This exquisite anthology collects together the very best fiction from across the Nordic region. Travelling from cosmopolitan Stockholm to the remote Faroe Islands, & from Denmark to Greenl&, this unique & compelling volume displays the thrilling diversity of writing from these northern nations. Selected & introduced by Sjon, The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat

Includes:: both notable authors & exciting new discoveries. As well as an essential selection of the best contemporary storytelling from the Nordic countries, it`s also a fascinating portrait of contemporary life across the region. The perfect book to curl up with on a cold winter`s evening. Naja Marie Aidt (Denmark), Per Olov Enquist (Sweden), Dorthe Nors (Denmark), Linda Bostrom Knausgard (Sweden), Madame Nielsen (Denmark), Rosa Liksom (Finland), Johan Bargum (Finland), Kristin Omarsdottir (Iceland), Kjell Askildsen (Norway), Ulla-Lena Lundberg (Finland/ Sweden), Hassan Blasim (Finland), Sorine Steenholdt (Greenl&, Gudbergur Bergsson (Iceland), Solrun Michelsen (Faroe Islands), Frode Grytten (Norway), Carl Johan Jensen (Faroe Islands), Niviaq Korneliussen (Greenland)

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` The best novel I`ve read in ages. Ferociously well written, & hugely entertaining` Sarah Waters Fran may be old but she`s not going without a fight. So she dyes her hair, enjoys every glass of red wine, drives around the country for her job with a housing charity & lives in an insalubrious tower block that her loved ones disapprove of. & as each of them
- her pampered ex Claude, old friend Jo, flamboyant son Christopher & earnest daughter Poppet
- seeks happiness in their own way, what will the last reckoning be? Will they be waving or drowning when the end comes? By turns joyous & profound, darkly sardonic & moving, The Dark Flood Rises questions what makes a good life, & a good death. This triumphant, bravura novel takes in love, death, sun-drenched islands, poetry, Maria Callas, tidal waves, surprise endings
- & new beginnings.


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Fran may be old but she`s not going without a fight. So she dyes her hair, enjoys every glass of red wine, drives restlessly around the country & lives in an insalubrious tower block that her loved ones disapprove of. & as each of them
- her pampered ex Claude, old friend Jo, flamboyant son Christopher & earnest daughter Poppet
- seeks happiness in their own way, what will the last reckoning be? Will they be waving or drowning when the end comes? By turns joyous & profound, darkly sardonic & moving, The Dark Flood Rises questions what makes a good life, & a good death.

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In 1999, Tobias Jones emigrated to Italy, expecting to discover the pastoral bliss described by centuries of foreign visitors. Instead, he discovered a very different country, besieged by unfathomable terrorism & deep-seated paranoia, where crime is scarcely ever met with punishment. The Dark Heart of Italy is Jones' account of his three-year voyage across the Italian peninsula. ...

This is an essential guide to the strange, sometimes sinister culture of contemporary Italy. When Tobias Jones first travelled to Italy, he expected to discover the pastoral bliss described by centuries of foreign visitors & famous writers. Instead, he discovered a very different country, besieged by unfathomable terrorism & deep-seated paranoia, where crime is scarcely ever met with punishment. Now, in this fascinating travelogue, Jones explores not just Italy`s familiar delights (art, climate, cuisine), but the livelier & stranger sides of the bel paese: language, football, Catholicism, cinema, television & terrorism. Why, he wonders, do bombs still explode every time politics start getting serious? Why does everyone urge him to go home as soon as possible, saying that Italy is a `brothel`? & why do people warn him that ` Clean Hands` only disguise ` Dirty Feet`? ...

Beyond the familiar online world that most of us inhabit
- a world of Google, Hotmail, Facebook & Amazon
- lies a vast & often

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` The bend in the road rushed towards them, just a few more seconds. Then, with a succession of jarring crashes that shook the whole body of the car, a burst of fire hit them from behind. The windscreen starred into a sheet of opaque diamond lacework, the dashboard clock exploded powdering Shermaine`s hair with particles of glass, two bullets tore through the seat ripping out the stuffing like the entrails of a wounded animal.` Bruce Curry is the leader of a mercenary band with the dubious support of three white officers. His mission is to relieve a mining town cut off by the fighting & to retrieve a priceless consignment of diamonds. Ranged against his ill-disciplined unit are bandits, guerrillas & hostile tribes that infest the l&. But there is another, even deadlier enemy -- one of his own men.. . ...

The second title in Rick Riordan`s Trials of Apollo series
- set in the action-packed world of Percy Jackson. The god Apollo,
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The second title in Rick Riordan`s Trials of Apollo series
- set in the action-packed world of Percy Jackson. The god Apollo,
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Meili, a young peasant woman born in the remote heart of China, is married to Kongzi, a village school teacher, & a distant descendant of Confucius. They have a daughter, but desperate for a son to carry on his illustrious family line, Kongzi gets Meili pregnant again without waiting for official permission. When family planning officers storm the village to arrest violators of the population control policy, mother, father & daughter escape to the Yangtze River & begin a fugitive life. For years they drift south through the poisoned waterways & ruined landscapes of China, picking up work as they go along, scavenging for necessities & flying from police detection. As Meili`s body continues to be invaded by her husband & assaulted by the state, she fights to regain control of her fate & that of her unborn child. ...