Showing results for "The Birthday" in Literary Fiction

From the author of the award-winning Kindle single, Cornbread, comes a story about Cumberland Bixby, a minor league baseball player turned B-list actor who wakes up on his 34th birthday to find he's been dead for nearly nine hours. Seeking answers, Cumberland crisscrosses Manhattan on foot, his last glimpses of the city disappearing behind him. Happy Birthday, Cumberland Bixby is a story about life and death in the era of self-promotion, and what it means to be truly seen.

One of the very best must-read novels of all time - with a new introduction by Roddy Doyle 'There was a wall. It did not look important - even a child could climb it. But the idea was real. Like all walls it was ambiguous, two-faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon which...

Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times. Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious scam: he pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be “saved” by fellow patrons...

Ursula K. Le Guin has enthralled fans with her imagination, clarity, and moral vision. The recipient of numerous literary prizes, including the National Book Award, the Kafka Award, and five Hugo and five Nebula Awards, this renowned writer has created a provocative, ever-evolving universe filled with diverse worlds and rich characters reminiscent of our earthly selves. Now, in The Birthday of the World, this gifted artist returns to these worlds in eight brilliant short works, including a never-before-published novella, each of which probes the essence of humanity.

It’s Poppy Kinsey’s birthday. She should be blowing out candles and opening presents, but hers falls on the type of heart-wrenching, agonising anniversary she would far rather forget. The worst day of them all. The day her mother died. But this year is special because the person she misses most in the world has left her a set of letters, one for each of her next 10 birthdays. As Poppy opens them year by year, she discovers that no matter how tough life gets, her mum will always be by her side, guiding her along the way.

"The Birthday of the Infanta" is about a hunchbacked dwarf, found in the woods by courtiers of the King of Spain. The hunchback's father sells him to the palace for the amusement of the king's daughter, the Infanta, on her twelfth birthday. Her birthday is the only time she is allowed to mingle with other children, and she much enjoys the many festivities arranged to mark it, especially the Dwarf's performance. He dances, as he did in the woods, thoroughly unaware of his audience's laughing at him.

This masterful blend of book club and literary women's fiction offers a frank rebuttal to Wine Mom culture and is perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Liane Moriarty. "Sure to resonate with readers who like complex family stories." --Library Journal "This nuanced story . . . is sensitively...

""Gloriously atmospheric.""—Lucy Foley “Truly excellent.”—Lee Child “Gorgeous. . . . It has the halo of an instant classic.”—AJ Finn In this widely praised debut crime thriller, a high-flying detective leaves London for a fresh start in the countryside—only to find himself on...

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2024 ""Very intriguing and atmospheric ... a fascinating read in the light of contemporary events.” –Alexander McCall Smith, Bestselling Author of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency ""With its earthy prose...

Recommended by The New York Times Elle Good Morning America TIME People New York Post Real Simple Goodreads LibraryReads and many more! An evocative family drama and a riveting mystery about the ferocious pull of motherhood for two very different women—from...

The Odd Thingabout Walter Schoen, German born but now running a butcher shop in Detroit, he's a dead ringer for Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and the Gestapo. Honey Deal, Walter's American wife, doesn't know that Walter is a member of a spy ring and gives shelter to escaped German POWs. But...

Winner of the Joyce Carol Oates Prize Finalist for the 2025 Oregon Book Award “Willy Vlautin writes about people overlooked by society and overlooked by literature. In The Horse, he tells the story of a tenderhearted man who has a steady talent and a crushing addiction. It is both a work of...

A haunting collection of short fiction from the bestselling author of The Pallbearers Club, A Head Full of Ghosts, and The Cabin at the End of the World. Paul Tremblay has won widespread acclaim for illuminating the dark horrors of the mind in novels and stories that push the boundaries of...

“A story of choices and events so intimate I felt I was part of it. The novel is wrenching, the emotions radiant, and it will leave readers transformed” —Luanne Rice, author of The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners “Joyce Maynard has outdone herself in this beautifully written story you’ll...

A new novel, funny, wise, moving, true, as only Lisa Alther can write ("she had me laughing at 4 in the morning" --Doris Lessing), set on a cruise ship, about a woman, a doctor in charge of the ship's clinic, recovering from the loss of her longtime female lover, a much-admired writer, and...

A ravishingly beautiful and emotionally incendiary reinvention of the love story by the legendary Nobel Prize winner “Arresting images, fierce intelligence, poetic language . . . One becomes entranced by Toni Morrison’s story.” —The Washington Post Jadine Childs is a Black fashion model...

"This splendid story collection is a sword through the heart."--Ben Fountain From the O. Henry Prize-winning author comes a heartbreakingly beautiful and brutal exploration of lives fragmented by the Pacific side of World War II. Spanning more than 150 years, and set in multiple locations in...