Penelope Lively Libri

Sette vite trasformate da un singolo, minuscolo evento, travolte dalla valanga scatenata in una mattina di aprile a Londra dallo scippo dell’anziana Charlotte, che costringe la figlia Rose a rinunciare ad accompagnare a Manchester il suo datore di lavoro, Lord Henry Peters, celebre professore di storia, il quale decide allora di portare con sé la nipote Marion, costretta a inviare al proprio amante un messaggio, puntualmente intercettato dalla moglie, che in questo modo scopre loro relazione... Una sequenza apparentemente inarrestabile. Perché se il battito d’ali di una farfalla può scatenare una tempesta, se le dimensioni del naso di Cleopatra avrebbero potuto mutare la storia di Roma – un’idea che affascina il professor Peters –, a maggior ragione le nostre minuscole esistenze personali sono in balia del caso: le scelte che crediamo di compiere sono modellate da circostanze esterne su cui non abbiamo alcun controllo e una persona che non abbiamo mai nemmeno incontrato può alterare per sempre il nostro destino. Penelope Lively mette le sue doti narrative al servizio di questa teoria, seguendo con il consueto sguardo caloroso ed empatico un cast di personaggi cesellati con perizia e amore dentro e fuori dalle loro vicende intrecciate e mostrandoci come, malgrado tante svolte arbitrarie e imprevedibili, l’avventura della vita valga davvero la pena di essere vissuta fino in fondo.

This anthology of new writing promotes contemporary literature of the English language from Britain and the rest of the Commonwealth. It contains new names among older, recognizable names and includes short stories, poems, novels in progress and short fiction.

Clare's grandfather brought back a shield from New Guinea seventy years ago, and now Clare's dreams are haunted by images of New Guinea. It is up to her to lay the ghost of an encounter between a Victorian anthropologist and a Stone Age New Guinea tribe to rest. First published in 1974.

Frances, happily married for many years, and suddenly plunged into mourning. Her international celebrity husband Steve has died leaving her unprepared and vulnerable. This title illuminates two terrifying taboos of the twentieth- century - death and grief.

Wry, compassionate and glittering with wit, Penelope Lively's stories get beneath the everyday to the beating heart of human experience. In intimate tales of growing up and growing old, chance encounters and life-long relationships, Lively explores with keen insight the ways that individuals can become tangled in history, and how small acts ripple through the generations. With two new never-before-published stories alongside treasures from her early writing days, Metamorphosis showcases the very best from a literary master.

This glimmering collection of new short fiction from a Booker Prize winner showcases a unique blend of sympathy, emotional wisdom, and satiric wit. The author, known for acclaimed novels like The Photograph and Family Album, captivates readers with themes of history, family, and relationships set in vividly rendered environments. In the title story, a Mediterranean purple swamp hen reveals the secrets of Quintus Pompeius's villa, highlighting his narrow escape from Vesuvius's eruption. "Abroad" depicts a low point for an artist couple on a tumultuous European road trip, forced to paint a mural in a remote Spanish farmhouse while repairing their broken-down car. Other tales explore friends and lovers in pivotal moments of indiscretion and discovery, such as in "The Third Wife," where a woman uncovers her husband's con artist ways and turns a house-hunting trip into a revenge scheme. Each story is enhanced by the author's graceful prose and keen eye for evocative detail. Wry, charming, and insightful, this collection is a masterful achievement from one of our most beloved writers.

When James and his family move to an ancient cottage in Oxfordshire, odd things start happening. Doors crash open, and strange signs appear, written in an archaic hand. James finds that the ghost is the spirit of Thomas Kempe.

Claudia Hampton is dying. As memories crowd in, she re-creates the mosiac of her life, her own story enmeshed with those of her brother, her lover and father of her daughter, and the centre of her life, Tom, her one great love both found and lost in the "mad fairyland" of war-torn Egypt.