New Releases by Barry Unsworth

When the prim and proper head teacher, Rosemary Timmins, witnesses her retired neighbour''s sudden collapse, she must inform the woman''s husband - the formidable Major Scott Cooper. But his reaction to the news is certainly not what she expected...

A husband and wife attend a function at which they hope the husband will be made president of a large charity organisation. As the night wears on and the wife sees the husband do something rather shocking in public, she begins to question what really is important, as well as asking herself what is important in her marriage and their lives together, too.

Barry Unsworth’s Losing Nelson is a novel of obsession, the story of a man unable to see himself separately from the hero he mistakenly idolizes Admiral Lord Nelson. Charles Cleasby is, in fact, a Nelson biographer run amok. He is convinced that Nelson—Britain''s greatest admiral, who finally defeated Napoleon, and lost his own life, in the Battle of Trafalgar—is the perfect hero, but in his research he has come upon an incident of horrifying brutality in Nelson''s military career that simply stumps all attempts at glorification.

Barry Unsworth returns to the terrain of his Booker Prize-winning novel Sacred Hunger, this time following Sullivan, the Irish fiddler, and Erasmus Kemp, son of a Liverpool slave ship owner who hanged himself. It is the spring of 1767, and to avenge his father''s death, Erasmus Kemp has had the rebellious sailors of his father''s ship, including Sullivan, brought back to London to stand trial on charges of mutiny and piracy. But as the novel opens, a blithe Sullivan has escaped and is making his way on foot to the north of England, stealing as he goes and sleeping where he can. His destination is Thorpe in the East Durham coalfields, where his dead shipmate, Billy Blair, lived: he has pledged to tell the family how Billy met his end. In this village, Billy''s sister, Nan, and her miner husband, James Bordon, live with their three sons, all destined to follow their father down the pit. The youngest, only seven, is enjoying his last summer aboveground. Meanwhile, in London, a passionate anti-slavery campaigner, Frederick Ashton, gets involved in a second case relating to the lost ship. Erasmus Kemp wants compensation for the cargo of sick slaves who were thrown overboard to drown, and Ashton is representing the insurers who dispute his claim. Despite their polarized views on slavery, Ashton''s beautiful sister, Jane, encounters Erasmus Kemp and finds herself powerfully attracted to him. Lord Spenton, who owns coal mines in East-Durham, has extravagant habits and is pressed for money. When he applies to the Kemp merchant bank for a loan, Erasmus sees a business opportunity of the kind he has long been hoping for, a way of gaining entry into Britain''s rapidly developing and highly profitable coal and steel industries. Thus he too makes his way north, to the very same village that Sullivan is heading for . . . With historical sweep and deep pathos, Unsworth explores the struggles of the powerless and the captive against the rich and the powerful, and what weight mercy may throw on the scales of justice.

"His keen understanding of history and legend...illuminate[s] his visits." —Publishers Weekly "A vivid picture of the island." —Associated Press "It is hard to think of anywhere on earth where so many firsts and mosts are crammed into a space so small," Barry Unsworth writes of the isle of Crete. Birthplace of the Greek god Zeus, the Greek alphabet, and the first Greek laws, as well as the home of 15 mountain ranges and the longest gorge in Europe, this land is indisputably unique. And since ancient times, its inhabitants have maintained an astonishing tenacity and sense of national identity, even as they suffered conquest and occupation by Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Venetians, Ottoman Turks, and Germans. Throughout this evocative book, now in trade paper, Unsworth describes the incredible physical and cultural proportions of the island—in history, myth, and reality. Moving and artful, Crete gives readers a comprehensive picture and rich understanding of this complex—and indeed, almost magical—world of Mediterranean wonders. With the same keen eye and clear, eloquent prose that distinguishes his acclaimed historical novels, Barry Unsworth delivers his readers a two-fold traveler''s reward, at once a wonderfully detailed panorama of Crete''s many layers of history and an evocative portrait of an island almost literally larger than life.

Durante o reinado dos reis normandos, na Sicília do século XII, romanos, gregos, árabes e judeus convivem em harmonia. O jovem normando Thurstan Beauchamp trabalha para Yusuf, um muçulmano que controla as finanças do reino. Considerado um servo leal, Thurstan é destacado para desbaratar uma conspiração contra o rei. Em suas andanças, reencontra uma antiga paixão e conhece a misteriosa e sensual dançarina Nesrin. Thurstan se vê em uma verdadeira odisseia espiritual, na qual questiona a natureza de suas ambições e a insensatez da reverência pela autoridade real.

Barry Unsworth, a writer with an “almost magical capacity for literary time travel” (New York Times Book Review) has the extraordinary ability to re-create the past and make it relevant to contemporary readers. In Land of Marvels, a thriller set in 1914, he brings to life the schemes and double-dealings of Western nations grappling for a foothold in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire. Somerville, a British archaeologist, is excavating a long-buried Assyrian palace. The site lies directly in the path of a new railroad to Baghdad, and he watches nervously as the construction progresses, threatening to destroy his discovery. The expedition party includes Somerville’s beautiful, bored wife, Edith; Patricia, a smart young graduate student; and Jehar, an Arab man-of-all-duties whose subservient manner belies his intelligence and ambitions. Posing as an archaeologist, an American geologist from an oil company arrives one day and insinuates himself into the group. But he’s not the only one working undercover to stake a claim on Iraq’s rich oil fields. Historical fiction at its finest, Land of Marvels opens a window on the past and reveals its lasting impact.

1149. Turstin, fils d''un chevalier normand, voit son destin contrarié. Il aurait lui aussi voulu porter les armes mais un revers de fortune paternel en a décidé autrement. À Palerme, le jeune homme est " pourvoyeur de plaisirs " à la cour de Roger de Hauteville, roi de Sicile. Bientôt, il se trouve partagé entre son amour d''enfance pour dame Alice - de retour de Terre sainte - et son attirance envers la sensuelle Nesrin, danseuse qu''il a fait venir à la cour. S''apercevra-t-il à temps que l''une des deux le manipule ? Qu''il est le jouet d''un complot menaçant le trône ? Se déroulant à une époque de croisades et de guerres de religion, le roman de Barry Unsworth témoigne d''une connaissance subtile de la Sicile médiévale.

“Troy meant one thing only to the men gathered here, as it did to their commanders. Troy was a dream of wealth; and if the wind continued the dream would crumble.” As the harsh wind holds the Greek fleet trapped in the straits at Aulis, frustration and political impotence turn into a desire for the blood of a young and innocent woman – blood that will appease the gods and allow the troops to set sail. And when Iphigeneia, Agamemnon’s beloved daughter, is brought to the coast under false pretences, and when a knife is fashioned out of the finest and most precious of materials, it looks as if the ships will soon be on their way. But can a father really go to these lengths to secure political victory, and can a daughter willingly give up her life for the worldly ambitions of her father? Throwing off the heroic values we expect of them, Barry Unsworth’s mythic characters embrace the political ethos of the twenty-first century and speak in words we recognize as our own. The blowhard Odysseus warns the men to not “marginalize” Agamemnon and to “strike while the bronze is hot.” High-sounding principles clash with private motives, and dark comedy ensues. Here is a novel that stands the world on its head.

Set in the Middle Ages during the brief yet glittering rule of the Norman kings, this work is a tale in which the conflicts of the past portend the present. Unsworth transports the reader to a distant past filled with deception and mystery, and whose racial, tribal, and religious tensions are still present.

In 1752 the "Liverpool Merchant" sets sail, her owner and her captain greedily anticipating the easy money to be had from the buying and selling of African slaves. Her crew are seduced by visions of Africa and the hot, lewd women awaiting them. Once the trading is over, disease spreads through the cramped cargo, taking the profits with it. Enraged at the captain''s impotence in the face of disease, the crew discuss a mutiny that will pit two cousins against each other.

Donald Cuthbertson prided himself on being a model for his students and teachers, but he had lately begun to lose his focus. Degree Day is approaching, along with a birthday party for his wife, Lavinia, who is not going quietly into middle age. Her lavish costume party provides the revelers with a darkly comic resolution to romantic dalliance and political intrigue.

Two men traveling from England disembark in Greece from the same boat. How their lives will accidentally and frighteningly intersect is the subject of this novel. Kennedy, an Englishman of no fixed address, is looking for a teaching job in what he hopes will be a Greek paradise. An opportunist who finds himself falling in love - or at least lust - he orchestrates a scam that will have some intended - and some thoroughly unintended - consequences. Mitsos is returning to Greece after many years away. An unresolved family tragedy awakens again, from the ghosts of his parents'' deaths and the brutal wartime politics of Greek against Greek.

Na de muiterij op een slavenschip, rond 1760, kunnen de overlevenden, blank en zwart, voor korte tijd een eigen wereldje inrichten.

Audacieuse fresque historique saluée comme un chef d''œuvre par la presse britannique, La Folie Nelson est un roman littéraire foisonnant où s''entremêlent les hauts faits d''un personnage prestigieux de l''Angleterre du XVIIIe siècle et le triste destin de l''un de ses admirateurs. En juin 1799, lors de l''assaut d''une forteresse napolitaine, l''amiral Nelson fit exécuter des rebelles à qui il avait promis la vie sauve. Un acte de trahison qui portera un coup funeste à l''admirable carrière du vainqueur de Trafalgar... Deux siècles plus tard, à Londres, un homme, indigné par cette interprétation de l''histoire, écrit une biographie à la gloire de l''amiral. Charles Cleasby, très tôt orphelin de mère comme son idole, convaincu d''être le double obscur de ce héros dont il reproduit inlassablement les exploits navals dans le sous-sol de sa maison victorienne, se sent investi d''une mission vitale : prouver l''innocence de lord Nelson. Mais tandis que sa secrétaire, miss Lily, émet des réserves sur la bravoure du grand homme, Charles lui-même découvre certains faits qui viennent ternir l''image de son icône. Peu à peu s''engage en lui une douloureuse bataille opposant le maître et le disciple, la réalité et la fiction, les ténèbres et la lumière, premiers signes d''une folie qui le conduira à commettre l''irréparable...

Analyse : Roman de société.

A "powerfully done" ("Times Literary Supplement") and tantalizingly semi-autobiographical novel from the author of the Booker Prize-winning "Sacred Heart".

"A masterful tale of treachery and duplicity. . . . Spellbinding."-- New York Times The year is 1908, the place, a small Greek island in the declining days of the crumbling Ottoman Empire. For twenty years Basil Pascali has spied on the people of his small community and secretly reported on their activities to the authorities in Constantinople. Although his reports are never acknowledged, never acted upon, he has received regular payment for his work. Now he fears that the villagers have found him out and he becomes engulfed in paranoia. In the midst of his panic, a charming Englishman arrives on the island claiming to be an archaeologist, and charms his way into the heart of the woman for whom Pascali pines. A complex game is played out between the two where cunning and betrayal may come to haunt them both. Pascali''s Island was made into a feature film starring Ben Kingsley and Helen Mirren.

This early work by Booker Prize-winning author Barry Unsworth chronicles one of his literary obsessions--the corruption of innocence--and forms it into a compelling contemporary narrative set in the rambling, overgrown grounds of an English estate. When a good-looking gardener begins work at their estate, the two women of the household find themselves falling under the potent spell of his strength and seeming innocence.

In this edgy and masterfully written novel, Booker Prize-winning author Barry Unsworth explores the themes of the corruption of innocence and the complications of lust. Farnaby, a young Englishman in Istanbul researching a thesis on Ottoman fiscal policy, is nervous at his reunion with the celebrated Mooncranker who once so fatefully influenced and disturbed his life. Mooncranker, a famous intellectual, is now a pitiful alcoholic deserted by his secretary and lover Miranda—the woman Farnaby secretly loved with the violence of youth. Mooncranker sends him to find Miranda at a notorious Turkish spa on the grounds of an ancient city where sex is known to come along with the price of the room. There Farnaby tries to understand Mooncranker''s gift to him as a boy of thirteen, which has tainted his life ever since, as he finds himself a pivotal figure in the eccentric destinies of the other residents of the spa.

In 1908 Englishman Robert Markham is appointed to the British legation in Turkey.

As Simon Raikes restores a fifteenth-century Venetian masterpiece, he becomes obsessed with the sculpture, becoming involved in a crime as he reconstructs the past and is drawn into the mysteries of love, betrayal, and violence.