A cult classic of British literature, this coming-of-age novel follows a young woman who is transformed by her connection with an idiosyncratic, academic family in London.The Goldman home, anarchic, proudly carnal, and teeming with little children, could not be less like the stultifyingly respectable one Katherine Browne has just left. She enters university in search of an education—and she will find one, not in the classroom but among the Goldmans:Jacob, th...

Brilliant Australian Caroline can command everyone except her own ghoulish mother, which means that things aren't easy for Josh and Zoe, her husband with Stravinsky-glasses and twelve-year-old daughter. Zoe reads girls' ballet books and longs for lessons; a thing denied her until a chance encounter on a school French exchange. Meanwhile, on the east coast of Africa, Hattie, Josh's first love, now writes girls' ballet books when she can carve out time when she isn't caring for her husband a...

Jem McCrail is a fantastical godsend to the timid young Alice Pilling. “Like a dropped acorn,” she appears halfway through the week, halfway through the term, and halfway through Miss Aldridge's Silent Reading Hour. Through the doorway she barely clears, wearing clothes like the urchin she encountered in her favorite P. G. Wodehouse story, Jem leads the stammering Alice into a world of culture, truancy, and bizarrerie-a world far beyond the dull lessons of school. The girls cultivate a ste...

Stunning and difficult, Stella Goldman is programmed for maximum nuisance capacity, but when she discovers both her father's affair and her boyfriend's infidelity on the same day, she flees into the arms of kindly Pen, who speaks as though he's stepped out of Brief Encounter.Meanwhile, her friend Ellen struggles to come to terms with the death of her sister, Lydia, whose ghost haunts not only her and her father Roland, but the beloved Goldmans (from Brother of the More...

Ali Bobrow is an otherworldly single parent with an overwrought nine-year-old daughter, a malevolent ex and his grabby new wife, and an underused artistic talent. A pushover when it comes to needy neighbors and uninvited children, she allows her house to be the local drop-in center, until she collides with Noah Glazer, who falls for her pale red hair. A solid man of science, Noah walks into her over-populated life bringing good sense, order, and security. But ten years later, Ali is drawn ...

Dinah and her sister Lisa are growing up in 1950s South Africa, where racial laws are tightening. They are two little girls from a dissenting liberal family. Big sister Lisa is strong and sensible, while Dinah is weedy and arty. At school, the sadistic Mrs Vaughan-Jones is providing instruction in mental arithmetic and racial prejudice. And then there's the puzzle of lunch break. "Would you rather have a native girl or a koelie to make your sandwiches?" a first-year classmate asks. But Din...

Sparky Christina and her saintly adopted sister Pam couldn't be more different. Raised in New York, they are sent to boarding school in England where they meet the similarly mismatched friends Jago and Peter. The four embark on a dazzling series of pairings and partings, outrageous coincidences, and eleventh-hour entrances. Their camaraderie is interrupted one disastrous Halloween when schoolboy revelry turns horribly wrong. Three years on, as Christina analyzes the wit, cruelty, and cross...

Bloomsbury presents Juggling by Barbara Trapido, read by Amy Noble.Sparky Christina and her saintly adopted sister Pam couldn’t be more different. Raised in New York, they are sent to boarding school in England where they meet the similarly mismatched friends Jago and Peter. The four embark on a dazzling series of pairings and partings, outrageous coincidences, and eleventh-hour entrances. Their camaraderie is interrupted one disastrous Halloween when schoolboy revelry tur...

Bloomsbury presents The Travelling Hornplayer by Barbara Trapido, read by Amy Noble.Stunning and difficult, Stella Goldman is programmed for maximum nuisance capacity, but when she discovers both her father’s affair and her boyfriend’s infidelity on the same day, she flees into the arms of kindly Pen, who speaks as though he’s stepped out of Brief Encounter.Meanwhile, her friend Ellen struggles to come to terms with the death of her sister, Lydia, whose gh...

Bloomsbury presents Frankie & Stankie by Barbara Trapido, read by Amy Noble.Dinah and her sister Lisa are growing up in 1950s South Africa, where racial laws are tightening. They are two little girls from a dissenting liberal family. Big sister Lisa is strong and sensible, while Dinah is weedy and arty. At school, the sadistic Mrs Vaughan-Jones is providing instruction in mental arithmetic and racial prejudice. And then there's the puzzle of lunch break. "Would you rather ...

Bloomsbury presents Temples of Delight by Barbara Trapido, read by Amy Noble.Jem McCrail is a fantastical godsend to the timid young Alice Pilling. "Like a dropped acorn," she appears halfway through the week, halfway through the term, and halfway through Miss Aldridge’s Silent Reading Hour. Through the doorway she barely clears, wearing clothes like the urchin she encountered in her favorite P. G. Wodehouse story, Jem leads the stammering Alice into a world of culture, tr...

Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes—charged with the brutal murder of her former master and sent to await execution on an isolated farm.Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at ...