'Diabolically clever. The reader is alternately impressed, beguiles, frightened, bewildered. A considerable achievement.' - Anita Brookner. During the First World War, five French soldiers, accused of a cowardly attempt to evade duty, are bundled into no-man's land and certain death. Five bodies are later recovered, the families are notified that the men died in the line of duty and the whole, distasteful incident appears closed. After the war, the fiance of one of the men receives a letter which hints at what might have happened. Mathilde Donnay determines to discover the fate of her beloved amid the carnage of battle. "A Very Long Engagement" turns into an unusual and engrossing thriller as she discovers an increasing number of people trying to put her off the scent. Japrisot's achievement is to have written a novel that is both a suspenseful thriller and one which transforms a single small incident into the epitome of all wartime atrocities. The denouement, when it finally happens, is moving and horribly convincing. Sebastien Japrisot was born in Marseille, France, in 1931. He had published his first novel, "Les Mal Partis" when he was only 17. He has translated the works of J.D. Salinger and pursued a successful career in advertising and publicity. He has been a scriptwriter and the director of two films. His first crime novel, "The 10:30 from Marseille", was received with great acclaim. His reputation as a master for crime fiction has grown with the publication of "The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun", "A Trap for Cinderella" and "Rider on the Rain". His novel "One Deadly Summer" was made into a film starring Isabelle Adjani. "A Very Long Engagement" was an international bestseller and won the Prix Interalli.

Very Long Engagement

Literature & Fiction

Sebastian Japrisot

Genre Fiction

Harvill/Panther

Holden's Performance

BAIL, MURRAY

Contemporary

Jack Crabb was ill when he dictated his memoirs, "Little Big Man". His supposed death cut short his tale as he finished recounting how he was the last white survivor of Custer's Last Stand. This newly discovered manuscript reveals that he faked his own death to escape his publishing contract.

The Return of Little Big Man

Thomas Berger

Set in Iceland, this story is imbued with the lyrical force of medieval ballads and Nordic myth.

Independent People

Halldór Laxness

It is 1948 and a young American couple arrive in France for a holiday, full of anticipation and enthusiasm. But the countryside and people are war-battered, and their reception at the Chateau Beaumesnil is not all the open-hearted Americans could wish for.

The Chateau

Maxwell,William

Youth is the most sought-after elixir. As old age takes its toll people try to resist, anything is tried to keep decay and death at bay. Midas Dekkers argues that humans should accept decay in a similar manner to the changes of the seasons and the natural break-down process in plants. Decline is the clock by which we tell how far we have travelled; dissolution, not survival, is the norm; and old age is the fulfilment not the failure of our advancing years. Dekkers tries to challenge our most cherished beliefs in order to make us look at life with new eyes.

The Way of All Flesh : A Celebration of Decay

Midas Dekkers

There is no greater misunderstanding than to think that one travels alone.On this epic journey through China, Cambodia and Vietnam, political columnist Carsten Jensen travels in order to find out about the Tiananmen Square massacre, the killing fields of Cambodia and the operations of Khmer Rouge.His constant questioning makes him friends and enemies, but he never settles for half-truths. With a profound sense of the sweep of history, Jensen contemplates the rise and fall of empires and cultures, the birth of new generations, new societies, and indeed a whole new world.

I Have Seen the World Begin (Panther S)

Travel

Jensen, Carsten

Asia

Journey to Portugal

Jose Saramago,Jose Saramago

For Jean Baptiste de la Quintinie, kitchen gardener to Louis XIV, the potager at Versailles proved not only his artist's canvas but the seedbed of his revolutionary sympathies. August 1674. Louis XIV, one of Europe's most powerful sovereigns, celebrates his armies' victory over Holland. In Versailles, the favourite of the royal residences, his kitchen gardener, Jean Baptiste de la Quintinie, labours to make the espaliers and vegetable plots that feed the court nothing less than a work of art. Revered for his skill, and envied for his freedom, this brilliant, unworldly man stands apart from the diplomats, flatterers and self-servers that surround the monarch. But is his understanding of the soil and those who live by it enough to protect him as the Sun King's reign spirals into a regime of fear?

Gardener to the King

Richaud, Frédéric

"William Maxwell's tales, long and short, have the elusive ability to reveal us to ourselves" Erica Wagner, The Times. Spanning more than 50 years, the stories in this collection encompass the life's work of one of America's best-loved and most acclaimed writers. In setting the range from small town Illinois to the Upper East Side of Manhattan, these stories are distinguished by Maxwell's inimitable wisdom and kindness, his sense of the small details that make up a life, the nuances of joy and sadness that change its direction. Whether describing the reunion of two brothers who will never agree, the furniture of the apartment that becomes everything to a childless couple, the search for the perfect French meal or the life of a ne'er-do-well uncle, Maxwell's stories capture responses that are recognisable in us all. "However different their settings the sensibility remains constant. It is decorous, highly civilised and deeply thoughtful" Anthony Quinn, Observer. "All of them share the effect of a brilliant view - as though a window were opened on a contained and vivid scene...There is a rare clarity and economy here - along with that wise measured humanity" Penelope Lively, Spectator.

All the Days and Nights : The Collected Stories

William Maxwell

Short Stories & Anthologies

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