In "Death at the Sign of the Rook," ex-detective Jackson Brodie is drawn to a Yorkshire town to investigate a stolen painting, leading to a series of thefts and a murder mystery weekend at a partially converted country house. With a cast of intriguing characters, Atkinson delivers a clever homage to classic mystery writers.
One of the world's great storytellers conjures a captivating new book. In this first full collection since Not the End of the World, we meet a queen who makes a bargain she cannot keep; a secretary who watches over the life she has just left; and a man whose luck changes when a horse speaks to him. Witty and wise, with subtle connections between the stories, Normal Rules Don't Apply is a startling , and funny feast for the imagination. In Kate Atkinson's world nothing is over until ' the talking dog speaks.'
NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The #1 internationally bestselling, award-winning author of Life after Life transports us to the dazzling London of the Roaring Twenties in a whirlwind tale of corruption, seduction and debts that have come due. 1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife. In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters and girls sell dances for a shilling a time. The notorious queen of this glittering world is Nellie Coker, ruthless but also ambitious to advance her six children, including the enigmatic eldest, Niven, whose character has been forged in the crucible of the Somme. But success breeds enemies, and Nellie's empire faces threats from without and within. For beneath the dazzle of Soho's gaiety, there is a dark underbelly, a world in which it is all too easy to become lost. With her unique Dickensian flair, Kate Atkinson gives us a window in a vanished world. Slyly funny, brilliantly observant and ingeniously plotted, Shrines of Gaiety showcases the myriad talents that have made Atkinson one of the most lauded writers of our time.
Roman
Joanna Hunter, 36 Jahre alt, hat alles, was man sich nur wünschen kann: ein wunderschönes Haus, einen guten Job als Ärztin, einen treuen Hund und einen attraktiven Mann. Doch ihr ganzes Glück ist ihr kleiner Sohn Gabriel. Für ihn würde sie alles tun. Wie wunderbar muss es sein, mit dieser Frau in diesem Haus für immer zu leben, denkt sich das Kindermädchen Reggie. Mit ihren 16 Jahren hat sie schon alles gesehen und erlebt. Joanna lässt sie wieder an das Gute in der Welt glauben. Für sie würde Reggie alles tun. Als Joanna und ihr Sohn eines Tages verschwunden sind, findet Reggie sämtliche Erklärungen des Ehemannes merkwürdig. Sie wendet sich an die Polizei, doch keiner versteht ihre Sorge – bis Jackson Brodie auftaucht. Er kennt Joanna Hunter und ihre dunkle Geschichte und er setzt alles daran, sie ein zweites Mal zu finden … Band 3 der Jackson-Brodie-Reihe
A twenty-fifth anniversary edition of award-winning, bestselling author Kate Atkinson’s debut novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, a deeply moving and deeply funny family story of happiness and heartbreak National Bestseller Winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year Ruby Lennox begins narrating her own life at the moment of her conception and from there takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of a girl determined to learn more about her family and the secrets it keeps. Kate Atkinson’s dazzling first novel, named the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year in England, is a darkly comic, deeply moving story of family heartbreak and happiness.
Jackson Brodie s'est installé dans un village en bord de mer dans le Yorkshire du Nord. Selon le bon vouloir de son ancienne compagne Julia, il jouit par intermittence de la présence de son fils Nathan, un adolescent boudeur, et de la vieille chienne Dido. Si le décor est pittoresque, en coulisses de sinistres desseins se trament. Pour le compte d'une épouse soupçonneuse, Jackson doit rassembler les preuves de l'infidélité de son mari.Cette mission parait plutôt simple, mais la rencontre avec un homme désespéré au sommet d'une falaise va l'impliquer dans une sombre affaire. (decitre.fr)
The perfect Christmas gift: three festive tales from the brilliant pen of Kate Atkinson.
In 1940, eighteen-year-old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MIS tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathizers, she discovers the work to be by turns both tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past for ever. Ten years later, now a producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat. A bill of reckoning is due, and she finally begins to realize that there is no action without consequence.
Kate Atkinson's 'Life After Life' explored the possibility of infinite chances, as Ursula Todd lived through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. In 'A God in Ruins', Atkinson turns her focus on Ursula's beloved younger brother Teddy - would-be poet, RAF bomber pilot, husband and father - as he navigates the perils and progress of the 20th century. For all Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge will be to face living in a future he never expected to have.
WINNER OF THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right? During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath. During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale. What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to? Life After Life follows Ursula Todd as she lives through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. With wit and compassion, Kate Atkinson finds warmth even in life's bleakest moments, and shows an extraordinary ability to evoke the past. Here she is at her most profound and inventive, in a novel that celebrates the best and worst of ourselves.
