Showing results for "Life" in Literature & Fiction

The corridor of the Fine Arts Building was deserted, save for two figures at the far end, two men approaching slowly. Rose was about to go into the classroom, where she'd left her purse, when she saw a sign on the door - a crude sign in pencil, on a ragged sheet of paper. "Collapse of Western Civilization - Dr. Norbert Beilstein," it said. "Visitors welcome."

Desperate to escape their high-pressure life in Los Angeles, the Finch family moves to rural Oregon. But it doesn’t take long to learn that “small town” is not code for “stress-free.” As the new owners of Applegate's one and only general store, the Finches find that the simple life’s anything but simple when your little store is the town's only grocery store, gas station, hardware store, fire station, and occasional dentist’s office.

“A funny, heartfelt story about found family and seeing the silver lining in life. Fans of A Man Called Ove and Remarkably Bright Creatures will especially enjoy this new novel.”—Library Journal A zany case of mistaken identity allows a lonely old man one last chance to be part of a family...

Seventeen-year-old Alan can’t stand rows. But, though the Second World War has ended, peace hangs by a fine thread at home: his troublesome sister Madge creeps off for night-time liaisons with a German POW; their ineffectual father – broken by the hardships of war and an unhappy marriage – can’t put food on the table despite the family’s middle-class manners; his mother pursues her escapist fantasies in romantic novels and love affairs. Obedient, faithful Alan is trapped among them all, the focus of their jibes and resentment, as inexorably the family heads towards disaster.

An entertaining and surprising ride through an India you thought you knew...

Take David Sedaris’ self-deprecation and deep sense of the absurd and toss in a pinch Erma Bombeck’s happy skewering of domestic life: there you have M. A. C. Farrant. In this witty, affecting collection of personal essays, Farranthas a gift for making those observations that would be harrowing, if they weren’t so funny, and here tackles the absurdities of family life from both sides of the generational divide: as a young girl growing up in a dysfunctional family in the 1960s, and as a mother herself to three troublesome teenagers.

Anna and Tom, an expat couple, have fashioned a dream life for themselves in Berlin. They are young digital "creatives" exploring the excitements of the city, freelancers without too many constraints, who spend their free time cultivating house plants and their images online. At first, they reasonably deduce that they've turned their passion for aesthetics into a viable, even enviable career, but the years go by, and Anna and Tom grow bored.

A nameless narrator awakens to the muddle of middle age, no longer certain who or what he is. He finds himself at a party talking to a woman he doesn't know who proves to be his wife. Soon separated but still living in the same apartment, he is threatened by a litigious dachshund and saddled with a stubborn case of erectile dysfunction in a world that seems held together by increasingly mercurial laws and elusive boundaries.

For anyone who ever wondered what Marcel Proust had in mind when he wrote the one-and-a-quarter-million words of In Search of Lost Time (while bedridden no less), Alain de Botton has the answer. For, in this stylish, erudite and frequently hilarious book, de Botton dips deeply into Proust’s life and work - his fiction, letter, and conversations – and distils from them that rare self-help manual: one that is actually helpful.

'Full of warmth' #1 Sunday Times Bestseller Katie Fforde Can a cake change your life? Clemmie Rose’s great-great-grandmother’s beloved clementine torte is her ticket to the prestigious Royal Baking Competition. A win could put Puffin Island’s charming Café on the Coast on the map, land...

Sam Bennett is the last of a dying breed, a former Mad Man, now made redundant after 30 years at the same advertising agency. Left with his awards and a case of Bulgarian whiskey (which he still can’t remember buying), Sam retreats to his home, awaits the summer arrival of his daughter and crazy son-in-law, Muller, is plagued by panic attacks and has an incident involving a pressed ham on a liquor store window with a young security guard named Max. .

Things aren't going Milo's way. His acting career is floundering, he got dumped, his miserable father vanished, and people keep moving into his house. He finally decides to take action - to help the only person he really likes, the autistic boy next door who's being bullied. But, well, that doesn't really go his way either.

What happens when the world’s greatest literary icon dies before she finishes the final book in her best-selling series? And what happens when she leaves that book in the hands of her unstable, neurotic daughter, who swears she’s not a real writer? Sara Grayson is a 32-year-old greeting card writer about to land the toughest assignment of her life. Three weeks after the death of her mother - a world-famous suspense novelist - Sara learns that her mother’s dying wish is for her to write the final book in her best-selling series.

An Indian American family is turned upside down when the parents split up thirty-six years into their arranged marriage​ in this “heartwarming journey of self-discovery” (Southern Living). “Touching . . . both funny and moving—a family drama the entire family can enjoy...

Meet Surbiton’s most famous residents: Tom, Barbara, Margo and Jerry. It is Tom Good's 40th birthday, and he feels thoroughly unfulfilled. If only he can discover what 'It' is, and if he can, will his wife Barbara agree to do 'It' with him? The subsequent and sudden transformation of the Goods’ home into a smallholding causes consternation for Margo and Jerry next door, and they decide it’s their duty to interfere. So begins The Good Life, the much loved classic sitcom starring Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal, Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith.

Myrna, Leonie, and Chrissy meet every Thursday to sample fine cheeses, to reminisce about their former lives as professors, and lately, to muse about murder. Decades ago, a vicious cabal of male poets contrived—quite publicly and successfully—to undermine the writing career, confidence, and health of their dear friend Fern. Now, after Fern has taken a turn for the worse, her three old friends decide that it’s finally time to strike back—in secret, of course, since Fern is far too gentle to approve of a vendetta.

Brooklyn Manning thought her life was perfect in every way, until it crumbled down around her and turned into a dumpster fire. With her pride wounded and her tail tucked between her legs, she leaves New York and goes back to her tiny hometown of White Timber, Montana. No more 24-hour taco trucks, no more shopping at the best designer stores within walking distance, no more giving taxi drivers the finger when they angrily honk at her. She didn’t think it could get any worse. But then Clint Hastings walked into the room and insulted her.

It is 2003 – ten years since Spud Milton’s class of 93 matriculated and the boys went their separate ways. Despite their seemingly unbreakable bond, the Crazy Eight have not kept in touch. Or at least, not as far as Spud knows. When he receives an invitation from the school to attend the...

Set in 1930s London, Winifred Watson’s Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day recounts twenty-four hours in the life of a governess who turns up for a very unexpected first day at work. Watson’s comedic, light-hearted novel is read by Academy Award-winning actress Frances McDormand, who plays Miss...

Life is built on single decisions. Choose wisely. It’s one of life coach Nikki Parekh’s mottos. That and being open to opportunities and taking leaps without fear. But when Nikki accepts her boyfriend’s casual proposal of marriage, she wonders if it’s just too soon, too spontaneous—and so sudden that she seeks out the advice of her not-so-nurturing mother, Tara. To Nikki’s surprise, Tara, who raised her daughter to be self-sufficient, urges Nikki to trust her decision.