New Releases by Ann Schlee

Sorella discreta del reverendo, zia nubile di mezza età, Charlotte Morrison è da sempre spettatrice silenziosa della vita altrui, figura di contorno e di compagnia. Ma nell''estate del 1851, durante un viaggio sul Reno con la famiglia del fratello, qualcosa si incrina: sul ponte di un battello, tra i vapori dell''acqua e le voci dei passeggeri, Charlotte incrocia un volto che, per un istante, le riporta alla mente l''unico amore della sua giovinezza, sommerso ormai dal tempo. Uno strappo nel suo cielo di carta che la costringe, dopo tanti anni, a entrare a contatto con se stessa. Lungo il viaggio, le città e le acque scorrono come visioni: tra guglie avvolte nella foschia, salici e rovine, Charlotte si perde - o forse si ritrova. E mentre, sullo sfondo, all''indomani della tempesta del 1848 l''Europa si ricompone, dentro di lei qualcosa cede, le immagini del passato irrompono nel presente e spalancano porte al desiderio, al rimpianto, alle possibilità. Finalista al Booker Prize 1981, recentemente rilanciato con successo in Inghilterra e venduto in diversi Paesi, Un viaggio sul fiume è una gemma ritrovata della narrativa inglese del Novecento: un romanzo che fonde la precisione storica allo scandaglio psicologico, anticipando con sorprendente chiarezza il tema dell''emancipazione femminile attraverso il percorso di ribellione di una donna di epoca vittoriana.

1851: Nur drei Jahre, nachdem Arbeiterrevolten Europa im Kern erschüttert haben, kehren die ersten englischen Touristen auf den Kontinent zurück. Sie legen in Baden-Baden ab und fahren mit dem Schaufelraddampfer das für seine romantischen Landschaften berühmte Rheintal hinunter. Neben Franzosen und deutschen Familien befinden sich auch Reverend Charles Morrison mit Frau und Tochter sowie seine unverheiratete Schwester an Bord: Charlotte, eine scheinbar sanftmütige Frau mittleren Alters, hat ihr Leben damit verbracht, sich um die Bedürfnisse anderer zu kümmern. Doch wie der Fluss, auf dem die Gesellschaft reist, birgt auch Charlottes Seele verborgene Abgründe. Als sie in Koblenz einem fremden und doch eigentümlich vertrauten Mitreisenden begegnet, wird sie in einen Strudel aus verdrängten Erinnerungen und unterdrücktem Verlangen gestoßen. Ein so zarter wie eindringlicher Roman über Reue und unerfüllte Träume, aber auch über die Hoffnung, entgegen gesellschaftlichen Widerständen selbstbestimmt zu leben.

Like the Rhine, Charlotte Morrison was full of unsuspected depths and hidden murmurings. On the surface, she was the unmarried Victorian aunt, whose sparse, unfulfilled life echoed the expectations of those she drudged for. But, happily boating down the Rhine with her brother and his wife, the sight of a fellow traveller, Edward Newman, releases the hissing flood waters of her subconscious. Dark and dangerous, they sweep Charlotte onward towards the watershed of her life. ''The quality of the writing is so extraordinarily high that I could hardly believe it was a first novel'' Margaret Forster ''I raced through Rhine Journey. Mrs Schlee''s simple and direct style makes for very easy reading. This is a first novel of considerable promise.'' Olivia Manning ''A journey down the Rhine in the company of Ann Schlee is the purest, simples pleasure'' Sunday Telegraph

The islands lay low an dark in the sea that had claimed the lives of Adela Traherne''s parents. Known to the islanders as the Island Child, her life became inextricably linked with Augustus Walmer, the Proprietor, in the summer of 1840 when a group of his friends came to see how he was restoring the economy and well-being of his people and the untamed beauty of the islands he owned. None of the people who came together in that summer was ever to forget what happened then, none of them was ever to break free from the islands grip, and the destinies of Adela and Augustus seemed fated to be forever linked. ''Ambitious, imaginative . . . The Proprietor more than a little resembles The French Lieutenant''s Woman, with a dash of Jamaica Inn and an occasional nod in the direction of The Waves.'' Anita Brookner, Harpers & Queen ''Outstanding success . . . elegant precision and feeling for period . . . attractive echoes of Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Bowen.'' Hermione Lee, Observer ''Rare and strange . . . rich in detail and steeped in the author''s sense of the period and place about which she writes, it establishes Ann Schlee as one of the best novelists we have.'' Susan Hill ''Rare and impressive . . . the kind of novel which makes the prospect of a second reading a pleasure to be savoured.'' Books and Bookmen

Untouched by the ravages of war and the politically volatile atmosphere, the Villa della Pace remains an island of European society in the tiny British Protectorate of Aderra. Its circle religiously maintain their rigid social calendar and allow nothing, save the death of King George VI, to interfere with their pleasures. But the flawless surface of their lives conceals a turmoil of deception and desire . . . Flo has just left school in England and is flying out to spend the summer with her mother Lydia, and step-father Harry, who, as head of the British Administration, must oversee the forthcoming handover to indigenous rule. Lydia is determined that this year Flo will have the summer of her life, just as she herself did years earlier in Nairobi. And believing she can relive her youth through unworldly Flo, Lydia devises a plan for her daughter''s social debut - even providing a man. But she little suspects the intensity of emotion behind Flo''s quiet façade, nor the irrevocable impact her presence will have on the whole community over those few stifling months . . . A powerful and beautifully written novel by Ann Schlee at her very best.

Paul''s act of vandalism triggers emotions within him that cause him to question his place in his orderly society of the future.

Majoor Laing, de eerste Brit die vanuit Tripolis in 1825 Timboektoe bereikte, staat tijdens deze reis aan allerlei ontberingen bloot.

Laura, sent to the country from London to escape the cholera in 1848, tries to help the neglected children of Drouet''s asylum she finds eating the pigs'' food in her uncle''s barn.

Roman.