Discover this sharp, funny short story collection from the bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The TestamentsA man finds himself surrounded by women who are becoming paler, more silent and literally smaller; a woman's intimate life is strangely dominated by the fear of nuclear warfare; a melancholy teenage love is swept away by a hurricane, while a tired, middle-aged affection is rekindled by the spectacle of rare Jamaican birds...In these exceptional short stories, by turns funny and searingly honest, Margaret Atwood captures brilliantly the complex forces that govern our relationships, and the powerful emotions that guide them.‘An acute and poetic observer of the eternal, universal, rum relationships between men and women’ The Times
CONTRIBUTORS: Margaret AtwoodEAN: 9781784877637COUNTRY: United KingdomPAGES: WEIGHT: 232 gHEIGHT: 198 cm
PUBLISHED BY: Vintage PublishingDATE PUBLISHED: 2023-02-23CITY: GENRE: FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Short Stories (single author), FICTION / World Literature / Canada / 21st CenturyWIDTH: 129 cmSPINE:
Book Themes:
Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary
An acute and poetic observer of the eternal, universal, rum relationships between men and women, If anyone has better insight into women and their central problem - men - than Margaret Atwood, and can voice them with as much wit, impact and grace, then they haven't started writing yet, Sophisticated, reticent, ornate, stark, supple, stiff, savage or forgiving...they are stories from the prime of life, An outstanding correspondent on the war between the sexes writes as wittily as ever on the hopes and shortcomings of women who bake for poets, sleep with their accountants, attribute their preference for awful men to fearlessness, and don't know how much they scare their own mothers
Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid's Tale, was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and shared the Booker Prize. In 2020 she published Dearly, her first collection of poetry for a decade, and in 2022 Burning Questions, a collection of essays, was a Sunday Times bestseller. Atwood has won numerous awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada.
Format: Paperback / softback
Discover this sharp, funny short story collection from the bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The TestamentsA man finds himself surrounded by women who are becoming paler, more silent and literally smaller; a woman's intimate life is strangely dominated by the fear of nuclear warfare; a melancholy teenage love is swept away by a hurricane, while a tired, middle-aged affection is rekindled by the spectacle of rare Jamaican birds...In these exceptional short stories, by turns funny and searingly honest, Margaret Atwood captures brilliantly the complex forces that govern our relationships, and the powerful emotions that guide them.‘An acute and poetic observer of the eternal, universal, rum relationships between men and women’ The Times
CONTRIBUTORS: Margaret AtwoodEAN: 9781784877637COUNTRY: United KingdomPAGES: WEIGHT: 232 gHEIGHT: 198 cm
PUBLISHED BY: Vintage PublishingDATE PUBLISHED: 2023-02-23CITY: GENRE: FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Short Stories (single author), FICTION / World Literature / Canada / 21st CenturyWIDTH: 129 cmSPINE:
Book Themes:
Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary
Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid's Tale, was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and shared the Booker Prize. In 2020 she published Dearly, her first collection of poetry for a decade, and in 2022 Burning Questions, a collection of essays, was a Sunday Times bestseller. Atwood has won numerous awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada.
My name is Gwendoline Leghlo, from South Africa, I came across this children's book by this author in America and didn't regret the purchased. I purchased it for my grandson who is age 7 and he absolutely loved it, and I could see the excitement in his eyes while reading the book. I genuinely love to put a smile on my grandchildren's faces; He loves reading and mentioned to me that it was fun reading it and it is wonderful to witness that kind of pure joy and engagement. I'm thrilled to share that it is Highly recommended book for children. Thumbs up to the author Charmaine J Forde ***** I am already interested in her next book.
Kan 'n groepie met uitsonderlike vermoëns 'n planeet red?
Die Fluisteraar is ’n baie interessante aanbieding in die toekomsfiksiegenre. Die jaar is 2075. Die wêreld se natuurlike hulpbronne is uitgeput. Natuurrampe, oorloë, plae en voedseltekorte het miljoene uitgewis, lees ons in die Proloog. Kato, ’n intelligente sewentienjarige, leerling by Solaris Internationaal deel nie sy onderwyser, meneer Flink, se geloof dat die klimaatbalans kan herstel nie. “Die harde feit is dat niks lewe nie en niks meer gáán lewe nie.” (p.21 e-boek)
Dit blyk dat Kato oor ’n spesiale vermoë beskik wat plantegroei kan stimuleer en woude herstel. Daarvoor word hy gewerf deur die IPN, Die Instituut vir Planetêre Navigasie, om te gaan “werk” in Uganda. Hy voel dat sy ouers hom opoffer ter wille van die planeet. (p.119 e-boek). Sy opstand daarteen en sy heimwee na die see van die Kaapse kom, gee aanleiding tot ’n spannende verloop van omstandighede wat hom uiteindelik by ’n belangrike morele besluit uitbring.
Wat die verhaal vir my onderskei, is dat daar wel wetenskapfiksie elemente teenwoordig is, soos hommeltuie, oktokopters en uberbotte, maar dit bly in essensie ’n verhaal oor mense en nie robotte nie. Weliswaar mense met uitsonderlike vermoëns, maar dit is heel geloofwaardig. Daar is familiebande, vriende, selfs troeteldiere.
Skrywer, Jacolet van den Berg, het haarself deeglik bewys as ’n sukses in die liga van jeugboekskrywers. Die Fluisteraar is sopas aangewys as naaswenner in die Lapa Jeugverhaalkompetisie van 2025, ’n prestasie wat sy ook in die 2024 kompetisie behaal het.
Daar is 'n onmiddellike konneksie tussen Elara en Marko, 'n lieflike liefdesverhaal
Na die intensiteit van Mariette Wenhold se Myner van my hart, het Felicia Snyman se nuutste Romanza, Harte in harmonie, gevoel soos ’n sagte bries. ’n Gemaklike, ongekompliseerde storie oor Elara Hartwell en Marko Roos. Totdat dinge naby die einde skielik skeef loop en albei partye in uiterste mistroostigheid beland.
Elara het ná ’n slegte ervaring met ’n man wat haar en haar oorlede pa uitgebuit het, die mansgeslag afgesweer. Sy is nie sosiaal nie en fokus net op haar werk as ouditeur. Marko is die broer van ’n sangeres en vriendin vir wie Elara liede skryf. Sy werk neem hom regoor die wêreld, maar wanneer hy vir Elara ontmoet verander sy prioriteite. Daar is ’n onmiddellike konneksie tussen hulle. “Toe ek jou by die ateljee gesien het, het die vreemdste ding gebeur. Dit was asof ek jou ken.” Hy gaan verder: “Skielik het ek ’n rede om te bly.” (p.21)
Die mooi liefdesverhaal word pragtig ingekleur deur ’n lied of twee wat sorgvuldig gekies is vir bepaalde tonele. Eintlik vat die lirieke die essensie van die storielyn perfek saam. Ek wil jou nooi om Elara en Marko se verhaal te lees en dan te luister na die liede.
As ek Mariette Wenhold se Myner van my hart in een woord moet opsom, sou ek sê dit is intens. Waarom sê ek so? Hoofsaaklik omdat die onverwerkte trauma waarmee Katarien Roos spook, veel erger is as dit wat mens normaalweg in ’n romanse teëkom. Ek het iets redelik aardskuddend begin vermoed toe sy nie by haar huis kan ingaan nie.
Haar volatiele geaardheid, wat ’n paar maal lei tot uitbarstings of onversetlike optrede, kan ook grotendeels toegeskryf word aan dit wat in haar verlede gebeur het en haar genoop het om Suid-Afrika te verlaat. Die skrywer gebruik hierdie element om deurentyd afwagting en spanning te skep deurdat die volle waarheid nie sommer vroeg in die storielyn onthul word nie.
Verder is die liefdestoneel ook nogal intens. Armand du Toit is ’n held waaroor menige romanseleser sal swymel. Hoewel Katarien haarself as “emosioneel onbeskikbaar” beskou (p.141) is hy presies die man wat sy nodig het om deur haar skanse te breek. Hy, en ’n predikant wat as berader optree.
Familiebande kry baie aandag in hierdie verhaal en die tienerseun laat mens sommer weer glo in die jeug. Tweede kanse, op enige ouderdom, laat ’n romantiese leser sommer goed slaap as jy die boek neersit.
Misverstande is volop in romantiese verhale. Dit gee vir ’n skrywer lekker materiaal om die storie mee te weef. Beslis só in Ballade van die liefde, die nuwe Romanza deur Mari Roberts.
Ons vind die hoofkarakter, Carli, in Botswana, waar sy werk by Die Park, ’n privaat wildtuin langs die Kgalagadi. Sommer uit die staanspoor is dit duidelik dat sy hier wegkruip, maar die wat en hoekom word nie sommer dadelik uitgelap nie. Daar is ’n lieflike dogtertjie betrokke en ’n oupa en ouma waarvoor sy baie lief is.
Die storielyn kry momentum wanneer ’n toergroep by die lodge aandoen en die rede vir haar jarelange wegkruipery, skielik voor haar staan. Mens wil aggressie te wagte wees, maar Ruben verras met vasberadenheid en geduld wat voortduur totdat al die misverstande opgeklaar is.
Die skrywer het goed daarin geslaag om spanning en afwagting te skep, en die gelukkige einde is besonder bevredigend. Knap gedaan, Mari.