Atlantic Books strana 9 z 32

''Gorgeous ... like being in Pride and Prejudice, if Jane Austen had lived in 70s Mumbai'' HARRIET EVANS''So much fun!'' KATIE FFORDEIla has her pride. And she''s about to discover just how much trouble that can be...It''s 1976 and in the Vile Parle suburb of Mumbai, bastion of the Maharashtrian middle-class, Ila Bendre''s mother is determined to get her four daughters married off as soon as possible.Ila has no intention of snaring a proposal from some dull specimen of Marathi manhood so she can pretend to care about cricket for the rest of her life. She wants a career and life of her own, and she''ll do whatever it takes to escape married bliss, no matter what the neighbours might say.But when Ila''s Bollywood-obsessed younger sister, Latika, takes the matter of marriage into her own hands, it looks as if the Bendre family''s reputation in this close-knit community will be ruined once and for all...As we follow the Bendre sisters from dinners to parties to weddings, from Vile Parle to Pune, will love eventually conquer all in this ingeniously witty and charming tale of pride, prejudice and puran polis?''Fresh, funny ... vivid'' Daily Mail''Warm and clever'' i

The acceleration of Earth''s spin begins gradually. At first, days are just a few seconds shorter than normal. Awareness of the mysterious phenomenon hasn''t reached Tanner, a young man who flees his Alaskan hometown to work at CWC, a corporation which runs a network of massive aircraft that orbit the Earth, allowing people to visit Paris for an evening or order sushi from Japan. But a wave of social unrest presents challenges for CWC. That unrest sweeps up Winnie. A high school outcast, she falls in with a group of teen activists who blame the company for the planet''s acceleration. As days on Earth quicken to twenty-three hours, then twenty, the sun rising and setting ever faster, causing violent storms and political meltdowns, Tanner and Winnie''s stories spiral closer together.Three-hour days. Two-hour days . . .A propulsive exploration of capitalism, technology, and our place within a system that dwarfs us, Circular Motion is one of the most ingenious debut novels of our time.

''Moderation is a novel that refuses to do things by halves. It is a piercing, laser-precise exploration of big tech... breathtakingly funny...and a highly charged, passionate and tender love story. A wonderful book.'' Kaliane Bradley, bestselling author of The Ministry of TimeGirlie, a thirty-something Filipinx-American, works a day job at a social-media moderation centre, flagging and removing the very worst that makes it on to the internet. She''s good at it, too - dispassionate, unflinching, maybe because she learned by necessity to cauterise all her emotions when she was still a kid - so it''s no surprise to anyone when the social-media company for which she works offers her a big pay rise and an office to start moderating its new venture: virtual-reality theme parks, stunning simulations of civilizations long-since dead. Girlie takes the job, and it almost seems too good to be true. Almost. Sure, she signed up for having to deal with the ambient racism and misogyny of pretty much any virtual space, but as she begins to explore the intricate worlds that she moderates, she notices two deeply troubling things: that there might be something much darker built into the very code of the company, and that William, technically her new boss, a man whose barriers are as mighty as her own, might just be that long-forgotten thing... Girlie''s type.

A season of secrets... Celia Grey appears to have the perfect life: married to Dominic, the man of her dreams, and living on a glorious, thriving vineyard in the south of France. To celebrate their good fortune, she decides to throw a huge party. When she is contacted by a stranger who claims to be her long-lost son, David, the newborn she gave up at twenty and has never spoken of since, Celia impulsively invites him for the weekend of celebrations - without mentioning it to her husband. Despite his surprise, Dominic graciously welcomes David and his unexpected companion - but secretly he harbours doubts. Is David really Celia's son? And who is the mysterious young woman travelling with him? Only Celia can decide how far she will go to hold everything together, to keep her perfect life from unravelling... One Summer in Provence is a story of betrayal and belonging, and of discovering love in unexpected places.

The trip was supposed to be fun. When Kit's best friend gets dumped by his boyfriend, he begs her to ditch her family responsibilities for a quick, idyllic weekend away. They'll soak in hot springs, then drink too much, like old times. Instead, their getaway only reminds Kit of everything she's lost lately: her wildness, her independence and - most heartbreakingly of all - her sister, Julie, who died a few years ago. When she returns home, Kit tries to settle the routine of caring for her irrepressible young daughter. But in the secret recesses of Kit's mind, she's fantasizing about the hot playground mum and reminiscing about the band she used to be in with her sister - and how they'd go out to the desert after shows and drop acid. Keyed into everything that might distract her from her surfacing grief, Kit begins to spiral, and as her already thin boundaries between reality and fantasty blur, she starts to wonder: is Julie really gone?

The man who used to pull the strings of the global media is now pulling back the curtain: a bridge-burning, riotous confession by a top PR operative who exposes the secrets of the $129-billion industry that controls so much of what we see and hear in the media. After nearly two decades in the PR business, Phil Elwood wants to come clean, by exposing the dark underbelly of the very industry that's made him so successful. The first step is revealing exactly what he's been up to for the past twenty years - and it isn't pretty. From helping win the Qatar World Cup bid, to a four-day Las Vegas bacchanal with a dictator's son, and helping to land a Middle Eastern dictator's wife a glowing profile in Vogue at the same time the Arab Spring broke out, Elwood reveals all his slippery tricks for seducing journalists in order to create chaos and cover for politicians, dictators and spies. But as Phil moved up the ranks, he felt worse and worse about the sleaziness of it all - and his role in it - until he received a shocking wake-up call from the FBI. This risky game nearly cost Phil his life and his freedom. Seeing the light, he has decided to tell the full truth about who is the worst human.

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER''Wise, funny and generous'' The Times''Warm and perceptive'' New York Times''So honest and funny and smart'' Observer''Griffin Dunne knows how to tell a story'' Washington Post''Dunne is a prospector for the incandescent detail'' Los Angeles Times''Full of light, life and colour...a startling tale of precarious American privilege, spotlighting a family that is blessed and cursed'' GuardianAt eight, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, desperate to hook up with Janis Joplin, he attended his aunt Joan Didion''s legendary LA launch party for Tom Wolfe''s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. In his early twenties, he shared a Manhattan apartment with his best friend and soulmate Carrie Fisher while she was filming some sci-fi movie called Star Wars and he was a struggling actor selling popcorn at Radio City Music Hall. A few years later, he produced and starred in the now-iconic film After Hours, directed by Martin Scorsese.In the midst of it all, Griffin''s twenty-two-year-old sister, Dominique, a rising star in Hollywood, was brutally strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend, leading to one of the most infamous public trials of the 1980s. The outcome was a travesty of justice that marked the beginning of their father Dominick Dunne''s career as a bestselling author of true crime narratives.And yet, for all its boldface cast of characters and jaw-dropping scenes, The Friday Afternoon Club is no mere celebrity memoir. It is, down to its bones, a family story that embraces the poignant absurdities and best and worst efforts of its loveable, infuriating, funny and moving characters - its author most of all.

''A unique and funny writer with a true understanding of what it takes to make it as an elite cyclist'' Chris BoardmanFurther immerses the reader in the world of endurance cycling as well-known former professional cyclist Michael Hutchinson talks to ultra-distance athletes, exercise scientists, nutritionists and psychologists - ''those who''ve done it and those who understand it''- as he unpicks both the physical and mental demands, attempts to understand the key to successful endurance, and tries not to get himself accidentally killed while riding a frankly terrifyingly long-distance event.

''Succession meets The White Lotus. Absolutely enthralling'' Antony Johnston''Relentlessly page-turning'' Philippa East''Pure escapism'' L D SmithsonPrivilege has a price. But who will pay it?On the eve of her seventieth birthday, Geri gathers her brother''s spoilt adult children together on the family''s private island and tells them that she''s ready to name her successor as CEO of the lucrative global empire founded by their grandfather.Her announcement triggers a frenzy of suspicion, rivalry and back-stabbing. Each of the three siblings believes the role should go to them - despite the dark secrets that they all harbour.As Geri uncovers the black heart of her own family, will the best among them win the prize? Or will the heirs to the Chalice crown finally get what they so richly deserve?Praise for Rachel North:''Creepy and compulsive'' Sabine Durrant''A stonking page-turner'' Emma Curtis

''Sprawling yet intimate'' Guardian''Huge of heart and soaring of soul'' CLAIRE KILROY''A profound love story...Like Barbara Kingsolver, Hickey captures the pulse of the living moment'' COLUM McCANN''A London novel that captures the living moment of the city across decades'' PAUL LYNCH1979. In the vast and often unforgiving city of London, two Irish outsiders seeking refuge find one another: Milly, a teenage runaway, and Pip, a young boxer full of anger and potential who is beginning to drink it all away.Over the decades their lives follow different paths, interweaving from time to time, often in one another''s sight, always on one another''s mind, yet rarely together. Forty years on, Milly is clinging onto the only home she''s ever really known while Pip, haunted by T.S. Eliot''s The Waste Land, traipses the streets of London and wrestles with the life of the recovering alcoholic. And between them, perhaps uncrossable, lies the unspoken span of their lives. Dark and brave, this epic novel offers a rich and moving portrait of an ever-changing city, and a profound inquiry into character, loneliness and the nature of love.

Iraq is where civilisation was born, where East and West have mixed and clashed since long before Alexander, and it was here by the waters of Babylon where Judaism was born and the Sunni-Shia schism took its bloody shape. Inspired by extensive reporting from the region and a decade delving deep into its history, Land Between the Rivers chronicles Iraq's uniquely central role on the global stage throughout the past five millennia. We begin the story with ancient Sumer and Gilgamesh building the walls of Uruk ('Iraq') to make a great name for himself at the edge of historical time. We end it in 1958, as the last royal family of Iraq is slaughtered on the steps of a small palace in Baghdad, the most effervescent, free and promising capital in the Middle East. Bartle Bull's remarkable, sweeping achievement reminds us that the region defined by the land between the rivers has, throughout history, played host to the contest pitting humanism against the machinations of power and fate.

''Glamorous, gripping, absolutely heaps of fun'' LUCY FOLEY''Crisp as a gin and tonic and delightfully wicked'' KEVIN KWAN''An old-fashioned mystery in the model of Agatha Christie'' VOGUE, Best Book of 2024______________________Murder. It''s terrible for your karma. Even worse for your holiday.Ro Krishna has just arrived at Samsara, a world-class hotel-spa nestled in the Indian Himalayas. With his charm and Oxford education, he had it all - well, until he left his job under mysterious circumstances. At Samsara, he can relax and enjoy the hotel''s various health and wellness treatments, as well as a sparkling dose of mysticism.Until one of the guests is found dead. As everyone scrambles to figure out what happened, Ro is pulled into an investigation that endangers them all. Because it turns out that it''s not just heiresses and Bollywood stars who have checked in - there''s a murderer in their midst . . ._______________________READERS ARE LOVING DEATH IN THE AIR''Spellbinding''''Excellently paced, wonderful twists''''I LOVED THIS''''Hard to put down''''Will leave you guessing until the very end''

''A good story, embracing character, emotion and drama... refreshing.'' THE TIMES''A splendidly sympathetic and sparky portrait... Wittily written and rich in detail'' Miranda SeymourCatherine of Braganza - Boring? Plain? Ineffectual? Think again.Charles II''s wife was a trouser-wearing tastemaker who introduced tea drinking, popularised card games and championed baroque fashion and art. Her salon culture was infamous for its parties, theatricals and frequent trips to the pub. A Catholic queen in a strictly Anglican country, she was the diplomatic bridge between an unstable Britain and the European mainland, and carefully navigated the treacherous political landscape of Restoration England.In this illuminating portrait historian Sophie Shorland brings Catherine vividly to life for the first time, revealing a woman who defied the limitations imposed upon her to have a profound impact on the world around her.Previously published as The Lost Queen.

Corsica, 1993. Seventeen-year-old Séverine Guimard knows in her heart that it''s only a matter of time before she''ll escape this provincial island for Hollywood''s glimmering lights. Until then, she''ll spend her days listening to "What is Love" on her Walkman, smoking cigarettes, and riding her bike at dusk along the picturesque roads that wind around her parents'' gated villa.That is until three masked men emerge from an idling car, tear her from her bike, duct tape her mouth and wrists, and take her somewhere hidden from prying eyes...Séverine''s face will be plastered all over newspapers and TV, but not for the reason you think.How does one kidnapped young woman become the face of a revolution?

''Mick Conefrey''s Fallen is a marvellously researched and written story about the enigma of George Mallory and the fulfilment of his "Because it''s there!"'' Peter Hillary''Mick Conefrey''s gripping account explores the 1924 expedition and the enigma of the man who nearly made it to the summit.'' Financial Times''Mick Conefrey has become one of our finest gazetteers of the Himalaya.'' The SpectatorIn the years following his disappearance, George Mallory was elevated into an all-British hero - handsome, charismatic and daring, he was the ''Galahad'' of Everest, who had died while taking on the ultimate challenge. But he was also a risk taker who could never get behind the wheel of a car without overtaking the vehicle in front; a climber who pushed himself and those around him to the limits; and a chaotic technophobe who was forever losing equipment or mishandling it, putting himself and his colleagues in danger. Based on diaries, letters, memoirs and thousands of contemporary documents, Fallen is a forensic account of Mallory''s last expedition to Everest in 1924, as well as an attempt to get to know the real Mallory; to get under his skin, understand the forces that made him and destroyed him and separate the man from the myth.

From scorching deserts to frozen seabeds, from the highest peaks of the Himalaya to the hadal depths of the oceans, there are habitats on this Earth that appear inimical to life - yet in which it flourishes nevertheless. During the midday heat of the Sahara, silvery ants sprint from their nests to feed. In North American forests, wood frogs awaken each spring from solid blocks of ice. At the site of the Chernobyl disaster, fungi harness radiation to thrive. Transporting readers to far-flung environments we could never call home, Super Natural paints an awe-inspiring portrait of life''s resilience and ingenuity under the harshest circumstances. We meet creatures exquisitely adapted to endure unimaginable deprivations: of water, oxygen, food, sunlight. Alex Riley shows how, at nature''s extremes, the rules of life as we know them are rewritten - and how, here, we can find hope for the future of life on Earth, and beyond.