A long time ago in China, there existed three Books of Peace that proved so threatening to the reigning powers that they had them burned. Many years later Maxine Hong Kingston wrote a Fourth Book of Peace, but it too was burned–in the catastrophic Berkeley-Oakland Hills fire of 1991, a fire that
Anthony Burgess's epic masterpiece follows the lives of two men who each represent different kinds of earthly power. Kenneth Toomey is an eminent novelist, a man who has outlived his contemporaries to survive into luxurious old age as a celebrity of dubious notoriety. Don Carlo Campanati is a man
Realising that his New Year is probably going to be a disaster, as usual, our narrator, on impulse, walks into a travel agency to book a week in the sun. Sensitive to his limited means and dislike of Muslim countries, the travel agent suggests an island full of 21st century hedonism, set in a
From the Iranian hostage crisis through the Gulf War and the bombing of the World Trade Center, the American news media have portrayed "Islam" as a monolithic entity, synonymous with terrorism and religious hysteria. In this classic work, now updated, the author of Culture and
The marriage of Kaname and Misako is disintegrating: whilst seeking passion and fulfilment in the arms of others, they contemplate the humiliation of divorce. Misako's father believes their relationship has been damaged by the influence of a new and alien culture, and so attempts to heal the
A story of a country attempting to reconcile its new freedom with old rituals, secrets and betrayals. From behind the closed door, the man shouts, 'Be on your way - you have no business here!' 'Open up, I am the messenger of Death'. As spring arrives in the Albanian mountain town of B, some
The title term, surrender the pink, is a colloquialism pertaining to male sexual advances to a female. It comes from the phrase, "They're all pink on the inside." This novel, like most of Fisher's books, is semi-autobiographical and fictionalizes events from her real life. It is said to
Janice Galloway's new novel is based on the life of Clara Schumann - celebrated nineteenth-century concert pianist and composer, editor and teacher, friend of Brahms - who was also wife of Robert Schumann, the mother of his eight children, and the woman who cared for him through a series of
