Search Results for: catherine webb

A FINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

‘A fascinating meditation on Black female creativity from the author of Corregidora and Palmares . . . Vivid characters shimmer through the pages’ Suzi Feay, GUARDIAN

‘I am living on the white-washed island of Ibiza with my friend Catherine Shuger, a sculptor who has been declared legally insane, and her husband, Ernest. Standing on the terrace, sheltered in the smell of oranges and eucalyptus, washed in sunlight, you’d swear this was a paradise. But to tell the truth the place is full of dangers. You see, Catherine sometimes tries to kill her husband. It has been this way for years . . . My name’s Amanda Wordlaw. Wonderful name for a writer, isn’t it? . . . I guess I’m sort of a choice companion for the Shugers – professional watcher and listener that I am. It’s like they need someone else to witness the shit, the spectacle they make of themselves.’

‘Gayl Jones constructs a novel that is part mystery, part thriller, and wholly captivating . . . Jones is an outstanding writer . . . A shining segment of the American literary canon has been restored’ Kate Webb, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

‘With the plush scenery of a travelogue, the misshapen soul of a noir and the anarchic spirit of a trickster tale, this novel revolves around three Black American expatriates . . . Catherine is suspicious of Amanda’s intentions toward her husband, but, in Jones’s fearsome, fractured narrative, her potential for violence seems no more alarming than anything else that might befall these social outsiders’ NEW YORKER (Best books of 2022)

Kate Webb, an Australian iconoclast, Catherine Leroy, a French dare devil photographer, and Frances FitzGerald, a blue-blood American intellectual, arrived in Vietnam with starkly different life experiences but one shared purpose: to report on the most consequential story of the decade.

At a time when women were considered unfit to be foreign reporters, Frankie, Catherine and Kate paid their own way to war, arrived without jobs, challenged the rules imposed on them by the military, ignored the belittlement and resentment of their male peers and found new ways to explain the war through the people who lived through it.

In You Don’t Belong Here, Elizabeth Becker uses these women’s work and lives to illuminate the Vietnam War from the 1965 American buildup, through the Tet Offensive, the expansion into Cambodia, the American defeat and its aftermath. Arriving herself in the last years of the war, Elizabeth writes as an historian and a witness to what these women accomplished.

What emerges is an unforgettable story of three journalists forging their place in a land of men, often at great personal sacrifice, and forever altering the craft of war reportage for generations. Deeply reported and filled with personal letters, interviews, and profound insight, You Don’t Belong Here fills a void in the history of women and of war.

London, 1865, and young Theresa Hatch (Tess, to her friends) receives a nast surprise late at night. When Horatio finds a young girl on his doorstep, passed out, dying – apparently poisoned – he’s appalled. Investigations lead to Tess’s old workhouse, but a surprise visit to that sorry establishment yields more questions than answers. Only one thing is clear: something very, very bad is happening to the children in the East End.

There’s a mystery to be solved, sending Lyle, Thomas, Tate and – naturally – Tess out into the wilds of east London and a certain former thief’s old stamping grounds. What they find is terrifying: Tess’s old crowd of artful dodgers and ace pickpockets are now wandering the streets like zombies, drooling in the workhouses or plain mad in the asylum. And it isn’t just affecting Tess’ old crowd; children all over the area are turning up with their memories in tatters and their minds all but gone. The only clue is a name, half-whispered in fear: Old Greybags.

London, 1865. There are many mysteries in this world that are yet to be resolved. Some of them, man was not meant to know . . .

Scientist, inventor and occasional sleuth, Horatio Lyle, is a man of science – a man of reason. As such, he does not care for the Tseiqin and the strange, mystical enigma they represent. But when news reaches him of a plot to remove them – through the simple expedient of mass murder! – well . . . that presents a problem for a man of moral fortitude. A decent man. A man like Horatio Lyle . . .

Leading his young friends, Tess and Thomas, and his faithful hound, Tate, into a series of the most appalling dangers, Lyle leaps to the rescue of his mortal enemies. But when the dust clears and the menace has been confronted, there remains one rather pressing question for occasional Special Constable Horatio Lyle: who’s going to rescue him . . . ?

There seem to be some odd things going on in the city of London, lately. Take the murders, for instance; quite peculiar. And those missing statues – what’s going on there? And shouldn’t Saint Paul’s have a roof? Odd. . .

Horatio Lyle, of course, is no stranger to. . . well, strangeness. In fact, he finds the lure of the unknown quite invigorating. But having just survived the most frightening episode in his life, the last thing he wants is that pompous Lord Lincoln sticking his nose in again and demanding that he take on another case the police are too thick to solve. Of course, His Lordship can be painfully persuasive at times, so it should come as no surprise that Lyle, along with his young proteges Tess (the thief) and Thomas (the toff), and his faithful hound Tate (the smart one), is soon up to his cravat in events of a singularly unscientific nature.

Actually, it would all be terribly exciting if only they weren’t trying to kill him.

In Victorian London at the height of the industrial revolution, Horatio Lyle is a former Special Constable with a passion for science and invention. He’s also an occasional, but reluctant, sleuth. The truth is that he’d rather be in his lab tinkering with dangerous chemicals and odd machinery than running around the cobbled streets of London trying to track down stolen goods. But when Her Majesty’s Government calls, Horatio swaps his microscope for a magnifying glass, fills his pockets with things that explode and sallies forth to unravel a mystery of a singularly extraordinary nature.

Thrown together with a reformed (i.e. ‘caught’) pickpocket called Tess, and a rebellious (within reason) young gentleman called Thomas, Lyle and his faithful hound, Tate, find themselves pursuing an ancient Chinese plate, a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of polite society and a dangerous enemy who may not even be human. Solving the crime will be hard enough – surviving would be a bonus…

Sam Linnifer returns to continue what he started in Waywalkers and rid the world of the deadly plots and schemes of the elder gods. But with Seth, Jehovah and Thor now in control of the dread Pandora Spirits Sam knows Earth’s only hope may rest in his unleashing the Light. But the power bestowed upon him at birth by his father Time could have deadly consequences for Sam himself. For in unleashing the Light, Sam must touch the minds of every human on Earth. To save the world, Sam may have to destroy himself…

Timekeepers is the stunning follow up to the acclaimed Waywalkers. You’ll meet Firedancers in London on a rainy summer night, walk the Ways between Earth and Heaven with Bhudda, hole up in a sleazy German bar with Adam, and find yourself trusting the one person you never dreamed you would.

In a war between Gods, where Earth is the battle ground and humans are expendable, you’ll need to have more than just sympathy for the Devil.

Sam Linnfer works part-time at a London university as a translator of obscure ancient texts. He’s a quiet chap with a few friends here and there, and an affection for cats. He’s also immortal and the Son of Time. In fact, you might know him better as Lucifer, the Devourer of Souls or the Devil. And with all the gods in Heaven about to go to war over ownership of Earth, you’re going to be extremely glad he’s not exactly the person legend makes him out to be – but that he does know how to handle a flaming sword …

The elder gods have risen.
The Firedancers have been called forth.
The armies of Heaven and Hell are stirring.
The ultimate battle has begun.

To survive, Earth will need more than just sympathy for the devil…

Waywalkers is the first volume in a stunning new series from teenaged sensation Catherine Webb.

Return to the magical Kingdoms of the Void for a whodunit mystery that morphs into a battle for the lives of every soul on Earth and beyond.
Laenan Kite repelled the Lords of Nightkeep, but he could not destroy them. (Though not from any lack of effort on his part, he’d like to point out.) Now, with deadly spells igniting across Haven, and the queen’s life at risk, Kite must counter a new threat to the Realm of Dreams – and discover who’s behind it. (And if you think that’s easy, you’ve obviously never been to Haven – they start on rumour and intrigue well before breakfast). Fingers are being pointed at the whiter-than-white Lord Rylam. He’s got no lands but bags of loot, so he’d definitely be up for the kind of mayhem and murder that leads to sudden vacancies in the throne room. But Kite’s not sure it’s that simple – and you better hope his instincts are right. Because if he goes after the wrong guy … we’ll be sucked into the kind of nightmare that Nightkeep can only dream of!
Electric pacing, sizzling dialogue and sparkling humour are the corner stones of this visually stunning sequel to the wonderful MIRROR DREAMS.

Every dream you’ve ever had, and every dream yet to come, exists somewhere in the Kingdoms of the Void. Every nightmare, too. Because there has to be balance – it’s the rules. Problem is, the Lords of Nightkeep aren’t big on rules. They’re more into Conquest, Fear, and Eternal Darkness For All. It takes an extremely powerful Void wizard like Leanan Kite to keep ’em in check. But right now Kite has other worries, and Nightkeep is growing strong. Its Lords hunger for power. And they’ve turned their gaze toward Earth…

Fast-paced, vividly imagined and blistering with sassy dialogue and humour, teen-sensation Catherine Webb’s debut novel is a unique and utterly contemporary fantasy for young adult readers.