Book cover of Two Lives: Reading Turgenev & My House in Umbria

Book description

Two Lives: Reading Turgenev & My House in Umbria - two novels by William Trevor

'Evocative and haunting. Trevor writes like an angel, but is determined to wring your heart' Daily Mail

'Marvellous, superb. As rich and moving as anything I have read in years. When I reach the end…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Two Lives as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book contains a pair of novellas, Reading Turgenev and My House in Umbria. While William Trevor has never to my mind written so much as a clause that’s not worth reading, Reading Turgenev is my preferred fiction here. It is a triumph of Irish realism, lyrical without any straining for effect, a heartbreaking reflection on frustrated love, and a sort of elegy for people who suffer because of that frustration. I read it for the first time in one sitting, so gripped was I by the various, quiet but soul-wrenching emotional dramas occurring, especially between the main character…

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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

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