, the struggles, the ambitions and the tragedies of the inhabitants of Nandgaon, the reader begins to understand something about what is lost as well as gained when a poor rural village is dragged into the twenty-first century. Lanterns will change the way you think about the world’s poorest billion.’ Michael Ridpath (442pp). Sales: HarperCollins India; Editions Philippe Picquier France; Neri Pozza Italy; Beautiful Books UK; House of Books NL.

SMELL ‘Radhika Jha’s story is hard to let go: she writes this orphan’s tale with effortless immediacy, like Leela improvising one of her pungent, seductive feasts.’ LA Times ‘Richly described and erotically charged.’ Washington Post ‘Outstanding. A novel to rival Patrick Suskind’s Perfume.’ Punch ‘Her writing is generous, unbridled, sensual. In her company, one begins to rediscover Paris, its beauty, its mirages, its traps, with a roving eye.’ Le Figaro After the death of her father Leela’s family is forced to leave Kenya. Struggling to survive, on the streets of an alien city, she discovers an unusual quality in herself – her extraordinary sensitivity to smell. It gradually begins to colour her every emotion and response. Soon, the dark feral stench of her own body, her own fear, threatens to overpower her. (307pp). Sales: Penguin India; Philippe Picquier France; Neri Pozza Italy; Arena Holland; Soho Press USA; Quartet UK; Blanvalet Germany; Natur och Kultur Sweden; Dom Quixote Portugal; Diigisi Greece; Fuso Japan; Ediciones el Cobre Spanish; Alfa Narodna Knjiga Serbia; Leaders Publishers Korea; Editura Leda Romania; Janet 45 Bulgaria.

radhika jha is from India (born Delhi 1970), studied anthropology at Amherst College and did her Masters in Political Science at the University of Chicago. She composes and performs Odissi dancing. She has worked for Hindustan Times and BusinessWorld, as well as the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, where she started up the Interact project for the education of the children of victims of terrorism in different parts of India. She has just moved to Beijing after living for six years in Tokyo with her husband and two children. She has also published a short story collection called THE ELEPHANT & THE MARUTI from which the story SLEEPERS has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. She regularly contributes to anthologies and her stories are published in newspapers and magazines.

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prem shankar jha HARNESSING THE SUN A unique book that shows how money can be made while tackling the planet’s problems. Prem Shankar Jha applies all his expertise as a political economist to show how alternative fuels can not only help combat the worst consequences of climate change but also how governments and industries can make money out of green fuels. Against a background of growing evidence that the world might be heading not for a gradual warming of the air and a rise in sea levels, but an abrupt climate change – which could make most of the world uninhabitable in a matter of decades – the author explores the technological and economic feasibility of shifting to renewable sources of energy such as wind, solar power and methanol. “The neglect of methanol becomes harder to understand because it has always been recognised as a better transport fuel than gasoline”, writes Jha. Material: manuscript ready shortly.

CROUCHING DRAGON, HIDDEN TIGER: Can China and India Dominate the 21st Century? ‘Combining acute analysis of the history of capitalism and domestic weaknesses in the two fast galloping economies, he offers a caveat to assumptions about their ascent to greatness... Jha's healthy dose of pessimism comes at a critical juncture when Asia's two behemoths are pressing on with astounding pace on the road to modernization. His book is a reminder that dark realities and high human costs lurk beneath the glitter of spreading market economies.’ Asia Times 'A good choice for anyone looking to read only one book on the subject. It is clear, concise and backed by a lot of interesting recent history….Jha does away with a number of standard platitudes about Chinese and Indian growth.' China Economic Review ‘Of the recent books on India and China, this is the best’ Statesman The purpose of this book is to pour some much-needed cold water on the idea that India and China are in a race against each other to set the agenda for development in the mid-late parts of the twenty-first century. Both countries are in the early stages of transformation from pre-capitalist to capitalist societies and this transition is, by its very nature, turbulent, often violent. The faster the rate of economic change the less time it gives to existing social institutions to adapt. The greater therefore is the propensity for violent change. It is not by accident that the twentieth century has proved to be the most violent and dehumanised century in which it has been Man’s misfortune to live. This book examines the interaction of economic with political and social change in China and India as they have progressed down the road to capitalism, examining the social and political conflicts that the market has unleashed, and the success of the countries in containing them. Material: finished copies (279pp). Sales: Penguin India; Soft Skull/Counterpoint USA & UK; Neri Pozza Bloom Italy; Wenhui Press China.

THE TWILIGHT OF THE NATION STATE: Globalisation, Chaos and War ‘The test of a book about the current situation of the globe is not whether it is hopeful or disenchanted, but whether it helps us understand it. Jha’s strikingly intelligent, lucid and troubled book passes this test with flying colours. It is essential reading for the first decades of the third millennium.’ Eric Hobsbawm ‘A thoughtful, well-documented, and passionately argued account. It should be read by anyone who cares about the future of world society.’ Giovanni Arrighi Material: finished copies (373 pp). Sales: Sage India; Pluto Press UK; Chicago University Press USA; Neri Pozza Bloom Italy.

prem shankar jha

is a noted analyst and commentator: former editor of The Hindu, The Hindustan Times, The Economic Times and The Financial Express; advisor to the prime minister of India; author of several books including THE PERILOUS ROAD TO THE MARKET: The Political Economy of Reform in Russia, KASHMIR 1947: The Origins of a Dispute, and a regular columnist. He has recently been a Visiting Fellow at the Fairbank Centre at Harvard University and the Visiting Chair in India’s Political Economics at the University of Science Politique in Paris. www.premshankarjha.com

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angus kennedy BEING CULTURED: In Defence of Discrimination ‘Being Cultured is a strongly argued and clear account of what culture is, why it matters and why it is now under threat. Angus Kennedy lays bare the connection between culture and discrimination, in ways that leave the cultural shibboleths of our time in ruins. This is a book that ought to be read by all students of the humanities as well as the politicians, bureaucrats and impresarios who are responsible for cultural policy and who seem to have lost all sense of why and how there could be such a thing or what would be achieved by it.’ Roger Scruton, Philosopher Today culture is everywhere as maybe never before. We read culture reviews, watch culture shows, live in Cities of Culture, and witness the Cultural Olympiad. Government, museums and arts councils worry that we are not getting enough culture and shape policy around notions of art and culture for all. Access and inclusion are in. Difficulty and exclusivity are out. In Being Cultured: In Defence of Discrimination Angus Kennedy asks if this explosion of culture, and the breaking down of distinctions between high and low culture, has emancipated us or left us adrift without cultural moorings. Is it true that all cultures are equal? Is cultural diversity a good thing? Is it unacceptably elitist to insist on the highest standards of judgment? To argue that some cultural works stand the test of time and some don’t? Can anyone dare to call themselves cultured anymore? Might it even be the case that culture no longer actually means anything much to us? That our nervousness about exercising discrimination and good taste – the erosion of cultural authority – might have left us with a culture that may be open to all, but lacking in depth? This provocative book strikes a blow for discrimination in culture and argues that there is a responsibility on each of us as individuals to always be becoming more cultured beings: our best selves. Kennedy revisits the tradition – from Cicero to Kant, Arnold to Arendt – of autonomy in culture: both in the sense of its intrinsic value and how it rests on our individual freedom – quite apart from state and society – to discriminate and judge. Material: PDF. Sales: Imprint Academic UK and USA (Publication: April 2014).

angus kennedy

was born in Canada in 1968. He has degrees in Classics from Christ Church Oxford, in Linguistics from Birkbeck, and an M.Phil in Artificial Intelligence from Dundee. He is head of external relations at the Institute of Ideas and founder of its educational initiative, The Academy. He lives in Sussex.

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uzma aslam khan THINNER THAN SKIN WINNER OF FRENCH EMBASSY PRIZE FOR BEST FICTION AT KARACHI LITERATURE FESTIVAL 2014 LONGLISTED FOR THE DSC PRIZE FOR SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE 2014 LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN ASIAN LITERARY PRIZE 2013 ‘Smart, fierce, and poignant: perhaps the most exciting novel yet by this very talented writer.’ Mohsin Hamid (Author of ‘Moth Smoke’ and ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’) THINNER THAN SKIN is about identity and about belonging. It is also a love story: between a young Pakistani man trying to make his way as a photographer in America, and a girl of a Pakistani father and German mother brought up in the US who wants to 'return' in the classic diaspora way. They make the trip to Pakistan and what happens there will change them and their relationship forever and will be fatal for some. This novel is also a love letter to the wilds of Northern Pakistan, to glaciers, to the nomadic life of the indigenous people in the Northern territories; the old Silk Road, an area where China encroaches and Pakistani nomads, Uzbeks, Russians, Chinese and Afghans all mix together to trade. ‘In gorgeous prose, Khan writes about Pakistan, a land of breathtaking beauty, and the complex relationships between people who are weighted with grief and estrangement. As her characters’ lives play out against the backdrop of the external world whose violence gradually closes in on them, Khan brilliantly probes the fatal limitations of human understanding. A novel of great lucidity and tenderness, filled with splendid descriptions of the land, the people who have always inhabited it, and those who are irresistibly drawn to it.’ Thérèse Soukar Chehad, (winner of the 2011 Arab-American Book Award) ‘Human fates juxtaposed with a complex geopolitical situation make for an interesting read.’ Publishing Weekly ‘A story of love and identity, Uzma Aslam Khan’s Thinner than Skin is set among the magnificent landscape of glaciers, mountains, rivers and valleys in northern Pakistan and the indigenous Gujjar people, handsome, hospitable and in control of their destinies until the scourge of terrorism begins to destroy their lives. The novel delves into the emotions of grief and love as the author attempts to show how lives are unravelled without warning and individuals shaped by their environment. There are three parallel perspectives in this novel, as Khan navigates through the mountainous terrain (geographically and sensually) with the expertise of a seasoned adventurer — she is known not to stay away from fearlessly probing into relationships and what silently lingers within the private realm.’ The Dawn, Pakistan ‘It is a work of piercing beauty and intelligence, and an urgent novel for our times.’ Man Asia Prize Jury ‘Every once in a while, along comes a novel that one reads for the quality of its prose, Uzma Aslam Khan's Thinner than Skin is one such. It is clear from the get-go that the author is in love with words. Every emotion, every sight, every sound, every taste is mined over and over again for new analogies, fresh interpretations, in what one may well describe as a virtuoso performance - a master class in the art of creative writing.’ India Today ‘You don’t just read Thinner than Skin; you enter it, and inhabit it, to comprehend it. You’ll be richer, of course… The brilliant author’s best, thus far.’ First City ‘Here in the West we don’t receive many English-language novels by Pakistani women authors, so when we do we should pay attention… Thinner Than Skin has elements of quest, thriller, love story and legend, with unconventional characters.’ The Star, Toronto ‘The quality of Khan’s prose is deft and inspiring. Her analogies are extended, her descriptions poetic, thick with adjectives and metaphors. But, luckily for the reader, her sentences are not contrived. And all along, she tells the story well. This book is a must-read for all those who need to know more about the eclectic people and the riveting beauty of a land called Pakistan.’ TTS Newsline, Pakistan Material: US, Canadian and Indian editions (345pp). Sales: Clockroot/Interlink USA; HarperCollins Canada; HarperCollins India; Galaade France.

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THE GEOMETRY OF GOD WINNER OF BRONZE INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS BOOK AWARD 2010, FOREWORD MAGAZINE'S BEST BOOK ‘Elegant, sensuous and fiercely intelligent, a wonderfully inventive story that pits science against politics and the freedom of women against the insecurities of men.’ Kamila Shamsie ‘Uzma Aslam Khan, a fearless young Pakistani novelist, writes about what lies beneath the surface—ancient fossils embedded in desert hillsides, truths hidden inside the language of everyday life. In The Geometry of God, set in 1970s and ’80s Pakistan, a young math whiz called Noman writes pseudoscience for his father’s cohort of religious extremists while secretly gravitating toward the diehard evolutionist, Zahoor, and his adventurous granddaughter, Amal. As faith and reason fatally collide, Amal’s blind younger sister, Mehwish, tries to decipher a world she cannot see but understands better than most. Khan’s urgent defense of free thought and action—often galvanized by strong-minded, sensuous women—courses through every page of this gorgeously complex book; but what really draws the reader in is the way Mehwish taste-tests the words she hears, as if they were pieces of fruit, and probes the meaning of human connection in a culture of intolerance, but also of stubborn hope.’ Oprah Magazine ‘The characters, the poetry and the philosophical questions she raises are rendered with a power and beauty that make this novel linger in the mind and heart.’ Kirkus Review (384pp). Sales: Rupa & Co India; Neri Pozza Italy; Editions Philippe Picquier France; Alfaguara Spain; Clockroot Books/Interlink USA & Canada; Haus UK; Elan Vital Pakistan.

TRESPASSING SHORTLISTED FOR THE COMMONWEALTH PRIZE ‘We glimpse a Pakistan – that no writer in English has ever depicted before… a delicate erotic tale spun from threads of timeless myth.’ The Independent ‘A narrative as intricately patterned and vivid as lengths of top quality silk.' Sunday Telegraph ‘This sweeping novel of 1990s Pakistan, Khan's first to be published in the U.S., begins with a murder. Dia's father is killed, leaving her mother to run the family's profitable silk farm and textile factories. Most unlikely of all, Dia's mother wants Dia to marry not for social status but for love. Dia's story is interwoven with that of her cook's family, who moved from a coastal village to Karachi in search of work and now live among wealth but without it. And when middle-class but American-educated Daanish returns to Karachi to bury his father, he and Dia become enmeshed in a love affair that cannot thrive in its setting. Sections of the novel are told from points of view within each of the three families, giving readers insights from a variety of political, religious, and class perspectives. Khan tackles political and religious themes as adroitly as she handles the haunting love story, and what emerges is a brilliant, lush portrait of Karachi, a metropolis teeming with corruption, violence, and social tension.’ Publishers Weekly (448 pp). Sales: Flamingo UK; Metropolitan USA; Penguin India; Elan Vital Pakistan; Editions Philippe Picquier France; Europa Verlag Germany; Neri Pozza Italy; Alfaguara World Spanish; RBA Catalan; Van Gennep/Rainbow pocket NL; Psichogios Greece; Ambar Portugal; Ordfront Sweden; Alfa Narodna Knjiga Serbia; Det Norske Samlaget Norway; Bertrand Brazil; Carmel Israel; Polirom Romania.

THE STORY OF NOBLE ROT ‘A brilliantly spun tale… it has an ethereal quality reminiscent of The Tales of Arabian Nights… yet is rooted in reality and realism.’ Deccan Herald ‘Khan is creating a tradition and style of her own’ Outlook ‘An amusing, shocking, haunting novel… first rate’ The Tribune (217pp). Sales: Rupa & Co India (reissue 2009).

uzma aslam khan grew up in Karachi, and lived in Lahore, Pakistan. She has taught English language and literature in the US, Morocco and Pakistan, and has contributed to various publications including Granta, Counterpunch, The Drawbridge and anthologies. She currently lives in western Massachusetts. http://uzmaaslamkhan.blogspot.com

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rik kuiper & tonie mudde SCIENTIFIC TIPS FOR EVERYDAY LIFE Published in the UK as DUNK YOUR BISCUIT HORIZONTALLY In The Netherlands as: Volume - 1 DON’T LOOK AT BEAUTIFUL WOMEN IF YOU STILL HAVE THINKING TO DO; Volume 2 - NEVER MAKE YOUR BED; Volume 3 - MAKE MISTAKES AND FALL IN LOVE Men can be dramatically affected by the opposite sex. So much so that after looking at photos of beautiful women, they make lousy decisions. Struggling to concentrate, they will opt for instant money even though they know that waiting would deliver greater financial rewards. It’s a deviation that, according to Canadian research, has much in common with the behaviour of heroin addicts. Useful stuff, thought Rik Kuiper and Tonie Mudde. Since finding this out, the two journalists, editors of men’s magazine Quest, look away whenever female voices approach. Or at least they do if they still have important decisions to make that day. Together, the pair commenced a long search for all remarkable scientific research with consequences for everyday life. Collected here are their findings. Find out why:  showing people your right cheek makes you look more intelligent  just thinking about weight-lifting can make you stronger  Coca-Cola should only be drunk through a straw  drinking alcohol can be good for your career  peeing in the vegetable garden is a good idea  you shouldn’t make eye contact with birds There are tips for work, tips for your love life, tips for on the road, tips for a night out. But this is serious science, presented in a tongue-in-cheek style. This is not just a collection of funny research, but scientifically based life-changing tips for the everyday – for young and old, men and women, science-geeks and science-haters. An instant bestseller in Holland: ‘A book destined to pop up in your Christmas stocking.’ Volkskrant ‘Brings science close to home.’ Intermedair ‘Enjoyable. Wise. Funny. Fascinating. Revealing. Loved it.’ Ronald Giphart ‘Quirky but witty. Curiously intriguing and amusing.’ New Scientist ‘Delves into the stranger side of medical science. Bizarre findings from around the world.’ The Mail on Sunday ‘Bite-sized strange science. A great gift for anyone whose sense of humour encompasses both the scientific and the scatological.’ Physics World Material: various editions; complete English text of both volumes (a total of 222 tips). Sales: Podium NL; Volume 1: Eichborn Germany (published as WARUM MANNER NUR MIT PERUCKE FAHRRAD FAHREN SOLLTEN; Media II Serbia; Iztok Zapad Bulgaria; Summersdale UK; Znanje Croatia; Global Group Holdings Taiwan; NTV Yayuncilik Turkey (Volumes 1 and 2).

rik kuiper works as an editor of Quest magazine, Holland’s biggest monthly magazine. He also contributes to De Volkskrant, De Groene Amsterdammer and Vara TV magazine. In 2006 he won the Glazen Griffioen prize, the most important prize for young science journalists.

tonie mudde is also an editor of Quest magazine. In addition he writes for the NRC, De Groene Amsterdammer and various literary magazines. Mudde has won several prizes, amongst them the top columnist prize given by De Volkskrant.

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kolton lee THE LAST CARD ‘Firing dialogue, genuine believable characters and what impressed me the most is the scope of characters – from all walks of life. He cranks up the tension and keeps it simmering like the best film noir – one of the best “London” novels since Absolute Beginners. Kolton writes about a London we are all fascinated by but are scared to tread.’ Alex Wheatle ‘This impressive debut novel serves up spot-on dialogue, excels in explorations of how violence can escalate in the blink of an eye, and gives the tried and tested tale of a beleaguered man facing his demons a thrilling new twist in an unusual setting.’ Guardian ‘A simmering noir novel set in the sleazy end of the London boxing circuit and illegal gambling dens. He is a boxer past his prime, full of regrets and in debt to a vicious psychopath. He is dragged into a multiracial underworld of violence and extortion. Can he find a way out? Sweaty, brutal and powerful.’ The Observer H is a boxer past his prime. Haunted by the memory of the fight that should have made him great, he is chasing his dream through the seedier side of the London boxing circuit, losing fights against his untalented opponents, his wife and, ultimately, himself. When a gunfight at an illegal shebeen drags him down into a multicultural underworld of violence and extortion, H finds himself in debt to the sinister sociopath, White Alan. Only now does he realise that once and for all he must face his demons and enter the ring one final time. Set on the meaner streets of London that no tourist is ever likely to see, this striking noir thriller from a great new talent is authentic, fast-moving and entertaining. THE LAST CARD is intended to be the first in a series of novels starring H. Material: finished copies (260pp). Sales: Arcadia UK (WEL); Tünel Turkey.

kolton lee

is an award-winning British writer/director who worked in British television for a number of years. He has written for several popular programmes on the BBC and has directed a number of shorts. He made the highly acclaimed film American Mod in New York and his play An Evening with Michael Jordan was staged at the Theatre of Harlem. His feature film Cherps, (‘a brash indie debut...a fitting “Alfie” for these times…’ Variety), sold to the BBC, won Screen Nation's 2004 Best Independent Feature Award.

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christine leunens A CAN OF SUNSHINE SELECTED AS 'BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2013' BY NZ HERALD SELECTED AS 'BEST BOOKS TO GIVE AND RECEIVE THIS CHRISTMAS' (2013) BY NZ HERALD 'A compelling read that will resonate with any mother or daughter-in-law who wouldn't necessarily be friends, if not for their common ground.' NZ Herald ‘Everybody should pick up A Can of Sunshine by Christine Leunens.' Bookenz, Plains FM 'Is the rivalry between the proverbial mother-in-law and daughter-in-law really necessary or is it just an urban legend?... Christine Leunens tells the story in a masterful way as she sheds light on this swinging relationship... A Can of Sunshine is a novel about love, loneliness, and the joys, sorrows and conflicts that life places before us. But it is also and above all a novel about three generations of women, each of whom finds, in a different way, strength within herself to stand up and fight back, to recover and reinvent a life even when everything around them seems to indicate that there is no way out. A book about hope for the future.' Flanerí A new novel about a woman, her mother-in-law and a dog. Alternately hilarious and heart-wrenching, Leunens’s characters are so vividly drawn, they become part of your family. Nancy was not expecting to marry both Michael and his mother, the extraordinary, excruciating, witty and omnipresent Edith. Nancy specifically told Edith they didn’t want a dog but she brings an old smelly bulldog for her granddaughter Chloe’s seventh birthday anyway; Nancy and Michael finally get away to Fiji and who should appear? Did Edith fake a heart attack to manipulate her son to choose her over Nancy once again? Through joy and tragedy Edith remains a powerful presence in Nancy’s life and ultimately it is Edith’s example, the way she embraces life to the very end, that gives Nancy the strength to be herself and love life again. Material: finished copies (258pp). Sales: RSVP Publishing New Zealand; Editions Philippe Rey France; Meridiano Zero/Odoya Italy.

CAGING SKIES NOMINATED FOR THE PRIX MEDICIS 2007 AND THE PRIX FNAC 2007 ‘The best part of this interesting novel is its ability to show parts of our history which others dismiss: why suffering can make some people more sensitive but others more cruel, and how a war, such an outrage to human dignity, blurs the line between victorious and defeated.’ Elle ‘Fascinates and leaves a rare impression of strangeness and power.’ Le Nouvel Observateur ‘Leunens has created a powerful, imaginative and clever psychological drama.’ Nelson Mail, NZ ‘Totally compelling’ Woman’s Weekly, NZ ‘A disturbing and gripping novel that has haunted me ever since I finished reading it.’ New Zealand Books This extraordinary novel is seen through the eyes of Johannes. An avid member of the Hitler Youth in the 1940s, he discovers his parents are hiding a Jewish girl called Elsa behind a false wall in their large house in Vienna. His initial horror turns to interest, then love and obsession. After the disappearance of his parents, Johannes finds he is the only one aware of Elsa's existence in the house, the only one responsible for her survival. Both manipulating and manipulated, Johannes dreads the end of the war: with it will come the prospect of losing Elsa and their relationship, which ranges through passion and obsession, dependence and indifference, love and hate. This gripping, masterful work examines truth and lies at both political and personal levels, laying bare the darkest corners of the human soul. Material: finished copies (443pp). A NEW ABRIDGED VERSION AVAILABLE (310pp). Sales: Planeta Spain; Columna Catalan; Meridiano Zero Italy; Editions Philippe Rey France; Random House NZ; Yolimwon Korea. Film being made by Taika Waititi/Defender Films Ltd.

christine leunens

is originally Belgian-American, the granddaughter of the Belgian painter, Guillaume Leunens. She has a Masters Degree in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University and is an award-winning screenwriter. Her first novel PRIMORDIAL SOUP (1999), published in the UK and around the world, was described by the Sunday Times as 'a remarkable debut’. She lives with her family in New Zealand. www.christineleunens.com

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helen lewis A TIME TO SPEAK 15 March 1939: German troops enter Prague and for Czechoslovakian Jews, the terror begins. This is the story of one of the survivors. This best-seller is a remarkable true story with two acts; a tragic tale of horrors experienced by Helen as a young Jewish woman incarcerated in the German concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and a story of survival as Helen went on to carve out an extraordinary career in modern dance in her adopted home city of Belfast. Helen was awarded an honorary doctorate from The University of Ulster in 1993, and from The Queen’s University Belfast in 1996; in 2001 she was appointed an MBE in recognition of her work. An unforgettable book, this true story of courage, fortitude and joy is told without bitterness or anger. It is the timeless testimony. ‘Helen Lewis survived the greatest nightmare ever dreamed by man. Her story is appalling, mesmerising, and one reads with increasing gratitude for her clarity, honesty, and courage.’ Ian McEwan ‘What singles this book out from other first-hand accounts of the Holocaust is Lewis’s ability to see humanity where, in all fairness, she had no right to see it…. she refuses to dehumanise the very people who were trying to dehumanise her – a rare achievement for someone in her position.’ Guardian ‘It is a story of almost unbelievable suffering, but it is told in such a way as to leave the reader almost exhilarated … remarkable for its elegiac simplicity and lucidity, its irresistible momentum, its formidable integrity and its impressive lack of self-pity or rancour. It is short, approachable, gripping and patently honest … everybody should read it.’ Independent ‘Helen Lewis maps Hell and in doing so gives us an irreproachable work of art. The world needs testimonies like Helen Lewis’…a book of utmost distinction.’ Michael Longley ‘Only the dead know the whole truth and some of those witnesses who survived have taken upon themselves the painful task of speaking for them… This book is the testimony of a woman who has survived the unsurvivable.’ Jennifer Johnston ‘Told in a matter-of-fact style which at times belies the horror of her story . . . leaves a lasting impression, not so much of the terrible degradation and deprivation that was Auschwitz but rather of the little incidences of kindness, defiance and humility which, in the midst of all the heartbreak, continued to reflect the human spirit.’ Sunday Tribune Material: finished copies (144pp). Sales: Blackstaff Press UK and Ireland; Caroll & Graf USA; Einaudi Italy; Barrister & Principal Czech Republic; Planeta Manuscrito Portugal; Bertrand Brazil.

helen lewis

was born in Trutnov, Czechoslovakia, where she completed her grammar school education. She successfully auditioned for a place at Milca Mayerova’s School of Dance in Prague, and while studying there for her diploma; she began a course in Philosophy at the German University. She married in 1938, and in 1942, together with her husband Paul, she was deported to Terezin, the Jewish ghetto, and then to Auschwitz, where they were separated. After the liberation she returned to Prague to learn that her husband had not survived. In 1947 she married Harry, an old friend who had escaped to Belfast just before the start of the war, and settled there with him the same year. After the birth of their two sons, she became involved in dance again, choreographing for theatre and opera, and her teaching eventually led to the foundation of the Belfast Modern Dance Group. Helen Lewis died on New Years Eve 2009, at the age of 93.

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tessa de loo KENAU Haarlem 1572. Based on historical fact. Driven by grief and hatred, following the execution of her youngest daughter, Kenau leads 300 women in a heroic struggle against the Spanish invader, the women fighting side by side with the soldiers. But because she hides her pain behind a mask of indifference she also runs the risk of losing her remaining daughter. A story of grief and loss, of love between a mother and a daughter, rivalry between sisters and the making of choices. A story about a woman, her rights and possibilities during the time of the Eighty Year War between the Dutch and the Spanish, a rarely documented era. A major film of the story comes out in the Netherlands in Spring 2014 from Fu Works Productions, the team behind Black Book and most of the internationally successful Dutch produced films. Material: Dutch edition (290pp); English sample chapters. Sales: De Arbeiderspers NL; Edhasa Spain and Latin America.

THE TWINS (DE TWEELING) FILM OSCAR-NOMINATED FOR BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER ‘A flat-out masterpiece: exhilarating and unforgettable.’ Kirkus Review ‘De Loo engages the emotions of the reader for both her protagonists, involving us in their bickering and the catharsis they both crave… explores complex ambiguities of identity and blood and choice. Sensitive, intelligent and wholly engaging, The Twins grapples with the human cost of war, whatever the side.’ Sunday Herald ‘Completely original. Its poise, compassion and breadth take the breath away.’ Sunday Times (408pp). Sales: De Arbeiderspers NL; C. Bertelsmann Germany; Circulo do Lectores Spain; Kinneret Israel; Arcadia UK & USA; Karisto Finland; Eroika Czech Republic; Alfa-Narodna Knjiga Serbia; Pracownia Stow Poland; Giunti Italy; Minerva Nova Hungary; Nippon Television Network Co. Japan; Laffont France; Skanderbeg Albania; Bazar Forlag Sweden and Norway; JPV Utgafa Iceland; Sandesh Bangladesh; Bertrand Editora Portugal; Kronta Lithuania; Text Russia; RAO Romania; Gema Greece; Anhui Literature & Art China. Audio rights sold to Bolinda; Prunsoop Korea; Antolog Macedonia. Highly successful film made by IDTV.

DON’T BETRAY ME (VERRAAD ME NIET) One day thirteen year old Michiel, living in the picturesque Dutch countryside, finds himself near the hut that a group of older boys use as a meeting point; one of them is his older brother Wolf, fired up and drunk. Michiel watches in horror as his brother violently attacks a man, encouraged by the rest of the group. Wolf forces him to keep silent about what he saw. Brothers don’t betray each other. But the victim ends up in a coma. What should Michiel do? In this incredibly tense and disturbing tale, Tessa de Loo pulls you effortlessly into the emotional world of a thirteen year old as, amongst fear and wonder, the boy discovers his conscience. Material: Dutch edition (175pp). Sales: De Arbeiderspers NL.

ISABELLE Reissued by Arbeiderspers to coincide with the release of the film ISABELLE at the Dutch Film Festival in September 2011 starring Halina Reijn. The film was produced and directed by the makers of Oscar-nominated film based on her novel THE TWINS. In a mountainous region of France, the glamorous film actress Isabelle Amable suddenly disappears without a trace. Search parties find nothing and the case is soon abandoned. Only the village teacher Bernard Buffon won’t rest. Isabelle has been kidnapped by local barmaid and painter Jeanne Bitor. Driven by a fierce jealousy of Isabelle’s stunning beauty and success, Jeanne decides to starve Isabelle and capture her demise in paint. A tense psychological struggle between life and death ensues between the two women. But when a rapprochement takes place, are appearances all they seem? ‘This thriller is exciting from beginning to end. Tessa de Loo writes fluently and economically, managing to hook the reader completely.’ Journal für Literatur Material: Dutch edition; German translation (128pp). Sales: De Arbeiderspers NL; Film by IDTV.

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IN BYRON’S FOOTSTEPS (EEN VARKEN IN HET PALEIS) An absorbing contemporary travel adventure, Tessa de Loo recounts her expedition following in the footsteps of the infamous Lord Byron’s tour of the now harried terrain of Albania in 1809. Enthralled by the image of Lord Byron as a teenage girl, she sets about exploring not only his physical journey, but attempts to understand his inner one as well. The source of inspiration for Byron’s poem, 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage', sets out de Loo's path. In the midst of her gruelling pilgrimage, she herself undergoes something of a transformation. '[One notes] the seriousness and humour with which De Loo laces her contribution to superior travel literature. She gives her report in the form of letters to Byron (My dear friend, My dearest George) alternated with chapters where she recounts Byron’s journey. However euphoric De Loo’s report is not too affected, it stays lively and informative.' Vrij Nederland Material: Dutch, German, English editions (185pp). Sales: De Arbeiderspers NL; Pracownia Stow Poland; Bertelsmann Verlag Germany; Skanderbeg Books Albania; Haus UK.

DAAN: A Portuguese on Velvet Paws Tessa de Loo meets the dog of her life when he is just one year old. Daan brings meaning and contentment to Tessa’s walks, and together they discover the countryside around her Portuguese home. The reader is drawn into her stories of smuggling Daan in possadas, his fear of loud noises and his love of chasing midges. A very moving tale of a dog’s life, by a writer at the height of her powers. (136pp). Sales: De Arbeiderspers NL; Bertrand Editora Portugal.

THE BOOK OF DOUBT (HARLEKINO) ‘Imagination and violence play a big part in Tessa de Loo’s 6th novel, and the first “big” one since The Twins. It is also a very relevant novel. Harlekino takes on many contemporary themes: the clash between religions, displacement, migration, friendship. Together with the original theme of the search for identity, that makes Harlekino a great novel. The search for the father is described in such detail that the desert sand practically crunches between the pages.’ Parool Said has a Moroccan first name in memory of the virtuoso Oud player his mother fell in love with twenty years ago. When she found out she was pregnant, he ran off and returned to Morocco. Said decides to look for his father; his childhood friend, Hassan, accompanies him. Their starting point is a grocery shop in Fez. They follow the trail of the Oud player from the cedar woods of Ifrane to the red dunes of the desert to the high Atlas. Said’s search sends him deeper into the arms of Islam, where he tries to find something to hold on to. But there is a disturbing presence: a seemingly fictitious character from their imaginary land infiltrates Said’s. While Said desperately tries to get rid of him, different aspects of his life reach an apotheosis resulting in one final deed affecting man and beast alike. Material: Dutch edition (552pp); English edition (420pp). Sales: De Arbeiderspers NL; Bertrand Editora Portugal; Haus UK (WEL).

THE SON FROM SPAIN (DE ZOON UIT SPANJE) ‘A humorous novel written with great pace, that doesn’t miss its mark.’ Haagsche Courant (173pp). Sales: De Arbeiderspers NL; C. Bertelsmann Germany.

A BED IN HEAVEN (EEN BED IN DE HEMEL) ‘Convincing proof that de Loo is one of Europe's most accomplished novelists.’ Kirkus Reviews (144 pp). Sales: De Arbeiderspers NL; C. Bertelsmann Germany; Arcadia UK & USA; Karisto Finland; Eroika Czech Republic; Sandesh Bangladesh. (Previously Soho Press USA).

tessa de loo made her debut in 1983 with GIRLS FROM THE CANDYFACTORY (MEISJES VAN DE SUIKERFABRIEK). She has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. She lives in south Portugal and is one of the most successful writers in the Dutch language. www.tessadeloo.nl

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karel g. van loon ‘This remarkable Dutch novelist is not just one to watch – he is one to live by.’ The Times

THE INVISIBLE ONES (DE ONZICHTBAREN) ‘A timely novel by this talented Dutchman, The Invisible Ones, sensitive to the complexities of Burmese life, is as compelling an example of witness fiction as one might find.’ The Independent ‘A beautiful novel.’ De Telegraaf ‘A lyrical and evocative portrait.’ Irrawaddy ‘In the evening we will sit on the veranda and I will tell you about the events that have made me who I am: a blind refugee from Burma in a camp in the Thai jungle. Through my life story I will show you my country, the way you can see the whole garden in a dewdrop.’ Min Thien, a lawyer in a sleepy provincial town in Burma, does all he can to avoid confrontations with the military regime of his country. But one bad day he incurs the wrath of the district commander. From that moment on, he is shadowed, intimidated and thwarted. When his wife, after many barren years, becomes pregnant, he decides that he wants a different future for his child. In fleeing his country, he loses everything that is precious to him: his wife, his unborn child, and the sight in the only good eye he had left. THE INVISIBLE ONES is a gripping novel about the life of a refugee. Hair-raising descriptions of the fate of Burma’s political prisoners alternate with Buddhist mythical stories and moving memories of a carefree childhood. And just like the protagonists in van Loon’s previous novels, Min Thien is also searching for the true nature of love. Material: Dutch edition (256pp); German edition; English edition. Sales: Veen NL (original publisher); G. Kiepenheuer Germany; Norstedts Sweden; Arcadia Books UK & USA; Zalozba Tuma Slovenia.

A FATHER’S AFFAIR (DE PASSIEVRUCHT) ‘A whodunit of the heart, compelling, touching and peculiar.’ Michel Faber ‘This is a book that knocks Hornby and Parsons and a host of similar male novelists into a cocked hat. A Father’s Affair is heart-breaking, funny and wry.’ Sunday Herald Sales: Veen NL (original publisher); Gustav Kiepenheuer Germany; Norstedts Sweden; Albin Michel France; Grijalbo Spain; Patakis Greece; Cappelen Norway; Kinneret Israel; Gummerus Finland; Fazi Editore Italy; Kodansha Japan; Canongate UK & USA; Gendas Gerel Turkey; Host & Son Denmark; Pont Hungary; Metafora Czech; Queillerie South Africa; Alfa-Narodna knjiga Serbia; Dom Quixote Portugal; New Sprouts Publisher Taiwan; AST Russia; W.A.B. Poland; Record Brazil; Bard Bulgaria; HarperCollins Canada; Marjan Tisak Croatia; Globus R Albania; Edda Iceland; Pegasus Estonia; Madris Latvia; Serambi Ilmu Semesta PT Indonesia; Zalozba Tuma Slovenia; Musu Knyga Lithuania; Sodam Publishing House Korea; Humanitas Romania.

FILM RIGHTS WITH KEVIN LOADER, PRODUCER OF CAPTAIN CORELLI’S MANDOLIN, ENDURING LOVE, VENUS, AND MANY MORE. FILMING STARTING SHORTLY.

LISA’S BREATH (LISAS ADEM) Three central characters are all connected to the absent Lisa, who disappeared suddenly while on holiday in France, aged 17. For Talm, her boyfriend, she was his first love; for her mother, her only child; for her stepfather, the secret that is his undoing. But was Lisa kidnapped, did she commit suicide, or did she simply run away? LISA’S BREATH explores how characters cope in the vacuum that time cannot alter. Material: Dutch (240pp); German and other editions. Sales: Veen NL (original publisher); G. Kiepenheuer Germany; Norstedts Sweden; Gummerus Finland; Fazi Editore Italy; Pont Hungary.

karel glastra van loon died in 2005 of a brain tumour. He leaves behind a wife and three small children and books to be read and reread.

www.karelglastravanloon.nl

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joris luyendijk WINNER OF PRIX DES ASSISES DU JOURNALISME 2010; DICK SCHERPENZEEL PRIJS 2007; NS PUBLIEKSPRIJS 2007

HELLO EVERYBODY: One journalist’s search for truth in the Middle East (HET ZIJN NET MENSEN) Published in the US as PEOPLE LIKE US, in Australia as FIT TO PRINT ‘A genuinely honest book, which takes the lid off reporting, particularly foreign reporting and particularly of the Arab world. There are very few journalists who are willing to be so open about the truth about their trade. It's also very readable.’ Nick Davies, author of Flat Earth News In this huge bestseller in Holland, Luyendijk writes about the five years he spent as the youngest ever foreign correspondent. Fluent in Arabic, he spoke with stone throwers and terrorists, with taxi-drivers and professors, with victims, aggressors and their families, experiencing first-hand the effects of dictatorship, occupation, terror and war. The more he lived through, the more surprised he became. An enormous gap yawned between what he saw as correspondent on the ground and what he later saw in the media. Luyendijk shows through powerful examples and with great humour how the media gives us a filtered, altered and manipulated image. A book full of insights about the lack of objective journalism, media-led reporting, an eye-opening account of what’s behind the news. ‘Superb...This book will make readers think twice when they scan foreign news in the papers.’ The Sunday Business Post ‘The best book I've read about the media, the best about the Middle East, and every page is a pleasure.’ Simon Kuper ‘Written with great knowledge and humour. One hopes this will be read by everyone who has a fixed opinion or solution to the conflict in the Middle East.’ Trouw ‘Hold onto your hat and let go of your assumptions about journalism – disturbing, thought-provoking and ultimately profound.’ Norman Solomon, author of War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death ‘Luyendijk's reflections make for uncomfortable and contradictory reading; the best journalism should be nothing less.’ Antony Loewenstein, Sydney Morning Herald (219pp). Sales: Podium NL; Libri Hungary; Tropen Verlag Germany; Saggiatore Italy; Informations Forlag Denmark; Arab Scientific Publishers Lebanon; Scribe ANZ; Soft Skull/Counterpoint USA; Mladinska Knjiga Slovenia; Editions Nevicata Belgium; Profile Books UK; Grup 62 Spain; Eiji Press Inc Japan; Across Publishing Korea; Sonia Draga Poland; Paloma Turkey. FILM being made by Stefano Odoardi, international cast.

TIP OF THE VEIL: Islam for Beginners (EEN TIPJE VAN DE SLUIER) Must women wear the veil and men a beard? Must you chop off a thief's hand and a murderer's head? What kind of a man was Mohammed? Is Islam the new enemy? More and more people in the West are coming into contact with Islam. And there are many questions that remain unanswered. TIP OF THE VEIL is the ideal first step for anyone who wants to know more about Islam. In clear prose and with colourful examples Joris Luyendijk leads the outsider through the past and the present of the most rapidly growing faith in the world. Material: Dutch edition (107pp). Sales: Podium NL.

EGYPT: A Good Man Sometimes Hits His Wife (EGYPTE: EEN GOEDE MAN SLAAT SOMS ZIJN VROUW) Colourful, shocking, incredibly revealing and refreshing. Travel-writing with a difference. ‘Luyendijk is a witty, intelligent and expert writer who describes life in Egypt with compassion.’ Observant Material: Dutch and German editions (220pp). Sales: Podium NL; Europaische Germany.

joris luyendijk (1971) studied Arabic and politics at the University of Amsterdam and the University of Cairo. He was editor-in-chief of Move Your World magazine. He has published articles in NRC Handelsblad and Het Parool and was awarded the Journalist of the Year for 2006, selected from the top 40 most influential international journalists. He is currently employed by the Guardian writing a blog on the banking world. www.jorisluyendijk.nl

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jeffrey moore WINNER OF THE CANADIAN AUTHORS’ ASSOCIATION AWARD WINNER OF THE COMMONWEALTH PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST BOOK SHORTLISTED FOR THE ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD; THE ROGERS WRITERS TRUST AWARD, HUGH MACCLENNAN PRIZE, WORDSWORTHY AWARD, SUNBURST AWARD

THE EXTINCTION CLUB SELECTED AS ‘BEST FICTION BOOKS OF 2013’ BY KIRKUS ‘Animals don't have rights, and they don't torture beings for fun. So why do we call people civilized? Will leave readers swiping at tears.’ Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW ‘A fantastic genre-bending tour de force, as sophisticated as it is brutal.’ Heather O’Neill, author of Lullabies for Little Criminals ‘If you took a Jack Reacher novel, gave it a twist, and added equal measures of noir and offbeat humor, you'd wind up with something like this book… A memorable thriller.’ Booklist ‘Moore weaves strands of menace throughout. Chilling and horrifying, this is a novel to make you question the good in humanity.’ Time Out On an icy late-November night, deep in the Canadian Laurentian Mountains, Nile finds a burlap sack containing the bloodied but breathing body of a teenage girl. As the peace he hoped to find up in the north vanishes, Nile resolves to treat Céleste's wounds and is soon embroiled in her fight to stop the local hunters exterminating the wildlife – local hunters whose leader is about to come out of jail and who wants Céleste dead. THE EXTINCTION CLUB is a powerful depiction of wildlife plunder and of those who dare to oppose it; a darkly comic tale, in which urbanite Nile and the country-smart, near-genius Céleste teach each other about life and death, love and loss. Material: finished copies (368pp). Sales: Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Canada; Quercus UK; Bertrand Editora Portugal; De Arbeiderspers NL; Kinneret Israel; Maeva Spain; April Turkey; Tiderne Skifter Denmark; Payot&Rivages France; ISBN Edizioni Italy; Arcade/Skyhorse Publishing USA.

THE MEMORY ARTISTS ‘My book of the year – combines smartness with wisdom. Almost absurdly inventive.’ David Mitchell, Telegraph ‘Rich, erudite and funny. A pleasure to read.’ NY Times Noel Burun is a hypermnesiac and synaesthesiac: he cannot forget anything, and when people speak he sees their words as vibrant explosions of colour, his understanding dependent on the patterns he detects in their speech. His mother, Stella, on the other hand, has Alzheimer’s. Norval is Noel’s double: a full-time Lothario whose memory is tainted by an unfinished love story. He, along with JJ, trapped by nostalgia for his childhood, and Samirah, trying to escape a former identity, all have a role to play in Noel’s heartbreaking and often hilarious quest to find a cure for his mother’s condition. (316pp). Sales: Weidenfeld & Nicolson UK; Penguin Canada; St Martins Press USA; Marcos y Marcos Italy; Eichborn Germany; Prometheus NL; Maeva Spain; Editions Philippe Rey France; XYZ Editeur Quebec; Empiria Greece; Kinneret Israel; Bertrand Editora Portugal; April Turkey; Protolibris Serbia; Tiderne Skifter Denmark; Prunsoop Korea; Record Brazil; Janet 45 Bulgaria; Litera International Romania.

PRISONER IN A RED-ROSE CHAIN ‘The extravagance of the plot is matched by the exuberance of the writing.’ Telegraph ‘Reminiscent of early John Irving.’ Guardian Sales: Thistledown Press Canada/paperback Penguin Canada; Weidenfeld & Nicholson UK; Penguin Putnam USA (rights reverted); Serpent a Plumes France; Editions de la Pleine Lune Quebec; Eichborn Germany; Prometheus NL; Marcos y marcos, Italy; Acantilado Spain; Empiria Greece; Bertrand Editora Portugal; Prunsoop Korea.

jeffrey moore lives in the Laurentian mountains outside Montreal. As well as being one of the most highly acclaimed Canadian novelists today, he translates plays and film scripts and other literary texts from French to English. He was the Quebec Government’s writer in residence in London for Jan-Jun 2011. www.jeffreymoore.org

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mark mulholland A MAD AND WONDERFUL THING A first novel set in Ireland, about a sniper taking down British soldiers, but mainly a love story which speaks to anyone, anywhere, any time. Johnny Donnelly walks his own sure path. Then the beautiful Cora Flannery comes into his life and takes up residence in his head when he really needs to be focussing on the task at hand. Johnny and Cora share an intense and poetic love for each other and for the land that they were born into - the historic earth of Ireland. Combining tender and brutal drama - a braiding of love and war - A MAD AND WONDERFUL THING has a cast that includes a young man who is an apostle for the philosophy of Mary Poppins and yet kills for country, a young woman who believes that the gateway to the land of eternal youth is a hill on the edge of town, a caretaker who appears repeatedly in his green overalls and dispenses droplets of wisdom but who has been dead for years, and a teacher who takes a boy aside and brings him to battle. Written in a unique, seductive voice and giving a profound insight into the mindset of a committed freedom fighter (or terrorist, depending on whose side you are on). And all the while it is a wonderful, passionate and heartwrenching love story. It's about the ultimate cost of choice, a quest for universal truths; it's the story of one man's love for his country, of man's love for woman. ‘A Mad and Wonderful Thing is an extraordinary book; it confronts political and moral choices with a harsh brutality, but is, as well, a great love story.’ Readings (Australia) ‘Written with playful, light and poetic language that embraces music, a proud history, a beloved and wild landscape and the country's darker torment, the novel shifts mood effortlessly from tragedy to love story as swiftly as the Irish weather. It tackles the great moral paradox of its central character with deftness and sensitivity and changes gear, ramping up the drama to an unexpected thriller-style climax. A sparkling debut that celebrates the vitality, resilience and humanity of Ireland.’ Booktopia Material: edited text. Sales: Scribe UK & ANZ.

mark mulholland grew up in Ireland. He lives in France with his family in Manoir Caubeyran, the second place he and his wife have renovated in the Gironde - www.gasconmanoir.com - which they run as a hotel and an English language teaching centre for students. Mark has worked in industry, local development, aerospace and the hospitality business in Ireland. A MAD AND WONDERFUL THING is his debut, he is at work on his second novel. markmulholland.org

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willem jan otten WINNER OF THE INKTAAP WINNER OF THE LIBRIS PRIZE WINNER OF THE CONSTANTIJN HUYGENSPRIZE

THE PORTRAIT (SPECHT EN ZOON) ‘Willem Jan Otten surpasses himself in his new novel. It sings in places, more than I have ever heard before. Not Gregorian chants but Ottenorian. Read this book with your ears wide open.’ Vrij Nederland ‘Wonderfully the canvas is not the only main character in Specht en Zoon, there is also the painter Felix Vincent with his shame, confusion and doubt. His struggle with the commission he has received is what ultimately makes this a novel that doesn’t just lead you to believe but also to think. As is the purpose of literature.’ NRC Handelsblad ‘Otten has hit a nerve.’ Trouw ‘Singular metaphor of birth and disappearance, fascinating questioning on the meaning of life, Specht en Zoon depicts a reality in suspension commonly shared by each and every one of us. This original and fascinating narrative brings us to devour the book just as you would eagerly eat every single day you have left to live.’ La Gazette ‘Otten goes into the darkest of places. A great book.’ Le Figaro ‘Otten’s novels are captivating puzzles which never cease to arouse the reader’s curiosity through an ingenious construction.’ Septentrion ‘This new novel is once again confirmation of Otten’s great talent.’ Nederlands Dagblad This is a short and extremely powerful new novel from one of Holland’s greatest living writers. Reminiscent of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray – a novel narrated by a canvas, an extraordinary eye-witness and participant in an incredible story. A young painter, loved for his fine and true-to-life portraits, receives a commission that is unlike any he’s had before: to make a portrait of a dead boy. ‘You will save a life with it,’ says the boy’s extremely rich father. The painter knows he will have to surpass himself. He takes on the job. Who was the boy? Why is he dead? Why, when the painting is finished, does the father not come to collect it? And why is the painter actually making this painting? SPECHT EN ZOON is an extraordinary and thrilling novel about the desire to bring someone into the world. It is also about love and death, betrayal and trust, truth and falsehood, lies and honesty. Otten, with all the story-telling talent he has at his disposal, plays with secrets and riddles that the reader can only unravel at the very end. Ten years after his last novel (NOTHING WRONG WITH US) Otten once again shows that he can write an ingenious, contemporary and truly gripping novel in a much shorter space than many of his peers. Material: Dutch, Australian, German, Swedish and Italian editions (143pp). Sales: Van Oorschot NL; S Fischer Verlag Germany; Iperborea Italy; Gallimard France; Bonniers Sweden; Munhakdongne Korea; Scribe UK & ANZ; SC Humanitas Romania.

willem jan otten has written novels, poetry, prose, theatre, reviews and essays. In 1999 he won the Constantijn Huygensprize for his whole oeuvre. Of his previous novel ONS MANKEERT NIETS (NOTHING WRONG WITH US), De Volkskrant said: ‘A writer really has a great deal to offer if he succeeds in seemingly effortlessly dealing with such a complex and serious theme in a solid, supple, excitingly paced story’. His latest book is a novel in verse called THE STAIN.

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annette pas A STRANGE INTIMACY (‘s NACHTS DOE IK ALSOF) It would seem that Liesbeth has everything she has ever dreamed of: a beautiful house, a glittering career and above all Paulus, her handsome and successful fiancé. It is only in the bedroom that things aren’t working. To save her upcoming marriage, sweet well behaved Liesbeth decides to throw all her neat middle class values out the window and go find Philomena, an old university friend become arch enemy who inhabits an underworld of decadent affairs and perverse obsessions. Philomena will be able to teach her how to have an orgasm. Her evening with Philomena has dramatic consequences and enflames previously unknown passions in Paulus. Liesbeth, who just want to be a respectable housewife and mother, is forced to live a bloodcurdling double life because, if she wants to hold on to Paulus, it is going to take a lot more than fishnet stockings and suspenders. Paulus and Liesbeth get caught up in a dangerous game where the lines between pain and lust, passion and insanity become blurred. Behind the closed doors of their beautiful house Liesbeth has to break love’s last taboo… A biting, intense, often hilarious, brave and highly intelligent satire on today’s world, its obsessions, passions, ignorance and misunderstandings. A beautifully crafted, extremely insightful literary novel. Never before have the tragic and the comic been so ingeniously interwoven. Material: finished copies of Dutch edition; complete English translation. Sales: Prometheus NL.

THE COUNTRY WHERE I LOVE YOU Set against the rise of right-wing politics, this first novel charts the developing friendship between an older, scatty maths professor, Jean-Claude, and his dead brother's traumatised little daughter Bérénice whom he adopts, despite knowing nothing of children or women. He nurses her (and in the process himself) back to life. It is moving, engaging, centres on thoroughly universal themes and gives a hilarious portrait of Belgium. ‘This is that rare thing – a novel so full of energy, so endlessly inventive, so completely distinctive, that every page holds surprises. Compare it to Benigni's portrait of a traumatised world in La vita e bella, for here too is a world one should weep over. But then, like Benigni, Pas proves that laughter is the only real weapon in the fight against despair. It is the tragedy of clowns – ridiculous and undignified in form, yet never lacking pathos or genuine humanity. It is a book that enables both the foolish and the wise to learn forgiveness.’ Dr J D Ballam, University of Oxford, Director of the Diploma in Creative Writing ‘A marvellous first novel. Hilariously funny and deliciously dark yet heart-breakingly honest. If Brueghel had turned his hand to writing, this would have been it – a carnivalesque celebration of life, an enchanting troubadour's tale of kings and rascals, wise fools and truthful cheats, where the comic and the tragic walk hand in hand.’ Prof Em. Michael Reynolds, professor in Psychology, Lancaster University, UK Material: original English manuscript; Dutch language edition (336pp). Sales: Uitgeverij Vrijdag Belgium and the Netherlands; film being made by Julien Vrebos, script by Pas.

annette pas

writes in English but is half-Belgian, half-Dutch, currently living partly in Belgium and Paris. She gained her PhD in Psychology from the University of Lancaster, in which she developed a methodology to study collective-learning processes, helping families with children in need, or ‘at risk’, to improve their situation, part of the Integrated Children's Services project in the UK set up to study child-abuse cases. She's written academic texts about education, politics, culture and dialogue. She graduated from Oxford University with a Masters degree in Creative Writing. While at Oxford, she also wrote and performed pieces in comedy programmes on student radio. She is currently at work on a novel based on Breughel.

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john richardson DREAM ON: One Hacker’s Challenge to Break Par in a Year AMAZON #1 SPORTS BOOK BESTSELLER Famed Scottish golfer and commentator Sam Torrance told John Richardson to "dream on," when Richardson told him he was determined to break par in a year. John was a typical weekend golfer with a wife, a daughter, a full-time job – and a goal. DREAM ON: ONE HACKER’S CHALLENGE TO BREAK PAR IN A YEAR is the true story of how John Richardson went from being an average 24-handicapper to breaking par (72) in one year's time at the local golf course while working a demanding job and trying his best to remain a good husband and father. The author imagines his hero the legendary golfer Seve Ballesteros as his guide – Seve is there by his side while practicing and while playing. Seve nods approval when he does well, frowns and walks away in anger when he doesn’t. Richardson was told by virtually everyone he came across that it couldn't be done. DREAM ON is the hilarious and inspiring story of how John achieved the seemingly impossible from how the initial challenge took shape and the methods he used to dramatically improve his game to that glorious day, less than one year later, when he broke par and played the best round of his life. ‘Well done young man!’ Sam Torrance, BBC commentary during the Open at Turnberry ‘While the overwhelming majority of us would be content with the occasional miracle in a thousand efforts, the author went after 70 of them. Consecutively. Yes, the Ulsterman made it his mission to go from being unable to break 100, to breaking par in the space of a year. And not only that, but the self-avowed slob in his late thirties would do so while holding down a full-time job as well as bringing up a family. As Sam Torrance said when he heard of the project, 'Dream On!' Thus the Scot gave Richardson his title, if not some extra incentive.’ James Corrigan, Golf Correspondent, The Independent ‘For golfers [John's] achievement is already being marvelled at and studiously picked over for any nugget of information that will help them improve. But whether you are a golfer or not, John's story is a lesson for life. It may be the cliché of all clichés but if you believe in something and work hard for it, then you can achieve it.’ Irish Times ‘A great, heart-warming story…Read it and see how you can turn your golfing dreams into reality.’ Irish Independent Material: finished copies (192pp). Sales: Blackstaff Press UK & Northern Ireland; Skyhorse Publishing USA; Riva Verlag Germany; Film rights: Artifice Media, director Farren Blackburn, starring Richard Coyle, Sienna Guillory, Sam Torrence for release in 2014.

john richardson worked for more than fifteen years in the coffee-bar and restaurant industry, at one time running the largest sandwich business in Ireland. He used his experience to write Wake Up and Smell the Profit: 52 Guaranteed Ways to Make Money in Your Coffee Business and The Coffee Boys’ Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Managing Your Own Coffee Bar. A keen golfer, he lives with his wife and daughter in Bangor, Northern Ireland.

www.dreamongolf.com

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joydeep roy-bhattacharya THE WATCH NOMINATED FOR INTERNATIONAL IMPAC 2014 LONGLISTED FOR THE DSC PRIZE FOR SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE 2013 SHORTLISTED FOR CRITICOS PRIZE 2013 SHORTLISTED FOR BOEKE PRIZE 2012 PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY BEST FICTION 2012 SELECTED AS ONE OF 'THE 10 BEST CONTEMPORARY WAR NOVELS' BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 'We watch as the resistance of an isolated American garrison in Afghanistan is ground down, not by force of arms but by the will of a single unarmed woman, holding inflexibly to an idea of what is just and right.' JM Coetzee 'An important book for our times, in which one woman's determination and refusal to consent sets an example of courage and honesty.' Giles Foden ‘It’s the best novel about post-invasion Afghanistan that I've come across.' Fatima Bhutto Following a desperate night-long battle, a group of beleaguered soldiers in Kandahar are faced with a lone woman demanding the return of her brother's body. Is she a spy, a black widow, a lunatic or what she claims to be: a grieving sister intent on burying her brother according to local rites? The camp's tense, claustrophobic atmosphere reaches boiling point as the men argue about what to do next. THE WATCH takes an age-old story-the myth of Antigone-and hurls it into present-day Afghanistan. The result is a gripping, deeply affecting book that brilliantly exposes the realities of war. (304pp). Sales: Hogarth Press (an imprint of Random House) US; Hogarth Press (an imprint of Random House) UK; Knopf Canada; Random House Australia; Random House India; Edicije Bozicevic Croatia; De Geus NL; Gallimard France; Polirom Romania.

THE STORYTELLER OF MARRAKESH SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2011 CROSSWORD PRIZE ‘An enigmatic fable in the tradition of The Thousand and One Nights, an extended examination of its own narrative in which the stories within the stories come to resemble an intricate, miniaturist design.’ The New York Times Book Review ‘He weaves language as mystical as the Jemaa.’ The Stateman, New Delhi Each year, the storyteller Hassan, gathers listeners to share their recollections of a young, foreign couple who mysteriously disappeared years earlier. Hassan hopes to shed light upon the truth to absolve his own brother, who is in prison for their disappearance. As testimonies circle an elusive truth, the couple takes on an air as enigmatic as their fate. The first in an ambitious cycle of novels, it is an elegant exploration of the nature of reality and our shifting perceptions of truth. Joydeep is now working on a second book in this vein, set in the oldest literary cafe in the Middle East, the Shahbandar Café in Baghdad, destroyed by a truck bomb in March 2007. (350pp).

Sales: Norton US; Alma UK; Mondadori Italy; De Geus NL; Trivaks Enterprises/Matar Israel; AST Russia; Ogikr Graficki Atelje Dereta Serbia; Inkilap Kitabevi Turkey; Lambook Maciej Sroga Poland; Enthusiast Bulgaria.

THE GABRIEL CLUB SHORTLISTED FOR THE CROSSWORD PRIZE; SELECTED AS ‘10 BEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR’ BY PUBLISHING NEWS ‘An impressive debut, serious and passionate.’ JM Coetzee ‘The Danube, in this novel, has become a landscape of the soul, an interior landscape for the melancholic and passionate solitude and uncertainty which is the destiny of human life on the banks of this river in the terrible meeting with the violence of its mystery.’ Claudio Magris A meditation on the fall of communism, a love story and a nerve-racking literary mystery. (320pp). Sales: Granta UK; Penguin India; Knaus Germany; Prometheus Holland; Europa Hungary; Actes Sud France; Edhasa Spain; Neri Pozza Italy.

joydeep roy-bhattacharya was born in Jamshedpur, India, and educated in philosophy and politics at Presidency College, Calcutta, and International Relations and German philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in upstate New York. He is writing a new novel set in Iran. www.joydeeproybhattacharya.com

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mario sabino THE VICE OF LOVE (O VICIO DO AMOR) ‘Mario Sabino creates a seductive scoundrel. In its irony and intensity, it is spot on. The main character seduces. His cantankerous speech becomes endearing.’ Folha de Sao Paulo ‘Sabino handles his material cleverly and uses all the literary possibilities available to him very well. DE ZONDE DIE LIEFDE HEET is an intellectual amusement park that invites you to reread the novel and that feeling is rare.’ Knack Focus ‘More than worth a read.’ De Volkskrant Sabino’s brilliant second novel. In the first part the narrator demolishes any sense of morality one may think to find in the world of work. He’s been commissioned to write an article on the world of work for a literary magazine. He mocks Max Weber, Marx and others who talked about dignity and transcendence through work – according to the narrator just ways to cover up the existential misery of employees as well as bosses. The narrator initially appears anti-Semitic but later declares himself to be a Jew. Actually, he is angry because his father left his Catholic mother and his only son in poverty, just after formally converting the little boy to Judaism. In the second part the narrator reveals that the magazine refused to publish his hilarious article but he continued writing nonetheless and the article became a book in which he tells of his hateful mother, how he failed to love two women, how bad he is as a writer, how dreadful being a journalist is - and how he moved to Rome after receiving a huge inheritance from his missing father. In the third and last part, he describes his "dolce vita" in Rome. Here he meets a dazzling young Jewish woman who is involved in pro-Palestinian activism. The narrator feels he has finally found love but nothing is as it seems and in the end he learns some very bitter truths. Sabino's novel intertwines literature, philosophy, history and religion to bring to the reader a complex and darkly comic picture of the modern world. Material: Brazilian edition, with preface by João Pereira Coutinho; complete English translation available. Sales: Record Brazil; Ambo Anthos NL.

THE DAY I KILLED MY FATHER ‘The day I killed my father was a bright day, although the light was hazy, without shadows or contours.’ So begins a work of suspense, tragedy, and profound reflections on the human soul that marks the unforgettable debut of Mario Sabino, one of Brazil’s most exciting novelists. In charming and chilling prose, Sabino draws the reader directly into the mind of a man who has committed patricide. Readers will hang on every word of this bold and stark book, which calls on complex themes of religion, philosophy, and literature in seeking to understand the nature of evil. Part psychological thriller, part intellectual puzzle, this novel plays on some of humankind’s most profound archetypes and fables, all the while lulling the reader with the brilliance of its voice. ‘Mario Sabino handles his subject with humour and imagination.’ Epoca ‘You read it in one go because of the well-crafted dialogue, the pace, the sharp insights, the refined build-up, and the black humour … which at the end becomes in a surprising way an almost-tenderness.’ Trouw ‘I couldn’t put the book down. Chilling and sad, even on the same page, this book is one of the best I have read for a long time.’ Readings Australia ‘Well written, conveying the sense of something splendid and ceremonial, and also a slow-motion dreadfulness. It is absorbing and at times quite funny, and it left me feeling decidedly spooked.’ The Australian Material: Brazilian edition (224 pp); Italian, Spanish and Australian editions. Sales: Record Brazil (originating publisher); Saida de Emergencia Portugal; Frassinelli Italy; Nuevo Extreme Argentina; Editions Metailie France; Ambo Anthos NL; Scribe UK & ANZ; Munhak Soochop Korea; Humanitas Romania; Jota Czech Republic.

mario sabino

was born in São Paulo in 1962. He is editor-in-chief of Veja, Brazil’s most influential weekly magazine. In 2005 he published O ANTINARCISO (THE ANTI-NARCISSUS), a collection of twelve tales on the theme of loneliness, and it won the Melhor Livro de Contos de 2005 prize (Fundacao Biblioteca Nacional). In 2009 came a second collection THE MOUTH OF TRUTH. His stories have appeared in English in The Drawbridge, Words Without Borders and Portal 9. www.mariosabino.com.br

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parinoush saniee SAHME MAN (THE BOOK OF FATE) WINNER OF THE BOCCACCIO PRIZE IN ITALY NOTABLE BOOK OF 2013 – WORLD LITERATURE TODAY ‘…this is a monumental achievement… Books like this bring us the world, and are to be savoured.’ The Irish Examiner ‘Saniee gives a voice to all the Iranian women who are victims and prisoners of domestic violence, tradition and men's abuses... Saniee's women are contemporary heroines who fight to obtain civil rights even if that can cost them their lives.’ Cultura ‘Delightful and frank. A bold and sincere portrayal of injustices so masterful that no oppressive court can logically or openly ban its publication. Tyranny openly admissible in backward societies towards women and yet the overwhelming protection offered to men by the “current tradition” are articulated through fictional characters. From start to finish, it is a privation tale of Iranian women who will not give up and continue to strive for their rights.’ Bokhara Magazine, Iran ‘an ode to women, not just of Iran but of societies all over the world, who have had to struggle to get their basic rights.’ Gulf News This is a story of an Iranian girl who finds love on her way to school. When found out, she is forced into marriage to a political dissident during the last days of the Shah’s regime but is widowed when her husband is executed at the hands of the new regime. She is left to fend for herself and her young children. When, years later her first love reappears, she is faced with indignation from her three grown up children. Should she put her own feelings first or those of her children? This is an extremely moving and powerful tale of women in Iran, beginning before the revolution of 1979 through the Islamic Republic to the present. It tells the story of the changing fortunes of one family and in particular of Massoumeh, the daughter. Through the highs and lows, having children and finding work (and losing it again because of political change), the changing attitudes in Iran are vividly depicted through the characters. This is a fascinating and revealing window on recent Iranian history. It is a story of strong women fighting for what they want against huge odds, a story of friendship and passion, of religious oppression but also of love for the country. One of the best ever selling books in Iran. Material: Iranian, English, Italian, Norwegian, Arabic, German, Romanian and several other editions (447pp). Sales: Roozbahan Iran; Abacus/Little Brown UK; Garzanti Italy; Font Forlag Norway; Gyldendal Denmark; Janet 45 Bulgaria; Knaus Verlag Germany; Salamandra Spain; Polirom Romania; Artemis/AmboAnthos NL; Arab Scientific Publishers Lebanon; Laffont France; Alnari Serbia; Munhaksegye-Sa Korea; Corpus Russia; Aras Publishing Kurdish rights; Shoshi Kankanbo Japan; Sonia Draga Poland; Tericum Hungary; Martı Publishing Turkey; House of Anansi North America; Bertrand Editora Portugal; Tammi Finland; Bertrand Brasil Brazil; Qanun Azerbaijan; Kultura Macedonia.

PEDAR-E AAN DIGARI (FATHER OF THE OTHER ONE) This is the story, based on fact, of a boy who couldn’t speak till the age of 7. He is now 20 and describes the events of his life. Silence is often used by children as a way to protest. The child's physical disability creates a distance between him and others. His relationship with his father is particularly difficult. As he observes and compares his father’s relationship with his older brother, he begins to believe that the ‘good’ and ‘intelligent’ children like his older brother are their fathers’ sons. Children like him, who are ‘clumsy’ and ‘problematic’, are their mothers’ sons. It is the love and understanding his grandmother gives him that finally gives him the courage to speak. Material: Iranian edition; Norwegian edition; Romanain edition. (283pp) Sales: Roozbahan Iran; Garzanti Italy; Font Forlag Norway; Polirom Romania.

parinoush saniee

is a sociologist and psychologist. She worked as Manager of Research department in Supreme Coordination Council for Technical and Vocational Education (SCCTVE) Ministry in Iran. She has written several novels, of which SAHME MAN is the first; PEDAR-E AAN DIGARI is the second – also published to great acclaim in Iran; others are awaiting approval by the censorship board.

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mineke schipper ADAMS AND EVES EVERYWHERE: The First People in Judaism, Christianity and Islam Adam and Eve are the first ancestors in the shared creation stories of Jews, Christians and Muslims. The three religions took their own versions around the world, via rabbis, priests, imams, colonialists, missionaries, migrants and modern media. Popular stories about Adam and Eve, which don’t appear in the Bible, lived on through oral story-telling. Where was Paradise located? Did Adam have a beard? Was he circumcised? Did Adam and Eve have a navel? Did they have sex in the Garden of Eden? The how and why of creation, Paradise, the snake and the Fall has inspired story-tellers and artists from every corner of the earth. Mineke Schipper has written an intriguing book about the stories and images of the three religions, often unknown, for contemporary believers and non-believers. Material: finished copies of the Dutch edition (285pp); Complete English text. Sales: Prometheus NL; Ayrinti Turkey.

IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS NO ONE: How the First People Came into the World ‘Immediately obvious is Schipper’s wanderlust, passion for collecting, enthusiasm, hard work and meticulousness. The way she analyses, interprets, puts together and links her rich collection of stories from across the world, makes you feel you are wandering through a wonderful museum.’ NRC Handelsblad ‘Absolutely fascinating, Schipper has written a brilliant book – profound, astute, pleasantly and carefully detailed. The echoes of the old stories can be found in today’s world where the lives of millions of believers and non-believers overlap more than ever before.’ Volkskrant Material: finished copies of the Dutch edition; complete English text. Sales: Prometheus NL; Sansuya Korea; Fundacja Aletheia Poland; Libri Hungary; Hara Shobo Japan.

AFTER US, THE FLOOD: Mythical Tales About the End of Mankind Since the beginning of time people have told stories about how the world will end. Floods, fire, gods wiping humans off the face of the earth because of over-crowding, bad behaviour by us humans, arguments between gods… Looking at various cultures from around the world, Mineke tells us these apocalyptic stories. Material: Dutch edition (171pp); material in English. Sales: Prometheus NL.

NEVER MARRY A WOMAN WITH BIG FEET: Women in Proverbs from Around the World WINNER OF THE EUREKA PRIZE 2005 ‘Schipper’s prose is light, fast-paced and witty, and her analysis of what lies behind the proverbs is completely gripping.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘An entertaining, adroit examination of how far woman has come in man’s estimation, and how far she still has to go.’ Publishers Weekly ‘No one who casually picks it up will be able to put it down, as gems of inspired sayings, bon mots, zany jokes, and insightful analyses leap out of every page.’ Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago (422pp unabridged; 350pp abridged). Sales: Yale University Press UK & USA; Prometheus NL; Oceano World Spanish; Eichborn Verlag Germany; Dar el Shorouk Egypt Arabic; Partvonal Kiado Hungary; Bertrand Brazil; Bookscope Korea; Sextante Editora Portugal; Editions Philippe Rey France (extract); NTV Yayincilik Turkey; Croatian Philological Society Croatia; Ponte Alle Grazie Italy.

mineke schipper was Professor of Intercultural Literary Studies at the University of Leiden. She has been a visiting professor in Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso, and works with colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In 1999 she received an honorary professorship at the Chinese Sichuan University in Chengdu. In December 2008 she received a Royal Order of Knighthood (“Officier in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau”) for “building intercultural bridges nationally and internationally, inside and outside the academy.” She continues her scholarly work at the Leiden University Centre. www.minekeschipper.nl

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www.womeninproverbsworldwide.com

philibert schogt DEAR TRAVELLER (BESTE REIZIGER) ‘Schogt’s novel has all the characteristics of good fiction as set out by Calvino: lightness, pace, precision, clarity and variety of form.’ NRC Schogt’s superb new novel is narrated by the writer of à la carte travel guides. Max is currently collecting data for one on Ireland. Usually he skips several ‘attractions’ and cobbles together his text from other guides and the internet. He lazily drifts through life, never fully engaging with anyone or anything. Until that night in Swansea with Linda, his colleague who is off to cover Wales. She crept into his bed and now Max is in love; suddenly he feels, where before he just let things flow by him. He is forced to re-assess his existence. The beauty of the Irish countryside touches him profoundly and he loses his way. When his ex-best friend dies a hero and his boss finds out about Max’s work methods, Max’s carefully constructed nonchalance finally cracks. Often hilarious and utterly gripping, this novel perfectly captures man’s disillusionment and apathy and life’s ability to shatter them. Material: Dutch edition (180pp). Sales: Arbeiderspers NL.

THE PHILOSOPHER’S WIFE (DE VROUW VAN DE FILOSOOF) ‘Read and shiver.’ Spitz ‘Compelling. An entertaining, cleverly constructed novel.’ Volkskrant ‘An engaging moral tale with a forbidding undertone and a surprising finale.’ Brabants Dagblad Vera Samson, 35, has supported her partner Luuk van Wleuten’s ambitions for years, emotionally as well as financially. But one day, shortly after a publisher shows interest and times are therefore finally getting better, Luuk goes off with another woman. After a difficult time Vera has dealt with her abandonment and picked up the thread of her life once more. Then Luuk’s book The Pain Barrier comes out, a 950-page autobiographical search for ‘intense existence’, as described by the philosopher Malmedy. When Vera reads a glowingly enthusiastic review, she is shocked to discover that she is not only mentioned by name and surname in the book, she is presented as ‘the enemy’. In the review Luuk is praised for his ‘vicious and hilarious portrait of the well-behaved, colourless Vera, a devil of mediocrity’. For her own self-preservation, Vera decides not to read The Pain Barrier. The more others tell her about the book, the more frightened she becomes about what else could be in it. But the fear sends her to a place from where she comes out wiser, with her own greatness very much intact. Material: Dutch and Italian editions (176 pp). Sales: Arbeiderspers NL; Garzanti Italy.

DAALDER’S CHOCOLATES (DAALDER) ‘As rich and bittersweet as the best of Daalder’s creations.’ Kirkus Reviews ‘Daalder has in certain ways something in common with Susskind’s Perfume. His depiction of his characters has something of the great American master Updike… Schogt manages to bring out sparks of tragedy and happiness, passion and despair, criticism and acceptance, egoism and idealism.’ Trouw Joop Daalder is in search of perfection. A celebrated chocolatier in Toronto, Joop is confronted with ruin when a super-deli is built next to his shop, and his clientele quickly vanish. The last straw is when the deli’s car park is expanded and his shop has to be destroyed. Joop fights against it, in spite of alienating his wife and being laughed at by his son. DAALDER’S CHOCOLATES is about love of good quality in an era of the perfectly packaged imitation. Material: Dutch, German, Italian, American editions (322pp). Sales: Arbeiderspers NL; Thunder’s Mouth Press USA; List Verlag Germany; Garzanti Italy; Patakis Greece.

philibert schogt was born in Holland, grew up in Canada, and now lives in Amsterdam. His first novel was the internationally acclaimed THE WILD NUMBERS (Avalon USA; Guncel Turkey; Knaus Germany; Kyungmoon Korea; Orion UK; Edizioni Dedalo Italy).

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karl shaw THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF TASTELESS AND OUTRAGEOUS LISTS Completely new material and his best yet, Karl Shaw produces another irresistible volume of bizarre but true facts. Material: text to be delivered end March 2014. Sales: Constable & Robinson UK (WEL).

THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF TASTELESS JOKES (written under the pseudonym E. Henry Thripshaw) This is the ultimate collection of tasteless and sick jokes that just shouldn't be told. More than 3,000 off-colour jokes, covering every taboo from sex and death to race and disability, this book leaves no stone unturned in its search for the most dubious jokes known to humanity. Twice as funny, twice as outrageous, twice as shocking. From Anne Frank's drum kit to the correct use of wheelchairs, this is a fantastic new collection of bad taste and political incorrectness. (574pp). Sales: Constable & Robinson UK (WEL).

10 WAYS TO RECYCLE A CORPSE People who slept with corpses, dictators’ diets, food related deaths, lost body parts, irregular genitalia, premature death as the subject of a pop record, bitchy authors, saints to invoke for medical conditions, golf hazards, profane last words and oh so much more. ‘This book could be called magnetic. It pulls you in, the way a magnet pulls a paper clip, and it doesn't want to let you go.’ Wall Street Journal ‘Don't start 10 Ways to Recycle a Corpse at bedtime. You may lose a lot of sleep.’ San Francisco Chronicle (312pp). Sales: Three Rivers Press (Crown Publishing Group) USA.

FIVE PEOPLE WHO DIED DURING SEX (And 100 other Terribly Tasteless Lists) LA Times and NY Times bestseller A celebration of the peculiar. An amazing collection of the most outrageous and bizarre true historical oddities. Subjects covered include Death and Sex, Saints and Sinners, Crime and Punishment, fetishes of the famous and several historically creative uses for formaldehyde. In the lists appearing here you will discover:  Who was the first president of the United States to throw up on live TV?  Which tune is the chart-topper in Britain’s crematoria?  Who were history’s most gifted psychopaths?  Which king owned a golf bag made from an elephant’s penis, and why? This book reveals what the usual history books try to cover up. (288pp). Sales: Broadway Books UK & USA; Metafora Czech Republic; AST Russia.

ROYAL BABYLON (An NY Times bestseller) Queen Victoria warned that it was unwise to look too deeply into the Royal houses of Europe – that the ‘black spots’ were best kept from prying eyes. This unique book reveals all. Europe has been plagued by dysfunctional rulers – the insane kings of Spain, the psychopathic kings of Prussia, the sex-fixated French kings, the famously inbred Habsburgs of Austria and, of course, the drunken, debauched and always dangerous czars of Russia. (325pp). Sales: Broadway Books UK & USA; Domino Czech Republic; Magyar Könyvklub Hungary; MKZ Croatia & Slovenia; Nezarisimaya Gazeta Russia.

karl shaw

was a journalist for several years before working in the advertising industry and in marketing. He currently lives in North Staffordshire, England and has had a children’s title published by Bloomsbury: DEADLY DANGEROUS: kings and queens. He is the author of several MAMMOTH BOOK OF titles (for Constable and Robinson).

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james sheridan THE PANDORA PRESCRIPTON NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER; AMAZON.COM No. 1 BESTSELLER The pharmaceutical giants have a big skeleton in their closet and will fight tooth and nail to keep it there. Notorious unsolved mysteries author, Dan Travis, is on another book tour when a cryptic message from a desperate stranger blows his life apart. He is sucked into a silent war that hinges on an incriminating data file. Finding it is Travis’s only hope for surviving a deadly chase across America. But to find its location, Travis must discover the link between the biggest medical cover-up in history and the greatest assassination conspiracy of the twentieth century. The key lies within a secret underground group of doctors sworn to a secret oath. When the solution is the problem, which side will you be on? 'I could not put it down. Behind this breakneck-speed story lies a sobering message for us all.' Jonathan Javitt, M.D., Adjunct professor, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine 'Award-winning copywriter James Sheridan presents The Pandora Prescription, a suspenseful novel about a deadly secret kept by giant pharmaceutical companies, and the ruthless lengths to which they will go to protect it. Well-known author Dan Travis is on a book tour when a mysterious message from a stranger in distress changes his life forever. Drawn irrevocably into a secretive war, his only hope for survival is to find an incriminating data file before time runs out. The quest to uncover a link between a remorseless medical coverup and a massive assassination conspiracy will take him across the country, and amid a hidden society of doctors who swore an ancient oath. A captivating, tautly written thriller for the twenty-first century.' Michael Dunford, The Midwest Book Review ‘The facts behind the fiction create a rollercoaster, page-turning thriller. Highly recommended.’ USA Book News ‘Never before have tens of thousands signed a petition to ensure a book would not be banned.’ American Library Association ‘Just when I thought I was ahead of him, Sheridan expertly yanked another rug. Shocks, re-shocks and goosebumps! The Pandora Prescription is a big winner.’ Thomas B. Sawyer, award-winning screenwriter & bestselling author, The Sixteenth Man Material: finished copies (490pp). Sales: Colonial House Press USA; Baldini & Castoldi Italy; Suncolor Taiwan; New Star China; Tekin Turkey.

james sheridan is a novelist, award-winning copywriter, and public speaker. He is a former airline captain who holds a world airspeed record in experimental aircraft. He recently returned to live in the UK, but while living in the US he spent time as an unofficial US government contract pilot and once flew the still secretive diplomatic mail flight between Miami and Havana, Cuba, an experience that changed his life forever. His latest novel, KILLING APHRODITE, has just been delivered.

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adania shibli TWO TIME WINNER OF THE A. M. QATTAN YOUNG WRITER - PALESTINE AWARD ‘The most talked-about writer on the West Bank.’ Ahdaf Soueif ‘One of the most exciting voices in Arabic literature.’ PEN Atlas blog

WE ARE ALL EQUALLY FAR FROM LOVE ‘We Are All Equally Far From Love…will confirm the young Galilee-born writer’s reputation as a formally brilliant literary artist, whose stylistic innovations and bold feel for language affirm contemporary fiction’s capacity to be reinvented anew…Shibli’s aesthetic vision and her tight thematic focus produce, against the odds, a work of stunning coherence that feels cinematic, as though colored by Jim Jarmusch or Wong Kar-wai.’ Words Without Borders A young woman is instructed by her boss to write a letter to an older man. His reply begins an enigmatic but passionate love affair conducted entirely in letters. Until, that is, his letters stop coming. But did the letters ever reach their intended recipient? Only the teenage Afaf, who works at the local post office, would know. Her duty is to open the mail and inform her collaborator father of the contents—until she finds a mysterious set of love letters, for which she selects another destiny. Afaf has lived in shame ever since her mother left her father for another man. And in this novel, her story is followed in turn by another: the story of a woman who leaves her husband for someone else, to whom she declares her love in a letter… The chain of stories that make up this singular novel form a wrenching examination of relationships and their limits—relationships tenuous, oblique, and momentous. In prose at once fierce and subtle, We Are All Equally Far from Love is a haunting portrait of alienation and desire. Material: Arabic edition; US edition (148pp). Sales: al-Adab Arabic; Clockroot Books/Interlink Publishing US & UK; Actes Sud France.

TOUCH ‘How often do we encounter a novelist whose writing is alchemic – whose heartrending eye for beauty seems to cause our perceptions of the world to change their substance? Shibli has created a world of both extraordinary lightness and devastating intensity.’ Time Out Beirut ‘Adania Shibli is one of my most favourite Arab writers…she has created for herself in recent years something that, especially for a young writer, is hard to achieve: a solid literary presence, a distinct voice, and a unique style. The opening of her first novel introduces a fragile little girl, standing alone in her landscape, in the shadow of an old, rusty water tank. She touches one of the supporting legs of the tank, and tiny, cold stains of rust stick to her palm. She stretches her hand out of the shade to warm it up in the sun, and her hand becomes sprinkled with shiny dots of shimmering gold. This is, to my mind, what Adania Shibli does with her amazingly and beguilingly simple language: making the rusty stains of reality disappear, and then making them reappear in writing as stains of gold.’ Anton Shammas ‘Shibli writes nonjudgmentally, in a gripping, universal voice, about everyday lives and disappointments. Her triumph is an inspiration.’ Laila Lalami TOUCH centres on a girl, the youngest of nine sisters in a Palestinian family. In the singular world of this novella, this young woman’s everyday experiences—watching a funeral procession, fighting with her siblings, learning to read, perhaps falling in love—resonate until they have become as weighty as any national tragedy. The events of history only lurk at the edges—the question of Palestine, the massacre at Sabra and Shatila. Here every ordinary word, ordinary action is a small stone dropped into water. Powerful, beautiful and revealing. Material: Arabic edition; US edition; French and Italian editions. Sales: al-Adab Arabic; Clockroot Books/Interlink US; Actes Sud France; Argo Italy; Modrijan Zalozba Slovenia.

adania shibli born in Palestine in 1974, was twice awarded the Young Writer’s Award–Palestine by the A.M. Qattan Foundation. She has published short stories and essays in literary magazines like Ramallah’s Al-Karmel, the Beirut literary periodicals Al-Adaab and Zawaya, and Alexandria’s Amkenah. Many have been translated into French, German, Italian, Hebrew, Korean and English. English translations of her work have appeared in the Iowa Review, Words Without Borders, and Banipal. Her play The Error has been staged at the Tristan Bates Theatre, London, and as part of the New Works festival at the New World Theater in Amherst, Massachusetts. Shibli has a PhD in media and cultural studies from the

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University of East London. She currently lives in Berlin where she has a postdoctoral fellowship - Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.

rowan simons SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2008 SHORTLISTED FOR ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR 2008

BAMBOO GOALPOSTS: One Man's Quest to Teach the People's Republic of China to Love Football Rowan Simons has lived (and played football) in China for over twenty years and BAMBOO GOALPOSTS is his hilarious and insightful account of what it’s like to live, work and play there. Rowan presents for Beijing TV. But his real passion is getting China to embrace the social and health benefits of amateur football, which isn’t easy in a country where for decades it was illegal for more than ten people to congregate for the purposes of recreational sporting activity. Rowan has gone about getting China to play football the hard way – he built a pitch and clubhouse and now heads ClubFootball, whose growing membership has given him genuine hope that he might be getting there. No other book communicates more clearly what contemporary China is like. BAMBOO GOALPOSTS is a personal odyssey inspired by the selfless pioneers of amateur football who took the game around the world in centuries past, but somehow missed China. ‘Profound, wise and very funny.’ The Times ‘Fascinating, often hilarious.’ Mail on Sunday ‘It manages to transcend its genre – the “isn’t football odd yet oddly similar to how it’s played elsewhere” travelogue – by virtue of an idiosyncratic voice and a sharp eye for the absurd.’ The Observer ‘Deserves to be bracketed with some of the very best books about global football. Simons’ fascinating insights – he reveals how Chairman Mao used football in the 1950s to forge better relations with Eastern Europe, and that Deng Xiaoping invited Western outfits including New York Cosmos and West Brom in the late 1970s in order to convince the West he was committed to sweeping away the worst aspects of Mao’s crushing “cultural revolution” – are mixed with first-hand accounts of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. Fascinating and compelling.’ FourFourTwo (leading football magazine) ‘Joins the tradition of football-in-one-country accounts led by David Winner (on Holland) and Alex Bellos (on Brazil). Football once again proves an intriguing key to a country.’ Financial Times ‘After 20 years of living and working in China, Simon's has played a blinder in passing on his passion for all things football. His book explores the human pleasure of the game while revealing the power struggles off the pitch.’ Sunday Express ‘Simons's book is an important one this year. Simons says what so many actually involved in sports in China think, but can't openly say the Olympics – what could have been the biggest imaginable catalyst for mass sports participation (perhaps in the world) hasn't quite turned out like that. A very funny and insightful book on China's development over the last 20 years, one foreigner's experiences and, of course, the development of sport during that time. Bamboo Goalposts is a story of a man who likes where he lives, obsesses slightly more than is probably good for him about his passions, but has sat back and drawn some useful lessons from them. Well worth a read – even if you hate football.' Access Asia Material: finished copies (377pp). Sales: Macmillan UK; Record Brazil; Lian Ban Books and Periodicals Publish Co. China; Editions Intervalles France.

rowan simons, born in the UK, has lived (and played football) in China for 20 years. He is a presenter on Beijing TV, with his own media and production company and is chairman of ClubFootball. Rowan now also runs the Chinese office of Guinness World Records.

www.clubfootball.com.cn

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sunny singh WINNER OF THE MAR DE LETRAS PRIZE, SPAIN

HOTEL ARCADIA Sam is a war photographer famous for her hauntingly beautiful pictures of the dead. After a particularly gruelling assignment, she checks into an expensive hotel. Unfortunately she has chosen the exact moment terrorists attack the hotel. Abhi, the hotel manager, begs her to stay quiet and stay put. Abhi has never wanted to be a hero; a disappointment to his army father and army brother. He thought he’d come to a safe haven at the hotel, a place where he could be himself. Now stuck inside the sealed off manager’s office in the middle of a terrorist attack, he's desperately trying to keep all those still alive safe. His lover Dieter is amongst the hostages in the bar and the photographer Sam, refusing to stay in her room, is roaming through the hotel taking pictures, potentially coming face to face with the terrorists at any moment. A small child Billy is found alive under the bodies of his dead parents and Abhi has to persuade the non-maternal Sam to bring him back to her room. He’s hurt and Sam has no clue how to look after a child. As the tension mounts and more people are killed, the bond between Sam and Abhi, between Sam and Billy, grows. If any of them get out alive, none of them will ever be the same. Material: manuscript. Sales: Arcadia Books UK; Galaade France; Meridiaan/Dutch Media Books NL.

WITH KRISHNA’S EYES ‘The rich anecdotes and colour provide profound insight into family loyalty, the heavy weight of the past and the encounter with tradition. The emotion of rediscovering one’s roots and the demand for a return to a traditional lifestyle, threatened with extinction by political correctness. Krishna is a young woman searching for her identity while being faithful to the values of her time. The novel is entirely credible and contains characters so well painted that they are genuinely truthful.’ ABC ‘The author succeeds as a successful Bollywood film does. One is eager to reach the climax. Krishna, torn between the rebel and the traditional, the disgust of what her family and clan so strongly believes in and the fear of losing them all, feels so real that one could almost touch her.’ Marie Claire Krishna has been in New York, making documentaries. Following the death of her grandmother, she returns to her home village in a part of India so feudal, she must make concessions to tradition. From beyond the grave, Dadiji directs Krishna to enact her dharma (duty), which, it transpires, is to document on film the last days of Damayanti, a strong-minded lawyer who, upon the death of her husband, will commit sati. Always a rebel, Krishna has to confront the fact that her dharma comprises an act as conforming and backward as it is subversive… Material: finished copies of Indian and Spanish editions (293pp). Sales: Rupa Books India; Ediciones El Cobre Spain; Editions Philippe Picquier France; L’Ancora del Mediteranneo Italy; Mono I Manjana Serbia.

NANI’S BOOK OF SUICIDES ‘A first novel of rare scope and power.’ Hindustan Times ‘She definitely has the talent.’ Indian Express Sammie, the cocaine-snorting international wanderer who moves from a small-town childhood in India to Mexico, is linked inextricably to mythical women. But the woman who most influences Sammie is Nani, her frail and ruthless grandmother, who is a witch with the power to enter dreams and shape them. A first novel which explores the cultural identity of an Indian woman through myths, family lore and contemporary reality. Material: finished copies (247pp). Sales: HarperCollins India; Ediciones El Cobre Spain.

sunny singh was born in Varanasi, India. She read English and American Literature at Brandeis University, USA. She has a Masters in Spanish Literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and a PhD from the Universitat de Barcelona. She is head lecturer in creative writing at the London Metropolitan University. She founded the Jhalak Foundation, which funds and organises paediatric cardiac surgery for under-privileged children in India. She has contributed to a collection selected by Khushwant Singh, stories in honour of Ruskin Bond, American anthologies, Drawbridge Magazine, International PEN etc. An expert on Bollywood, BFI have commissioned her to write a book on Amitabh Bachchan for her film star series. www.sunnysingh.net

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paul sussman THE FINAL TESTIMONY OF RAPHAEL IGNATIUS PHOENIX The first novel Paul Sussman wrote, edited by his widow. This comic masterpiece is instantly, recognisably Sussman and he worked on it carefully for years. Raphael Phoenix is nearly 100 years old and he has decided to kill himself. Not because he is particularly depressed but because 100 is enough. Before he does so he is going to confess to the 10 murders he has committed in his life. Starting with the incredibly annoying Mrs Bunshop, Phoenix works backwards in time, writing on the walls of the castle he is ending his days in, describing a murder per room, he takes you right back to when he first met his life-long love Emily, with whom he stole the Pill on his tenth birthday, the pill that is going to end his life. Born at the turn of the 20th Century this longest suicide note in history gives a history of the entire 20th Century. Hilarious, moving, gripping and insightful, this novel adds to an already incredibly impressive oeuvre and will win Sussman many new fans. Material: PDF. Sales: Transworld (Doubleday) UK (Publication: 22nd May 2014); Droemer Knaur Germany; Psichogios Greece.

THE LABYRINTH OF OSIRIS LONG LISTED FOR THE CRIMEFEST EDUNNIT AWARDS ‘As well as teaching us a lot about our world in general and the Middle East in particular the integrity, friendship and self-sacrifice as well as the cruelty, prejudice, the corruption of power and money - Paul Sussman's final novel is as thrilling an archaeological adventure as you're likely to read: wildly exciting, brutal, expertly informed and utterly unputdownable.’ Simon Sebag-Montefiore, author of Jerusalem: The Biography This new novel reunites Yusuf Khalifa and Arieh Ben-Roi. Both men’s lives have changed dramatically since they last met. Egypt has changed dramatically too. Ben-Roi finds himself caught up in a terrifying case in Jerusalem which involves the Armenian church, forced prostitution, gangs, religious persecution, rivalry between archaeologists and the murder of a much feared journalist whose exposing articles have brought her many enemies. Ben-Roi urgently needs his friend Khalifa’s help and by bringing him in on the case, he might just be giving Khalifa his lust for life back. But at the end of this gripping thriller, only one of the two friends remains standing. ‘With two three-dimensional heroes, the Israeli detective Arieh Ben-Roi and his Egyptian friend Yusuf Khalifa, and a satisfying sense of being set in the real world, with sub-plots involving cyber crime, sex trafficking and terrorism. It’s the sort of thing Dan Brown would write if he had a feel for people and places, and reminds us that crime fiction is one field where the Brits give the Americans a run for their money on the medal table.’ Daily Telegraph ‘A final flourish from the desert: During his all too-brief writing career Paul Sussman must have become wearily familiar with people describing him as the 'thinking person's Dan Brown'. There are, however, key differences. Sussman was a far better writer. This is a top-drawer popular fiction and is sure to become an even bigger bestseller than Sussman's three other novels.’ Mail on Sunday ‘The Labyrinth Of Osiris is an absolutely top-notch thriller - captivating, intelligent and notably well-written, and with a depth of characterisation which most thrillers don't usually even attempt.’ The Daily Mail Material: finished copies (538pp). Sales: Transworld UK; Grove Atlantic USA; Arab Scientific Publishers Lebanon; Bertrand Brazil; Cappelen Damm Norway; Random House Mondadori World Spanish; Tiderne Skifter Denmark; Arnoldo Mondadori Italy; Varrak Estonia; Nokhook Thailand; RAO Romania; Pegasus Turkey; Presses de la Cite France; Bertrand Editora Portugal; Bard Bulgaria; AST Russia; Partvonal Hungary; ALica Slovenia; Audio rights: WF Howes.

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THE HIDDEN OASIS ‘That rarest of literary entities: an intelligent, compelling, beautifully written thriller. You will enjoy every page of this breathtaking ride, and the secret at the heart of it will knock the top of your head off.’ William Bernhardt ‘Another winner from Paul Sussman, hands down one of the best writers of international suspense in the business. Told with authority and style, excitement melds with adventure. Superb.’ Steve Berry American Freya Hannan, and the British Professor Flin Brodie get caught up in a life threatening adventure involving secret valleys deep in the Egyptian desert, an ancient powerful object wanted by many, missing planes carrying weapons and double-crossing agents. (505pp). Sales: Transworld UK; Metafora Czech Republic; Columbus Slovak Republic; Grove Atlantic USA; Tiderne Skifter Denmark; Random House Mondadori World Spanish; Bertrand Brazil; AST Russia; Unieboek NL; Presses de la Cite France; Arnoldo Mondadori Italy; Muza Poland; WSOY Finland; Cappelen Damm Norway; Partvonal Hungary; Bard Bulgaria; Varrak Estonia; RAO Romania; Piper Germany; Skorpion Croatia; Pegasus Turkey; Bertrand Editora Portugal; Arab Scientific Publishers; Pustaka Indonesia. Audio rights: WF Howes.

THE LAST SECRET OF THE TEMPLE ‘The intelligent reader’s answer to The Da Vinci Code: a big, fat, satisfying archaeological puzzle story.’ The Independent ‘Not just a tightly-plotted, richly-observed, thought-provoking thriller, but one with a soul. Which is what makes it really special. The compelling mix of tough, page-turning suspense, archaeology, history, and characters caught up in the brutal politics of the Middle East, make this a timely and authentic novel.’ Raymond Khoury, author of The Last Templar When Dutch archaeologist Piet Jansen is found murdered, Khalifa soon finds alarming parallels with his first murder case of thirteen years earlier, in which an Israeli woman, Hannah Schlegel, was found dead at Karnak. Against the advice of his superiors, Khalifa, uneasily collaborating with an Israeli police officer, Arieh Ben-Roi, who in turn depends on the information uncovered by Palestinian journalist Layla al-Madani, soon realises that the identity of Schlegel’s murderer involves the mystery surrounding an age-old religious treasure and the whereabouts of aged Nazi sympathisers… (371pp). Sales: Transworld UK; Grove Atlantic USA; Piper Germany; AST Russia; Presses de la Cite France; Plaza y Janes World Spanish; Arnoldo Mondadori Italy; Unieboek NL; Metafora Czech Republic; Cappelens Norway; Tiderne Skifter Denmark; Muza Poland; Ulisseia Portugal; Kadokawa Japan; Bard Bulgaria; Varrak Estonia; Partvonal Hungary; Alma Lithuania; Enigma Croatia; WSOY Finland; Diigisi Greece; RAO Romania; Laguna Serbia; Bertrand Brazil; Nokhook Thailand; Dong-A Ilbo Korea; Kontinents Latvia; Pustaka Alvabet Indonesia; Pegasus Turkey; Arab Scientific Publishers Lebanon; ALica Slovenia; Audio rights: WF Howes.

THE LOST ARMY OF CAMBYSES WINNER OF THE GOLDEN EARPHONE AWARD, THE AUDIO INDUSTRY'S OSCARS ‘A great adventure, one of the most intriguing mysteries of the past, a great novel masterfully written.’ Valerio Massimo Manfredi ‘A plot as complex as a hall of mirrors, as gripping as a death threat.’ Kirkus Reviews ‘Rip-roaring adventure mystery.’ Booklist A contemporary thriller set against an epic backdrop, a refreshingly different, powerful, and action-packed first novel by a hugely talented author. (555pp). Sales: Transworld UK; Piper Kabel Germany; Unieboek NL; Grove Atlantic USA; Presses de la Cite France; Plaza y Janes World Spanish; Arnoldo Mondadori Italy; Cappelens Norway; Oceanida Greece; Kadokawa Japan; AST Russia; Wahlstrom & Widstrand Sweden; WSOY Finland; Columbus Slovakia; Metafora Czech Republic; Pegasus Turkey; Opus Press Israel; Tiderne Skifter Denmark; Varrak Estonia; Kontinents Latvia; Bard Bulgaria; Alma Lithuania; Record Brazil; Ulisseia Portugal; Laguna Serbia; RAO Romania; Enigma Croatia; MKZ Slovenia; Muza Poland; Jaeum & Moeum Korea; Arab Scientific Publishers Lebanon; Pustaka Alvabet Indonesia; Nokhook Thailand; Partvonal Hungary. Audio rights: WF Howes.

paul sussman was a freelance journalist and fulfilled his passion for archaeology by spending time excavating in Egypt. He lived in London with his wife and two sons. He died suddenly on 31st May 2012, leaving an enormous number of family and friends bereft. We are all determined to make sure his brilliant novels will be read for generations to come. paul-sussman.com

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shimon tzabar THE WHITE FLAG PRINCIPLE: How to Lose a War (and Why) ‘Tzabar's black humour is reminiscent of Heller's Catch 22 and Brecht's Mother Courage, a delightful world of inverted but forceful logic.’ Biblio ‘Sun Tzu suggested “When at the zenith of strength, feign weakness”, but he did not develop this idea with Tzabar’s gleeful enthusiasm. It will annoy people who think “It matters not who won or lost. But how you played the game”. Tzabar, a former terrorist, is clear: victory's not all it's cracked up to be – winning is for losers. History is on his side. You cannot rely on inefficiency (your enemy, heaven forbid, might be even more hopeless), so he provides practical advice on coming second. In case the worst happens, there's a chapter on “How to recover from an accidental victory”: for the best case scenario, there's a chapter on surrendering. Other chapters concentrate on the run-up to war: how to manage a bad foreign policy and ruin a flourishing economy; how to splinter a united society; building your army up for defeat; and – importantly – tactics. If you find von Clausewitz and Sun Tzu dry, try this book. This is as good a time as any to develop an interest in military strategy.’ Fortean Times ‘A book that you read smiling except when you're laughing out loud.’ Le Monde Sun Tzu, military philosopher and author of The Art of War, had it wrong: the best way to win is (usually) to lose. Employing historical documents, charts, drawings, diagrams, and formulas, satirical historian, Shimon Tzabar, provides a concise analysis of military history from a wholly new perspective. Arguing that, in the long term, winning is for losers, his brilliant book – both serious and hilarious – is a step-by-step practical guide to Successful Military Disaster (‘It is hardly necessary to point out that a contiguous enemy is always preferable to a noncontiguous one’). Tzabar makes the case for peace as a discreetly pragmatic means to political victory. Featuring observations on war from the Battle of Arbela in 331 BC and fully updated from its first edition (of 1972) to encompass America’s recent interventionist jaunt in Afghanistan, and speculations on the future of the war on terror, THE WHITE FLAG PRINCIPLE bears comparison to the fierce satire of Jonathan Swift and Jerome K. Jerome. Material: several different editions (179pp in original English edition). Sales: Four Walls Eight Windows UK & USA; Ullstein Germany; Høst and Søn Denmark; Basilico Japan; Lagoudera Greece; Podium NL; Am Oved Israel; Siglo XXI Spain. (Published but rights reverted: Denoel France; Bompiani Italy).

shimon tzabar died in London on 19th March 2007 aged 81.

He was a true Renaissance man: painter, writer, poet, and satirist, editor of Israel Imperial News, as well as an amateur mycologist (he discovered and named at least one species of mushroom). He had just finished his unauthorised autobiography.

www.israelimperialnews.org

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simone van der vlugt INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

SAFE AS HOUSES (BLAUW WATER) WINNER OF THE ZILVEREN VINGERAFDRUK; NOMINATED FOR THE GOUDEN STROP & NS PUBLIEKSPRIJS ‘Someone who can describe the universal fears of women this brilliantly, deserves her place at the top. She did it before and she does it again. All honour to her.’ Crimezone ‘A fast-paced example of suburban noir... a lean, stripped-down thriller that hits the ground running and sprints full-tilt to its breathless climax.’ Irish Times ‘Just imagine it: you are standing as a single mother in your garden of your isolated house, hanging the washing out and suddenly an escaped convict appears who holds you and your daughter hostage. How will this end? Escape isn’t an option, there are no neighbours, you can’t even rely on attention from the postman. Lisa does everything, even the unimaginable, to save her life and especially her child’s life. In the meantime she asks herself why the woman, who appeared out of the mist in her garden and saw her desperation, hasn’t organised a rescue. In vivid and well written pages, pages that simmer with angst, tension and lust for revenge, the talented bestselling author Simone van der Vlugt conjures up a hair-raising portrait of our time.’ Jury report of De Gouden Strop Prize ‘Blue Water reads like a nightmare from which it is difficult to wake.’ Veronica Magazine, **** Material: finished copies of Dutch (220pp), German and English editions. Sales: Ambo Anthos (original publisher) NL; Diana Verlag/Heyne Germany; Canongate UK; Punktum Denmark; Feeria/JK Publishing Poland.

SHADOW SISTER (SCHADUWZUSTER) ‘This best psychological suspense story I have read in a long time, utterly believable, totally riveting.’ Daily Mail ‘There is a lot more going on under the surface than the reader is being told, and the author does not put a foot wrong in the difficult task of making the narrators seem honest while at the same time conveying more than they are willing to admit to themselves or to us. The novel is creepy, effective and highly readable’ Eurocrime ‘Gripping from the very first page, the recognisable anxieties make it all the more gruesome and it's surprising to the very end.’ Veronica Magazine, **** Marjolein is a passionate, committed teacher. One day she is threatened by one of her students and from that moment on her life changes completely: the threats just don’t stop. Who has it in for her and just how far are they prepared to go? Another tense thriller about how ordinary everyday life can suddenly change into hell. Material: finished copies of Dutch (340pp), German and English editions. Sales: Ambo Anthos (original publisher) NL; Diana Verlag/Heyne Germany; Text Australia; Harper Press UK; Kowalski Italy.

THE REUNION (DE REÜNIE) SHORTLISTED FOR THE NS PUBLIEKSPRIJS; NOMINATED FOR THE IMPAC PRIZE ‘Hard to put down. Thrilling.’ Cosmopolitan ‘In just two pages the beautiful prologue immediately produces a feeling of tension. Tension that keeps you entangled throughout the story and ensures that you read The Reunion in one sitting.’ Crimezone.nl When Isabel disappeared, Sabine was fifteen. She remembers nothing from that hot May day. Nine years later, unbidden memories are returning to Sabine. What if she saw something the day of Isabel’s disappearance? What if she could put a name to the shadowy figure in her dreams? A literary thriller involving the suppression of traumatic events, the competition between teenagers, and also between colleagues, about love, and above all about friendship. ‘A gripping psychological thriller which breathes new life into that old cliché “unputdownable”.’ Waterstone's Books Quarterly Material: finished copies of Dutch (336pp), English, Italian, German etc editions. Sales: Ambo Anthos (original publisher) NL; Diana Verlag Germany; Text Australia; Presses de la Cite France; Kowalski Editore Italy; Seix Barral/Planeta World Spanish; Harper Press UK; Muza Poland; Record Brazil; Ripol Classics Russia; New World Press China (simplified); Athena Press Taiwan (complex).

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NEW SERIES STARRING DETECTIVE LOIS ELZINGA TELL NO ONE (AAN NIEMAND VERTELLEN) SHORTLISED FOR CRIMEZONE AWARD 2013 'Surprising new thriller' De Telegraaf ‘Written with great pace and fascinating’ Margriet ‘After the climax the book screams for more, more, more!’ Limburgs Dagblad ‘Gripping, moving and compelling. Lois Elzinga has made her mark. And what a mark!’ Crimezone.nl Part of a series starring Lois, in her latest novel Simone introduces the 31-year-old detective Lois Elzinga from Alkmaar, department North-Holland North. Together with her partner Fred, who is soon to retire, she has to investigate the violent murder of a school teacher. The manner in which he has been killed points to a woman’s act of revenge – his penis has been cut off and put in his mouth. In his pocket there is the brochure for an exposition which leads the police to the painter Maaike Scholten. She says she doesn’t know David but she’s lying. Another trail leads Lois to the photographer Tamara who appears to have vanished into thin air. When two more murders follow, Lois delves deep into the psyche of the murderer. An extremely well-drawn, intriguing character, Lois Elzinga is a troubled woman, marked by the death of her younger sister at five years old, a mother who had a break down and ended up in psychiatric care, a father who left them and her American boyfriend who has moved back to his homeland. Lois struggles with her past, with her failed relationship and with the horrific situations her job exposes her to. Simone van der Vlugt introduces her background expertly and seamlessly slips into the story her often painful private life. Lois’s first case is a story that packs a big emotional punch. Material: finished copies Dutch edition (293pp); German text. Sales: AmboAnthos (original publisher) NL; Diana/Heyne Germany.

TOMORROW I’LL BE BACK (MORGEN BEN IK WEER THUIS) When 11-year-old Britt doesn’t come home from her gym class, it rapidly becomes obvious that this is no ordinary missing person case. Britt and her mother live a quiet existence in Alkmaar and are happy together. Lois and her team are put on the case. Vague reports of a man sighted standing in the bushes of the sports centre come in and of a van’s tracks along Britt’s cycle route. When it becomes clear that Britt has been taken abroad, Lois is faced with a problem – she has no jurisdiction over the border. This is the follow up to TELL NO ONE, another tightly plotted thriller in which we get to know Lois even better. Material: manuscript to be delivered later this year. Sales: AmboAnthos (original publisher) NL; Diana/Heyne Germany.

simone van der vlugt (1966) is an acclaimed Dutch writer, well-known for her young-adult novels. THE REUNION is her debut novel for adults. She lives with her husband and two children in Alkmaar, The Netherlands. Her third novel, THE LAST OFFER, her fourth, SAFE AS HOUSES and her fifth, AUTUMN SONG are also huge bestsellers in Holland and all have already been bought by Diana Verlag/Heyne in Germany. She published a historical novel entitled DAUGHTER OF HOLLAND in 2009 about the unconventional 15th-century warrior queen Jacoba van Beieren, a story she manages to bring to life incredibly vividly. 2010 saw publication of her thriller IN THE CLEAR LIGHT OF DAY – another instant bestseller on publication and winner for the NS Publieksprijs and the Crimezone Award for Best Dutch Thriller. IN MY DREAMS came out in 2011 and is yet another bestseller and was also nominated for the NS Publieksprijs. She has won the Almaarse Cultuurprijs for her oeuvre.

www.simonevandervlugt.nl / www.literairethrillers.nl

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alex wheatle ‘One of the most exciting writers of the black urban experience’ The Times

LICCLE BIT Alex Wheatle’s fist Young Adult novel to be publishing in Spring 2015 with a big campaign. The second shortest 14 year old in his class, Lemar – Liccle Bit to his friends - feels he may never get a chance with Venetia, the hottest girl in school. At home life is crazy too with a mother too busy to pay him any attention, a sister with a foul temper and a baby by the local gang leader, a dad who left when he was seven. He does have his two best friends, his grandmother’s cooking and his talent for drawing. Just when Venetia asks him to draw her portrait, he is pulled deeper into the gang scene with the pressure mounting and the local inter-gang war escalating. He needs to get out of this mess and save his family from harm and he’s about to find out how hard that is. With all of Alex’s brilliance for dialogue and bringing to life London’s streets, Liccle Bit is a story of redemption, of love, of family, of trying to hold your head up, of one boy’s journey. Material: edited manuscript. Sales: Little Brown (WEL).

BRENTON BROWN ‘From time to time, a new book arrives which catches its moment in an almost uncanny grip.’ The Independent BRENTON BROWN is a fatal love story about a man who never got over his first love. That first perfect love was with his half-sister and cannot be. Juliet is consumed with guilt because she knows that her half brother, Brenton, grew up in children’s homes with no family while she received all their mother's love. She married Clayton, a successful banker, to please her mother. She respects him even if she doesn’t love him and he treats her daughter Breanna as his own. Clayton has always suspected something went on and is still going on with Juliet and Brenton. Brenton’s long-time friend Floyd persuades him to start a new life in another country. Juliet's best friend also advises her to keep away from Brenton. Their good intentions fail and, while Breanna battles with her own insecurities and tragedy, Juliet and Brenton pay the ultimate price. For all fans of BRIXTON ROCK this is the longawaited follow up. But it stands alone and will bring Alex more readers than ever before. It has all the hall-marks that have made his novels such a success – family ties, love, tragedy, humour as well as bringing the streets of London and its characters alive like no other writer around. Material: finished copies (294pp). Sales: Arcadia/Black Amber UK (WEL) ; WF Howes Audio.

THE DIRTY SOUTH ‘The plot moves quickly, the author seems keen to detail an urban blight that could affect anyone, from any city. The power of love is evident in every grimy chapter, whether at home or on the streets. Many of the novel's relationships are strong and true. Wheatle is a sharpeyed observer of the modes of behaviour and language that make up his fictional world. As such, he can't help but fill every page with hard-boiled authenticity.’ Guardian ‘Authentic, witty and gritty.’ The Times ‘Brilliant … Often brutal but always compassionate; a galvanizing piece of work by someone who obviously knows these mean streets.’ Kirkus Review Brixton, twenty years after the race riots. Wheatle brilliantly evokes the temptations of the thug life for young black men growing up in London’s Dirty South in a fast, compelling novel that offers no easy answers, but refuses to shy away from asking difficult questions. (214pp). Sales: Serpent’s Tail UK WEL; Edizioni Spartaco Italy.

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ISLAND SONGS ‘Fabulously witty dialogue… evocative.’ Independent on Sunday ‘A novel brought to life by a wealth of vivid detail and a superb cast.’ The Big Issue ‘Most intriguing is the complex love-hate relationship between the siblings. With credible characters and a gripping story-line, this is a fitting tribute to a beautiful island and its people.’ New Nation Growing up in rural Claremont, working amid the hustle and bustle, lawn parties and ‘houses of joy’ in Tenchtown, sisters Hortense and Jenny take a chance and move to England with their husbands, that far-off land of riches, where they settle down to motherhood amongst the jazz cafes and bleak streets of Brixton. A beautiful evocation of 20th-century Jamaica, its history and traditions, ISLAND SONGS is an epic of love, diaspora and sorely tested family loyalties. (331pp). Sales: Allison & Busby UK & USA; Au Diable Vauvert France.

EAST OF ACRE LANE ‘His prose is sharp as a barber’s cutthroat, the musical references make you jump and prance and the hard-edged dialogue brilliantly captures that London vibe. Thrilling, very funny, and most of all a page turner.’ Courttia Newland Biscuit feels like his life is running out of control. He is a reluctant drug-pushers on Acre Lane for the gangland boss. He wants to give it up but needs to support his family. As the riots begin, Biscuit has to make a choice, whatever the consequences, which will change his life forever. (309pp). Sales: Fourth Estate UK; Au Diable Vauvert France; Edizioni Spartaco Italy. Film option bought by Pablo Films, British Film Council backed.

THE SEVEN SISTERS ‘With a friendship of unspoken confidences remaining the focus, the four boys negotiate a mutual search for understanding and freedom. The narrative is strong and meaningful.’ Independent on Sunday ‘This is a brave, brutal story told with a shocking immediacy. Alex Wheatle has created a disturbing portrait of life in a children’s home, in language which is plain, unsparing, and heart-rendingly poignant.’ Daily Mail Inspired by personal experience, a powerful, moving and beautifully structured novel dealing with the lives of children in care. (274pp). Sales: Fourth Estate UK (rights reverted); Au Diable Vauvert France.

BRIXTON ROCK WINNER OF THE LONDON WRITERS’ PRIZE ‘Brixton Rock is a pacey document of teenage angst… which is why the pockets of humour…prove to be such a triumph. This is a debut which confirms its author… a pro in prose.’ The Times ‘The story trundles along energetically but the novel’s real strength lies in the dialogue. Wheatle gives us a fascinating snapshot of black English in the early eighties.’ Daily Telegraph ‘Alex Wheatle’s narrative is pacey; witty; his characters real and recognisable.’ Linton Kwesi Johnson Set in South London in the 1980s. Brenton is a 16-year-old mixed-race youth who has lived in a children’s home all his life. He has never met his mother and is haunted by her loss. The best thing happens: Brenton is reunited with his mother, Cynthia. And the worst: he falls in love with his beautiful half-sister, Juliet. At the same time, Brenton meets his Nemesis in the shape of Terry Flynn, a killer who scars him for life. Brenton seeks revenge. (256pp). Sales: Arcadia/Black Amber UK; WF Howes Audio.

alex wheatle (MBE) Of Jamaican origin, Wheatle was born in South London, and has been a performance poet (the Brixton Bard) and DJ. He conducts workshops in schools and prisons, and at creative writing courses. He teaches creative writing at Lambeth College and is regularly invited to give talks in schools and his books are on school reading lists. A favourite of reading groups and libraries, he is UK’s most read Black British author. He is representing English PEN, and tours the country with his one-man show, UPRISING. He is working on a non-fiction book about Black Britain and on more Young Adult novels.

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david whitehouse JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH For thousands of years the subterranean world was alien, perhaps even the gateway to Hell itself, it was explained in legend and myth. Today’s scientists are uncovering a bizarre world beneath our feet, far stranger than anyone had ever imagined. Inside the Earth is a place where rock acts like plastic dragging the continents apart and then forcing them together raising giant mountain ranges. Storms rage within a sea of white-hot metal in the outer core, vast plumes of rock rise from the Earth's core spawning giant volcanoes, giant slabs from the surface sink like enormous battleships, and iron crystals the size of cities grow in our planet's heart of iron which is almost the size of the Moon. Motions within the molten core - as hot as the surface of the Sun - produce a magnetic field that shelters every living thing above. The Earth's core protects us. We know more about the distant planets and stars than we do about the centre of the Earth. One hundred and fifty years after Jules Verne’s classic it is time for a modern retelling of his famous tale, this time with the benefit of the science we have done in the intervening years. A scientific journey to the centre of the Earth, this book comes at the right time because recent discoveries and new equipment are revealing a new and even stranger world beneath our feet. The Earth has been a busy place since it was formed. Material: extensive proposal. Sales: Orion UK (WEL).

THE SUN: A BIOGRAPHY ‘A treasure trove of science, speculation and anecdote about our star.’ New Scientist ‘Outstanding’ The Daily Telegraph ‘A staggering range of content… and a fascinating read.’ Good Book Guide. The Sun is the Rosetta Stone of the Universe – understand it and you understand almost everything. It sustains life on Earth and is the most powerful and awe-inspiring phenomenon we will ever encounter. We have defied it, created myths to understand it and celebrated it in music and art. In this groundbreaking account, David Whitehouse skilfully interweaves science, philosophy, religion, history and art to form a comprehensive biography of our nearest star. Material: English edition (344pp). Author has brought the text completely up to date. Previously published by: John Wiley UK; Pearson Education Benelux Netherlands; Prozsynski-Ska Poland; Kailas Spain; Mondadori Italy; Naklada Ljevak Biblit Croatia; Eksmo Russia; Whistler Publishing Korea.

THE MOON: A BIOGRAPHY ‘The author’s brimming passion for his subject is obvious. This is an excellent prospect for the many people who enjoyed Dava Sobel’s Longitude and deserves to be widely read.’ The Guardian ‘This must surely be the most wide-ranging book on Earth’s nearest neighbour ever written. A great book, Whitehouse writes on all subjects with confidence and clarity. This is by no means a book only for astronomers or even those interested in the sciences.’ The Bookseller The moon has been the earth’s and man’s constant companion since the dawn of time. We have all seen it, but how well do we really know it? Reaching back into prehistory, retelling myths and legends and looking forward to the future, the moon’s story has at last been drawn together in David Whitehouse’s brilliant biography. Material: English edition (320pp). Author has brought the text completely up to date. Sales: Headline UK (Rights reverted); Kailas Spain; Dunod France.

dr david whitehouse is an author and broadcaster (a regular on The Today Programme, Sky News, etc) and one of the world’s most cited journalists. He was science editor of BBC News Online and science correspondent for BBC radio. He is also the author of ONE SMALL STEP and GALILEO. He was a scientist at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory of University College London; received his doctorate from Jodrell Bank Radio Observatory; is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a past president of the Society for Popular Astronomy. In 2005 he received the first ‘Arthur’ for outstanding space reporting. He has won an unprecedented five Netmedia awards including the prestigious European Internet Journalist of the Year as well as a Glaxo award. Asteroid 4036 Whitehouse orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter. He has completed a book on Rainbows and the history of optics and proposals for books on Tesla and Pythagoras are ready. www.davidwhitehouse.com

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henk van woerden ULTRAMARINE (ULTRAMARIJN) WINNER OF THE GOUDEN UIL & THE INKTAAP; NOMINATED FOR THE LIBRIS PRIZE ‘Not just a painful and beautiful but also a necessary book.’ Parool A book of unparalleled beauty and precision, which cuts right to the bone. It is a novel so rich, so perfect. A novel that asks to be reread and that will carry on giving meaning, revealing secrets, for all time. Simply masterful.’ Financieel Dagblad Van Woerden’s last novel before his untimely death is set somewhere between east and west, in a cultural borderland. Joakim grows up in the 1950s in an obscure port on the eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean. Against a backdrop of a small cosmopolitan town, Joakim develops a passion for his flamboyant half-sister Aysel, a flamboyant and determined young woman with a penchant for cuisine and risky love affairs. When they are found out, he is banished to a boy’s camp, his worst nightmare. On his return to the town he finds that a pogrom has taken place and scores of people have been killed. Aysel is missing, presumed dead. These events set him on course for a career as a lute-player and singer in the concert halls and the seedy dives of the capital. Aysel has survived the riots; she has been transported to the suburbs of a bleak German city ‘to be forgotten among strangers’. In a delicately woven parallel account of their two lives, Van Woerden sketches a landscape of desire, art and politics. Will circumstances ever bring them together? On the surface a story of love and longing, this is also a haunting account of the history of the eastern Mediterranean in the latter half of the 20th century. The lost lovers are eventually reunited in a way that elevates the novel to near-mythical status. Material: Dutch edition (288 pp); French, German and Danish editions. Sales: Podium NL; Actes Sud France; Ullstein Buchverlage Germany; Tiderne Skifter Denmark; Gyldendal Norsk Norway; Mlada Fronta Czech Republic; Everest Turkey; Shanghai Publishing China.

MOUTHFUL OF GLASS (MOND VOL GLAS) Published by many as THE ASSASSIN WINNER OF THE ALAN PATON/SUNDAY TIMES AWARD & THE GEERTJAN LUBBERHUIZEN PRIZE; NOMINATED FOR THE LIBRIS AND AKO PRIZES ‘A thoroughly successful blend of biography and fiction, suggesting in intriguing ways how a new history of South Africa can be written.’ J. M. Coetzee ‘Even though Tsafendas literally single-handedly changed the course of South African history, it has taken more than 50 years for anyone to write his biography. But what places Van Woerden’s book in an entirely different class is the way in which the story of Tsafendas is interwoven with those of other immigrants: notably Verwoerd and the author himself… He deftly and subtly draws the intricate picture of a country itself going mad. It is a picture both astute and sickening, both moving and grotesque.’ Andre Brink (219pp). Sales: Podium NL; Granta UK; Metropolitan USA; Queillerie South Africa; Gyldendal Norsk Norway; Berlin Verlag & Lettre International Germany (extract); Tiderne Skifter Denmark; Actes Sud France; Grijalbo Mondadori Spain; Temas e Debates Portugal; Radio BBC World Service; Ancora del Mediterraneo Italy; Kedros Greece. Adapted as a play & directed by Sir Anthony Sher. Film Option with Judy Naidoo, UK Film Council and British Film and Television School backed.

MOENIE KYK NIE Van Woerden’s stunning debut. As well as a portrait of displacement in South Africa, this novel is the history of an eye. The two different eyes of the young protagonist – the blind one, missing; and the eagerly observing one – give this moving story a distorted perspective, which gradually begins to stand for the split personality of the country. ‘This needed to be written exactly the way it is, perfect to the smallest detail.’ NRC Material: Dutch copies (178pp). Sales: Podium NL.

henk van woerden was born in The Netherlands but spent his teenage years in South Africa. In 2003 he won the Frans Kellendonk Prize for his entire oeuvre. He is also the author of the novel TIKOES and the essay collection NOTES FROM AN AIR CYCLIST. He was also a highly acclaimed painter. He died in 2005, aged 57.

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ramsay wood KALILA & DIMNA Volume 2: Fables of Conflict and Intrigue ‘These stories speak to and belong to the whole of humanity. . . . What Ramsay has done over the last thirty years is to have made the version for our time.’ From the Introduction by Michael Wood, historian, broadcaster and author of The Story of India ‘An intricately woven web of some of the world’s oldest and greatest stories, sweetly and humorously retold, and begging to be read aloud to a new generation of listeners.’ William Dalrymple, author of City of Djinns ‘Kalila wa Dimna is, like the Arabian Nights… It is also one of the undoubted masterpieces of world literature… The limpidity of Ramsay Wood’s prose echoes that of the Indian original.’ Robert Irwin, author of The Arabian Nights: A Companion ‘A must-read for anyone interested in the masterpieces of world literature... This book is an amazing gift to all of us who love good stories and great storytelling!’ Lisa Alther, author of Kinflicks This second volume picks up where the first left off but can be published independently and covers spying, war, enemies, how to live together during times of peace and times of conflict. A book full of outrageously behaved animals and humans doing the most delightfully awful things to each other. These stories are joyous, sad, amusing and sometimes brutal; their function is to educate both king and commoner in the ways of the world. Material: finished copies (256pp). Sales: Elex Media Indonesia, Medina World English.

KALILA AND DIMNA: Fables of Friendship & Betrayal Introduction by Doris Lessing ‘Contemporary, racy, vigorous, full of zest. It is also funny. I defy anyone to sit down with it and not finish it at a sitting.’ Doris Lessing ‘These wise and vigorous, sly and funny tales are contemporary: they are eternal… Kalila and Dimna is the greatest present of the Islamic heritage… Today when we need, more than ever, to understand the Muslim nations, Ramsay Wood’s fresh recreation of these tales becomes indispensable reading for the West. Indispensable more than for political, for human, artistic, glad reasons. Wood’s superb stories should be set alongside Italo Calvino’s recent retelling of the folktales of Italy. No higher praise is necessary.’ Carlos Fuentes ‘Wood’s version will be much more attractive to modern readers than the older translations, with their drier narratives and unfamiliar oriental hyperbole. Given the same zestful treatment, a further collection could hardly fail to be as enjoyable as the present one.’ TLS KALILA AND DIMNA or The Panchatnatra (also known as The Fables of Bidpai) is a collection of animal stories that has been part of world literature for over 2000 years. It migrated across ancient cultures in many different formats; all our beast fables from Aesop through La Fontaine to Uncle Remus owe this book a debt. These tales ostensibly constitute a handbook for rulers, a so-called ‘Mirror for Princes’ illustrating how to run a kingdom. But in their slyly profound grasp of human nature at its best and its worst, they offer wise counsel for all of us today. Based on a collation of scholarly translations from key Sanskrit, Syriac, Arabic and Persian texts, as well as the 1570 English rendition by Thomas North, this is the first uncompromisingly modern re-telling in either the East or West for over 400 years. Wood captures this great world classic in modern English, making it utterly relevant, fascinating, insightful and hugely readable. This is a necessary book, accessible to all ages and readers, completely addictive and informative. This first volume is about friendship – making friends, losing them, cooperation, coercion, betrayal, trust, loyalty and love. Material: English edition (302pp) and various others. Sales: Albin Michel France; Kairos Spain; Neri Pozza Italy; Saqi Books UK & US; Herder Verlag Germany; Elex Media Indonesia; Random House India.

ramsay wood has worked as a freelance photojournalist in Britain, East Africa, and Pakistan.

He was a founding member of the College of Storytellers in 1981, and chairman of the British charity Afghan Relief. He lives in London where he works part-time helping dyslexic children learn keyboard skills. www.ramsaywood.com

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yan lianke WINNER OF THE FRANZ KAFKA PRIZE 2014 FINALIST FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2013

THE FOUR BOOKS (SISHU) The title refers both to the four "canons" of Confucianism and the four Gospels - it is a strong work of violent, shocking, alternating voices that tell the story of the creation of a world, and what a nightmare that was. The three years of the "Great Leap Forward" imagined by Mao, from 1959 to 1961, cost the lives of more than thirty-six million people. Four ways of narrating the madness of men, four tones in which we recognize the voice of Yan Lianke, his poetic language that has the power of a song of love and faith in humanity. This novel will probably never be released in mainland China. Material: Chinese and French editions (416pp). Sales: Chatto & Windus UK; Editions Philippe Picquier France; Grove Atlantic USA; Text Australia; Font Forlag Norway; Verzone Czech Republic.

LENIN’S KISSES (SHOU HUO) WINNER OF THE LAO SHE LITERATURE AWARD WINNER OF THE LU XUN AWARD SELECTED AS ‘BEST FICTION BOOKS OF 2012’ by KIRKUS SELECTED AS ‘BEST BOOKS OF 2012’ by THE NEW YORKER SELECTED AS ‘NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE’ SELECTED AS ‘BEST BOOKS OF 2012’ BY MACLEAN’S ‘Both a blistering satire and a bruising saga, this epic novel by Yan (Dream of Ding Village) examines the grinding forces of communism and capitalism, and the volatile zones where the two intersect. Liven, a forgotten village located in the mountainous Balou region of China, at the junction of Gaoliu, Dayu, and Shuanghuai counties, and blessed with arable land, is struck by a freakish summer blizzard that destroys the crops and casts the villagers—most of them physically handicapped— into despair. Learning of their hardship, Liu Yingque, the Gaoliu county chief, visits, hatching a scheme to travel to Russia, buy Lenin’s corpse, and install it in a memorial shrine on a Chinese mountaintop. To fund this endeavor, he promises the citizens of Liven untold wealth if they’re willing to turn their various handicaps into performances for tourists. Running concurrently with this allegorical farce is the story of Mao Zhi, a former soldier of the Red Army and the de facto leader of Liven, and her battle with Liu for control over Liven’s autonomous position in the Communist party. Yan boldly plunges into the psychic gap between China’s decades-old conditioned response to communist doctrine and its redefinition of itself as a capitalist power, creating with bold, carnivalesque strokes a heartbreaking story of greed, corruption, and the dangers of utopia.’ Publishers Weekly ‘Lenin's Kisses is a grand comic novel, wild in spirit and inventive in technique. It's a rhapsody that blends the imaginary with the real, raves about the absurd and the truthful, inspires both laughter and tears. Carlos Rojas's translation captures the vigor of the original, funny, poised, peculiar but always rational. The publication of this magnificent work in English should be an occasion for celebration.’ Ha Jin ‘A masterpiece on many levels, most pertinently literary. It is crafted in the most lyrical prose style, and in an intimate voice filled with poetic flourishes and narrative craftsmanship. This is a tale of modern China with all its wonders, marvels and absurdities and ironies roped together, making it a must-read. It's little wonder that the author has won both China's equivalences of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. And this book is the finest gem to reflect this man's gift.’ Da Chen, author of My Last Empress ‘Yan Lianke weaves a passionate satire of today's China, a marvellous circus where the one eyed-man is king... Brutal. And wickedly funny.’ L'Express ‘A satirical masterpiece.’ Kirkus Reviews ‘Yan Lianke is one of China's most interesting writers and a master of imaginative satire.’ The Guardian ‘…his account of the final maltreatment of the villagers… has a tragic power. In Lenin’s Kisses, Yan Lianke movingly chronicles the price that Communist China’s rush to get rich has exacted from its vulnerable rural majority.’ The Spectator Material: Chinese, French, UK, US editions (544pp).

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Sales: Editions Philippe Picquier France; Chunfeng Art and Literature Press China; Font Forlag Norway; Riva Bulgaria; Text Australia; Grove Atlantic USA; Chatto & Windus UK; Tiderne Skifter Denmark; Editura Allfa Romania; Eichborn Germany; Final Turkey; Bokförlaget Atlantis Sweden; Automatica Spain.

DREAM OF DING VILLAGE NOW A FEATURE FILM STARRING ZHANG ZIYI, DIRECTED BY CHANGWEI GU SHORTLISTED FOR THE INDEPENDENT FOREIGN FICTION PRIZE 2012 SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN ASIAN LITERARY PRIZE 2011 Banned in China. ‘A formidable shortlist feature, one of which won such strong support that the jurors agreed to give it a special mention: Yan Lianke's dramatic, courageous and lyrical epic… Dream of Ding Village.’ Boyd Tonkin, Head of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Jury ‘A great piece of literature. A fearsome novel, well-built and graceful… lyrical and heart-felt.’ Le Monde ‘A furious satire of capitalism and corruption’ Guardian Set in a poor village in Henan Province, this is a deeply moving and beautifully written account of a blood-selling scandal in contemporary China. Ding Village’s town directors, looking for a way to lift their village from poverty, decide to open a dozen blood-plasma collection stations. The directors hope to drain the townspeople of their blood and sell it to other villages. Although the citizens prosper in the short run, the rampant blood selling leads to an outbreak of AIDS and a huge loss of life. DREAM OF DING VILLAGE focuses on one village, and the story of one family. The result is a passionate and steely critique of the rate at which China is developing, and what happens to those who get in the way. (238pp). Sales: Constable UK; Editions Philippe Picquier France; Text Australia; Editora Record Brazil; Ullstein Germany; Font Forlag Norway; Grove Atlantic USA; Nottetempo Italy; Tiderne Skifter Denmark; Riva Bulgaria; Automatica Spain; Bokförlaget Atlantis Sweden; Editura Allfa Romania; Teodolito Portugal; Kawade Japan. Film directed by Changwei Gu.

SERVE THE PEOPLE LONGLISTED FOR PRINCIPE DE ASTURIAS PRIZE FOR LETTERS, SPAIN Banned in China. ‘Crackles with sexual tension as Yan Lianke peels back Mao’s revolution to reveal the broad vein of humanism that overcame the revolution.’ New York Times ‘Lianke spares no one… a wonderfully biting satire, brimming with absurdity, humor and wit.’ LA Times (228pp). Sales: Ullstein Germany; Einaudi Italy; Editions Philippe Picquier France; Podium NL; Constable UK; Text Australia & New Zealand; Grove Atlantic USA; Record Brazil; Kinneret Israel; BB Art Czech; Polirom Romania; Maeva Ediciones Spain; Teorema Portugal; Font Forlag Norway; Aschehoug Forlag Denmark; Riva Bulgaria; Bungei Shunjyu Japan.

yan lianke was born in 1958. He is the author of a huge number of novels and story collections, all remarkable for their subject matter and style. He has received many literary prizes, including the Lu Xun and the Lao She. An extract from his extremely powerful and relevant novella THE DAYS, MONTHS, YEARS appeared in PEN International magazine and is also being filmed. His collection of stories about his father, published by Editions Philippe Picquier as SONGEANT A MON PERE, has been a huge bestseller in China; Nottetempo have Italian rights. Yan Lianke's latest book ZHALIE ZHI ('THE EXPLOSIVE CHRONICLE') is published in China by Shanghai 99. The novel unfolds in small village called Explosion in the Balou Mountains, and forms a loose trilogy with SISHU (FOUR BOOKS) and SHOU HUO (LENIN'S KISSES).

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adam zameenzad ‘One of the most original writers in the language.’ Publishing News NOMINATED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE WINNER OF THE DAVID HIGHAM PRIZE

PEPSI AND MARIA ‘Imagine a hybrid of City of God and The Wizard of Oz… a crossover triumph.’ The Independent ‘A beautifully crafted, multi-faceted book; at once a highly dramatic and gripping thriller… [and] a searing indictment of cruelty and inhumanity.’ New Internationalist Pepsi is a smart street-kid in an unnamed South American country – an orphan of circumstance, whose mother is dead and whose father, a famous politician, has disowned him. At his side is Maria, a girl kidnapped from her real family who has found in Pepsi a true ‘brother’. In this hard-hitting yet fantastic tale, Pepsi’s mission is to escape the sadistic Caddy, a policeman in cahoots with his father, whose one aim is to exterminate him, and to return Maria to her home – the rubbish-tip township she calls ‘Heaven’. Adam Zameenzad portrays the lives of social outcasts, loners, losers, the deprived and the dispossessed. He aims to give voice to the voiceless, and make visible the invisible. In this remarkable novel, the children’s zest for life and the beauty of the world around them ensure that their dramatic and poetic story, while dealing with the appalling reality of street-children’s lives, is uplifting to the spirit. PEPSI AND MARIA features Zameenzad’s unsentimental, trademark humour and distinctly fictional milieu, drawing attention to the plight of street-children. Without question an important novel – an incredibly moving story, and effortlessly entertaining too. Material: UK edition (317 pp). Sales: Arcadia Books UK (WEL); Christian Bourgois France; Yedioth Aharonoth Israel; Teorema Portugal; Ediciones Ambar Spain.

MY FRIEND MATT AND HENA THE WHORE ‘A truly remarkable novel.’ Punch ‘Outstanding.’ Sunday Times More relevant now than when it was first published. Kimo, Golam, Matt, and Hena live in an African village that is dying. So they embark on a search for an older cousin who has supposedly made it big in the city, but they find on their journey a country paralysed by famine and civil war. Although they are soon little more than skeletons, the children are full of resources with which to meet this world. One is laughter; another is Hena’s practical intelligence. Their willingness to help those less able to cope is a powerful affirmation of man’s fundamental humanity towards his fellow man. Material: finished copies (218 pp). Sales: Christian Bourgois France; Giunti Italy; Yedioth Aharonoth Israel; Teorema Portugal; Ediciones Ambar Spain. FILM RIGHTS sold to Franc Roddam, Ziji Productions. Previously published by Fourth Estate UK; Viking & Random House USA; Klett Cotta/Unions Verlag Taschenbuch Germany; Van Gennep NL; Marcos y Marcos Italy; Ediciones Versal Spain; Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke Denmark; Ordfront Sweden; Pax Norway; Treville Japan – all out of print.

adam zameenzad lives in Kent, England and is the author of the highly acclaimed novels THE THIRTEENTH HOUSE; LOVE BONES & WATER; CYRUS CYRUS; GORGEOUS WHITE FEMALE.

www.adamzameenzad.com

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Peter Ackroyd A. Alberts Saud Alsanousi Gilad Atzmon Phil Baker Robin Baker Ramzy Baroud Conny Braam Pauline Butcher Ciaran Carson Jose Luis Correa Robert Craig Gwynne Dyer Stephan Enter Olivia Fane Carl Friedman Paul Gogarty & Ian Williamson Hwang Sok-yong Radhika Jha Prem Shankar Jha Angus Kennedy Uzma Aslam Khan Rik Kuiper & Tonie Mudde Kolton Lee Christine Leunens Helen Lewis Tessa de Loo

Karel G. van Loon Joris Luyendijk Jeffrey Moore Mark Mulholland Tor Norretranders Willem Jan Otten Annette Pas John Richardson Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya Mario Sabino Parinoush Saniee Mineke Schipper Philibert Schogt Karl Shaw James Sheridan Adania Shibli Rowan Simons Sunny Singh Paul Sussman Shimon Tzabar Simone van der Vlugt Alex Wheatle David Whitehouse Henk van Woerden Ramsay Wood Yan Lianke Adam Zameenzad

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