New Releases by Graham Swift

Teder, humaan, wijs en ontroerend – hoe oorlog en wereldgeschiedenis gewone mensen treffen In de nasleep van de Tweede Wereldoorlog is een in Duitsland gestationeerde Joodse soldaat op zoek naar de waarheid achter zijn vermiste familieleden. Terwijl de Cubacrisis de wereld op de rand van de afgrond brengt, bereidt een vader het huwelijk van zijn dochter voor. Een grootvader wil met eigen ogen de studentenkamer zien waar zijn kleindochter zich van het leven heeft beroofd. Dit zijn maar enkele van de hoofdpersonen die we ontmoeten in Graham Swifts verhalen over hoe levens van mensen door elkaar worden geschud door de catastrofes van onze tijd. Of het nu gaat over de echte oorlog, of de oorlog in onszelf, Swift weet de lezer tot diep in het hart te raken.

An exquisite new collection of stories from the Booker Prize–winning author, about lives shaped and haunted by war Here are the soldiers and doctors and veterans, wives and lovers and children, who have been affected in ways both subtle and profound by the cataclysms of our times. In the aftermath of World War II, a young Jewish private, stationed in Germany, seeks the truth about lost family members. In the 1960s, a father focuses on his daughter’s wedding even as the Cuban Missile Crisis approaches the brink of global disaster. On September 11th, a maid working for U.S. Embassy staff in London wonders if her birth on the day of the Kennedy assassination determined the course of her life. And at the height of pandemic lockdown, a respiratory disease specialist comes out of retirement and is faced with a formative childhood memory. These stories show history in the making, the reverberations of each personal loss and triumph set across the sweep of decades. Tender, humane, rich with humor, grief and moments of grace and contemplation, Twelve Post-War Tales is a collection of masterpieces in miniature.

'' Qu’y a-t-il de plus extraordinaire : que les acteurs se transforment en ces autres personnes ou que les gens deviennent ce qu’on n’aurait jamais pensé qu’ils puissent être ? '' Brighton, été 1959. Un vent de magie souffle sur la jetée de cette station balnéaire anglaise. Chaque soir, un trio d’artistes – Jack, Pablo et Eve – offre aux vacanciers un spectacle époustouflant. Le succès ne se fait pas attendre et leur numéro se retrouve bientôt en haut de l’affiche. Le charme n’opère d’ailleurs pas que sur scène : au fil de l’été, les deux amis succomberont l’un et l’autre à celui, irrésistible, d’Eve. Au risque de tout perdre. Oscillant entre illusion et réalité, Graham Swift livre une bouleversante histoire d’amour, de famille et de mystère.

30 mars 1924. Det är "mödrarnas söndag", dagen på året då tjänstefolket får ledigt för att åka hem. En som inte åker hem är den föräldralösa Jane Fairchild, som i ställer möter sin älskare i granngodset som ekar tomt efter att bröderna dog i första världskriget. Det som händer sedan ändrar deras liv för alltid - med ekon fram till vår tid. Mödrarnas söndag rör sig mästerligt mellan det tragiska och livsbejakande. Swift har skrivit en stor liten roman om livsval och öde, en roman för alla dem som älskade ATONEMENT, DOWNTON ABBEY och STONER.''Mothering Sunday is bathed in light; and even when tragedy strikes, it blazes irresistibly... Swift''s small fiction feels like a masterpiece'' (Guardian)''Alive with sensuousness and sensuality...wonderfully accomplished, it is an achievement'' (Sunday Times)''Mothering Sunday is a powerful, philosophical and exquisitely observed novel about the lives we lead, and the parallel lives - the parallel stories - we can never know: "All the scenes. All the scenes that never occur, but wait in the wings of possibility." It may just be Swift''s best novel yet'' (Observer).

This novel of love in the world of 1950s vaudeville is a masterwork of literary magic from the Booker Prize-winning author of Last Orders and Mothering Sunday It is 1959 in Brighton, England, and the theater at the end of the famous pier is having its best summer season in years. Ronnie, a brilliant young magician, and Evie, his dazzling assistant, are top of the bill, drawing a full house every night. And Jack is everyone’s favorite master of ceremonies, holding the whole show together. But as the summer progresses, the drama among the three begins to overshadow their success onstage, setting in motion events that will reshape their lives. Vividly realized, tenderly comic, and quietly shattering, Here We Are is a masterly work of literary magic.

Un couple de jeunes mariés vient de remplir son testament. Un médecin raconte pour la centième fois l’histoire de son père immigré. Un homme fantasme sur l’épouse de son meilleur ami. Une femme n’arrive plus à dormir à côté de son mari depuis les sombres révélations de sa fille. Au fil des drames intimes qui animent ces nouvelles, des palais du XVIIe siècle aux chambres feutrées d’aujourd’hui, Graham Swift dépeint avec une fine ironie la société britannique dans toute sa richesse et sa diversité.

Brighton 1959. Ronnie, en briljant ung trollkarl, och Evie, hans assistent, gör varje kväll succé på teatern med ett halsbrytande illusionsnummer. Bredvid står konferencieren Jack, den borne entertainern, som håller i alla trådar. Men allt eftersom sommaren fortskrider växer dramatiken bakom scenen mellan de tre och efterspelet kommer att pågå för alltid. Här är vi är precis som hyllade föregångaren Mödrarnas söndag ett komprimerat drama om livets avgörande ögonblick, ett litterärt illusionsnummer av högsta klass.

Graham Swifts Meisterwerk Jane, das junge Dienstmädchen von Beechwood, und Paul, der Spross aus begütertem Haus, haben ein Verhältnis. Heimliche Botschaften, verschwiegene Treffen, doch heute, an diesem sonnigen Märzsonntag 1924, darf Jane – Familie und Dienerschaft sind ausgeflogen – ihr Fahrrad einfach an die Hausmauer des Anwesens lehnen, durchs Hauptportal herein und ins Bett ihres Geliebten kommen. Ein erstes und ein letztes Mal, denn Paul wird bald – standesgemäß – heiraten. Später, gegen Mittag, wird sie leichtfüßig und nackt durch das weitläufige Haus streifen, beseelt von der rauschhaften Innigkeit dieses herausgehobenen Morgens und nicht ahnend, dass ihr Leben am Ende dieses Tages zu zerbrechen droht.

Un último encuentro. Un amor imposible que marca una existencia. Un libro bellísimo, cargado de erotismo, pasión y melancolía, que nos habla de la vida y de la literatura. nglaterra, 30 de marzo de 1924. El Domingo de las Madres. Una jornada en la que las criadas vuelven a sus casas para visitar a sus familias. Pero Jane Fairchild, de veintidós años y que trabaja para los Niven, es huérfana, y pasa ese día de un modo muy distinto. Se cita con su amante, Paul Sheringham, el único hijo vivo de los vecinos de los Niven, que han perdido a los otros en la guerra. Jane y Paul llevan años de relación clandestina, pero ha llegado el momento de dejarlo, porque él va a casarse con una chica de su clase social dentro de dos semanas. La pareja hará el amor por última vez, pero después de despedirse sucederá algo inesperado que cambiará para siempre la vida de ella. En los años que le quedan por delante, Jane acrecentará su interés por la lectura –a través de los libros de Conrad–, trabajará en una librería de Oxford y con el tiempo se convertirá en una novelista de éxito, en una forjadora de ficciones. Pero nunca olvidará lo sucedido aquel 30 de marzo de 1924. Graham Swift, en la plenitud de su madurez literaria, ha escrito una novela tan concisa como deslumbrante, impregnada de erotismo, pasión y melancolía. Una bellísima indagación en los meandros del amor, en la importancia de los recuerdos que evocamos y de las historias que nos contamos, en la búsqueda de la propia identidad y en el poder transformador de la literatura.

Angleterre, 30 mars 1924. Comme chaque année, les aristocrates donnent congé à leurs domestiques pour qu’ils aillent rendre visite à leur mère le temps d’un dimanche. Jane, la jeune femme de chambre des Niven, est orpheline et se trouve donc désœuvrée. Va-t-elle passer la journée à lire ? Va-t-elle parcourir la campagne à bicyclette en cette magnifique journée ? Jusqu’à ce que Paul Sheringham, un jeune homme de bonne famille et son amant de longue date, lui propose de le retrouver dans sa demeure désertée. Tous deux goûtent pour la dernière fois à leurs rendez-vous secrets, car Paul doit épouser la riche héritière Emma Hobday. Pour la première – et dernière – fois, Jane découvre la chambre de son amant ainsi que le reste de la maison. Elle la parcourt, nue, tandis que Paul part rejoindre sa fiancée. Ce dimanche des mères 1924 changera à jamais le cours de sa vie. Graham Swift dépeint avec sensualité et subtilité une aristocratie déclinante, qui porte les stigmates de la Première Guerre – les fils ont disparu, les voitures ont remplacé les chevaux, la domesticité s’est réduite... Il parvient à insuffler à ce court roman une rare intensité, et célèbre le plaisir de la lecture et l’art de l’écriture.

Thomas Crick vive nei Fens, le terre bonificate e «sottratte all’acqua» dell’Inghilterra orientale: «un paesaggio che, tra tutti i paesaggi, è quello che più si avvicina al Nulla», un luogo in cui le azioni degli uomini sembrano costantemente soccombere alle forze elementari della natura. Insegnante di storia che per trentadue anni ha svelato ai suoi allievi i misteri del passato, Crick si trova ora costretto a mettere in discussione «sostanza e scopo» della sua professione e della sua vita. Alla scuola in cui lavora è stato «imposto di fare economie», e davanti ai suoi occhi aleggia lo spettro della «pensione anticipata». Il «vecchio Cricky» decide allora di non insegnare più la Storia con la s maiuscola nelle sue ultime lezioni. Cessa di parlare dello spargimento di sangue che, a Parigi alla fine del Settecento, ha dato il via al mondo moderno, e inizia a narrare del mistero del suo passato e delle sue storie. Storie della vita su un fiume, di un padre che catturava anguille, del cadavere di un annegato trovato nel fiume anni prima. Storie del mondo dei Fens, dove la terra è d’una piattezza così uniforme da spingere gli uomini a pensieri insonni e inquieti. Considerato uno dei grandi romanzi del secondo Novecento, Il paese dell’acqua è un’opera che ha il respiro e l’ambizione di una tragedia greca nel cuore dell’Inghilterra di tre generazioni. La presente edizione è accompagnata da una postfazione in cui Graham Swift si sofferma su genesi e procedimento del romanzo. "Un libro animato da un''immensa, furente pietà per quello che le creature umane sono capaci di fare in nome dell''amore e del bisogno. Il romanzo più potente ... da parecchi anni a questa parte". New York Review of Books "Scritto in maniera superba, perfettamente controllata... Originale, avvincente e con una narrazione suprema". Guardian "Un romanzo bello, serio e intelligente, dall''ammirevole ambizione e originalità". Observer

Feinsinnige Geschichten – mitten aus dem Leben Warum bricht es einem Vater fast das Herz, als er auf seiner wöchentlichen Einkaufstour eine Packung Fusilli in den Wagen legt? Was geht einem Zwölfjährigen durch den Kopf, bevor er seiner Mutter das Küchenmesser klaut? Was hält eine junge Ehefrau davon ab, das beste Hemd ihres Mannes zu waschen? Es sind Alltagsszenen, fragile Augenblicke und Gefühle, die Graham Swift mit klarer Sprache ertastet wie Gebilde aus sehr dünnem Glas. Stets sind es die scheinbar unbedeutenden, fast beiläufigen Begebenheiten, die Duldsamkeit ein Ende setzen, Aufbruch verheißen, Lebenswegen eine neue Richtung geben.

From the Booker Prize-winning author, an intensely moving tale that begins with a secret lovers’ assignation in the spring of 1924, then unfolds to reveal the whole of a remarkable life. • Don’t miss the major motion picture starring Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, Colin Firth, and more “Exquisite ... shows love, lust, and ordinary decency struggling against the bars of an unjust English caste system.” —Kazuo Ishiguro, The Guardian On an unseasonably warm spring day in the 1920s, twenty-two-year-old Jane Fairchild, a maid at an English country house, meets with her secret lover, the young heir of a neighboring estate. He is about to be married to a woman more befitting his social status, and the time has come to end the affair—but events unfold in ways Jane could never have predicted. As the narrative moves back and forth across the twentieth century, what we know and understand about Jane—about the way she loves, thinks, feels, sees, and remembers—expands with every page. In Mothering Sunday, Swift has crafted an emotionally soaring and profoundly moving work of fiction.

Het is 30 maart 1924, Moeders Zondag. Het is de dag waarop al het huispersoneel vrijaf krijgt voor familiebezoek. Jane Fairchild is een dienstmeisje dat als kind te vondeling is gelegd. Hoe zal zij deze dag doorbrengen? Zij heeft immers geen moeder om te bezoeken. Hoe zal de rest van haar leven zich ontvouwen, na de gebeurtenissen van deze dag - een dag om nooit meer te vergeten? Het verrassende, diep ontroerende levensverhaal van een jonge vrouw vormt het hart van dit briljante boek - Graham Swift op zijn allerbest. In Moeders Zondag zijn geluk, hartstocht en een afschuwelijk verlies met elkaar verweven in het tijdsbestek van een eerste, idyllische zomerdag. Die dag, die in een drama eindigt, vormt het begin van het latere leven van Jane Fairchild als gevierd auteur van romans en memoires. Moeders Zondag is misschien wel het mooiste en meest ontroerende verhaal dat Graham Swift in zijn indrukwekkende literaire carrière heeft geschreven. Een kandidaat voor alle literaire prijzen. Met deze korte roman bewijst hij niet alleen zijn superieure schrijverschap, maar toont hij ook aan hoe belangrijk verhalen in ons leven kunnen zijn.

From the Booker Prize–winning author of Last Orders and Wish You Were Here, his first new book of short fiction in nearly thirty years: beautifully crafted, piercingly observant stories that unite into a richly peopled vision of a country that is both a crucible of history and a maze of contemporary confusions. Meet Dr. Shah who has never been to India, and Mrs. Kaminski, on her way to Poland; meet Holly and Polly, who have come to their own Anglo-Irish understanding, and Charlie and Don, who have seen the docks turn into Docklands; Daisy Baker, who is terrified of Yorkshire; and Johnny Dewhurst, stranded on Exmoor. Graham Swift steers us effortlessly from the seventeenth century to the present day, from world-shaking events to the secret dramas lived out in rooms, workplaces, homes. With these open-eyed, eloquent and often comic stories, Swift charts a human geography that moves us profoundly.

Een privé-detective brengt zijn tweewekelijkse bezoek aan zijn grote liefde, die gevangen zit wegens moord op haar man die verliefd werd op een ander.

Dazzling in its structure and shattering in its emotional force, Graham Swift''s Ever After spans two centuries and settings from the adulterous bedrooms of postwar Paris to the contemporary entanglements in the groves of academe. It is the story of Bill Unwin, a man haunted by the death of his beautify wife and a survivor himself of a recent brush with mortality. And although it touches on Darwin and dinosaurs, bees and bridge builders, the true subject of Ever After is nothing less than the eternal question, "Why should things matter?" "Ever After is explicitly concerned with historical investigation, love, death, family affairs.... It moves quickly, and it vibrates with feeling and thought."--Wall Street Journal

From the Booker Prize-winning author of Last Orders comes an incredibly moving and accomplished new novel. A Vintage Canada trade paperback original. On an autumn day in 2006, on the Isle of Wight, Jack Luxton, former Devon farmer and now the proprietor of a seaside caravan park, receives the news that his soldier brother Tom, not seen for years, has been killed in Iraq. For Jack and his wife, Ellie, this will have a potentially catastrophic impact. For Jack in particular it means a crucial journey--to receive his brother''s remains, but also into his own most secret, troubling memories and into the land of his and Ellie''s past. Wish You Were Here is both a gripping account of things that touch and test our human core and a resonant novel about a changing England. Rich with a sense of the intimate and the local, it is also, inescapably, about a wider, afflicted world. Moving towards an almost unbearably tense climax, it allows us to feel the stuff of headlines--the return of a dead soldier from a foreign war--as heart-wrenching personal truth.

From the acclaimed Booker Prize–winning author of Last Orders, this highly personal book is a singular and open-spirited account of a writer’s life. In Making an Elephant, Swift brings together richly varied essays, portraits, poetry and interviews, full of insights into his passions and motivations, and wise about the friends, family and other writers who have mattered to him over the years. Kazuo Ishiguro advises on how to choose a guitar, Salman Rushdie arrives for Christmas under guard, and Ted Hughes shares the secrets of a Devon river. There are private moments, too, with long-dead writers, as well as musings on history and memory that readers of Swift’s novels will recognize and love. Making an Elephant is a book of encounters: between a son and his father, between an author and his younger selves, between writer and reader, and between friends. It brims with charm and candour, and reveals Swift’s alertness to experience and his true engagement with words.

On a midsummer''s night, Paula lies awake, Mike, her husband of twenty-five years, asleep beside her, her two teenage children, Nick and Kate, sleeping in nearby rooms. The next day, she knows, will define all their lives. As morning approaches, Paula recalls the years before and after her children were born. Her story is both a celebration of love possessed and a moving acknowledgement of the fear of loss, the fragilities, illusions and secrets on which even our most intimate sense of who we are can rest. ''A triumph . . . This is Graham Swift at his impressive best'' "Times Literary Supplement" ''Paula talks the way that people actually talk . . . this is part of Swift''s overwhelming honesty as a writer: he writes the way that life goes'' Anne Enright, "Guardian" ''The rhythms of long-term partnership become the rhymes of the narrative itself . . . a subtle picture emerges of how coupledom is deepened by parenthood'' Robert MacFarlane, "Sunday Times" ''As assured and subtle as ever . . . Swift artfully reminds us that no set of relationships is ever free from complication and concealment'' "Spectator" ''Paula''s anguish is beautifully captured, as is her tenderness towards her loved ones'' "Mail on Sunday"

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