Vintage books See Under Love Grossman David

A collection of essays on writers and writing by the Booker-shortlisted novelist and critic • Writing about real lives takes various forms, which overlap and may be combined with each other: biography, autobiography, biographical criticism, biographical fiction, memoir, confession, diary • In these thoughtful and enlightening essays David Lodge considers some particularly interesting examples of life-writing, and contributes several of his own. The subjects include celebrated modern British writers such as Graham Greene, Kingsley Amis, Muriel Spark and Alan Bennett, and two major figures from the past, Anthony Trollope and H.G.Wells. Lodge examines connections between the style and the man in the diaries of the playwright Simon Gray and the cultural criticism of Terry Eagleton, and recalls how his own literary career was entwined with that of his friend Malcolm Bradbury

'Extraordinarily mature - technically as well as emotionally' Sunday Times • Arthur Machin's life changes when he is picked for the Rugby league team in his local town. Once a struggling coal miner's son, now he can buy what he likes - a car, a fur coat for his widowed landlady, Mrs Hammond, who is becoming something more. But fame makes a mess of things. Machin is troubled by advances from the boss's wife, he challenges the sensibilities of the comfortable classes and struggles to understand why his success fails to impress Mrs Hammond • Gritty, full of ambition and anger, This Sporting Life is an unflinching and surgical dissection of one man's life and a rare foray onto the sports field in British fiction

Сюжетные линии "Кампусной трилогии" Дэвида Лоджа, берущие начало в Рэдбриджском университете Раммиджа, повествуют о комических приключениях ученых, которые выходят за пределы знакомой территории. Начиная с конца 60-х годов "Смена мест" следует за ничем не примечательным преподавателем английского языка Филипом Своллоу и выдающимся американским профессором Моррисом Цаппом, когда они обмениваются работой, местами обитания и, в конечном счете, женами. В "Маленьком мире" Своллоу, Зепп, Перс Макгарригл и прекрасная Анжелика Пабст снимаются на международной конференции, сочетая академические разборки и туризм, эзотерические беседы и романтику. И, наконец, лектор-феминистка Робин Пенроуз меняет промышленный роман на каску в "Хорошей работе", когда она становится тенью босса фабрики Виктора Уилкокса

A far-reaching, urgent, and thoroughly engaging exploration of our relationship with animals - from the acclaimed Financial Times journalist • This might be the worst time in history to be an animal. But is there a happier way? • Factory farms, climate change, deforestation and pandemics have made our relationship with the other species unsustainable. In response, Henry Mance sets out on a personal quest to see if there is a fairer way to live alongside the animals we love. He goes to work in an abattoir and on a farm to investigate the reality of eating meat and dairy. He explores our dilemmas around over-fishing the seas, visiting zoos and owning pets, and he meets the chefs, activists, scientists and tech visionaries who are redefining how we think about animals

Life and Fate is an epic tale of a country told through the fate of a single family, the Shaposhnikovs. As the battle of Stalingrad looms, Grossman's characters must work out their destinies in a world torn by ideological tyranny and war • Completed in 1960 and then confiscated by the KGB, this sweeping panorama of Soviet Society remained unpublished until it was smuggled into the West in 1980, where it was hailed as a masterpiece

"You're always good on ideas, Tom..." • An American art collector is claiming that the expensive masterpiece he bought is a fake. He wants to meet with the artist - but Tom Ripley knows that artist no longer exits • Ripley needs to hide his role in the fraud, and keep his colleague's mouth shut. But not everyone's nerves are as steady as his, especially when it comes to murder • The second in Highsmith's Ripley series, Ripley Under Ground is set six years after the events of The Talented Mr Ripley

The stories in Liars in Love are concerned with troubled relations and the elusive nature of truth. Whether it be in the depiction of the complications of divorced families, grown-up daughters, estranged sisters, office friendships or fleeting love affairs, the pieces in this collection showcase Richard Yates's extraordinary gift for observation and his understanding of human frailty

The meeting of Voltaire, successful financier, famous poet and troublemaker, and the enchanting amateur physicist and countess Emilie du Chatelet, was a meeting of both hearts and minds. In the Chateau de Cirey, the two brilliant intellects scandalised the French aristocracy with their passionate love affair and provoked revolutions both political and scientific with their groundbreaking work in literature, philosophy and physics • Nancy Mitford's account of the love affair of the Enlightenment is, in the author's own words, 'a shriek from beginning to end'

After the early death of her philandering husband, Etsuko moves into her father-in-law's house, where she numbly submits to the old man's advances. But soon she finds herself in love with the young servant Saburo. Tormented by his indifference, yet invigorated by her desire, she makes her move, with catastrophic consequences

Пронзительную, безысходную правду о жизни людей и мира рассказал в романе-эпопее "Жизнь и судьба" безжалостный и отважный писатель Василий Гроссман • Лучшие герои этой книги неизбежно попадают между двух огней: сражаясь с фашизмом, защищают сталинскую систему, но существенно ли различаются немецкий лагерь и Лубянка?.. Из последних сил люди воюют за свободу и справедливость, но наступят ли они после победы? • История об освободительной войне ради нового рабства вышла из-под пера Гроссмана вопреки осторожности и инстинкту самосохранения: полвека назад роман арестовали, и это укоротило автору жизнь. Сегодня его книга, получившая мировую известность, читается как суровый гимн подлинной свободе - свободе духа, сохранение которой составляет основу человеческого бытия, а утрата означает неизбежную смерть

Love and marriage, children and family, death and grief. Life touches everyone the same, but living under lockdown? It changes us alone • A man abroad wanders the stag-and-hen-strewn streets of Newcastle, as news of the virus at home asks him to question his next move. An exhausted nurse struggles to let go, having lost a much-loved patient in isolation. A middle-aged son, barred from his mother's funeral, wakes to an oncoming hangover of regret. Told with Doyle's signature warmth, wit and extraordinary eye for the richness that underpins the quiet of our lives, Life Without Children cuts to the heart of how we are all navigating loss, loneliness and the shifting of history underneath our feet

David is the small boy who is always asking questions. Simon and Ines take care of him in their new town, Estrella. He is learning the language, he has begun to make friends and he has the big dog Bolivar to watch over him • But he'll be seven soon and he should be at school. And so, David is enrolled in the Academy of Dance. It's here, in his new golden dancing slippers, that he learns how to call down the numbers from the sky. Yet it's here too that he will make troubling discoveries about what adults are capable of • The Schooldays of Jesus is a mesmerising tale about growing up, and about the choices we are forced to make in our lives