Zoë Heller

A comic, tragic, supremely entertaining novel about one family's struggles with the consolations of faith and the trials of doubt. When New York radical lawyer, Joel Litvinoff falls gravely ill, his wife Audrey uncovers a secret that forces her to re-examine both her belief in him and her commitment to their forty-year marriage. Meanwhile, her ne'er-do-well adopted son, Lenny, is back on drugs again and her daughters, Karla and Rosa, are grappling with their own catastrophes and dilemmas. Rosa, a disillusioned revolutionary socialist, has found herself increasingly beguiled by the world of Orthodox Judaism; now she is being pressed to make a commitment and must decide if she is really ready to forsake all her cherished secular values for a Torah-observant life. Karla, an unhappily married hospital social worker and union activist, falls into a tumultuous affair with a conservative shop-keeper: can she really love a man whose politics she reviles? And how to choose between a life of duty and principle and her own happiness?

Názov i prvé stránky knihy naznačujú, že ústredným motívom bude pikantný škandálik, ktorý rozdúchala miestna tlač po odhalení nedovoleného sexuálneho vzťahu štyridsaťročnej učiteľky Sheby Hartovej so žiakom strednej školy v severnom Londýne. Samozvanou kronikárkou Shebinho príbehu je osamelá stará dievka, učiteľka dejepisu v preddôchodkovom veku, Barbara Covettová. Sheba, atraktívna, láskavá a aristokraticky bezstarostná vzbudí senzáciu, len čo sa na škole St George's zjaví ako nová učiteľka keramiky. Mnohí túžia získať si jej náklonnosť. Barbara sa stáva jej dôvernou priateľkou a domnieva sa, že sa jej naplnila životná túžba: že konečne našla blízkeho človeka a spriaznenú dušu. No keď zistí, že Sheba sa tajne stretáva s pätnásťročným Stevenom Connollym, zmocní sa jej sklamanie, ktoré prerastie v hnev...

Když Sheba Hartová nastoupí na londýnskou střední školu St George’s jako učitelka keramiky, postarší a osamělá Barbara Covettová vycítí, že našla spřízněnou duši. Barbara však není jediná, koho Sheba přitahuje. Zanedlouho se Sheba zaplete do tajného milostného vztahu s jedním ze svých studentů. Když jejich známost vyjde najevo a Shebě se zhroutí manželství, Barbara se jí rozhodne ujmout. Oduševnělý příběh dvou žen, z nichž jednu sledujeme očima druhé, ovšem vypravěčka na sebe prozrazuje více, než vůbec tuší. Celý příběh a jeho zpracování mají takovou moc, že udržují uchváceného čtenáře v napětí od první do poslední věty.

When the new teacher first arrives, Barbara immediately senses that this woman will be different from the rest of her staff-room colleagues. But Barbara is not the only one to feel that Sheba is special, and before too long Sheba is involved in an illicit affair with a pupil. Barbara finds the relationship abhorrent, of course, but she is the only adult in whom Sheba can properly confide. So when the liaison is found out and Sheba's life falls apart, Barbara is there...

When Audrey makes a devastating discovery about her husband, New York radical lawyer Joel Litvinoff, she is forced to re-examine everything she thought she knew about their forty-year marriage. Joel's children will have to deal with this unsettling secret themselves, but meanwhile, they are trying to cope with their own dilemmas.

From the first day that the beguiling Sheba Hart joins the staff of St George's, history teacher Barbara Covett is convinced that she has found a kindred spirit. Barbara's loyalty to her new friend is passionate and unstinting and when Sheba is discovered to be having an illicit affair with one of her pupils, Barbara quickly elects herself as Sheba's cheif defender. But all is not as it first seems in this dark story and, as Sheba will soon discover, a friend can be just as treacherous as any lover.

Zoe Heller's The Believers - part of the limited edition Penguin Street Art series: timeless writing, enduring design. "On the flyleaf of the diary she was keeping that year, she had inscribed Socrates' words: "I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance." When Audrey makes a devastating discovery about her husband, New York radical lawyer Joel Litvinoff, she is forced to re-examine everything she thought she knew about their forty-year marriage. Joel's children will have to deal with this unsettling secret themselves, but meanwhile, they are trying to cope with their own dilemmas. Rosa, beautiful, disillusioned revolutionary, is grappling with a new-found attachment to Orthodox Judaism. Unhappily married Karla is falling in love with an unlikely suitor at the hospital where she works. Adopted brother Lenny is back on drugs again. In the course of battling their own demons and each other, every member of the family is called upon to decide what - if anything - they still believe in. "Beautiful, stunningly written ...a subtle, funny family farce about faith and identity". (Guardian). Zoe Heller is also the author of Everything You Know and Notes on a Scandal. The Penguin Street Art series marries timeless writing with enduring design. Some of the world's leading street artists have designed new covers especially for ten classic contemporary books from Penguin: Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd; Armadillo by William Boyd; And The Ass Saw the Angel by Nick Cave; What a Carve Up by Jonathan Coe; Americana by Don DeLillo; Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris; The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid; The Believers by Zoe Heller; How to Be Good by Nick Hornby; and Lights out for the Territory by Iain Sinclair.

The women in Willy Muller's life are trouble. His mother insists he eat tofu. His dopey girlfriend, Penny, wants him to overcome his personal space issues - while Karen, his other, even dopier, girlfriend, just wants more sex. Meanwhile, his oldest daughter, Sophie, wants him to finance her husband's drug habit. But it's his youngest daughter, Sadie, who's giving him the biggest headache. Just before committing suicide three months ago, she sent Willy her diaries. Poring over the record of her empty life, he feels pangs of something unexpected ...remorse. But isn't it a bit late for such sentimental guff? Set in London, Hollywood and Mexico, "Everything You Know" is a supremely witty take on love, death and the age-old battle of the sexes.

Názov i prvé stránky knihy naznačujú, že ústredným motívom bude pikantný škandálik, ktorý rozdúchala miestna tlač po odhalení nedovoleného sexuálneho vzťahu štyridsaťročnej učiteľky Sheby Hartovej so žiakom strednej školy v severnom Londýne. Samozvanou kronikárkou Shebinho príbehu je osamelá stará dievka, učiteľka dejepisu v preddôchodkovom veku, Barbara Covettová. Sheba, atraktívna, láskavá a aristokraticky bezstarostná vzbudí senzáciu, len čo sa na škole St George's zjaví ako nová učiteľka keramiky. Mnohí túžia získať si jej náklonnosť. Barbara sa stáva jej dôvernou priateľkou a domnieva sa, že sa jej naplnila životná túžba: že konečne našla blízkeho človeka a spriaznenú dušu. No keď zistí, že Sheba sa tajne stretáva s pätnásťročným Stevenom Connollym, zmocní sa jej sklamanie, ktoré prerastie v hnev...

Když Sheba Hartová nastoupí na londýnskou střední školu St George’s jako učitelka keramiky, postarší a osamělá Barbara Covettová vycítí, že našla spřízněnou duši. Barbara však není jediná, koho Sheba přitahuje. Zanedlouho se Sheba zaplete do tajného milostného vztahu s jedním ze svých studentů. Když jejich známost vyjde najevo a Shebě se zhroutí manželství, Barbara se jí rozhodne ujmout. Oduševnělý příběh dvou žen, z nichž jednu sledujeme očima druhé, ovšem vypravěčka na sebe prozrazuje více, než vůbec tuší. Celý příběh a jeho zpracování mají takovou moc, že udržují uchváceného čtenáře v napětí od první do poslední věty.

When Audrey makes a devastating discovery about her husband, New York radical lawyer Joel Litvinoff, she is forced to re-examine everything she thought she knew about their forty-year marriage. Joel's children will have to deal with this unsettling secret themselves, but meanwhile, they are trying to cope with their own dilemmas.