VINTAGE BOOKS

Kirsty Logan and her editor Liz Foley hash out the editing process and how Kirsty's New Book, The Gloaming, came to be.

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Kirsty Logan - The Gloaming

'The best lives leave a mark.' A bewitching tale of first love, shattering grief, and the dangerous magic that draws us home.

Mara’s island is one of stories and magic, but every story ends in the same way. She will finish her days on the cliff, turned to stone and gazing out at the horizon like all the islanders before her.

Mara’s parents – a boxer and a ballerina – chose this enchanted place as a refuge from the turbulence of their previous lives; they wanted to bring up their children somewhere special and safe. But the island and the sea don’t care what people want, and when they claim a price from her family, Mara’s world unravels.

It takes the arrival of Pearl, mysterious and irresistible, to light a spark in Mara again, and allow her to consider a different story for herself.

The Gloaming is a gorgeous tale of love and grief, and the gap between fairy tales and real life.

Read more at https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1113850/the-gloaming/#oc5jAKil6pHDT36C.99

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Never read Trainspotting? There's never been a better time. In preparation for the release of Dead Men's Trousers, we learn a little bit about the context of Trainspotting from publicist and Welsh enthusiast Aiden.

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Irvine Welsh - Dead Men's Trousers

Mark Renton is finally a success. An international jet-setter, he now makes significant money managing DJs, but the constant travel, airport lounges, soulless hotel rooms and broken relationships have left him dissatisfied with his life. He’s then rocked by a chance encounter with Frank Begbie, from whom he’d been hiding for years after a terrible betrayal and the resulting debt. But the psychotic Begbie appears to have reinvented himself as a celebrated artist and – much to Mark’s astonishment – doesn’t seem interested in revenge.

Sick Boy and Spud, who have agendas of their own, are intrigued to learn that their old friends are back in town, but when they enter the bleak world of organ-harvesting, things start to go so badly wrong. Lurching from crisis to crisis, the four men circle each other, driven by their personal histories and addictions, confused, angry – so desperate that even Hibs winning the Scottish Cup doesn’t really help. One of these four will not survive to the end of this book. Which one of them is wearing Dead Men’s Trousers?

Fast and furious, scabrously funny and weirdly moving, this is a spectacular return of the crew from Trainspotting.

Read more at https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1115641/dead-men-s-trousers/#rAcuhfevkHa9xWer.99

Download the Trainspotting audiobook: http://po.st/TrainspottingAudioPod

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To celebrate International Women's Day we're revisiting one of our favourite interviews - Mary and Bryan Talbot discuss how they wrote the story of Sally Heathcote and turned it in to a graphic novel.

Books mentioned:

This Is Just My Face, Try Not to Stare by Gabourey Sidibe http://po.st/3npVj5

My Own Story (Vintage Feminism Short Edition) by Emmeline Pankhurst http://po.st/Wk536x

Motherhood by Sheila Heti http://po.st/yiA8zE

Brit(ish), On Race, Identity and Belonging by Afua Hirsch http://po.st/2TuupL

Sally Heathcote, Suffragette by Mary Talbot http://po.st/LbuJvn

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Mary Talbot, Kate Charlesworth, Bryan Talbot - Sally Heathcote Suffragette

Sally Heathcote: Suffragette is a gripping inside story of the campaign for votes for women. A tale of loyalty, love and courage, set against a vividly realised backdrop of Edwardian Britain, it follows the fortunes of a maid-of-all-work swept up in the feminist militancy of the era. Sally Heathcote: Suffragette is another stunning collaboration from Costa Award winners, Mary and Bryan Talbot. Teamed up with acclaimed illustrator Kate Charlesworth, Sally Heathcote's lavish pages bring history to life.

Read more at https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1095547/sally-heathcote/#YUleeg6y1buGjRhO.99

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Alex Clark and Lucy Mangan discuss best-beloved books, their extraordinary creators, and looks at the thousand subtle ways they shape our lives. 

Lucy's top 4 children's books for grown-ups http://po.st/LucyMangansTop4 

Read an extract from the book http://po.st/BookwormExtract 

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Alex Clark meets Richard Lloyd Parry, whose new book tells the story tells of how a nation faced a catastrophe, and the bleak struggle to find consolation in the ruins.

Read more about the book:

Ghosts of the Tsunami, Death and Life in Japan’s Disaster Zone by Richard Lloyd Parry http://po.st/CAJ24J

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Richard Lloyd Parry - Ghosts of the Tsunami

SHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONE FOLIO PRIZE

‘The definitive book on the quake which killed more than 15,000 people.’ Mail Online

‘You will not read a finer work of narrative non-fiction this year.’ Economist 

‘A breathtaking, extraordinary work of non-fiction.’ Times Literary Supplement

‘A future classic of disaster journalism.’ Observer

On 11 March 2011, a massive earthquake sent a 120-foot-high tsunami smashing into the coast of north-east Japan. By the time the sea retreated, more than 18,500 people had been crushed, burned to death, or drowned.

It was Japan’s greatest single loss of life since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. It set off a national crisis, and the meltdown of a nuclear power plant. And even after the immediate emergency had abated, the trauma of the disaster continued to express itself in bizarre and mysterious ways.

Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, lived through the earthquake in Tokyo, and spent six years reporting from the disaster zone. There he encountered stories of ghosts and hauntings. He met a priest who performed exorcisms on people possessed by the spirits of the dead. And he found himself drawn back again and again to a village which had suffered the greatest loss of all, a community tormented by unbearable mysteries of its own.

What really happened to the local children as they waited in the school playground in the moments before the tsunami? Why did their teachers not evacuate them to safety? And why was the unbearable truth being so stubbornly covered up?

Ghosts of the Tsunami is a classic of literary non-fiction, a heart-breaking and intimate account of an epic tragedy, told through the personal accounts of those who lived through it. It tells the story of how a nation faced a catastrophe, and the bleak struggle to find consolation in the ruins.

Read more at https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1112149/ghosts-of-the-tsunami/#oHdQ3PebtOEPBOLp.99

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Afua Hirsch talks to Leena Norms all about race, belonging and the British crisis of identity.

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Afua Hirsch - Brit(ish)

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**

Where are you really from?

You’re British. Your parents are British. You were raised in Britain. Your partner, your children and most of your friends are British.

So why do people keep asking you where you are from?

Brit(ish) is about a search for identity. It is about the everyday racism that plagues British society. It is about our awkward, troubled relationship with our history. It is about why liberal attempts to be ‘colour-blind’ have caused more problems than they have solved. It is about why we continue to avoid talking about race.

In this personal and provocative investigation, Afua Hirsch explores a very British crisis of identity. We are a nation in denial about our past and our present. We believe we are the nation of abolition, but forget we are the nation of slavery. We are convinced that fairness is one of our values, but that immigration is one of our problems. Brit(ish) is the story of how and why this came to be, and an urgent call for change.

Read more about Brit(ish): https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1112508/brit-ish/

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We're talking mermaids, folksong and mythology with two of our new Vintage voices; Imogen Hermes Gowar and Kerry Andrew.

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar: po.st/TheMermaidAndMrsHancock

Swansong by Kerry Andrew: po.st/Swansong

Thanks to Kerry for letting us use her music for this podcast. The two tracks featured were, in order of appearance, Three Ravens and Molly Bawn.

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Imogen Hermes Gowar - The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock

A Sunday Times bestseller, now longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Desmond Elliott Prize 2018.

‘A brilliantly plotted story of mermaids, madams and intrigue in 1780s London and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it become the Essex Serpent of 2018’ - The Pool

'Imogen Hermes Gowar is a soon-to-be literary star’ - Sunday Times

THIS VOYAGE IS SPECIAL. IT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING.

One September evening in 1785, the merchant Jonah Hancock hears urgent knocking on his front door. One of his captains is waiting eagerly on the step. He has sold Jonah’s ship for what appears to be a mermaid.

As gossip spreads through the docks, coffee shops, parlours and brothels, everyone wants to see Mr Hancock’s marvel. Its arrival spins him out of his ordinary existence and through the doors of high society. At an opulent party, he makes the acquaintance of Angelica Neal, the most desirable woman he has ever laid eyes on… and a courtesan of great accomplishment. This meeting will steer both their lives onto a dangerous new course, on which they will learn that priceless things come at the greatest cost.

Where will their ambitions lead? And will they be able to escape the destructive power mermaids are said to possess?

In this spell-binding story of curiosity and obsession, Imogen Hermes Gowar has created an unforgettable jewel of a novel, filled to the brim with intelligence, heart and wit.

Read more at https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1113246/the-mermaid-and-mrs-hancock/#Jtfc3MlFwQtPB854.99

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'Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question.'

Author Julian Barnes reads from his forthcoming new novel...

Don't forget, leave us a review on iTunes to be in with a chance of winning a copy of the book!

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Julian Barnes - The Only Story

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**

Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question.

First love has lifelong consequences, but Paul doesn’t know anything about that at nineteen. At nineteen, he’s proud of the fact his relationship flies in the face of social convention.

As he grows older, the demands placed on Paul by love become far greater than he could possibly have foreseen.

Tender and wise, The Only Story is a deeply moving novel by one of fiction’s greatest mappers of the human heart.

Find out more about the book: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1115400/the-only-story/

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A classic mystery for the festive season: mulled wine, mince pies...and murder. We bring you an extract from Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan http://po.st/C2JkbL.

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Mordecai Tremaine, former tobacconist and perennial lover of romance novels, has been invited to spend Christmas in the sleepy village of Sherbroome at the country retreat of one Benedict Grame.

Arriving on Christmas Eve, he finds that the revelries are in full flow - but so too are tensions amongst the assortment of guests.

Midnight strikes and the party-goers discover that it's not just presents nestling under the tree...there's a dead body too. A dead body that bears a striking resemblance to Father Christmas.

With the snow falling and the suspicions flying, it's up to Mordecai to sniff out the culprit - and prevent someone else from getting murder for Christmas.

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Her house is on Montpelier Parade – just across town, but it might as well be a different world...

This week on the Vintage Podcast we bring you an extract from the Costa shortlisted Montpelier Parade by Karl Geary.

Listen to the whole book: http://po.st/MontpelierParadeAudio

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Karl Geary - Montpelier Parade

‘A delicate, crystalline, hugely impressive novel… He's yet another masterful younger writer coming through… Wonderful’ - Sebastian Barry

Her house is on Montpelier Parade – just across town, but it might as well be a different world. Sonny is fixing a crumbling wall in the garden when he sees her for the first time, coming down the path towards him. Vera.

Vera is older, wealthier, sophisticated, but chance meetings quickly become shy arrangements, and soon Sonny is in love for the first time. But there is something unsettling that Vera is keeping from him. Unfolding in the sea-bright Dublin of early spring, Montpelier Parade is an indelible novel about the things that remain unspoken between lovers. It is about how deeply we can connect with one another, and the choices we must make alone.

Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2017

Read more at https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1112789/montpelier-parade/#YLdrwyev8OwJy3vP.99

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