Showing results for "People" in Contemporary Fiction

Brought to you by Penguin. Narrated by Jenna Coleman. The fiercely funny, joyfully relatable first novel from Sunday Times bestseller Bryony Gordon “You’re so desperate to make everybody else happy that you’ve forgotten what makes you happy. You’ve not just forgotten it, you’ve...

The People of the Abyss (1903) is a book by Jack London about life in the East End of London in 1902. He wrote this first-hand account after living in the East End (including the Whitechapel District) for several weeks, sometimes staying in workhouses or sleeping on the streets. In his attempt to understand the working-class of this deprived area of London the author stayed as a lodger with a poor family. The conditions he experienced and wrote about were the same as those endured by an estimated 500,000 of the contemporary London poor.

As Avi Goldberg, the son of a Jewish pioneer, sits in a military prison in the Negev desert, he fills his nights writing about his friend Saleem, an Israeli Arab, and Saleem’s family, whose loss of their ancestral home in 1948 cast a shadow over their lives. Avi and Saleem believe the past can be buried, reduced to nothing. But then September 2000 comes and war breaks out - endless, unforgiving, filled with loss. As the Intifada rips their peoples apart, they learn that war devours everything....

Until Darren Booth moves in at number 1, Lowland Way, the neighbourhood is a suburban paradise. But soon after his arrival, disputes over issues like loud music and parking rights escalate all too quickly to public rows and threats of violence. Then, early one Saturday, a horrific crime shocks the street. As the police go house to house, the residents close ranks and everyone’s story is the same: Booth did it. But there’s a problem. The police don't agree with them.

Ava, newly arrived in Hong Kong from Dublin, spends her days teaching English to rich children. Julian is a banker. A banker who likes to spend money on Ava, to have sex and discuss fluctuating currencies with her. But when she asks whether he loves her, he cannot say more than 'I like you a great deal'. Enter Edith, a lawyer. Refreshingly enthusiastic and unapologetically earnest, Edith takes Ava to the theatre when Julian leaves Hong Kong for work. Quickly, she becomes something Ava looks forward to. And then Julian writes to tell Ava he is coming back to Hong Kong....

When a man and a woman get married, things can get complicated. When they have children from previous marriages, "complicated" can become the understatement of the year.

A razor-sharp portrait of a morally bankrupt and gleefully wicked modern man, Worst. Person. Ever. is Douglas Coupland's gloriously filthy, side-splittingly funny and unforgettable novel. Meet Raymond Gunt. A decent chap who tries to do the right thing. Or, to put it another way, the worst person ever: a foul-mouthed, misanthropic cameraman, trailing creditors, ex-wives and unhappy homeless people in his wake. Men dislike him, women flee from him.

Der perfekte Strand. Der perfekte Sommer. Das perfekte Geheimnis? Jeden Sommer lassen Jen Weinstein und ihre Freundin Lauren Parker ihr privilegiertes Leben in New York hinter sich, um die schönsten Wochen des Jahres auf Fire Island zu verbringen, einer idyllischen Düneninsel, gleich neben Long Island. Hier residiert »altes Geld«, man kennt sich seit Jahren und vertreibt sich die Zeit mit Tennis, kühlen Cocktails im Clubhaus und Beach-Picknicks.