Ulverscroft

Young Arvid Jansen lives on the outskirts of Oslo. It's the early sixties; his father works in a shoe factory and his Danish mother works as a cleaner. Arvid has nightmares about crocodiles and still wets his bed at night, but slowly he begins to understand the world around him. Vivid images accompany each new event: A photo of his mother as a young woman makes him cry as he realizes how time passes, and the black car that comes to collect his father on the day Arvid's grandfather dies reminds him of the passing of his bullfinch. And then, one morning, his teacher tells his class to pray because a nuclear war is looming.Ashes in My Mouth, Sand in My Shoes, Per Petterson's debut, in which he introduces Arvid Jansen to the world, is a delicate portrait of childhood in all its complexity, wonder, and confusion that will delight fans ofOut Stealing Horses and new readers alike.

"Like nearly one in five people, Matt Haig suffers from depression. Reasons to Stay Alive is Matt’s inspiring account of how, minute by minute and day by day, he overcame the disease with the help of reading, writing, and the love of his parents and his girlfriend (and now-wife), Andrea. And eventually, he learned to appreciate life all the more for it."

When Catarina's elderly husband dies, she moves to the Dower House, a place where things are about to change dramatically with the arrival of Catarina's young sister, Joanna. Tricked by her cousin Matthew into a sham marriage, Joanna is now pregnant and alone. Catarina has a plan to hide her sister's disgrace, but then tragedy strikes suddenly at the Dower House. What will be the fate of Joanna's unwanted child?

From the book:May 2nd. - Last night after dinner, when we were in the garden, I said, "I want to be alone for a whole summer, and get to the very dregs of life. I want to be as idle as I can, so that my soul may have time to grow. Nobody shall be invited to stay with me, and if any one calls they will be told that I am out, or away, or sick. I shall spend the months in the garden, and on the plain, and in the forests. I shall watch the things that happen in my garden, and see where I have made mistakes. On wet days I will go into the thickest parts of the forests, where the pine needles are everlastingly dry, and when the sun shines I'll lie on the heath and see how the broom flares against the clouds. I shall be perpetually happy, because there will be no one to worry me. Out there on the plain there is silence, and where there is silence I have discovered there is peace."

It's early morning on New Year's Eve when nine-year-old Massimo wakes up to a long, doleful cry and the disconcerting image of his dad being supported by two strangers. Inexplicably, his mother has disappeared, leaving only her dressing gown crumpled on his bed and a vague trail of perfume in the air. Where has she gone? Will she ever come back? And will Massimo ever be able to say sorry, after quarrelling with her the night before?

"An explosive thriller about two couples who are caught in a web of conflicting passions while deep-sea diving off the beautiful Canary Islands; Sven Fiedler is a young lawyer in Germany who decides he's had enough. No more competing with coworkers for his boss's attention, no more flaunting this or that new purchase to keep his friends impressed, no more endless workweeks under fluourescent lights. So he withdraws from the bustle of modern life to the island of Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, where he and his girlfriend, Antje, establish a simpler routine. Sven sets up a business as a deep-sea diving instructor while Antje has her own real estate agency, and the two happily cater to tourists who come to bask in the warm sunshine and explore the silent, gleaming marine paradise that makes this island such a remarkable retreat. In November of 2011, two German tourists, Jola von der Pahlen and Theo Hast, engage Sven for an expensive two-week intensive diving experience. They stay in a guest house on Sven and Antje's property, and the two couples quickly become entangled in a mess of jealousies and suspicions. Sven is struck by Jola's beauty and her evident wealth. Theo quickly leaps to the conclusion that Sven and Jola are conspiring against him, but oddly, he seems to facilitate their affair rather than trying to stop it. Antje, looking on, grows increasingly wary of these particular clients. Shifting through various points of view, the reader is constantly kept guessing about who knows what, and more important, who is telling the truth. As the tension builds, it becomes increasingly clear that someone will meet a violent end, but a quiet one, down in the underwater world beneath the waves"--