Eley Williams

An exhilarating and laugh-out-loud debut novel from a prize-winning new talent which chronicles the misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman put on his trail a century later to root out his misdeeds while confronting questions of her own sexuality and place in the world. Mountweazel n. the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement. Peter Winceworth, Victorian lexicographer, is toiling away at the letter 'S' for Swansby's multi-volume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. His disaffection compels him to insert unauthorised fictitious entries into the dictionary in an attempt to assert some sense of individual purpose and artistic freedom. In the present day, Mallory, a young intern employed by the publisher, is tasked with uncovering these mountweazels before the work is digitised. She also has to contend with threatening phone calls from an anonymous caller. Is the change in the definition of 'marriage' really that upsetting? And does the caller really intend for the Swansby's staff to 'burn in hell'? As these two narratives combine, both Winceworth and Mallory discover how they might negotiate the complexities of the often nonsensical, relentless, untrustworthy, hoax-strewn and undefinable path we call life. An exhilarating debut novel from a formidably brilliant young writer, The Liar's Dictionary celebrates the rigidity, fragility, absurdity, and joy of language.

A Novel

The Liar's Dictionary

This debut collection from Eley Williams centres upon the difficulties of communication and the way one's thoughts may never be fully communicable and yet can overwhelm you. Attrib. celebrates the tricksiness of language just as it confronts its limits. Correspondingly, the stories are littered with the physical ephemera of language: dictionaries, dog-eared pages, bookmarks and old coffee stains on older books. This is writing that centres on the weird, tender intricacies of the everyday. A bold new collection from one of Britain's most original new writers.

Attrib. and Other Stories

Sarah Hall

Caleb Azumah Nelson

Jan Carson

Jack Houston

A young woman’s birthday party is disturbed by the vision of a homeless man sleeping under an arrangement of mocking fruit... A late-night text conversation goes awry when a forwarded link to a live feed of gathering walruses doesn’t have its intended effect... A woman hopes a pending announcement to her in-laws will finally give her husband the attention he craves... The stories shortlisted for the 2020 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University demonstrate how a single moment might become momentous; how a small encounter or exchange can irreversibly change the way others see you, or the way you see yourself. From the struggles of two women trapped by joblessness and addiction to the hopes of two teenage brothers embarking on a new life without the protection of their parents, these stories show us what happens when we fail to relate to each other as well as the refuge that belonging affords.Now celebrating its fifteenth year, the BBC National Short Story Award is one of the most prestigious for a single short story, with the winning writer receiving £15,000, and the four further shortlisted authors £600 each. The BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University was established to raise the profile of the short form and the writers shortlisted for this year’s award join distinguished alumni such as Zadie Smith, Lionel Shriver, Rose Tremain, William Trevor, Sarah Hall and Mark Haddon. As well as rewarding the most renowned short story writers, the Award has raised the profile of new writers including Ingrid Persaud, Jo Lloyd, K J Orr, Julian Gough, Cynan Jones and Clare Wigfall. The shortlist will be announced on the 11th September 2020, with the winner to be announced live on BBC Radio 4 Front Row in October.

The BBC National Short Story Award 2020

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “You wouldn’t expect a comic novel about a dictionary to be a thriller too, but this one is. In fact, [it] is also a mystery, love story (two of them) and cliffhanging melodrama.” —The New York Times Book Review An award-winning novel that chronicles the charming misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman put on his trail a century later to root out his misdeeds while confronting questions of her own sexuality and place in the world. Mountweazel n. the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement. In the final year of the nineteenth century, Peter Winceworth is toiling away at the letter S for Swansby’s multivolume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. But his disaffection with his colleagues compels him to assert some individual purpose and artistic freedom, and he begins inserting unauthorized, fictitious entries. In the present day, Mallory, the publisher’s young intern, starts to uncover these mountweazels in the process of digitization and through them senses their creator’s motivations, hopes, and desires. More pressingly, she’s also been contending with a threatening, anonymous caller who wants Swansby’s staff to “burn in hell.” As these two narratives coalesce, Winceworth and Mallory, separated by one hundred years, must discover how to negotiate the complexities of life’s often untrustworthy, hoax-strewn, and undefinable path. An exhilarating, laugh-out-loud debut, The Liar’s Dictionary celebrates the rigidity, fragility, absurdity, and joy of language while peering into questions of identity and finding one’s place in the world.

David Szalay

Kamila Shamsie

Alex Preston

The Balvenie Stories Collection

Pursuit

Londra, il Diciannnovesimo secolo è al tramonto quando Peter Winceworth, della rinomata casa editrice Swansby, riceve dal professor Gerolf Swansby in persona l’ingrato compito di aggiornare il Nuovo Dizionario Enciclopedico Swansby alla lettera S. Il lessicografo, che è solito dire neceffario e peccaminofo, sparpaglia sulla scrivania i suoi foglietti azzurri coperti di parole che cominciano per la fatidica consonante, ma voci e lemmi si trasformano subito in fastidiosi sibili e fischi. Non è semplice liberarsi della zeppola, soprattutto se è una zeppola falsa, del tutto artefatta, nata dalla sciocca convinzione, maturata da Winceworth quand’era bambino, che quell’amabile artificio potesse garantirgli in cambio sorrisi e gentilezza. Non è nemmeno semplice liberarsi del maleficio della simulazione per chi ne ha fatto la propria condotta di vita. Soprattutto, per chi ha a che fare con l’artificio piú grande di tutti: la compilazione e la definizione delle parole. Perché dunque non inventare parole nuove, visto che ogni lingua muta con il mutare delle epoche? Londra, in un giorno qualsiasi del Ventunesimo secolo Mallory è al lavoro nel suo ufficio al secondo piano della Swansby House. Accanto vi è una squallida stanza delle fotocopie, poi il ripostiglio della cancelleria e alla fine del corridoio l’ufficio di David Swansby, erede della rinomata casa editrice omonima. Mallory è stata assunta con l’incarico di rispon - dere alle telefonate che arrivano ogni giorno, provenienti stranamente tutte dalla stessa persona. Telefonate che minacciano di far saltare in aria l’edificio, accompagnate da auspici funesti: «Spero che bruciate all’inferno», «Vi voglio tutti morti». La vita di Mallory si adagerebbe nella routine di queste minacce, se David non le affidasse un nuovo compito: contribuire alla digitalizzazione del dizionario Swansby scovando voci e lemmi bizzarri come aragnasetlazione (la sensazione di camminare tra filamenti di seta di ragno) o asinidoroso (che emette l’odore di un asino che brucia), con cui qualche bislacco lessicografo ha cercato in passato di minare il buon nome delle edizioni Swansby. Tra le mura della Swansby House, tuttavia, la simulazione non si annida soltanto nelle pagine di un vecchio dizionario... Accolto al suo apparire in Inghilterra da un grande successo di critica e pubblico, Il dizionario del bugiardo è uno strabiliante romanzo sul potere piú grande che è dato agli esseri umani: il potere delle parole. «Nominare vuol dire conoscere. C’è un potere in questo. Ci avreste mai creduto? Le parole si possono afferrare e si espandono e contorcono in continuazione, bachi da seta intrappolati da qualche parte tra i molari». «Una performance strabiliante, di grande fascino... un romanzo glorioso che penetra a fondo nella nostra capacità di definire le parole e nel loro potere di definire noi stessi». The Guardian «Un romanzo straordinario... Originale e spesso molto divertente, un’esplorazione insolita sia delle delizie che dei limiti del linguaggio». The Sunday Times «Una lingua che evoca Nabokov». NPR «Divertente e vivida come Dickens, commovente e memorabile come Nabokov... Williams ha scritto un’opera incredibilmente generosa». The Critic «Il dizionario del bugiardo è il libro che cercavo... divertente, intelligente e affascinante. L’ho adorato». Andrew Sean Greer

Il dizionario del bugiardo

Brigid Brophy

The scandalous 1960s cult classic: when Anna is kissed by a masked figure at a New Year's Eve masquerade ball, a heady dance of seduction begins. 'Superb ... Sheer artistic insolence.' Iris Murdoch 'Brilliantly seductive ... A witty, sexy, sophisticated treat.' Sarah Waters London, New Year's Eve. Snow falls on a Georgian mansion, vibrating with the festivities of an eighteenth-century themed masquerade ball within. Middle-aged divorcee Anna stands alone, mourning her youth - until the clock chimes midnight and a mysterious masked figure kisses her on the mouth. Thus begins a heady dance of seduction charged by other clandestine romances swirling around them, whipping the ball into an erotic frenzy of operatic proportions - until the night climaxes, revealing unease beneath the glitter ... A scandalous sensation in 1964, Brigid Brophy's The Snow Ball is a dazzling festive classic ripe to seduce a new generation of readers. 'One of the strangest and wittiest British writers of the past half century ... A comet in her day.' Terry Castle 'A feminist remodelling of libertine fervour and passion ... Brophy's art is fiction at its finest.' Eley Williams

The Dazzling Cult Classic

The Snow Ball

Luan Goldie

Lucy Caldwell

Martin Edwards

Nikita Lalwani

Julia Bell

Irfan Master

Bidisha

SJ Bradley

Jude Brown

Steve Chambers

Uschi Gatward

Gaia Holmes

Zoe Lambert

Anna Lewis

Donny O'Rourke

Karline Smith

Kim Squirrell

Lucas Stewart

At a time that feels unprecedented in British politics – with unlawful prorogations of parliament, casual race-baiting by senior politicians, and a climate crisis that continues to be ignored – it’s easy to think these are uncharted waters for us, as a democracy. But Britain has seen political crises and far-right extremism before, just as it has witnessed regressive, heavy-handed governments. Much worse has been done, or allowed to be done, in the name of the people and eventually, those same people have called it out, stood up, resisted. In this new collection of fictions and essays, spanning two millennia of British protest, authors, historians and activists re-imagine twenty acts of defiance: campaigns to change unjust laws, protests against unlawful acts, uprisings successful and unsuccessful – from Boudica to Blair Peach, from the Battle of Cable Street to the tragedy of Grenfell Tower. Britain might not be famous for its revolutionary spirit, but its people know when to draw the line, and say very clearly, ‘¡No pasarán!’ This project has been supported by the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust and the Lipman-Miliband Trust, as well as Arts Council England. Part of Comma's 'History-into-Fiction' series.

Stories of Uprising

Resist

Eley Williams

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