Just finished reading this and it’s a piece of pure escapism. One part a Grimm’s Fairy Tale the other a Guillermo Del Toro labyrinth. But definitely suitable for both children and adults. Here’s the blurb:
In the garden behind the cottage grows an ancient oak that hides a secret. The young boy who lives in the cottage couldn’t care less about the tree and certainly doesn’t know it is enchanted. But the faeries soon change this . . . They cast a spell that causes the ancient oak to swallow the boy whole. As the seasons pass, the boy trapped inside begins to experience the world as a tree and regret his cruelty toward nature. But the oak does not let him go. Then a new family with a young girl moves into the cottage. The girl senses magic behind the mystery of the boy who disappeared there many years ago. Will she discover the faeries and what they’ve done? And, more importantly, will she be able to break the spell?
Ten stories of allure, betrayal, nostalgia, solitude, seduction, damage, desire and loss; of silence broken by the click of a lighter; insomnia defined by a glowing ember; a magician’s trick; a lover’s scent; a final wish. These are stories that go to the heart of things.
‘Evers has found possibility in even the bleakest and smallest of lives, with each delicately linked not only by a cigarette but also by a glimpse into how terrifyingly empty a life can be’ David Vann
‘With powerfully understated writing, Evers has an eye for the humor that lives alongside sadness, and above all for the humanity in the smallest of actions’ Evie Wyld
Author of the brilliant literary/generational soap-opera The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen is the first writer of his generation to be featured on the cover of Time magazine. His new novel, Freedom is out late Sept and there’s a good discussion going on here about Franzen finding his place as the Great White Narcissist Writer of his post Roth/Bellow/Updike era.
There’s no point summarising a perfectly good article by William Skidelsky in this week’s Observer (found here) with the exception of drawing on his final stand-out graphic relating to ‘Franzen’s Peers.’ Here it is….
Is this right? Who would you put on the cover of Time Magazine?
William T Vollmann is an author who seems to have a small following in the UK but a massive appeal in the States. He won the National Book Award for Europe Central in 2005 but on the most part he seems to be an American writer – for Americans. Or, at least that’s what the publishers think. Anyway, here’s a good article if you want to find out more.
Anyway, arriving by way of Flickr on Friday afternoon, his expenses submitted to Penguin reveal Vollmann to be an author more audacious with his employer’s money than British Politicians are with the taxes of the working people. It would appear that Vollmann employed ‘ladies of the night’ to be cover starts for his latest book. Does anyone know if Penguin approved this?
“This book is an autopsy of the urban renaissance, but one driven by constant surprise and fascination at just how strange, individual and architecturally diverse British cities actually are.”
Owen came to the store about 6 months ago to talk about Ruins and sign copies of his excellent debut, Militant Modernism. His blog is here. Sit down Man, You’re A Bloody Tragedy.