Книги, похожие на «Elizabeth Elgin, The Willow Pool»

First published in 1984, under a pseudonym, as ‘The Diary of a Good Neighbour’ and ‘If the Old Could …’, and now published as ‘The Diaries of Jane Somers’, this is in many ways classic Lessing.The diaries introduce us to Jane, an intelligent and beautiful magazine editor concerned with success, clothes and comfort. But her real inadequacy is highlighted when first her husband, then her mother, die from cancer and Jane feels strangely removed. In an attempt to fill this void, she befriends ninety-something Maudie, whose poverty and squalor contrast so radically with the glamour and luxury of the magazine world. The two gradually come to depend on each other – Maudie delighting Jane with tales of London in the 1920s and Jane trying to care for the rapidly deteriorating old woman.‘The Diary of Jane Somers’ contrasts the helplessness of the elderly with that of the young as Jane is forced to care for her nineteen-year-old drop-out niece Kate who is struggling with an emotional breakdown. Jane realises that she understands young people as little as she so recently did the old.

The fourth book in the Nobel Prize for Literature winner’s ‘Children of Violence’ series tracing the life of Martha Quest from her childhood in colonial Africa to old age in post-nuclear Britain.In the aftermath of the Second World War, Martha Quest finds herself completely disillusioned. She is losing faith with the communist movement in Africa, and her marriage to one of the movement's leaders is disintegrating. Determined to resist the erosion of her personality, she engages in a love affair and breaks free, if only momentarily, from her suffocating unhappiness.

No.1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz is at the peak of his storytelling powers with this major new novel – a rich, multi-layered story that moves back and forth across decades and generations as a gifted musician relates the ‘terrible and wonderful’ events that began in his city in 1967, when he was ten.THIS IS THE STORY OF A BOY AND A CITY…Jonah Kirk’s childhood has been punctuated by extraordinary moments – like the time a generous stranger helped him realize his dream of learning the piano. Nothing is more important to him than his family and friends, and the electrifying power of music.But now Jonah has a terrifying secret. And it sets him on a collision course with a group of dangerous people who will change his life forever.For one bright morning, a single earth-shattering event will show Jonah that in his city, good is entwined with malice, and sometimes the dark side of humanity triumphs. But it will also teach him that courage and honour are found in the most unexpected places, and the way forward lies buried deep inside the heart.If he can just survive to find it…