Graham Swift

Sarah is in prison. Every fortnight she is visited by George, the private eye she employed to observe the final stage of her husband's affair. The visits - and the days between - lead George back into Sarah's past and into events he can picture only too w

In the sweet shop Willy Chapman was free, absolved from all responsibility, and he ran his sweet shop like his life - quietly, steadfastly, devotedly. It was a bargain struck between Chapman and his beautiful, emotionally injured wife - a bargain based on unexpressed, inexpressible love and on a courageous acceptance of life's deprivation...threatened only by Dorry, their clever, angry, unforgiving daughter. 'Moving...Through the succinctly evoked provincial decades one of the engrossing features is the difficulty of love and of communication between generations' - "London Review of Books". 'A remarkable novel...There is a touch of Joyce in Graham Swift's revelation of the hidden poetry of small men's lives' - "New York Times Book Review".

Paula Hooková leží v noci z 16. na 17. června 1995 vedle spícího manžela, vnímá odstíny tmy za oknem a je odhodlána neusnout. Uvědomuje si, že nadešel čas "popravy". Až zítra ráno vstanou, dozvědí se jejich šestnáctileté děti konečně rodinné tajemství, jehož obsah už nelze zamlčovat. Sevření Swiftovy nové prózy do několika málo hodin jen zvyšuje úzkost, s níž je toto rozhodnutí spojeno. Co to vlastně nad Hookovými visí, že to může hned po snídani zničit vzorové soužití v domku na předměstí, který by si L. N. Tolstoj pro své manželské drama zřejmě nevybral, protože jeho obyvatelé jsou zdánlivě až příliš šťastní? Hrdinka, jejíž zpověď autor zasadil do nejvýmluvnější noci v dějinách literatury, má však daleko do paničky pociťující potřebu producírovat se před divákem jako v reality show. Podobně jako u Joyceovy Molly Bloomové se formou monologu "na polštáři" ocitáme až v myšlenkách protagonistky, a to ve chvíli, kdy už sice nabyly tvar, ale ještě nejsou vysloveny a přizpůsobeny vývoji situace. Paula si v penelopiádě ohraničené brzkým svítáním nacvičuje, co bude záhy odtajněno, a zároveň se probírá půlstoletím okolností, jež tomu předcházely. Jako obchodnice s uměním představí čtenáři svůj život jako galerii, kterou stojí za to projít. Jako jedináček, jenž pochoval otce a vygumoval z mysli snobskou matku, uvažuje o tom, nakolik může jedinec přežít bez druhých. Přemýšlí o síle rodiny, která nás v těžkých chvílích drží doslova nad vodou, a vzhledem ke svým zkušenostem chápe tuto instanci jako společenství otců i "otců", strýčků i "strýčků" a dědečků i "dědečků", neboť sounáležitost bývá silnější než hlas krve. Graham Swift znovu potvrzuje, jak blízko má k moderním klasikům. Jeho osmý román Zítřek (2007) navazuje na vzývání magie všedního dne, mění ho za pomoci obyčejných slov v neobyčejných situacích ve výjimečný portrét jednoho manželství a přivádí nás k meditaci nad pravdou, kterou je třeba střežit jako oko v hlavě. Člověk coby svědek vlastních dějin vypráví naprosto neopakovatelný příběh, dokládající podle modernistů osobitou melodii uloženou v každém srdci. Aspoň v literatuře jsme si tedy s ohledem na všechny radosti, kompromisy i útrapy všichni rovni.

Hlavnou postavou románu je George Webb, bývalý policajt, ktorého – podľa jeho vlastných slov – nespravodlivo prepustili pre údajnú korupciu. Má čosi vyše päťdesiat rokov a stal sa súkromným detektívom, ktorý si zarába najmä prípadmi súvisiacimi s „nefungujúcimi“ manželstvami. V Georgeovom živote nastane prudký a trvalý obrat, keď do jeho kancelárie vkročí Sarah Nashová. Knihu preložil Igor Navrátil.

This is a masterly work from one of our greatest writers. On an autumn day in 2006, on the Isle of Wight, Jack Luxton, former Devon farmer and now the proprietor of a seaside caravan park, receives the news that his soldier brother Tom, not seen for years, has been killed in Iraq. For Jack and his wife Ellie this will have a potentially catastrophic impact. For Jack in particular it means a crucial journey - to receive his brother's remains, but also into his own most secret, troubling memories and into the land of his and Ellie's past. "Wish You Were Here" is both a gripping account of things that touch and test our human core and a resonant novel about a changing England. Rich with Graham Swift's love of the local, full of humour and tend erness in the face of tragedy, it is also, inescapably, about a wider, afflicted world. Moving towards an almost unbearably tense climax, it allows us to feel the stuff of headlines - the return of a dead soldier from a foreign war - as heart-wrenchi ng personal truth.

Jeden z nejvýznamnějších anglických spisovatelů naší doby se ve svém dalším románu zabývá neblahými událostmi, s nimiž se jeho vlast v posledních letech musela a musí vyrovnávat. Na osudu hlavního hrdiny autor ukazuje, jak neštěstí, která jen povrchně registrujeme v podobě novinových titulků, poznamenávají osudy konkrétních lidí. Jack Luxton, hlavní hrdina románu, v důsledku nemoci šílených krav a následné epidemie slintavky a kulhavky byl nucen prodat farmu, na níž vyrostl, a v jiné části země začít nový život.

Last Orders is a much-loved classic of English literature. It won both the 1996 Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In 2001, it was adapted into an award-winning film starring Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins. Four men once close to Jack Dodds, a London butcher, meet to carry out his peculiar last wish: to have his ashes scattered into the sea. For reasons best known to herself, Jack's widow, Amy, declines to join them. On the surface the tale of a simple if increasingly bizarre day's outing, Last Orders is Graham Swift's most poignant exploration of the complexity and courage of ordinary lives. In 2012 Picador celebrates its 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.

This is a masterly work from one of our greatest writers. On an autumn day in 2006, on the Isle of Wight, Jack Luxton, former Devon farmer and now the proprietor of a seaside caravan park, receives the news that his soldier brother Tom, not seen for years, has been killed in Iraq. For Jack and his wife Ellie this will have a potentially catastrophic impact. For Jack in particular it means a crucial journey - to receive his brother's remains, but also into his own most secret, troubling memories and into the land of his and Ellie's past. "Wish You Were Here" is both a gripping account of things that touch and test our human core and a resonant novel about a changing England. Rich with Graham Swift's love of the local, full of humour and tenderness in the face of tragedy, it is also, inescapably, about a wider, afflicted world. Moving towards an almost unbearably tense climax, it allows us to feel the stuff of headlines - the return of a dead soldier from a foreign war - as heart-wrenching personal truth.

With an introduction by John Burnside Shortlisted for the 1983 Booker prize, winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize. Children, only animals live entirely in the Here and Now. Only nature knows neither memory nor history. But man - let me offer you a definition - is the story-telling animal. Tom Crick is a passionate teacher, but before he is forced into retirement by scandal, he has one last history lesson to deliver: his own. Spanning more than 200 years in the lives of its haunted narrator and his ancestors, Waterland is a visionary tale of England's mysterious Fen country. Taking in eels and incest, ale-making and madness, the discovery of a body and a tragic family romance, this is an extraordinary novel about the heartless sweep of history and man's changing place within it. In the years since its first publication in 1983, Graham Swift's Waterland has established itself as a much-loved classic of twentieth-century British literature. It was shortlisted for the Booker prize, won the Guardian Fiction Prize and has been adapted into a film starring Jeremy Irons and Ethan Hawke.

From the Booker-winning author of Last Orders and Waterland comes a long-awaited new novel - 'Mothering Sunday is bathed in light; and even when tragedy strikes, it blazes irresistibly...Swift's small fiction feels like a masterpiece' Guardian It is March 30th 1924. It is Mothering Sunday. How will Jane Fairchild, orphan and housemaid, occupy her time when she has no mother to visit? How, shaped by the events of this never to be forgotten day, will her future unfold? Beginning with an intimate assignation and opening to embrace decades, Mothering Sunday has at its heart both the story of a life and the life that stories can magically contain. Constantly surprising, joyously sensual and deeply moving, it is Graham Swift at his thrilling best. 'Mothering Sunday is a powerful, philosophical and exquisitely observed novel about the lives we lead, and the parallel lives - the parallel stories - we can never know ...It may just be Swift's best novel yet' Observer

It is Brighton, 1959, and the theatre at the end of the pier is having its best summer season in years. Ronnie, a brilliant young magician, and Evie, his dazzling assistant, are top of the bill, drawing audiences each night. Meanwhile, Jack - Jack Robinson, as in 'before you can say' - is everyone's favourite compere, a born entertainer, holding the whole show together. As the summer progresses, the off-stage drama between the three begins to overshadow their theatrical success, and events unfold which will have lasting consequences for all their futures. Rich, comic, alive and subtly devastating, Here We Are is a masterly piece of literary magicianship which pulls back the curtain on the human condition. 'One to watch for 2020' according to: The Sunday Times The Times The Daily Telegraph The Guardian Financial Times Evening Standard The Scotsman The Irish Times 'He tells simple, truthful stories about what feel like real people. Here We Are is a welcome addition to a proud legacy.' The Big Issue The variety of voices and its historical and emotional reach are so finely entwined, it is as perfect and smooth as an egg. Passages leap out all the time, demanding to be reread, or committed to memory... It is perhaps too simple to say that Swift creates a form of fictional magic, but what he can do with a page is out of the ordinary, far beyond most mortals' ken.' Rosemary Goring,The Herald 'Here We Are is a subtle portrait of a vanished world, with moving passages about the problems of wartime evacuees returning to impoverished London life after the wonders of the countryside.' The Independent 'In Here We Are, Swift does not just dwell on the pivotal moments of our lives, but traces their shockwaves both forward and back. Moving seamlessly from pre-war to post, from the events of one illusory, youthful summer to the present, we are given candid access to the innermost reflections of three people who loved and betrayed each other. The end result is the stuff of life, an enduring mystery that Ronnie, Evie, Jack - that we all - must live with. I thought it was wonderful.' Joseph Knox, author of Sirens 'As with all his books, it's the moments of quiet, undramatic poignancy that stay with you' Sunday Express 'a quietly, devastating, magical novel' Telegraph 'With a wizardry of his own, Swift conjures up an about-to-disappear little world and turns it into something of wider resonance' Sunday Times Praise for Mothering Sunday: 'Bathed in light; and even when tragedy strikes, it blazes irresistibly... Swift's small fiction feels like a masterpiece' Guardian 'Alive with sensuousness and sensuality ... wonderfully accomplished, it is an achievement' Sunday Times 'From start to finish Swift's is a novel of stylish brilliance and quiet narrative verve. The archly modulated, precise prose (a hybrid of Henry Green and Kazuo Ishiguro) is a glory to read. Now 66, Swift is a writer at the very top of his game' Evening Standard 'Mothering Sunday is a powerful, philosophical and exquisitely observed novel about the lives we lead, and the parallel lives - the parallel stories - we can never know ... It may just be Swift's best novel yet' Observer

As a novelist, Graham Swift delights in the possibilities of the human voice, imagining his way into the minds and hearts of an extraordinary range of characters. In Making an Elephant, his first ever work of non-fiction, the voice is his own. Swift brings together a richly varied selection of essays, portraits, poetry, and reflections on his life in writing, full of insights into his passions and motivations, and wise about the friends, family, and other writers who have mattered to him over the years. Kazuo Ishiguro advises on how to choose a guitar, Salman Rushdie arrives for Christmas under guard, and Ted Hughes shares the secrets of a Devon river. There are private moments, too, with long-dead writers, as well as musings on history and memory that readers of Swift’s novels will recognize and love.

Hlavnou postavou románu je George Webb, bývalý policajt, ktorého – podľa jeho vlastných slov – nespravodlivo prepustili pre údajnú korupciu. Má čosi vyše päťdesiat rokov a stal sa súkromným detektívom, ktorý si zarába najmä prípadmi súvisiacimi s „nefungujúcimi“ manželstvami. V Georgeovom živote nastane prudký a trvalý obrat, keď do jeho kancelárie vkročí Sarah Nashová. Knihu preložil Igor Navrátil.

Hlavnou postavou románu je George Webb, bývalý policajt, ktorého – podľa jeho vlastných slov – nespravodlivo prepustili pre údajnú korupciu. Má čosi vyše päťdesiat rokov a stal sa súkromným detektívom, ktorý si zarába najmä prípadmi súvisiacimi s „nefungujúcimi“ manželstvami. V Georgeovom živote nastane prudký a trvalý obrat, keď do jeho kancelárie vkročí Sarah Nashová. Knihu preložil Igor Navrátil.