Mea M. Flothuis Ordre des livres (chronologique)

Originally written under a pseudonym, this thrilling novel of passion in post-World War II London was banned upon its publication in the late 1960s, and is only now being republished under the author's real name. Edith Templeton creates an indelible character in the smartly dressed Louisa, a savvy young woman in the midst of a divorce who meets a charismatic man in a pub and within an hour has been sexually conquered by him on a garden bench. Thus begins her baffling but magnetic love affair with, and virtual enslavement to, Richard Gordon. Gordon, a psychiatrist, keeps Louisa in his thrall with his almost omniscient ability to see through her and she, in turn, is gripped by the deep, unexpected pleasure of complete submission. As they venture further and further into the depths -- both psychological and sexual -- she begins, for the first time, to understand her troubled history and the self that has emerged from it. In her clean, precise style, with every social nuance and motive exquisitely observed, Templeton delivers a tightly wound drama, unsparingly forthright in its description of how this form of love can bring incomparable rapture. Louisa's unsettling story has more than the ring of truth to it: it is told with urgency and relish, and its outcome, which leaves Louisa enlightened and changed forever, is profoundly satisfying.

Kritische analyse van de maatschappelijke bejegening van (aanstaande) moeders, met name in de Verenigde Staten.

Six months after losing his wife and two young sons, Vermont professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in a blur of alcoholic grief and self-pity. One night, he stumbles upon a clip from a lost film by silent comedian Hector Mann. His interest is piqued, and he soon finds himself embarking on a journey around the world to research a book on this mysterious figure, who vanished from sight in 1929. When the book is published the following year, a letter turns up in Zimmer's mailbox bearing a return address from a small town in New Mexico inviting him to meet Hector. Zimmer hesitates, until one night a strange woman appears on his doorstep and makes the decision for him, changing his life forever.

'I am following the traces of a great jewel. All its owners are dead, and the jewel is lost...' Precious stones are thousands of years old. They pass through the hands of owners and smugglers, merchants and thieves. Often the hands leave no trace, but they are there all the same: they leave impressions, invisible, like atoms of hydrogen drawn to the surface of a diamond. The Love of Stones charts three lives linked by one such jewel. Katherine Sterne searches the goldsmiths' quarters and hidden archives of contemporary London, Tokyo and Istanbul, following the trail of a long-lost jewel: a brooch of rubies, diamonds and pearls once worn by Queen Elizabeth I. Two hundred years earlier, a pair of Iraqi Jewish brothers travel to London, their fortunes made by an unearthed jar of mysterious and priceless stones. An epic story spanning two continents and six centuries, The Love of Stones follows three very different people, each in their own way consumed by the same desire. At the heart of their lives is the Three Brethren, the legendary jewel that binds them together in a narrative as clear and irresistible as the facets of a diamond.

The Dark Room tells the stories of three ordinary Germans: Helmut, a young photographer in Berlin in the 1930s who uses his craft to express his patriotic fervour; Lore, a twelve-year-old girl who in 1945 guides her young siblings across a devastated Germany after her Nazi parents are seized by the Allies; and, fifty years later, Micha, a young teacher obsessed with what his loving grandfather did in the war, struggling to deal with the past of his family and his country.

De tous temps, les codes secrets ont été un outil indispensable dans les affaires d'ordre politique, diplomatique, militaire. Ils ont décidé du sort des peuples, des armées, quelquefois des amants... De l'arrestation de Marie Stuart à l'entrée en guerre des États-Unis pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, des messages cachés dans la chevelure des émissaires grecs aux salles de calcul de la National Security Agency, ce livre, aussi excitant qu'un roman policier, déploie une véritable fresque historique. Il nous montre aussi comment la guerre continuelle du codage et du décodage a entraîné des découvertes et des progrès multiples en linguistique, en mathématiques, et, pour finir, dans la mise au point des ordinateurs. Mais surtout, il attire notre attention sur un enjeu capital de notre civilisation. A l'ère des satellites et de l'Internet, jamais la notion de cryptage n'a été aussi centrale dans la protection de la vie privée...

Establishing Dibdin as a master of the historical mystery, "A Rich Full Death" begins in 1855 Florence at the hanging of Isabel Eaken. Engrossing, lively, lush with details, this evocative story has been seamlessly created from both fact and fancy, characters both imagined and real.

Robin begins to realize the intricacy of what it means to be human when she rescues an innocent man mistaken for a beast and takes him home with her.

Attratto da un richiamo fatale nel cuore dell'Africa, il giovane Salim, indiano di fede musulmana, lascia la costa orientale del continente per rilevare un eccentrico bazar in riva a un fiume circondato da un paesaggio primordiale di foreste, torrenti nascosti e canali infestati da zanzare. Qui cercherà di contribuire, con pochi sodali, all'evoluzione di una società travolta da recenti tumulti. Inizialmente, la comunità dell'«ansa del fiume» sembrerà avviarsi a un promettente progresso. Tuttavia, questo slancio innovatore, fagocitato dal Grande Uomo, si convertirà presto in un futurismo grottesco; e, unito alla feroce rabbia accumulata nel periodo coloniale, susciterà un sistema di controllo paranoico e una catena di cieche rappresaglie, consegnando Salim a un destino di apolide senza patria e senza vera identità. Ce roman est un hommage all'amato Conrad, e il suo sguardo si concretizza in una prosa iperrealista, ipnotica e allucinata.