The Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea gives us a brilliant novel about an actor in the twilight of his life and his career: “a devastating account of a boy’s sexual awakening and the loss of his childhood…. Seamless [and] profound ... An unsettling and beautiful work.” —Wall Street Journal Is there a difference between memory and invention? That is the question that haunts Alexander Cleave as he reflects on his first, and perhaps only, love—an underage affair with his best friend’s mother. When his stunted acting career is suddenly, inexplicably revived with a movie role playing a man who may not be who he claims, his young leading lady—famous and fragile—unwittingly gives him the opportunity to see, with startling clarity, the gap between the things he has done and the way he recalls them. Profoundly moving, Ancient Light is written with the depth of character, clarifying lyricism, and heart-wrenching humor that mark all of Man Booker Prize-winning author John Banville’s extraordinary works.

A modern epic novel about the search for truth in a world gone mad. The founders of an international electronic conspiracy are positioning themselves to take over the world. And there's only one man who can stop them--a country bumpkin from West Virginia named Sweeley Leech.

THE STORY: Hollywood actor Tom Cavallero and girlfriend Iona are spending Christmas in the English countryside with his oldest friends, Bea and Kitty. Bea's new lover, Tad, would rather hole up quietly with Pathology for Beginners . Her daugh

D'you ever look in the mirror and you don't recognise the person looking back at you? Tom Cavallero, Hollywood actor, and his girlfriend Iona are spending Christmas in England with his oldest friends, Bea and Kitty. Bea's new lover, Tad, would rather hole up quietly with his copy of Pathology For Beginners. Her daughter Joni would rather be in Shepherds Bush. Northumberland in a blizzard isn't quite what Tom was expecting. And how can anyone relax when Iona's filming their every move? She's making a documentary about 'the real Tom'. But who is that exactly? And what's out there in the garden that disturbs them all so much? Tom, Bea and Kitty go back a long way. They've known each other since they were young and unformed. But who have they become? And what price have they paid? Ancient Lights premiered at the Hampstead Theatre in November, 2000. "An acute and funny writer, Stephenson carves out a welcome territory that is distinctive, contemporary and theatrical." - Independent

A gorgeous fantasy in the spirit of Pan’s Labyrinth “that will appeal to those who loved Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane and John Connolly’s The Book of Lost Things” (Library Journal, starred review). Set in a world similar to our own, during a war that parallels World War II, A Green and Ancient Light is the stunning story of a boy who is sent to stay with his grandmother for the summer in a serene fishing village. Their tranquility is shattered by the crash of a bullet-riddled enemy plane, the arrival of grandmother’s friend Mr. Girandole—a man who knows the true story of Cinderella’­s slipper—and the discovery of a riddle in the sacred grove of ruins behind grandmother’s house. In a sumptuous idyllic setting and overshadowed by the threat of war, four unlikely allies learn the values of courage and sacrifice.

"the first book in twenty years to gather together a comprehensive prehistoric record --

In a series of biographical case studies, Portraits from Life examines how seven canonical Modernist writers - Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, Henry James, Wyndham Lewis, Gertrude Stein, H.G. Wells and Edith Wharton - depicted themselves in their memoirs and autobiographies.