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Bitter Eden is based on Tatamkhulu Afrika's own capture in North Africa and his experiences as a prisoner-of-war in World War II in Italy and Germany. As gripping as Kiss of the Spider Woman, this frank and beautifully written novel deals with three men who see themselves as 'straight', but who must negotiate the emotions that are brought to the surface by the physical closeness of survival in the male-only camps. The complex rituals of camp life and the strange loyalties and deep bonds between the men are compellingly depicted. Bitter Eden is a tender, bitter, powerful book, of lives inexorably changed, of a war whose ending does not bring peace. To order call 0207 278 7654.
'How refreshing to hear of the eager acquisition of a debut by a man of 80 - a South African, and a poet, to boot. Bitter Eden is about ordinary male relationships in extraordinary circumstances' - Boyd Tonkin, Independent
This is a hardboiled crime novel, and a true story. In 1944 Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, then still unknown writers, were both arrested following a murder: one of their friends had stabbed another and then come to them for advice – neither had told the police. Later they wrote this fictionalized account of that summer – of a group of friends in war-time New York, moving through each other’s apartments, drinking, necking, talking and taking drugs and haphazardly drifting towards a bloody crime. Unpublished for over sixty years this is a remarkable insight into the lives and literary development of two great writers. Recommended. To order call 0207 278 7654.
Tangier, in the early 1990s: young Moroccans gather regularly in a seafront cafe to gaze at the lights on the Spanish coast glimmering in the distance. Facing a future with few prospects in a country they feel has failed them, their disillusionment is matched only by their desire to reach this paradise - so close and yet so far, not least because of the treacherous waters separating the two countries and the frightening stories they hear of the fates of would-be illegal emigrants. A young man called Azel is intent upon leaving one way or another. At the brink of despair he meets Miguel, a wealthy Spanish gallery-owner, who promises to take him to Barcelona if Azel will become his lover. Azel agrees to Miguel's proposition and so begins a different kind of hell for the young Moroccan. From one of the world's greatest writers, a breakthrough novel about leaving home for a better life.
'A voice all the more magnificent for being draped in darkness. It makes revelations of great importance, but never gravely - a joy to read.' - The Guardian
Translated from the French by Linda Coverdale To order call 0207 278 7654.
'Call Me By Your Name is a beautiful and wise book, written with both lightness and concentrated care for the precise truth of every moment in its drama...it has always been clear from Aciman's non-fiction that he would write a wonderful book, but this is a miracle.' Colm Toibin
Set during a restless summer on the Italian Riviera, Call Me By Your Name tell the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blooms between seventeen year old Elio and his father's house guest Oliver. Currents of obsession and fear, fascination and desire threaten to overwhelm the lovers, who at first feign indifference to the charge between them. A romance barely six weeks' duration will prove to be an experience that will mark them both for a lifetime. For what the two discover on the Riviera and during a sultry evening in Rome is the one thing they both already fear they may never truely find again: toial intimacy. An amazing novel and highly recommended.
To order call 0207 278 7654.
A move from New York to Rural Kansas following the death of his mother uproots Sprout. He’s sure he’ll find no friends, no love, no beauty there. But then friends find him, the strangeness of the landscape fascinates him and, when love shows up in an unexpected place, Sprout realises that Kansas is not quite as simple as he thought. Subverting stereotypes and packed with gritty humour, Sprout is an inspirational coming of age story about a boy who knows he’s gay in a town that seems to have no place to hide. To order call 0207 278 7654.
In Metro, twenty-seven year old Australian author Alasdair Duncan gets to grips with the phenomenon of 'straight' boys who sleep with other men. He also explores the notion of the new Metrosexual male. This is the new image-conscious rich urban young man. He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is utterly immaterial because he has taken himself his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference. Metro is the story of the priviledged and hot Aussie college jock, Liam Kelly. Girls want him and boys want to be him. But when his girlfiend goes off on a six month trip round Europe Liam decides that it's boys that he wants, and what Liam wants Liam gets…but how much is he willing to risk for his new secret life? Metro is a fresh, punchy and sexy new novel that explores urban youth culture with authenticity and insight. Both a modern satire and morality tale, it's a book that resists categorization, and is the stronger for it. To order call 0207 278 7654.
The Granvilles are an extraordinary family. Edwin is a retired bishop who has lost his faith. Marta, a child of the Warsaw Ghetto, is a controversial anthropologist. Their son, Clement, is a celebrated gay painter traumatised by the death of his twin. Their daughter, Susannah, is a music publicist recovering from an affair with a convicted murderer. Over three remarkable years, the family goes through a sequence of events that causes it to reassess its deepest values and closest relationships. Clement's work and reputation are violently attacked and his private life exposed. Susannah's exploration of the Kabbalah takes her into the closed world of Chassidic Jews and a seemingly impossible love. Edwin's illness forces Marta to confront the horrors of the past. Each must find a way to escape the abyss. Michael Arditti is also the author of Easter, The Celibate and Good Clean Fun. To order call 0207 278 7654.
I Must Confess is the fictional autobiography of Marc LeJeune and his remarkable but chequered show-biz career. Hapless and heart-warmingly pretentious, Marc is a star who knows that real talent comes at a price. Petty jealousies and envious detractors, it would seem, always shadow the truly gifted. This is a sophisticated and wildly entertaining satire of pop-culture history.
Finding initial fame as 'The Regular Guy' in a laxative-product advert and later notoriety as the star of certain 'artistic' films, Marc sometimes suffers for his art and for taking his talents a little too seriously. Indeed, at times it would seem his inflated ego is ready to pop. Every page of his fabulous odyssey makes you smile. I Must Confess provides a catharsis for the drama queen in all of us. Engaging, moving and hilarious, I Must Confess is an outstandingly entertaining read.
To order call 0207 278 7654.
The hero of The Vesuvius Club and The Devil in Amber books returns with an artistic licence to kill and the deadliest mission of his career. A new Queen has been crowned, an old enemy has resurfaced and the world is about to be embraced by the lethal wings of the Black Butterfly. Mark Gattiss is one of the League of Gentlemen, the multi-award winning TV show and has also written scripts for Doctor Who. To order call 0207 278 7654.
‘The appallingly appealing Lucifer Box is an anti-hero for the ages...No one has ever combined the seedy, the stylish, the high and the low with such wit and grace.’ Stephen Fry
The extraordinary true story of the discovery of one of the greatest mathematicians.
On a January morning in 1913, G. H. Hardy - eccentric, charismatic and, at thirty-seven, already considered the greatest British mathematician of his age - receives a mysterious envelope covered with Indian stamps. Inside he finds a rambling letter from a self-professed mathematical genius who claims to be on the brink of solving the most important unsolved mathematical problem of his time. Some of his Cambridge colleagues dismiss the letter as a hoax, but Hardy becomes convinced that the Indian clerk who has written it - Srinivasa Ramanujan - deserves to be taken seriously.
Aided by his collaborator, Littlewood, and a young don named Neville who is about to depart for Madras with his wife, Alice, he determines to learn more about the mysterious Ramanujan and, if possible, persuade him to come to Cambridge. It is a decision that will profoundly affect not only his own life, and that of his friends, but the entire history of mathematics.
Based on the remarkable true story of the strange and ultimately tragic relationship between an esteemed British mathematician and an unknown - and unschooled - mathematical genius, and populated with such luminaries as D. H. Lawrence, Bertrand Russell, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, The Indian Clerk fashions from this fascinating period an exquisitely nuanced and utterly compelling story about the fragility of human connection and our need to find order in the world.
To order call 0207 278 7654.
Sixty-seven-year-old Daniel Ryan returns to Dublin after fleeing to New York decades earlier, following the end of his love affair with Anthony. His return to the city is a reluctant but necessary journey to exorcise the ghosts of his past. Homosexuality in 1950s Ireland was a furtive, dangerous pursuit. Daniel and Anthony’s relationship was conducted amid the relative security of their bohemian theatre group, run by Maeve, a glamorous woman without much regard for social norms or concern for her reputation among the chattering classes. Cut to the 1990s and not much has changed – liaisons are still conducted in alleyways and seedy saunas. In an effort to escape attention on his return, Daniel tells people he is American, but a promiscuous young man embroils him in a cat and mouse game which threatens to expose his buried history. To order call 0207 278 7654.
New to St Petersburg, young, naive Vanya Smurov finds a mentor in the enigmatic and intellectual Larion Stroop, who initiates him into a fascinating sphere of art and beauty. As Vanya is drawn into Stroop's world of aesthetic sensuality, he also becomes aware that Stroop is a frequenter of bathhouses: a homosexual. Disturbed by this revelation, Vanya abandons Stroop and moves to the Volga countryside in search of a more traditional existence. Yet he soon finds that the alternatives offered there are equally unsettling, leading him to question his initial reaction to Stroop's hedonistic lifestyle. Published in a new translation, Wings was the first Russian novel to focus on homosexuality. Greeted with outrage when it appeared in 1906, this unjustly neglected work is a groundbreaking and sensitive study of a young man's struggle to come to terms with his identity. To order call 0207 278 7654.
Traslated from the Spanish original, these are two stoires placed in front of each other like mirrors. The first is set in first-century Rome and relates the rise and fall of Mazuf, a homosexual Syrian scribe who becomes a renowned man of letters and a murderer. The second is a confession by a present-day American named Laurence; it seems to be simply a record of his sexual exploits during his student days at Harvard, but we xoon find out there is much more to his tale than first appears. Laurence, a disaffected and sophisticated narator, is a murderer too. But what is the connection between the two men? Is the key an old copy of Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire? And can stories change, not only the future, but more compellingly, the past? In a playfully unsettling and wonderfully sensual novel, prize-winning author Jose Luis de Juan explores the secret history of desire and the dark desire to make history. To order call 0207 278 7654.
Being Charles James Stewart (AKA Charlie the Second) means never "fitting in."
Tall, gangly and big-eared, he could be the poster boy for teenage geeks. An embarrassment to his parents (he's not to crazy about them, either), Charlie is a virtual untouchable at his school, where humiliation is practically an extra curricular activity. Charlie has tried to fit in, but all of his efforts fall on a glorious, monumental scale. He plays soccer--mainly to escape his home life--but isn't accepted by his teammates who basically ignore him on the field. He still confuses the accelerator with the brake pedal and has failed his driving exam six times. He can't work on his college application essay without writing a searing tell-all. But what's freaking Charlie out the most is that while his hormones are raging and his peers are pairing off, he remains alone with his fantasies.
But all of this is about to change when a new guy at school begins to liven things up on the soccer team--and in Charlie's life. For the first time in his seventeen years, Charlie will learn how it feels to be a star, at least off the field. But Charlie discovers that even cool guys have problems as he embarks on an unforgettable, risk-filled journey from which there is no turning back....
To order call 0207 278 7654.
'Between Men 2' features nineteen diverse and unexpected stories that are erotic, beguiling, provoking and ground-breaking:
In the collection Alan Hollinghurst offers the 'Highlights' of a doomed romantic break in Rome. Andrew Holleran surveys how the internet makes, and breaks, gay passion. Mark Merlis takes us back to the sometimes-not-too-pretty 1960s. Ethan Mordden invites us into Bud's world, among the savvy gay Manhattanites of his acclaimed 'Buddies' stories. Randall Kenan introduces the tall striking Brazilian everybody wants; Aaron Hamburger, the Ukrainian mother no gay son wants.
The quality writing continues with everything from Kevin Killian's star-gazing 'Yellow Sands' to Douglas A. Martin's account of sexual intrigue on campus, 'Academic Boyfriend Material,' and from Tennessee Jones's mean, forgotten America in 'Down at Texas Beach,' Patrick Gale's trip through the charms of rural England in 'Hushed Casket' and Eric Karl Anderson's 'Breathe.' To order call 0207 278 7654.
His Master’s Lover is a tribute to all those forgotten gay men who fought in the First World War – not only those who died, but also the walking wounded, the shell-shocked and the survivors. In 1919, handsome and gay 22-year old Freddy returns to England from the trenches of the Somme with his Victoria Cross expecting to find Prime Minister Lloyd George’s land fit for heroes. This is his story. Also just out in hardback by Nick Heddle is the novel Simon: a Decline and Fall of the English Landed Gentry, £9.99 To order call 0207 278 7654.
The long awaited sequel to the bestselling novel Adam. At 22 Adam learns that he has come into some property: a vineyard in southern France. Leaving old loves and friends behind he moves, only to find himself somewhat isolated. Stephane, Adam's sexy new neighbour comes to his rescue, and is soon giving Adam much more than advise on managing his vineyard…When Adam's teenage lover reappears on the scene, Adam must decide exactly what, and who, he really wants.
To order call 0207 278 7654.
'Eternal queer questions are explored with astute insight - and bracing erotic interludes - in McDonald's stellar, thoughtful sequel.' Richard Labonte
For Ali Mirza, a young British born Pakistani man, life takes a sudden dramatic turn when his family arranges for him to get married even though he has told them he is gay. How will he survive his wedding night when he's not even turned on by his new bride, whom he has only met once for five minutes? Sajda, his wife, claims she is in love with him, but she does not even know him. For Ali, this is the tip of the iceberg as his boyfriend has moved to France and is hesitant to support Ali. Ali is torn between running away to join the love of his life, or staying to live the life his family has arranged for him. If he does run, will they find him and force him to be straight? Will he ever reunite with his lover? Ali must decide what is best for him and does in a matter of days. Straightening Ali is a riveting story about family ties, conflicting cultures and the basic dynamics of human relationships. To order call 0207 278 7654.
Newly out in paperback this is the winner of the 2007 Stonewall Award for Literature from the author of Dancer From the Dance. Reeling from the recent death of his invalid mother, an exhausted, lonely professor goes to Washington to escape. What he finds there - in his handsome, solitary landlord; in the city's sombre mood and sepulchral architecture; and the strange and impassioned letters and journals of Mary Todd Lincoln - shows him unexpected truths about America and loss. As he seeks to engage with the living world around him he comes to realise that his relationship to his grief is very different than he had thought. A masterwork from a writer beloved for his depth of feeling, humour, the elegance of his prose, and his unflinching honesty. To order call 0207 278 7654.
At forty-seven, Mr. F's working life on London's Skin Lane is one governed by calm, precision and routine. So when he starts to have frightening, recurring nightmares, he does his best to ignore them. The images that appear in his dreams are disturbing - Mr. F can't for the life of him think where they have come from. After all, he's a perfectly ordinary middle-aged man. As London's crooked backstreets negin to swelter in the long, hot summer of 1967, Mr. F's nightmare becomes an obsession. A chance encounter adds a face to the body that nightly haunts him, and the torments of his sweat-drenched nights lead him - and the reader - deeper into a labyrinth of rage, desire and shame. Part fairy-tale, part compelling evocation of a lost London, Neil Bartlett's long-awaited third novel is his fiercest piece of writing yet: cruel, erotic, and tender. To order call 0207 278 7654.