Most Popular Books by Helen Dunmore

Tara begins her visit with Gran unhappy and bored, but when the man in the apartment downstairs allows others in the building to use his garden, she not only has a place to play, she learns what it was like to be a child during World War II. Includes facts about evacuees and victory gardens.

Katie and Zillah are in their last year at the local primary school, and looking forward to moving on. But then they discover that the school is threatened with closure, and they could be the last children ever to go there. Their class is determined - they have brothers and sisters in the school, their parents went there, the school is part of their community - they won''t let it close, whatever it takes.

In May 2005 Penguin will publish 70 unique titles to celebrate the company''s 70th birthday. The titles in the Pocket Penguins series are emblematic of the renowned breadth of quality of the Penguin list and will hark back to Penguin founder Allen Lane''s vision of good books for all''. adults and she has received widespread acclaim for work. All ten books of her adult fiction have been published by Penguin, and in Rose 1944, we present several short stories that reveal the range, intricacy and depth found in one of modern fiction''s great lyrical voices.

After the tragic death of her father, Katie and her mum go to live in the depths of Cornwall, as far away from their London life as possible. The countryside is beautiful, but coping with a cottage with no heating, an outside loo and a lot of spiders is more than Katie bargained for. Then she meets Zillah, from the farm up.

Moving to Cornwall so her mother can rediscover her art after the tragic death of her father, Katie finds herself drawn to Zillah, a strange silent girl who spends her time restoring an old boat and wears a diamond ring around her neck.

In this remarkable, innovative and moving final collection of stories, Helen Dunmore explores the fragile ties between familial love, motherhood, friendship and grief. Capturing the passion, joy, loss, longing and loneliness we encounter as we navigate our way through life, each story sets out on a journey, of adventure, new beginnings, reflection and contemplation.

Katie and Zillah are looking forward to the Cornish summer that stretches ahead of them, all swimming and surfing and long, lazy hot days. Then travellers arrive at Zillah''s dad''s campsite and soon tensions develop. Katie makes friends with Rose, one of the travellers, and suddenly there''s a chill between her and Zillah. It leads Katie to wonder about their friendship, until something happens that puts everything in perspective, something that could threaten their friendship for ever... "Dunmore is a wonderful storyteller" the Observer.

Celebrated for its creativity, communal spirit, and culture of resistance, Bristol is a city with a loud voice and progressive reputation. But it’s also a city that has experienced division and inequality. In this anthology, ten acclaimed and emerging writers portray a city full of secrets, scars, and stark contrasts. From the elusive angel who turns up at a stagnant café along the Malago River, to the jilted lover caught in the crosshairs of the police, the stories gathered here lean into the turbulent magic of Bristol and will leave readers with a renewed sense of the city’s complexity.

Per festeggiare i 200 anni della nascita di Charlotte Brontë, Tracy Chevalier ha chiesto alle migliori autrici in lingua inglese di scrivere una storia ispirata alla celebre battuta di Jane Eyre: «L’ho sposato, lettore mio». Questo racconto fa parte della raccolta dedicata a Charlotte Brontë: L’ho sposato, lettore mio a cura di TRACY CHEVALIER

Per quale ragione «L’ho sposato, lettore mio» è una delle frasi più celebri e citate della letteratura inglese? La risposta, tutt’altro che ovvia, risiede nel capolavoro da cui è tratta: Jane Eyre (1847), la storia di un’orfana che, grazie alla sola intelligenza e caparbietà, riesce a convolare a nozze con il nobile signor Rochester. Per affermare il suo successo, e il cambiamento della propria condizione sociale, invece di dichiarare «mi ha sposata, lettore mio» – com’era da aspettarsi nella maschilista società vittoriana – Jane dice: «l’ho sposato, lettore mio». Una sfumatura nella forma verbale che ha lo scopo di rimarcare la coscienza femminile della protagonista, e quella dell’autrice Charlotte Brontë, e che si ergerà a manifesto, ispirazione e stimolo per tutte le scrittrici a venire. Quando Tracy Chevalier ha chiesto alle migliori autrici in lingua inglese di raccontare una storia ispirata a quella celebre battuta, non l’ha fatto solo per festeggiare i duecento anni della nascita di Charlotte Brontë, ma anche per ridare significato a quelle parole, per renderle di nuovo vive e attuali nella società odierna. «In alcuni racconti sono le nozze stesse a essere drammatiche, a causa di una dolorosa scheggia di vetro in Coppia mista di Linda Grant, o di un mutamento improvviso in Il matrimonio di mia madre di Tessa Hadley, o di un rapporto clandestino durante una cerimonia in Zambia, in Uomini doppi di Namwali Serpell, o di un incontro gotico nel fango della brughiera in Tenersi per mano di Joanna Briscoe», dice Chevalier. In altri, come La prima volta che vidi il tuo viso di Emma Donoghue, la frase di Jane Eyre diventa il trampolino di lancio per viaggiare indietro nel tempo, fino alla Germania di fine Ottocento, dove Miss Hall e Mary Benson, la moglie dell’arcivescovo di Canterbury, si macchiano del peccato di un amore saffico. Se in Lo scambio Audrey Niffenegger colloca Jane nel mondo contemporaneo, in un paese dilaniato dalla guerra, la penna originale ed eccentrica di Helen Dunmore si diverte a raccontare Jane Eyre dal punto di vista della governante ingelosita, mentre Tracy Chevalier – con la maestria che l’ha resa una delle scrittrici più lette e amate d’Italia, «in grado di donare il soffio della vita al romanzo storico» (Independent) – dipinge la relazione sentimentale di una coppia male assortita, «come margherite e gladioli, come pizzo e cuoio». Il risultato è una collezione di ventuno storie d’amore, diversissime per sensibilità, scrittura e intenzioni, che ruotano attorno a una medesima eroina dai mille volti: una donna determinata e coraggiosa, che combatte per vincere i pregiudizi e gli ostacoli della società. E che non ha paura di affermare la propria identità dicendo, a testa alta, con un sorriso affaticato ma fiero: io «l’ho sposato, lettore mio». Ventuno storie per celebrare Charlotte Brontë e Jane Eyre Racconti di: Tracy Chevalier, Tessa Hadley, Sarah Hall, Helen Dunmore, Kirsty Gunn, Joanna Briscoe, Jane Gardam, Emma Donoghue, Susan Hill, Francine Prose, Elif Shafak, Evie Wyld, Patricia Park, Salley Vickers, Nadifa Mohamed, Esther Freud, Linda Grant, Lionel Shriver, Audrey Niffenegger, Namwali Serpell, Elizabeth McCracken

To be alive is to be inside the wave, always travelling until it breaks and is gone. These poems are concerned with the borderline between the living and the dead - the underworld and the human living world - and the exquisitely intense being of both. They possess a spare, eloquent lyricism as they explore the bliss and anguish of the voyage. Inside the Wave, Helen Dunmore''s tenth and final poetry book, was her first since The Malarkey (2012), whose title-poem won the National Poetry Competition. Her final poem, ''Hold out your arms'', written shortly before her death and not included in the first printing of Inside the Wave, was added to all subsequent printings. Her posthumous retrospective, Counting Backwards: Poems 1975-2017 (2019), covers ten collections she published over four decades up to and including Inside the Wave.

Cambridge Reading is a major reading scheme which provides stimulating books and support materials for the teaching of reading and the development of literacy throughout the primary years.

During World War I, D.H. Lawrence and his wife moved to Cornwall where they became the subject of intense suspicion from the locals. This forms the inspiration for this first novel centering on Clare, a young girl who comes under the influence of the Lawrences.

Livre-culte des années quatre-vingt enfin réédité dans sa version intégrale, chef-d''œuvre littéraire et document de premier plan sur la culture gay d''avant le sida, Le Danseur de Manhattan dépeint un âge d''or révolu, celui d''une fête permanente, sans tabous ni contraintes. Depuis qu''il a découvert son homosexualité, Malone, jeune homme de bonne famille d''une extraordinaire beauté, erre dans New York à la recherche de l''amour absolu. Guidé dans les méandres du milieu underground par Sutherland, une folle flamboyante, Malone s''enivre de plaisirs neufs, goûtant frénétiquement aux drogues, au sexe et à la danse. Des boîtes de nuit de Manhattan aux orgies extravagantes de Fire Island commence alors une lente déchéance dont l''issue ne peut être que la rédemption ou la mort... À la fois lyrique et poignant, ce roman au réalisme cru dit toute la souffrance d''un homme en quête de pureté dans un monde d''apparences où les rires tonitruants étouffent les larmes de désespoir.