Pushkin Press strana 3 z 16

'I wanted to act before I read this book, and afterwards there was no stopping me' Maggie Smith'An enchanting book. A must for any child who wants to become an actor' Eileen AtkinsIn the quiet town of Fenchester, seven children dream of the stage. There is Lyn the actress, Vicky the dancer, Jeremy the musician, Nigel the artist, Sandra the designer, Bulldog the comic and of course Maddy - who is too young to know her role just yet, but busts with enthusiasm.When they discover an abandoned chapel, a glorious plan is hatched. Together they will transform the dingy space into a theatre of their very own - writing, directing and performing plays to amaze the whole town. But with parents insisting on sensible futures and the end of their schooldays looming, can the show go on?Part of the new Pushkin Children's Classics series of thrilling, magical and inspiring stories from around the world, which young readers will return to time and again.Pamela Brown (1924-1989) was a British writer, actor and television producer. She was just fourteen when she started writing her first book, and the town of Fenchester in the book is inspired by her home town of Colchester. During the Second World War, she went to line in Wales, so The Swish of the Curtain was no published until 1941, when she was sixteen. She used the earnings from the books to train at RADA, and became an actor and a producer of children's television programmes.

'Probably the greatest Russian poet of [the 20th] century' New York Times'We know the sources of Pushkin and Blok, but who will tell us from where that new, divine harmony, Mandelshtam's poetry, came from?' Anna AkhmatovaWith a foreword by Nadezhda MandelshtamOsip Mandelshtam, arguably the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century, died in a Stalinist prison camp at the age of forty-seven. It was not his first arrest - he had already been imprisoned multiple times, as well as tortured, exiled, and blacklisted for the criticism of the Soviet state implicit in his verse. And yet many of his poems survived attempted purges - often hidden in the unlikeliest places, and protected at great risk by his friends and admirers.This volume collects the best of his work, including poems he was unable to publish in his lifetime. Dense and sonorous, his poetry magnificently merges the European past at its best with Russian experience at its worst. Full of light and beauty, bitterness and desolation, Mandelshtam's verse is a powerful expression of the struggle to bear injustice and the poignant dream of a better world.Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.Translated by James Greene.Osip Mandelshtam was born into a Jewish family in Warsaw in 1891, but grew up chiefly in St Petersburg. His father was a leather merchant, and their existence was comfortable, in spite of the widespread persecution of Jews in turn-of-the-century Russia. Mandelshtam travelled in Europe and attended university, but abandoned his studies early to devote himself to writing. His first collection, Stone, published when he was only twenty-two, immediately established him as one of Russia's foremost poets. The revolution and the Soviet rule that followed created immense difficulties for Mandelshtam. Unwilling to bend his art to political ends, and increasingly critical of Stalin's leadership, he was imprisoned, tortured, exiled and generally persecuted. He continued to write, releasing another major collection, Tristia, and entrusting poems to his wife Nadezhda and his literary friends, who kept many of his works hidden from the authorities. Once more arrested, on his way to a prison camp, Mandelshtam died of heart failure, according to officials, in 1938.James Greene was born in Berlin in 1938. He studied French and Russian at Oxford. A poet himself, and a prize-winning translator, he worked on several major writers in addition to Mandelshtam, including Fernando Pessoa and Afanasy Fet. He died in 2023.

'A witty addition to Bridget Walsh's Variety Palace Mysteries' - Sunday Times'My favourite detective double-act' Emma Styles, author of No Country For Girls'Wonderful. A supremely atmospheric historical mystery, both haunting and relentlessly entertaining' Tom Mead, author of Death and the Conjuror'An excellent addition to the Variety Palace Mysteries' Sheila O'Flanagan, author of What Eden Did NextTragedy strikes Minnie Ward's beloved Variety Palace Theatre when a man is found dead in suspicious circumstances. Along with private detective Albert Easterbrook, she investigates. The trail leads them from the streets of London to a grand country house in the Suffolk countryside, home of the shadowy Spirit Sisterhood, who promise their clients an audience with the deceased.Minnie isn't buying it. She goes undercover within the Sisterhood and enters an eerie world of seances and mediums. But unravelling their secrets will bring Minnie face-to-face with ghosts from her own past. Can she get to the truth before the murderer kills again?

'A twisty tale full of surprises with a nail-biting finale. I didn't want it to end' Sarah Ward, author of The Death LessonJustice is blind. But someone's watching.Leonie is one of twelve jurors chosen to decide the fate of a nurse accused of murder. But just as deliberations begin, an usher bursts in with news that changes everything. Britain is under chemical attack, and the courthouse is locked down.Ordered to stay put for their own safety, the jurors soon realise that the real danger lies inside the building. The accused has escaped his cell and is on the loose. He's playing twisted games with the group. And Leonie is his next target.Because he knows something about her. She isn't on the jury by chance- and her reasons for being thereare far more personal than anyone suspects. As trust fractures, how far will Leonie go to tip the scales of justice in her favour?'One of the most exciting new voices in crime fiction' Kia Abdullah, author of Take It Back'Brilliantly compelling and claustrophobic' Guy Morpuss, author of A Trial in Three Acts'Keeps you guessing from the first page to the last' Alis Hawkins, author of The Hunters Club'Sharp, twisty and psychologically astute' Jo Middleton, author of Happy Bloody Christmas

Welcome, believers! Welcome, skeptics! Welcome, wishy-washers!Most people don't believe in the Wide Eye monster, but ten-year-old Meridian knows better. Every summer she helps run her grandpa's quirky lakeside museum, collecting evidence that Wide Eye is real!But while tracking the monster, Meridian uncovers a new mystery. It starts with an old family secret: one that her grandpa refuses to explain. And the more Meridian hunts for answers, the more she suspects that the truth is bound to Wide Eye itself... Praise for Wide Eye:'Heartfelt and mysterious - a monster success!' Ross Welford, author of Time Travelling with a Hamster'A masterclass in how to write for children and make them laugh' Iqbal Hussain, author of The Night I Borrowed Time'Warm, fun and thoughtful' Rebecca Orwin, author of The Monsters at the End of the World'A beautiful book' Eilish Fisher, author of Fia and the Last Snow Deer

'Perfection is the only word to describe this subtle tale' Irish TimesWinner of the Akutagawa PrizeTsugami, the editor-in-chief of a newspaper in war-scarred Osaka, agrees to sponsor a bullfight. For months this great gamble consumes him, makes him as wary and combative as if he was in a ring himself. And, as he becomes ever more distant, his lover Sakiko is unsure if she would like to see him succeed or be destroyed.As much a story of post-war Japan as it is about the country's special brand of bullfighting, this novella is a masterly exploration of hope, ambition and despair. Yasushi Inoue's novella won him the prestigious Akutagawa Prize and established him as one of Japan's most acclaimed authors. From the planning of a bullfight, through Tsugami's struggle, his focus and his solitude - he crafts something intensely memorable, a profound and compelling existential tale.Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.Translated by Michael Emmerich.Born in 1907, Yasushi Inoue worked as a journalist and literary editor for many years, only beginning his prolific career as an author in 1949 with Bullfight. He went on to publish 50 novels and 150 short stories, both historical and contemporary, his work making him one of Japan's major literary figures. In 1976 Inoue was presented with the Order of Culture, the highest honour granted for artistic merit in Japan. He died in 1991. Pushkin Press also publishes Inoue's novella The Hunting Gun, and a collection of short stories titled Life of a Counterfeiter.Michael Emmerich is a translator, editor and an professor in the department of Asian Languages and Cultures at UCLA. His many translations include work by Yasunari Kawabata, Genichiro Takahashi and Banana Yoshimoto.

'A tender and whimsical story' ElleEveryone, at some point in their lives, wants to be someone else.Eric Kherson - forty, divorced, disconnected - is questioning all his life choices. One meeting with an old school friend is all it takes for him to pack in his prestigious job and accept her offer of a high-powered government position.He throws himself into her world of endless networking and high-risk deals, but when a business trip to Seoul starts unravelling, Eric feels more lost than ever. Wandering the city streets, he stumbles across Happy Life, a shop offering a curious service: fake funerals. For Eric, this encounter with death might be the very thing to reawaken his appetite for life...

'Masterfully understated prose' New York Times Book Review'A Japanese literary master' Publishers Weekly, starred reviewA master forger lives in obscurity and disappointment, oppressed by the shadow of the artist whose work he copies. A young man embarks on an investigation into his family's past, prompted by a newspaper clipping and a vague memory of a beautiful young woman. And another young narrator is consumed with curiosity about his grandfather's mistress - and why she cherishes an old pair of gloves, given to her by a visiting Englishman.Unglamorous, unadorned lives such as this form the focus of Yasushi Inoue's tenderly observed, elegantly distilled short stories - two of which are appearing in English for the first time. With a haunting emotional intensity, they offer glimpses of love lost and lives wasted. Asking how we place value, what counts as real, and where the struggle for acceptance will lead us, each story is a perfectly balanced exploration of regret.These three luminous, compassionate tales showcase the mastery and exquisite talent of one of Japan's most beloved writers.Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.Translated by Michael Emmerich.Born in 1907, Yasushi Inoue worked as a journalist and literary editor for many years, only beginning his prolific career as an author in 1949 with Bullfight. He went on to publish 50 novels and 150 short stories, both historical and contemporary, his work making him one of Japan's major literary figures. In 1976 Inoue was presented with the Order of Culture, the highest honour granted for artistic merit in Japan. He died in 1991. Bullfight and Inoue's novella The Hunting Gun are also available from Pushkin Press.Michael Emmerich is a translator, editor and an professor in the department of Asian Languages and Cultures at UCLA. His many translations include work by Yasunari Kawabata, Genichiro Takahashi and Banana Yoshimoto.

A gorgeous flapped paperback edition of the beloved English classic featuring Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad.Spring is moving in the air above and Mole can no longer resist its song. Leaving his quiet home behind, he discovers a magnificent new world along the riverbank. Here he befriends loyal, steadfast Rat, wise Badger and good-natured yet impulsive Toad.Together under the glistening sun, they enjoy all that the countryside has to offer. Boating on the river, picnics in the afternoon and even a caravan trip on the open road. But trouble starts to bew when Toad falls under the spell of a dangerous motorcar obsession. And as his friends try to save him, even darker problems creep from the shadowy Wild Wood and the unknowable Wide World beyond...Part of the new Pushkin Children's Classics series of thrilling, magical and inspiring stories from around the world, which young readers will return to time and again.Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932) was born in Scotland but raised in England by his grandmother. He worked at the Bank of England for thirty years, writing books in his spare time. The Wind in the Willows, his masterpiece, began as a series of stories told to his son, either at bedtime or in letters sent home from Grahame's solitary boating holidays.

'A pleasure to read' Mieko Kawakami'Subtle, precise and deft' Lucy Caldwell'Remarkable and devastating' Senaa AhmadIchiyo Higuchi, Japan's first professional female author, wrote about daily life with unprecedented intimacy and honesty. This new translation of her finest stories showcases the profound sensitivity, lyrical eye and classical elegance of a revered Japanese writer.Vividly evoking the colourful festivals and salty street banter of Tokyo's turn-of-the-century red-light district, delicately eliciting its inhabitants' quiet yearning and regret, Higuchi introduces us to children losing their innocence, working-class women losing their livelihoods, and teahouse courtesans losing their hearts. In her clear-eyed vision of the world, longing and memory are what save us.Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.Translated by Bryan Karetnyk.Ichiyo Higuchi (1872-1896) was born into a prosperous family whose fortunes declined sharply over the course of her childhood. After the deaths of her father and brother, she moved with her mother and sisters to a poor Tokyo neighbourhood adjacent to the Yoshiwara pleasure district. In an effort to shore up the family finances, Higuchi began publishing her short stories, which quickly earned her a reputation as a major new writer. Over a brief period she wrote some twenty-one stories, thousands of poems and an extensive diary. She died of tuberculosis shortly after the beginning of this brilliant literary career, aged only twenty-four. From 2004 to 2024 her face appeared on Japan's 5,000-yen note.Bryan Karetnyk is a British writer and translator. His translations for Pushkin Press include works by Gaito Gazdanov, Irina Odoevtseva, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki and Ryunosuke Akutagawa. He is also the editor of the Penguin Classics anthology Russian Émigré Short Stories from Bunin to Yanovsky.

'A magnificent comic novel' TLSAn exuberant farce from a treasure of world literature.At the country estate of kindly Colonel Rostanev, parasitic houseguest Foma Opiskin has brought everyone under his sway. Now Opiskin plans to marry off his host to a wealthy widow. Will the Colonel give way to Opiskin's bullying and sacrifice the love of his life, Nastasya? Or will he finally resist the petty tyrant's demands?Farcical and effervescent with absurdity, this short novel is a sparkling example of Dostoyevsky's comic side - and a microcosmic portrait of Russia on the verge of upheaval and transformation.Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.Translated by Ignat Avsey.Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) trained as an engineer and began his literary career with translations. As punishment for engaging in pro­gressive political discussion, he was subjected to a mock execution and sent into exile in Siberia in his twenties. Subsequently he worked exclu­sively as a writer, touring Europe and publishing novels and journalism. Addicted to gambling, he was often near starvation. His second, very happy marriage to typist Anna Snitkina helped to stabilize his manner of living, and with her practical assistance he went on to write several masterpieces of psychological and existential fiction. Novels such as Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov and Notes from Underground have earned him a lasting reputation as one of the dominant figures of world literature.Ignat Avsey (1938-2013) was born in Latvia to Russian parents, who relocated the family to Britain after the Second World War. He taught Russian language and literature at the University of Westminster. He translated several other works by Dostoyevsky, including The Karamazov Brothers and The Idiot, as well as Alexander Lernet-Holenia's novel I Was Jack Mortimer, also published by Pushkin Press.

The Crooked House sits on a snowbound cliff at the remote northern tip of Japan, a maze of sloping floors and strange staircases, full of bloodcurdling masks and uncanny dolls. When a guest is found murdered in seemingly impossible circumstances, the police are unable to solve the puzzle, and more bizarre deaths follow. Enter Kiyoshi Mitarai, the renowned sleuth. Surely if anyone can crack these cryptic murders it is him. But you have all the clues too - can you solve the mystery of the murders in the Crooked House before he does?

A courageous story about a mother in crisis from one of Norway's most exciting writers, for readers of Boulder and Detransition, BabySilje Marie has been keeping a secret from her wife. She loves one of her sons more than the other.In their sleepy suburb of Oslo, she's given Henry and Olav the childhood she never had: organic cotton clothing, a house by the forest, apple pies baked with Grandma on summer afternoons.But when Silje Marie stays behind to clear the house for an upcoming renovation, buried thoughts resurface. She is haunted by the sense that only one of her children truly feels like her own-an admission that would destroy her wife, Helene. Worse still, there is the other mother. A woman befriended in secret, whose son's resemblance to Henry is impossible to ignore.Spiky, daring and feverishly intense, this is a story about the complex confinement and joy of family life, and a mother drawn towards dismantling the home she has fought so hard to build.'Raises impressive ruminations on the nature of this ownership we call love' Kenan Orhan, author of The Renovation'Brave, well-written, distinctive' Morgenbladet'Exceptionally powerful' Vart Land'Digs deep into the gnarly emotions hidden behind domesticity' Szilvia Molnar, author of The Nursery

The dark, rawly comic follow-up to the winner of the McIlvanney Prize for best Scottish crime book of the year, new in paperback 'A serious talent' Kevin Bridges 'Inventive and witty, with a nerve-shredding finale' Chris Brookmyre 'An outstanding new writer who is destined to become a very big name' Peter James DCI Alison McCoist is newly promoted but less popular than ever.Chuck Gardner is the proud owner of both a confidential paper-shredding business and a serious betting habit.When McCoist investigates a rat-nibbled corpse under a flyover, they are both sucked into a deadly stramash of gangland wars and police corruption.Can Chuck solve his gambling and gangster problems before some head-banger feeds him into his own shredder? And can McCoist claw herself out of this shitemire without her own shady dealings coming to light? It might depend on how far she's prepared to go...Readers love Paperboy"A fast-paced edge-of-the-seat thriller! I was gripped from the very first page! I loved it! What a book!" - ARCReviews byM (5 stars)"Horrific and darkly humorous in equal measure" - Chris Cuddihy (5 stars)"I love McCoist. What a brilliant character! I'm so impressed by how real she is... I can't wait for the next one. The ending was just the perfect set up for book #3' - Mary Silva (5 stars)

The instant New York Times and Indie bestseller.A Good Morning America YA Book Club pick.In Leyland, there is no magic more powerful than the written word. Maeve Abenthy knows this better than anyone, for it was with ink that her father destroyed the world. To avoid the stain of his crimes she lives in hiding, until the arrival of an anonymous letter changes everything. It contains four impossible words: Your father was innocent.In search of the letter's author, Maeve infiltrates the Otherwhere Post - an illustrious academy where she will master the arcane magic of scriptomancy. But one person sees through her disguise: Tristan Byrne, her brilliant yet infuriating mentor. To win his trust and uncover the secrets buried in her past, Maeve may have to risk something far worse than her mission - her heart.The Otherwhere Post contains:A rivals-to-lovers romanceAncient magicCrumbling librariesDangerous secretsHidden identities

'A triumphant piece of magic' Observer'The best book of all time for this age' The TimesAfter reigning for a thousand years, old King Mansolain is growing weary and his heart is slowing down. Only stories can keep it ticking while his doctor searches for the cure. So, from every corner of the kingdom, creatures journey to the castle in the copper mountains to sit on the King's long white bear and share their tales.Every night, a new storyteller arrives: a fearsome wolf, a lonely rabbit, a fire-breathing, three-headed dragon and many more. Each tale is more wondrous than the last, but will they be enough to keep the King's heart beating?Part of the new Pushkin Children's Classics series of thrilling, magical and inspiring stories from around the world, which young readers will return to time and again.Illustrated by Sally J. Collins.Paul Biegel was one of Europe's most acclaimed and best-loved storytellers, and the author of more than fifty books for children. Born in the Netherlands in 1925, he studied law but worked as a comic-strip writer before writing his first novel, The Golden Guitar, in 1960. The King of the Copper Mountains followed in 1965. It won the award for the best Dutch children's book of the year, and remains his best-loved work.