Hesperus Spring 2015 Catalogue
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OUT NOW The first ever work of fiction by Jussi Adler-Olsen, author of the bestselling Department Q series ‘This is one of the best I’ve read in a long time. Nail-biting stuff’ Stephen Leather ‘Epic, compelling, addictive’ Craig Russell ‘Adler-Olsen is the new “it” boy of Nordic Noir’ The Times ‘Gripping story-telling’ Guardian Film rights have been optioned A heart-stopping psychological thriller, full of action and Translated into 40 languages cinematic appeal – perfect for fans of John Grisham and Alfred Hitchcock Jussi Adler-Olsen is one of the most successful and widely read authors to have come out of Denmark. He Adler-Olsen has won the is most famous for the prestigious Glass Key Award Department Q series, made up of previously won by Stieg Larsson, Mercy, Disgrace, Redemption Jo Nesbø and Henning Mankell and Guilt. B format Paperback Original 9781843915447 - £8.99 - 544pp A format Paperback Original EXPORT ONLY 9781843915454 - £6.99 - 544pp ebook: 9781780944043 2014 saw the film release of The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared which broke box office records in Sweden and made a huge impression across the world. In Spring 2015 we are delighted to offer various new film tie-in books. January sees the release of the film Suffragette, inspired by Suffragette: My Own Story (page 11), the autobiography of campaigner Emmeline Pankhurst, played by Meryl Streep. In February Ron Howard’s film Heart of the Sea releases worldwide, based on the terrifying true shipwreck story recounted in Owen Chase’s book Beneath the Heart of the Sea (page 12). The life of pioneering explorer and diplomat Gertrude Bell is chronicled in the film Queen of the Desert, releasing in March 2014 featuring Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson and Damian Lewis. Our new selection of her personal writings Tales from the Queen of the Desert (page 13) includes letters never before published. And for fantasy and adventure fans, a new Conan film is in the making with Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as the hero, and we present a selection of Robert E. Howard’s most popular Conan stories in The Legend of Conan (page 18). Being added to the Hesperus Nova imprint is the chilling psychological drama Mind of Winter by Laura Kasischke, which will keep you gripped until its shocking conclusion. The Last Pier by critically acclaimed Roma Tearne will transport you to the summer of 1939, unveiling a vivid array of characters and the haunting secrets they hide. Third Voice by Cilla and Rolf Börjlind is the much anticipated sequel to crime debut Spring Tide, which is soon to be a 10-part TV series. And the paperback of Black Noise is coming, the latest instalment in Pekka Hiltunen’s acclaimed Studio series (pages 4-9). We are also excited to be publishing a long-neglected Dodie Smith classic A Tale of Two Families. This witty and vividly imagined novel is crammed with interesting and lovable characters and contains all the charm of I Capture the Castle. Out of print for 45 years, we can’t wait to introduce a new audience to this gem (page 20). For those of the non-fiction persuasion we present a new edition of Arnold Bennett’s How to Live on 24 Hours a Day, the original classic self-help guide ready to help you kick-start your new year (page 10). And to find your lucky charm, read The Magic of the Horseshoe, a fascinating collection of well-known myths and superstitions exploring where they came from and what they mean (page 16). Finally 2015 sees the 100th anniversary of the first publication of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis (page 31). To celebrate we will be selling this classic at the special net price of £2.00 – get in touch with us or your local sales rep to place your order. Don’t forget that all of our 2015 titles will also be available as ebooks, making it even easier to read the books you love. The Hesperus Team 3 Mind of Winter Laura Kasischke A dark and poetic psychological drama that will leave you guessing until the very last page – perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn or Kate Atkinson. When Holly wakes one frosty Christmas morning, her mind is filled with a single thought that refuses to go away: Something had followed them home from Russia. She cannot make any sense of these cryptic words, no matter how much she racks her brain her brain about that long ago trip to Siberia to adopt her little girl. That little girl is now a moody teenager and with the blizzard raging outside, mother and daughter end up snowed in together all day, alone. Tension fills the air and soon confusion, flashbacks and a rising terror will engulf Holly in a horrifying nightmare where nothing is as it seems. Maybe something did follow them home from Russia. And if it did, can Holly trust her daughter, her memories... or even herself? A spine-tingling and beautifully written novel, Mind of Winter is perfect for fans of Gone Girl, Before I Go to Sleep and The Husband’s Secret. ‘A nightmare enducing domestic mystery’ Boston Globe ‘Shocking’ Vogue.com Laura Kasischke teaches at the University of ‘A terrifying brew of family drama and horror’ Michigan MFA program and the Residential Entertainment Weekly College. She has published seven collections of poetry and seven novels. Two of her novels have 9781843915485 been made into films, including The Life Before Her B format PB original Eyes (2007) starring Uma Thurman, and her novel, Fiction - 288pp The Raising, was shortlisted for the 2011 Prix World excluding US/Can Femina (France). £8.99 9781843915492 A format PB original - EXPORT ONLY £6.99 ebook: 9781780944197 Hesperus Nova: January 2015 4 Mind of Winter Laura Kasischke Hadn’t one of the nurses in Russia warned them? Tried to warn them? That one with the drooping eyelid and the hair like a Renaissance princess, all down her side in a braid made of gold, seeming slicked with oil. Had her name been Theodota? She’d been the one who’d worn some strange thing in a bubble of glass pinned above her breast. It was a dried rose, she’d told Holly, that had been touched to the tomb of some saint – the patron saint of stomach ailments, one of which had plagued Theodota most of her life. The thing in the bubble had looked, to Holly, like some kind of tumor, something shriveled and internal, and she’d complained bitterly to Eric about the religious mania of the Siberian nurses. Weren’t they supposed to be done with religion in this godforsaken place? ‘No. That’s us,’ he said. ‘You’re confusing Russians with Americans. Americans are the ones who’ve forsaken God. The Russians have found Him again.’ He’d always defended religion, hadn’t he? Although he himself attended no church, prayed to no god. It was a way of defending his parents, she supposed, whom he always felt she was criticizing whenever she criticized religion or old-fashioned values or pickled foods. Had it been in Siberia that the thing on Eric’s fist had begun to sprout, to grow just under the skin? Holly had a vague memory of one of those nurses, perhaps Theodota herself, at the Pokrovka Orphanage #2 taking a long look at his hand, shaking her head, trying to com- municate something to him by speaking slowly and carefully in Russian, not a word of which Eric or Holly understood. About Tatiana, Theodota had said, ‘No. Don’t name her Russian. Name her American. Or she’ll be back.’ The nurses had called her Sally. They had explained to Eric and Holly, ‘We give her American name so that in her life and in her death she will not be restless in America, try to return to Russia.’ ‘But we want her to be proud of her Russian origins,’ Holly had tried, in turn, to ex- plain, not sure if any of her English was being understood. ‘We want to call her Tatiana because it is a beautiful Russian name for a beautiful little Russian girl.’ The nurse had scowled and shaken her head vehemently. ‘Nyet, nyet, no,’ she said. ‘Sally. Or’ – here she softened, as though sensing that they might be able to compromise – ‘you name her Bonnie. Bonnie and Clyde, no?’ Holly had been smiling, but she was having a hard time keeping the spirit light. She said, ‘No. Tatiana.’ ‘No,’ the nurse had said right back to her. ‘Oh my God,’ Holly had said, later, to Eric. ‘What is wrong with these people?’ Even Eric, at that point, had regained his sense of humor enough to shake his head in disbelief at the superstitions of these people in Siberia. Hesperus Nova: January 2015 5 The Last Pier Roma Tearne A beautiful and atmospheric novel about family, love, loss and regret by critically acclaimed author Roma Tearne. The summer of 1939 broke the Maudsley family. Cecily was only thirteen years old and desperate to grow up; desperate to be as beautiful and desired and reckless as her older sister Rose. Now, in her forties, the family resemblance is uncanny but Cecily is a shadow of her former self. A part of her died that fateful summer. Returning to the deserted family farm as an adult, Cecily recalls the light before the storm, before the war came and before the terrible family tragedy. It was a summer of laughter and ice cream, promises and first love.