On a peat & heather island off the West Coast of Scotl&, Effie & her mother Nora take refuge in the large mouldering house of their ancestors & tell each other stories. Nora, at first, recounts nothing that Effie really wants to hear, like who her father was
- variously Jimmy, Jack, or Ernie. Effie tells of her life at college in Dundee, the land of cakes & William Wallace, where she lives in a lethargic relationship with Bob, a student who never goes to lectures, seldom gets out of bed, & to whom the Klingons are as real as the French & the Germans (more real than the Luxemburgers). But strange things are happening. Why is Effie being followed? Is someone killing the old people? & where is the mysterious yellow dog?

In a brilliant comic narrative which explores the nonsensical nature of language & meaning, Kate Atkinson has created another magical masterpiece.

'A truly comic novel
- achingly funny in parts
- challenging & executed with wit & mischief






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On a peat & heather island off the west coast of Scotl&, Effie & her mother Nora take refuge in the large mouldering house of their ancestors & tell each other stories. Nora, at first, recounts nothing that Effie really wants to hear, like who her father was ...

On a peat & heather island off the west coast of Scotl&, Effie & her mother Nora take refuge in the large mouldering house of their ancestors & tell each other stories. Nora, at first, recounts nothing that Effie really wants to hear, like who her father was ...

On a peat & heather island off the west coast of Scotl&, Effie & her mother Nora take refuge in the large mouldering house of their ancestors & tell each other stories. Nora, at first, recounts nothing that Effie really wants to hear, like who her father was ...

The Emperor Constantine crosses the Alps at the head of a great army from the Rhineland in AD 312, & marches south to take Rome from the tyrant Maxentius. As he lays siege to the city of Verona, Constantine waits for the arrival of his wife, Fausta
- his enemy's sister
- whose cool detachment torments him. Emperor is a superbly imaginative reconstruction of the dramatic weeks leading up to Constantine's triumph in Rome. Written in the form of extracts from his own journal & letters from his empress, her frivolous female companion, his cynical secretary & a Christian bishop who is travelling with the army, the novel records a train of events which will change the world. Constantine is plagued by spiritual doubts, tortured by his wife's coldness, but he defies the omens to win a great victory at Verona & to lead his army south. On the road to Rome, the conqueror becomes the conquered as a blinding vision strikes him from his horse in an astonishing conversion to Christianity. Emperor summons up the Roman world of two thousand years ago, the everyday life of soldiers on campaign & the intrigues at court. But it is also the many-faceted story of a man's loss of faith in God & in human love, told with uncanny brilliance.

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History & humanity flow through Empire Falls, Maine, like the strange flotsam washed up at the bend of the vast, slow-moving Knox River. The Whiting family, owners of the mills & the shirt factory, have sold out to a multinational. The Whiting men have invariably married women who make their lives a misery. C. B. Whiting was no exception. Now his wife, Francine, the last Mrs Whiting, presides like a black widow spider over the declining fortunes of the town. Its hub is the Empire Grill, with a view down the avenue to the abandoned mill & factory. Miles Roby, a gentle, funny loser runs the grill & hopes one day to own it. Meantime, though, his wife has run off with his worst customer, he's anxious about his adored teenage daughter & his one-handed brother, his incorrigible father sponges off everyone, the police have Miles in their sights, & Mrs Whiting has her own plans for him. Here is a huge-hearted & magnificent novel by a master storyteller, marked by comic genius & a love of humankind with all its flaws & foibles. As it builds inexorably to a shocking climax, Russo constantly surprises with characters who creep under your guard to disarm you, a plot with as many twists & falls as the Knox River itself, & an ending that makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. ...

This revised & updated edition, brought to you by Britain's biggest-selling movie magazine, contains over 100 br&-new reviews including all the biggest & best films of the last 12 months. Written with the passion & humour you'd expect from Empire, the reviews in this guide are the most comprehensive & in-depth around.

Including a wealth of new photos, sidebars & fascinating & hilarious Top 10s & movie trivia, this is the most enjoyable & entertaining film guide available.

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In Empire Lite, Michael Ignatieff explores both sides of what he sees as a new global empire
- the imperial & the humanitarian
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In Empire Lite, Michael Ignatieff explores both sides of what he sees as a new global empire
- the imperial & the humanitarian
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From the team who brought you The Empire Film Guide, here are all the obscure, indecent & downright bizarre facts & figures ...