FROM THE GLOBALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING 'A triumph... a brilliant idea carried out with confidence and brio and a deep love of an extraordinary city. The ingenuity of the time-skipping is beyond admiration' PHILIP PULLMAN 'Spellbinding.... Chevalier at her fabulous best. A rich, vivid and gently enchanting novel' ELIF SHAFAK Venice, 1486. Across the lagoon lies Murano. Time flows differently here - like the glass the island's maestros spend their lives learning to handle. Women are not meant to work with glass, but Orsola Rosso flouts convention to save her family from ruin. She works in secret, knowing her creations must be perfect to be accepted by men. But perfection may take a lifetime. Skipping like a stone through the centuries, we follow Orsola as she hones her craft through war and plague, tragedy and triumph, love and loss. The beads she creates will adorn the necks of empresses and courtesans from Paris to Vienna - but will she ever earn the respect of those closest to her? Tracy Chevalier is a master of her own craft, and The Glassmaker is vivid, inventive, spellbinding: a virtuoso portrait of a woman, a family and a city that are as everlasting as their glass.
Londýn 1799. Mladá nádejná návrhárka šperkov Pandora Blakeová žije so svojím strýkom v kedysi preslávenom obchode so starožitnosťami svojich rodičov. Jedného dňa do obchodu tajne doručia záhadnú grécku vázu. Od tej chvíle sa v starožitníctve začínajú diať zvláštne veci. Pandora je odhodlaná zistiť o váze viac, a tak o pomoc požiada Edwarda Lawrenca, mladého muža, ktorý sa neúspešne uchádza o prijatie do ctihodnej Spoločnosti pre starožitníkov.Edward vidí v starodávnej váze kľúč k svojej akademickej budúcnosti, Pandora ju zas vníma ako šancu na obnovenie bývalej slávy starožitníctva a možnosť osamostatniť sa. Lenže Edwardove zistenia o váze náhle spochybňujú všetko, čo Pandora vie o vlastnom živote, rodine i svete. Postupne si začína uvedomovať, že niektoré dvere je lepšie neotvárať, pretože hranica medzi náhodou a osudom je niekedy až príliš tenká...
1932. After the Great War took both her beloved brother and her fiancé, Violet Speedwell has become a "surplus woman," one of a generation doomed to a life of spinsterhood after the war killed so many young men. Yet Violet cannot reconcile herself to a life spent caring for her grieving, embittered mother. After countless meals of boiled eggs and dry toast, she saves enough to move out of her mother's place and into the town of Winchester, home to one of England's grandest cathedrals. There, Violet is drawn into a society of broderers--women who embroider kneelers for the Cathedral, carrying on a centuries-long tradition of bringing comfort to worshippers. Violet finds support and community in the group, fulfilment in the work they create, and even a growing friendship with the vivacious Gilda. But when forces threaten her new independence and another war appears on the horizon, Violet must fight to put down roots in a place where women aren't expected to grow.
New York Times bestselling author. Paris, 1490. A shrewd French nobleman commissions six lavish tapestries celebrating his rising status at Court. He hires the charismatic, arrogant, sublimely talented Nicolas des Innocents to design them. Nicolas creates havoc among the women in the house-mother and daughter, servant and lady-in-waiting-before taking his designs north to the Brussels workshop where the tapestries are to be woven. The results change all their lives-lives that have been captured in the tapestries, for those who know where to look.
The new Sunday Times bestseller from David Nicholls - 'That most rare and coveted of literary feats: a popular novel of serious merit, a bestseller that will also endure.' Observer
Helen Franklinová už pred mnohými rokmi odišla z Anglicka. V Prahe, kde pracuje ako prekladateľka, našla pokojné útočisko. To sa však zmení, keď jej priateľ Karel objaví v knižnici zvláštny list, spoveď a záhadné varovanie pred Melmoth, temnou bytosťou, ktorá sa objavuje v ľudových legendách a obskúrnych rozprávkach. Podľa povier Melmoth cestuje časom a ľudí, ktorých presvedčí, aby sa k nej pridali, uvrhne do večného zatratenia, túlavej samoty. Helen to spočiatku považuje len za výmysly, ľudové povery. No potom, keď kráča po pražských uliciach vydláždených kameňom, má zrazu pocit, že ju niekto sleduje. A potom sa jej priateľ stratí...
Nella prima metà del XIX secolo James e Sadie Goodenough giungono nella Palude Nera dell’Ohio dopo aver abbandonato la fattoria dei Goodenough nel Connecticut. Il padre di James, un vecchio scorbutico cui Sadie non è mai andata a genio, ha parlato chiaro un giorno: meglio che il suo secondogenito, e la sua giovane e troppo prolifica consorte, andassero a cercare fortuna altrove, all’ovest, magari, dove la terra abbonda. La Palude Nera è una landa desolata: l’acqua puzza di marcio, il fango scuro si appiccica alla pelle e ai vestiti e la malaria d’estate si porta via sempre qualcuno. Anziché spingersi nella prateria dove la terra è buona e solida sotto i piedi, James Goodenough decide però di costruire la sua casa di legno proprio nella Palude Nera, in riva al fiume Portage. La legge dell’Ohio prevede che un colono possa fare sua la terra se riesce a piantarvi un frutteto di almeno cinquanta alberi. Una sfida irresistibile per James Goodenough che ama gli alberi più di ogni altra cosa, poiché gli alberi durano e tutte le altre creature invece attraversano il mondo e se ne vanno in fretta. In quella terra perciò, dove gli acquitrini si alternano alla selva più fitta, James pianta e cura poi con dedizione i suoi meli: un magnifico frutteto di cinque file di alberi col piccolo vivaio in disparte. Un frutteto che diventa la sua ossessione; la prova, ai suoi occhi, che la natura selvaggia della terra, con il suo groviglio di boschi e pantani, si può domare. La malaria si porta via cinque dei dieci figli dei Goodenough, ma James non piange, scava la fossa e li seppellisce. Si fa invece cupo e silenzioso quando deve buttare giù un albero. La moglie, Sadie, beve troppa acquavite e diventa troppo ciarliera quando John Chapman, l’uomo che procura i semi delle piante alle fattorie lungo il Portage, si ferma a cena. In quelle occasioni, James la vede con altri occhi: scorge il turgore dei seni sotto il vestito azzurro, i fianchi rotondi e sodi nonostante i dieci figli. Ma poi non se ne cura. Finché, un giorno, la natura selvaggia non della terra, ma di Sadie esplode e segna irrimediabilmente il destino dei Goodenough nella Palude Nera, in primo luogo quello di Robert, il figlio dagli occhi d’ambra quieti e intelligenti, e della dolce e irresoluta Martha. Romanzo che si iscrive nella tradizione della grande narrativa americana di frontiera, I frutti del vento è un’opera in cui Tracy Chevalier penetra nel cuore arido, selvaggio e inaccessibile della natura e degli uomini, là dove crescono i frutti più ambiti e più dolci che sia dato cogliere.
In 1810, a sister and brother uncover the fossilized skull of an unknown animal in the cliffs on the south coast of England. With its long snout and prominent teeth, it might be a crocodile – except that it has a huge, bulbous eye.Remarkable Creatures is the story of Mary Anning, who has a talent for finding fossils, and whose discovery of ancient marine reptiles such as that ichthyosaur shakes the scientific community and leads to new ways of thinking about the creation of the world.Working in an arena dominated by middle-class men, however, Mary finds herself out of step with her working-class background. In danger of being an outcast in her community, she takes solace in an unlikely friendship with Elizabeth Philpot, a prickly London spinster with her own passion for fossils.The strong bond between Mary and Elizabeth sees them through struggles with poverty, rivalry and ostracism, as well as the physical dangers of their chosen obsession. It reminds us that friendship can outlast storms and landslides, anger and jealousy.
The "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Girl with a Pearl Earring" makes her first fictional foray into the American past in "The Last Runaway," bringing to life the Underground Railroad and illuminating the principles, passions, and realities that fueled this extraordinary freedom movement.
London, 1859- By the time Dora Damage discovers that her husband Peter's hands have arthritis, it is too late - their book-binding business is in huge debt and the family is on the brink of entering the poorhouse. But Dora proves that she is more than just a housewife and mother. She resolves to rescue her family at any price - and she finds herself illegally binding expensive volumes of pornography and irrevocably entangled in a web of sex, money and deceit.
