A. L. Kennedy

"Some time ago, perhaps before you were even born, a young girl was walking in her garden. She may have been called Mary - that's what most of the stories say. Mary was a little bit taller than the other girls her age and had brownish crinkly hair. She was quite thin, because she didn't always have exactly enough to eat. She liked honey and whistling and the colour blue and finding out." This is the story of Mary, a young girl born in a beautiful city full of rose gardens and fluttering kites. When she is still very small, Mary meets Lanmo, a shining golden snake, who becomes her very best friend. The snake visits Mary many times, he sees her city change, become sadder as bombs drop and war creeps in. He sees Mary and her family leave their home, he sees her grow up and he sees her fall in love. But Lanmo knows that the day will come when he can no longer visit Mary, when his destiny will break them apart, and he wonders whether having a friend can possibly be worth the pain of knowing you will lose them.

The Little Snake

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2016 MAN BOOKER PRIZE A good man in a bad world, Jon Sigurdsson is 59 and divorced: a senior civil servant in Westminster who hates many of his colleagues and loathes his work for a government engaged in unmentionable acts. A man of conscience. Meg Williams is âe~a bankrupt accountant âe" two words you donâe(tm)t want in the same sentence, or anywhere near your CVâe(tm). Sheâe(tm)s 45 and shakily sober, living on Telegraph Hill, where she can see London unfurl below her. Somewhere out there is safety. Somewhere out there is Jon, pinballing around the city with a mobile phone and a letter-writing habit he canâe(tm)t break. Heâe(tm)s a man on the brink, leaking government secrets and affection as he runs for his life. Set in 2014, this is a novel of our times. Poignant, deeply funny, and beautifully written, Serious Sweet is about two decent, damaged people trying to make moral choices in an immoral world: ready to sacrifice whatâe(tm)s left of themselves for honesty, and for a chance at tenderness. As Jon and Meg navigate the sweet and serious heart of London âe" passing through 24 hours that will change them both for ever âe" they tell a very unusual, unbearably moving love story.

Serious Sweet

Hannah Luckraft finds an escape from her humdrum job selling cardboard boxes, her strained relations with her younger brother, and her lonely and difficult life in her growing relationship with Robert, a man addicted to drink, as she pursues her quest for the ultimate altered state in which she can find happiness. Reprint.

Paradise

Elizabeth Barber is crossing the Atlantic by liner with her perfectly adequate boyfriend, Derek, who might be planning to propose. In fleeing the UK - temporarily - Elizabeth may also be in flight from her past and the charismatic Arthur, once her partner in what she came to see as a series of crimes. Together they acted as fake mediums, perfecting the arcane skills practised by effective frauds. Elizabeth finally rejected what once seemed an intoxicating game. Arthur continued his search for the right way to do wrong. He now subsidises free closure for the traumatised and dispossessed by preying on the super-rich. The pair still meet occasionally, for weekends of sexual oblivion, but their affection lacerates as much as it consoles. She hadn't, though, expected the other man on the boat. As her voyage progresses, Elizabeth's past is revealed, codes slowly form and break as communication deepens. It's time for her to discover who are the true deceivers and who are the truly deceived. What's more, is the book itself - a fiction which may not always be lying - deceiving the reader? Offering illusions and false trails, magical numbers and redemptive humour, this is a novel about what happens when we are misled and when we are true: an extraordinarily intricate and intimate journey into our minds and hearts undertaken by a writer of great gifts - a maker of wonders.

The Blue Book

"Something odd is going on at the Fetch Brothers' Golf Spa Hotel: receptionist Bryony Mailer has noticed a definite tendency toward disappearance among the guests. She's tried talking to the manager; she's even tried talking to the owner who lives in one of the best cottages on the grounds, but to no avail. And then a tall, loping remarkably energetic guest (wearing a fetching scarf and floppy hat) appears. The Fourth Doctor thinks he's in Chicago. He knows he's in 1978. And he also knows that if he doesn't do something very clever very soon, matters will get very, very out of hand"--

The Drosten's Curse

Living in a community of writers on a small island off the coast of Wales, commercial writer Nathan Staples feels that he has lost touch with his creativity, his source of inspiration, his joy of living, and with wife and daughter and contrives to have his daughter, who no longer even recognizes him, brought to the island on a writing fellowship. By the author of Original Bliss. Reprint. 17,500 first printing.

Everything You Need

Explores the historic and present role of bullfighting in Spanish culture, examines the brutality of the sport from a spiritual aspect, and parallels the sport with the author's own suicide attempt and fascination with death.

On Bullfighting

The heroes and heroines of Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains, A. L. Kennedy's first collection of stories, are small people - the kind who inhabit the silence in libraries, who never appear on screen and who never make the headlines. Often alone and sometimes lonely, her characters ponder the mysteries of sex and death... and the ability of public transport to affect our lives.

Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains

Mary Margaret Hamilton was educated in Scotland. She was born there too. These may not have been the best possible options, but they were the only ones on offer at the time. Although her father did his best, her knowledge of life is perhaps a little incomplete. Margaret knows the best way to look at the moon, how to wake on time and how to breathe fire. Now she must learn how to live. A. L. Kennedy's absorbing, moving and gently political first novel dissects the intricate difficulties of human relationships, from Margaret's passionate attachment to her father and her more problematic involvement with Colin, her lover, to the wider social relations between pupil and teacher, employer and employee, individual and state.

Looking for the Possible Dance

Short stories which won the Somerset Maugham award. Author is considered one of the new successful young novelists in the UK.

Now that You're Back

A master-class in the short story, from the Costa Book Award winning author of Day A. L. Kennedy's new collection of stories show us women and men wrestling with the lives they have been given and the times spinning out around them. Humour, fantasy, rage and despair both help and hinder individuals as they navigate their changing circumstances, their accumulating losses, their moments of comprehension and tenderness. Hoping for a quiet day at the zoo, a woman finally snaps at a white man's racist tirade and vents years of fury; an American micro-celebrity practises lines for a chat show on which he will never appear; a woman walks out of her honeymoon suite at midnight, perhaps for good; and, in the extraordinary 'New Mexico', the host of a podcast reveals why she is haunted by that particular US state. Wry, caustic and unsparing in her close examination of human relationships and their failures, A. L. Kennedy sees harder than most writers - 'Other humans are very unhappy, but try to seem glad,' one character writes. 'People do their best.' In this collection of raw, brilliant, unforgettable stories, A. L. Kennedy shows - once again - why she is regarded as one of our great writers.

We Are Attempting to Survive Our Time

After six novels, five story collections and two books of non-fiction, and countless international prizes, A.L. Kennedy certainly has the authority to talk about the craft of writing books âe" itâe(tm)s just a wonder sheâe(tm)s found the time. These are missives from the authorial front line âe" urgent and vivid, full of the excitement, fury and frustration of trying to make thousands of words into a publishable book. At the core of On Writing is the hugely popular blog that Kennedy writes for the Guardian âe" and we follow her during a three-year period when she finished one collection of stories and started another, and wrote a novel in between. Readers and aspiring writers will have almost everything they need to know about the complexities of researching, writing and publishing fiction, but they will be receiving this wisdom conversationally, from one of the funniest and most alert of our contemporary authors. Alongside the blogs are brilliant essays on character, voice, writersâe(tm) workshops and writersâe(tm) health and the book ends with the transcript of Kennedyâe(tm)s celebrated one-person show about writing and language that she has performed round the world to huge acclaim. Read together, all these pieces add up to the most intimate master-class imaginable from one of the finest âe" and most humane âe" writers in our language.

On Writing

Roman

Als lebten wir in einem barmherzigen Land

El espíritu de El principito reelaborado para el siglo XXI. «Una escritora excepcional.» Observer «Una novelista de clase mundial.» New York Times Book Review Mary es una niña que vive en una hermosa ciudad, donde las cometas vuelan muy alto, en una casa con un jardín que a veces es pequeño y a veces es enorme. En ese jardín conoce a Lanmo, que se convierte en su mejor amigo. Es la primera vez que Lanmo se hace amigo de una persona. Lanmo es una serpiente dorada, con unos brillantes ojos rojos, que se acurruca junto a Mary cuando se va a la cama y se posa sobre su hombro cuando va al colegio. Pero nuestra serpiente, además, tiene ciertas obligaciones desde hace muchísimos años y debe dar uso a sus afilados colmillos en otras ciudades, con otras personas. Tras estas separaciones, algunas de ellas muy largas, cuando vuelve siempre se encuentra a Mary un poco más mayor, el pavimento siempre un poco más agrietado, siempre menos cometas en el cielo. Lanmno sabe que llegará el día en que no podrá volver a visitar a Mary y se pregunta si merece la pena tener una amiga si sabes que vas a perderla. La historia de esta peculiar amistad entre una niña y una serpiente es, a fin de cuentas, la del aprendizaje práctico de las lecciones más duras y fundamentales: en qué consisten la separación, la pérdida, la amistad, el envejecimiento, el amor. Esta fábula, tejida con un lenguaje vibrante y cargado de imaginación, muestra además un singular reverso oscuro, pero tan rico y humano que hace de Mary y la serpiente un cuento total. La crítica ha dicho... «Kennedy es una autora superlativa y sin igual.» Stuart Kelly, Scotsman «Exuberante, airada y peligrosa de leer [...]. Kennedy domina el arte de las frases buenas e impactantes.» Los Angeles Times «Después de entrar en el mundo de Kennedy, es complicado encontrar una salida [...].En Mary y la serpiente, los golpetazos emocionales van conectándose, uno tras otro, frase a frase, como en una concatenación de piezas de dominó que tuviesen el brillo del arcoíris. Divertida, sorprendente e inesperada [...], la prosa de Kennedy, como las infinitas meditaciones que despliegan sus personajes más interesantes, es al mismo tiempo lógica e ilógica, triste y alegre, sencilla y profunda, da vueltas y más vueltas en permutaciones sin fin, como si una serpiente elegante y pequeña luchase contra los límites de su propia piel, brillante y amenazadora.» The New York Times «Una joya [...]. Kennedy nos habla de manera amable, clarividente y profundamente emocionante acerca de qué significa realmente la humanidad.» Scotsman «Hermosa [...].Hay que leerla y luego leerla otra vez.» Independent «Maravillosa [...]. Kennedy es una fuerza de la naturaleza [...]. Todo lo que toca se convierte en arte y, en este caso, vuelve a impresionarnos con su audacia y asombroso cuidado por el lenguaje.» New York Times Book Review «La breve y sugerente fábula habla de la necesidad de ser amable con los demás, de la avaricia y la política, de las migraciones. Habla de las lecciones que aprendemos de los libros que leemos cuando somos niños. Pero Mary y la serpiente habla, sobre todo, de la aceptación de la muerte como una parte inevitable de la vida. [...] Si conoces a un niño (o a un adulto) que haya perdido a alguien, dale este libro Alex Preston, The Guardian «Como un espejo que reflejase nuestras almas rotas [...]. A. L. Kennedy detalla de manera dolora nuestros defectos como seres humanos y los describe de manera tan real que quien la lee se zambulle en cada frase.» Associated Press «Un libro corto de alcance muy largo. El humor y la ligereza de la autora le quitan énfasis a su objetivo más serio: recordarnos de modo urgente que las cosas pequeñas e importantes son las que le dan sentido a la vida.» Rebecca Abrams, Financial Times «Una fábula en miniatura [...]. En esta época amarga de fronteras quebradas, el aporte de dulzura de esta historia, oportuna, atemporal, es más que bienvenido.» Sunday Times «Puede que se haya inspirado en la actual crisis de refugiados, pero el último libro de A. L. Kennedy encierra cierta intemporalidad, el estado de gracia y la franqueza emocional de una fábula clásica [...]. Mary y la serpiente está escrita con un aire infantil de maravilla y justicia y una comprensión madura de lo duras que son las vidas que afrontan los menos afortunados; fascina y emociona profundamente, y deja claro que solo quien tenga un corazón de piedra notendrá los ojos húmedos al llegar a la última página.» National «Divertida [...], dulce, triste, siempre al borde de la fantasía.» Daily Mail «Una narración hermosa y sencilla que profundiza en la condición humana [...]. Un relato breve que es poético, que anima a vivir y que entristece, y del que no quieres que llegue el final.» Herald «Una lectura tremendamente entretenida [...].Este libro es un extraño tesoro encerrado en una cubierta con escamas doradas.» Sunday Life «Una de las escritoras más firmemente deslumbrantes de su generación.» Independent on Sunday «En su narrativa existe una sensación permanente de peligro; en parte es por eso por lo que resulta tan emocionante leerla.» San Francisco Chronicle «Una escritora profunda.» Richard Ford «Una de las jóvenes y brillantes escritoras británicas de la actualidad.» San Jose Mercury News «Tremendamente emocionante. [...] Kennedy sabe cómo escribir acerca del dolor con todo detalle mientras, al mismo tiempo, resalta el humor que hay en la trágica realidad de la vida.» Globe and Mail «Fantástica y hermosa, un verdadero cuento de hadas.» Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung «Un divertido cuento de hadas moderno.» Süddeutsche Zeitung «A. L. Kennedy despliega este amour fou con una finura poética impactante [...]. Una escritura mágica y de altura, salpicada de polvo de hadas Kölnische Rundschau «Las historias que narra, su lenguaje elaborado, se te meten bajo la piel [...]. A. L. Kennedy construye una historia mágica de manera discreta (como en el título), tierna y siempre con un humor sutil.» Literaturkritik.de «Un cuento de hadas para adultos.» Nürnberger Nachrichten

Mary y la serpiente

رواية

داي

"Five years after the end of World War II, Alfie Day, an RAF airman and former World War II POW, is given the chance to relive the glory of the war as an extra on a POW film, an opportunity that leads him to new revelations about himself, the world around him, and the challenges and violence of modern life"--NoveList.

A collection of 12 stories from an author selected twice as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists.

What Becomes

The 12 stories in 'Indelible Acts' are variations on a theme of longing. In the title story, two lovers confront their lusts amid the ruins of Rome. In others, a queue outside a cheese shop leads to a thrilling infidelity; and a crematorium funeral exposes a love gone sour.

Indelible Acts

Five years after the end of World War II, Alfie Day, an RAF airman and former World War II POW, is given the chance to relive the glory of the war as an extra on a POW film, an opportunity that leads him to new revelations about himself, the world around him, and the challenges and violence of modern life. 15,000 first printing.

Trapped in a terrifying, abusive marriage, an emotionally numb Helen Brindle spends her life performing boring domestic chores in front of the TV, until she is drawn into the orbit of self-help guru Edward G. Gluck, who hides his own sadomasochistic obsession. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.

A. L. Kennedy

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