Marie Odile Fortier Masek Knihy

Isabel vient de fêter ses quarante ans. Ce n'est pas le désastre annoncé par son amie Carlotta. À peine une ponctuation dans la douce fuite des jours. Un mari, une fille, un atelier de confection de masques : la vie continue. Toutefois, Dan, le mari, lassé de son métier, ne vit plus que pour le théâtre. Il a connu un premier succès à Oxford et n'aime pas voir ses manuscrits refusés. Sylvie, la fille, a beau porter un regard affectueux sur le couple que forment ses parents, elle n'en est pas moins une adolescente en conflit ouvert avec sa mère et n'en fait qu'à sa tête. Quant à Bert, l'ami de jeunesse de Dan, de retour après avoir travaillé à New York, il n'est ni aveugle, ni sourd, ni muet vis-à-vis des femmes qui l'entourent. Et Carlotta, la bonne copine célibataire, qui cumule les aventures, éprouve un gros faible pour Dan. Des êtres fragiles et ambigus, les troubles du désir, une valse des sentiments, des épilogues amoureux inattendus... Un roman fort et tendre sur la vie contemporaine.

'For a while, she wasn't sure that her husband was her husband. Sometimes she thought he was, and sometimes not.' Berta and Tomas meet in Madrid and, though both young, they decide to spend their lives together. Eighteen and betrothed, Tomas leaves to study at Oxford. His talent for languages quickly catches the interest of a certain government agency, but Tomas resists their offers - until one day he makes a mistake that will affect the rest of his life, and that of his beloved Berta. After university he returns to marry her, knowing he won't be able to stay for long . . . Gripping and intricate, Berta Isla is about a relationship built on secrets and lies - and the counter forces of resentment and loyalty at its core.

Román o zápase medzi nevinnosťou a láskou k umeniu i mužovi, napísaný podľa Vermeerovho známeho obrazu. Prekvitajúce mesto Delft v sedemnástom storočí žije usporiadaným životom. Bohatý aj chudák, katolík aj protestant, každý vie, kde je jeho miesto. Aj mladučká Griet, ktorá príde slúžiť do domu slávneho maliare Johannesa Vermeera, sa nazdáva, že vie, čo je jej úlohou: práca v domácnosti, pranie a dozeranie na šestoro detí. Cíti sa dosť silná, aby si poradila s maliarovou bystrou svokrou, precitlivelou manželkou a žiarlivou slúžkou. Nikto však nečaká, že Grietina tichá nevtieravosť, bystrosť, hlboká vnímavosť a zmysel pre krásu a umenie ju nezadržateľne vtiahnu do sveta veľkého umelca. Keď sa stáva aj súčasťou jeho práce, prehlbujúci sa vzťah medzi nimi, ktorý naberá na intenzite, vyvoláva napäté ovzdušie v bezprostrednom okolí a sčerí aj pokojnú hladinu života mesta...

Meet Ella Turner and Isabelle du Moulin—two women born centuries apart, yet bound by a fateful family legacy. When Ella and her husband move to a small town in France, Ella hopes to brush up on her French, qualify to practice as a midwife, and start a family of her own. Village life turns out to be less idyllic than she expected, however, and a peculiar dream of the color blue propels her on a quest to uncover her family’s French ancestry. As the novel unfolds—alternating between Ella’s story and that of Isabelle du Moulin four hundred years earlier—a common thread emerges that unexpectedly links the two women. Part detective story, part historical fiction, The Virgin Blue is a novel of passion and intrigue that compels readers to the very last page.

William and Grace share what seems to them an ideal marriage. William enjoys a successful career in a relatively famous string quartet, and Grace is a children's book illustrator. Both in their 50s, neither have any reason to believe that their relationship could be threatened. But when Andrew, the quartet's viola player, retires with arthritis, he is replaced by the beautiful Bonnie, and the remaining male trio find the internal relations of the quartet have changed dramatically. Soon William can't think of anyone or anything else, and begins to work out stratagems for inviting Bonnie to lunch or to prevent her from spending too much time with Grant, the cello player, who is his main rival for her attention. It is not long before William has even begun to think the unthinkable: that his faithful, loving wife Grace Has Got To Go... Angela Huth has been compared to Jane Austen and Mrs Gaskell, and her novels gleam with beautiful observations and utterly convincing characters. In this, her ninth novel, she is at her superlative best, casting a wise and witty eye on mid-life crises and modern marriage.