John Banville

The brilliant new novel by the Booker-shortlisted author of Shroud and The Book of Evidence, John Banville is, quite simply, one of the greatest novelists writing in the English language today. When Max Morden returns to the coastal town where he spe nt a holiday in his youth he is both escaping from a recent loss and confronting a distant trauma. The Grace family appear that long ago summer as if from another world. Drawn to the Grace twins, Chloe and Myles, Max soon finds himself entangled in t heir lives, which are as seductive as they are unsettling. What ensues will haunt him for the rest of his years and shape everything that is to follow. John Banville is one of the most sublime writers working in the English language. Utterly compelli ng, profoundly moving and illuminating, The Sea is quite possibly the best thing he has ever written.Upozornenie: Vzhľadom na častejšie obmeny vydaní tejto knihy v zahraničí, kus, ktorý vám zašleme, nemusí mať rovnakú obálku ako je zobrazená tu. Zobr azená obálka môže byť iba ilustračná. Obsah knihy aj cena budú však identické, bez ohľadu na obálku.

Alexander Cleave, actor, has left his career and his family behind and banished himself to his childhood home. He wants to retire from life, but finds this impossible in a house brimming with presences, some ghostly, some undeniably human. Memories, anxiety for the future and more particularly for his beloved but troubled daughter, conspire to distract him from his dreaming retirement. This humane and beautifully written story tells the tragic tale of a man, intelligent, preposterous and vulnerable, who in attempting to bring the performance to a close finds himself traveling inevitably towards a devastating denouement. 'This unsparing, compassionate, humane book demonstrates again that Banville is in a class of his own' - "Spectator". 'A contemporary fable of piercing sadness and melancholy beauty...This poetic novel deals with archetypal themes as well as painful truths about parental inadequacy and the limitations of love' - "Sunday Telegraph". 'In Eclipse Banville has created another important, challenging fiction. The book is ornately written, heartless in an honest fashion, profoundly interrogative of ideas of identity and, above all, spectacularly beautiful. It is, in a way that so many contemporary novels are not, a work of art' - "Observer".

Banville v románu Moře dokonale prokázal, jak mistrovsky ovládá jazyk, především pak jeho možnosti, jak nečekanými a naléhavými obrazy vykreslit i ta nejskrytější hnutí lidské mysli. Kunsthistorik Max Morden se vrací do přímořské vesnice, kde kdysi, jako chlapec, trávil prázdniny. Snaží se tím uniknout před nedávnou ztrátou, ale i čelit traumatům, na která dávno téměř zapomněl. Tady se kdysi setkal s nevšední rodinou Graziových, kteří do jeho poklidného dětství v nudné středostavovské rodině vtrhli, jako by přišli z jiného světa. Pán a paní Graziovi byli protřelí a přímočaří a nepodobali se žádným dospělým, které předtím poznal. Malého Maxe však nejvíce fascinovaly jejich děti, dvojčata: zamlklý Myles a energická a sebejistá Chloe. Zestárlý Max Morden, který se nedávno musel smířit se smrtí své ženy, podniká výlet do vlastní minulosti i do vlastní rozbolavělé duše. Banvillův román Moře je zároveň příběhem o tom, jak se smiřujeme se ztrátami, i podivuhodnou úvahou o lidské identitě a paměti. b Román Moře získal v roce 2005 nejvýznamnější britskou literární cenu, BOOKER PRIZE. /b

Our conventional view of history and human progress is wrong. It is founded on a pernicious myth of an achievable utopia that in the last century alone caused the murder of tens of millions. In "Black Mass" John Gray tears down the religious, political and secular beliefs that we insist are fundamental to the human project and shows us how a misplaced faith in our ability to improve the world has actually made it far worse.

A nyári napforduló idején, Szent Iván napján vidéki otthonukba gyűlnek a Godley család tagjai, hogy leróják tiszteletüket a haldokló apa, az idős Adam betegágya mellett. Feszültségekkel terhes nap vár rájuk, hiszen mindegyiküknek megvan a maguk baja is. De nincsenek egyedül: rajtuk kívül pajkos, bajkeverő görög istenek népesítik be a baljós hangulatú házat. Mivel képtelenek ellenállni a kísértésnek, beavatkoznak a halandók életébe, kémkednek utánuk, incselkednek velük, sőt olykor el is csábítják némelyiküket, miközben irigykedve szemlélik teremtményeik bohózatba hajló tragédiáját. Az idős Adam a végtelenek fogalmával folytatott küzdelmével írta be nevét a matematika tudományának nagykönyvébe, ám most, hogy földi ideje a végéhez közeledik, saját emlékeinek végtelenjébe merülve tölti utolsó napjait. A kómában fekvő férfi tudatáig nemigen jut el a tény, hogy az istenek nem csupán az emberek életébe, de halálába is képesek beavatkozni, sőt ha kedvük tartja, még az idő folyását is képesek megakasztani. Az időnként trágár humorral átszőtt, és mindvégig mélyenszántó tisztánlátással megírt regény egyszerre kínál az olvasónak gyönyörűségesen evilági kalandot és nyújt számára kifinomult, végtelenül bölcs bepillantást az emberi lét szörnyű, mégis csodás titkaiba.

st published in 2005, The Sea was critically acclaimed as an extraordinary achievement. It went on to win that year's Man Booker Prize, one of the most hotly contested in the history of the award. When Max Morden returns to the seaside village where he once spent a childhood holiday, he is both escaping from a recent loss and confronting a distant trauma. Mr and Mrs Grace and their twin children Myles and Chloe appeared that long-ago summer as if from another world. He grew to know them intricately, even intimately, and what ensued would haunt him for the rest of his years and shape everything that was to follow. In 2012 Picador celebrate our 40th anniversary. During that time we have published many prize-winning and bestselling authors including Bret Easton Ellis and Cormac McCarthy, Alice Sebold and Helen Fielding, Graham Swift and Alan Hollinghurst. Years later, Picador continue to bring readers the very best contemporary fiction, non-fiction and poetry from across the globe.

For fans of Colm Toibin's Brooklyn and Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending, the story of obsessive young love and the power of grief - Ancient Light is the best novel yet from the Booker Prize winner of The Sea. 'Billy Gray was my best friend and I fell in love with his mother.'Alexander Cleave, an actor who thinks his best days are behind him, remembers his first unlikely affair as a teenage boy in a small town in 1950s Ireland: the illicit meetings in a rundown cottage outside town; assignations in the back of his lover's car on sunny mornings and rain-soaked afternoons. And with these early memories comes something sharper and much darker - the more recent recollection of the actor's own daughter's suicide ten years before.

One long, languid midsummer’s day, the Godleys gather at the family home of Arden to attend their father’s bedside. Adam, the elder child, and Petra, only nineteen, find that relations with their mother, Ursula, and their dying father, old Adam, are as strained as ever. Adam’s relationship with his wife, Helen, seems too on the brink of collapse and Petra, fragile and deeply troubled, finds deepest relief in her own pain. The gods, those mischievous spirits, watch silently, flitting through this dark ménage. Unable to resist intervening in the mortals’ lives, they spy, tease and seduce, all the while looking upon the antics of their playthings with a mixture of mild bafflement and occasional envy. Old Adam – husband, father and esteemed mathematician – has made his name grappling with the concept of the infinite. His own time on earth seems to be running out, and his mind runs to disquieting memories. Little does he realize, as he lies mute but alert in the Sky room, that the gods are capable of interposing themselves in the action, and even changing time itself when it pleases them. Overflowing with a bawdy humour, and a deep and refreshing clarity of insight, The Infinities is at once a gloriously earthy romp and a delicately poised, infinitely wise look at the terrible and wonderful plight of being human. In electrifying prose, Banville captures the aching intensity, the magic and enchantment, of a single midsummer’s day in Arden.

When Max Morden returns to the seaside village where he once spent a childhood holiday, he is both escaping from a recent loss and confronting a distant trauma. Mr and Mrs Grace and their twin children Myles and Chloe appeared that long-ago summer as if from another world. Max grew to know them intricately, even intimately, and what ensued would haunt him for the rest of his years, shaping everything that was to follow.

From John Banville, one of the world's greatest writers, comes The Blue Guitar, a story of theft and the betrayal of friendship. Adultery is always put in terms of thieving. But we were happy together, simply happy. Oliver Orme used to be a painter, well known and well rewarded, but the muse has deserted him. He is also, as he confesses, a petty thief; he does not steal for gain, but for the thrill of it. HIs worst theft is Polly, the wife of his friend Marcus, with whom he has had an affair. When the affair is discovered, Oliver hides himself away in his childhood home. From here he tells the story of a year, from one autumn to the next. Many surprises and shocks await him, and by the end of his story, he will be forced to face himself and seek a road towards redemption. Shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year 2016

Having fled Rome and a stultifying marriage, Isabel Osmond is in London, brooding on the recent disclosure of her husband's shocking, years-long betrayal of her. What should she do now, and which way should she turn, in the emotional labyrinth where she has been trapped for so long? Reawakened by grief and the knowledge of having been grievously wronged, she determines to resume her youthful quest for freedom and independence. Soon Isabel must return to Italy and confront her husband, and seek to break his powerful hold on her. But will she succeed in outwitting him, and securing her revenge? Mrs Osmond is a masterly novel of betrayal, corruption and moral ambiguity, from the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea.

A MASTERFUL TALE OF BETRAYAL AND CORRUPTION BY THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE SEA 'Banville is one of the writers I admire the most' Hanya Yanahigara, author of A Little Life 'A brilliant feat of literary ventriloquism' The Times Having fled Rome and a stultifying marriage, Isabel Osmond is in London, brooding on the recent disclosure of her husband's shocking, years-long betrayal of her. What should she do now, and which way should she turn, in the emotional labyrinth where she has been trapped for so long? Reawakened by grief and the knowledge of having been grievously wronged, she determines to resume her youthful quest for freedom and independence. Soon Isabel must return to Italy and confront her husband, and seek to break his powerful hold on her. But will she succeed in outwitting him, and securing her revenge? Mrs Osmond is a masterly novel of betrayal, corruption and moral ambiguity, from the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea. 'A worthy sequel ... His book is not only an impressive recreation of James's atmospheres and pacing, but also full of minor cliff-hangers and page-turning suspenses that keep you guessing' Observer 'John Banville is one of the best novelists in English, and an expert ventriloquist, among other things ... Mrs Osmond is both a remarkable novel in its own right and a superb pastiche' Guardian 'John Banville is simply the finest writer at work today, a prolific prose stylist whose work has only deepened in quality throughout his career' John Boyne

'Billy Gray was my best friend and I fell in love with his mother.' Alexander Cleave, an actor who thinks his best days are behind him, remembers his first unlikely affair as a teenage boy in a small town in 1950s Ireland: the illicit meetings in a rundown cottage outside town; assignations in the back of his lover's car on sunny mornings and rain-soaked afternoons. And with these early memories comes something sharper and much darker - the more recent recollection of the actor's own daughter's suicide ten years before. Ancient Light is the story of a life rendered brilliantly vivid: the obsession and selfishness of young love and the terrifying shock of grief. It is a dazzling novel, funny, utterly pleasurable and devastatingly moving in the same moment. 'Illuminating, funny, devastating. A meditation of breathtaking beauty and profundity on love and loss and death' Financial Times 'Banville perfectly captures the spirit of adolescence. A luminous, breathtaking work' Independent on Sunday 'Startlingly brilliant. Terrific - full of sadness and yearning' Sunday Telegraph