Laura Noulian Boeken

Humoristisk fortælling om forfatterens familie på Korfu

Owls Do Cry is Janet Frames first novel. She describes her ideas behind it in the second volume of her autobiography: "Pictures of great treasure in the midst of sadness and waste haunted me and I began to think, in fiction, of a childhood, home life, hospital life, using people known to me as a base for the main character, and inventing minor characters. For Daphne I chose a sensitive, poetic frail person, who, I hoped, would give depth to inner worlds and perhaps a clearer, at least an individual, perception of outer worlds. The other characters, similarly fictional, were used to portray aspects of my 'message' - the excessively material outlooks of 'Chicks', the confusion of Toby, the earthy make-up of Francie, and the toiling parents, the nearest characters to my own parents.

Is it possible to share your life with someone whose record collection is incompatible with your own? Can people have terrible taste and still be worth knowing? For Rob Fleming, thirty-five years old, a pop addict and owner of a failing record shop, these are the sort of questions that need an answer, and soon.

'One of our finest living authors ... propulsively entertaining' New York Times 'Sly, profound ... Electrifying' Observer 'Wonderfully strange and alive' Jon McGregor

The 1993 Booker Prize winner. Paddy Clarke, a ten-year-old Dubliner, describes his world, a place full of warmth, cruelty, love, sardines and slaps across the face. He's confused; he sees everything but he understands less and less.

Een jong meisje uit Utrecht wordt in de Gouden Eeuw door haar in financiële problemen verkerende familie uitgehuwelijkt aan een rijke Amsterdamse koopman die bijna veertig jaar ouder is. Omdat Sophia een praktisch mens is, probeert ze er het beste van te maken, al valt haar dat soms zwaar. Als haar man een portret van haar laat schilderen, wordt ze verliefd op de jonge schilder, die dezelfde gevoelens heeft. Dit maakt het voor Sophia steeds moeilijker om haar huwelijk in stand te houden en ze bedenkt een geraffineerd plan om met de schilder te kunnen verdwijnen. Maar niet alles is te plannen en het loopt anders dan bedoeld.

Billy Lynch's family and friends have gathered to comfort his widow, and to pay their respects to one of the last great romantics. As they trade tales of his famous humor, immense charm, and consuming sorrow, a complex portrait emerges of an enigmatic man, a loyal friend, a beloved husband, an incurable alcoholic. Alice McDermott's striking novel, "Charming Billy," is a study of the lies that bind and the weight of familial love, of the way good intentions can be as destructive as the truth they were meant to hide. "Charming Billy" is the winner of the 1998 National Book Award for Fiction.

Written with sinuous grace and intellectual acuity, "The Horned Man" is an unforgettable excursion into the lethal battleground of desire and repression.