Shortlisted for the 2012 COSTA Novel AwardBilly's Mum is dead. He knows - because he reads about it in magazines - that people die every day in ways that are more random and tragic and stupid than hers, but for nineteen-year-old Billy and his little brother, Oscar, their mother's death in a bungled street robbery is the most random and tragic and stupid thing that could possibly have happened to them.Now Billy must be both mother and father to Oscar, and despite what his well-meaning aunt, the PTA mothers, the social services and Oscar's own prodigal father all think, he knows he is more than up to the job, thank you very much.The boys' new world, where bedtimes are arbitrary, tidiness is optional and healthy home-cooked meals pile up uneaten in the freezer, is built out of chaos and fierce love, but it's also a world that teeters perilously on its axis. And as Billy's obsession with his mother's missing killer grows, he risks losing sight of the one thing that really matters...Funny, bittersweet and unforgettable, Life! Death! Prizes! is a story of grief, resilience and brotherly love.

Literary Prizes and Cultural Transfer addresses the multilevel nature of literary and translation prizes, with the aim of expanding our knowledge about them as an international and transnational phenomenon. The contributions to this book analyse the social, institutional, and ideological functions of such prizes. This volume not only looks at famous prizes and celebrities but also lesser known prizes in more peripheral language areas and regions, with a special focus on cultural transmitters and their networks, which play a decisive role in the award industry. Cultural transfer and translations are at the heart of this book and this approach adds a new dimension to the study of literary and translation prizes. The contributions reveal the diverse ways in which a cultural transfer approach enhances the study of literary prizes, presenting the state of the art regarding recent developments in the field. Articles with a broader scope discuss definitions, concepts, and methods, while other contributions deal with specific case studies. A variety of theoretical and methodological approaches are explored, applying field theory, network analysis, comparative literature, and cultural transfer studies. By providing multiple perspectives on the literary prize, this volume aims to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of this intriguing phenomenon.

'When it's time to hang the capitalists, they will sell us the rope.' May 1907. Young Stalin – poet, bank-robber, spy – is in London for the 5th Congress of the Russian Communist Party. As he builds his powerbase in the party, Stalin manipulates alliances with Lenin, Trotsky, and Rosa Luxemburg under the eyes of the Czar's secret police. Meanwhile he is drawn to the fiery Finnish activist Elli Vuokko and risks everything in a relationship as complicated as it is dangerous.

What happens if you do actually find the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow? Nicky has always known Russell was rich, but he has no idea how astronomically rich Russell is until his friend drops dead, on his fiftieth birthday, with Nicky as the only witness. And now Nicky has come up with an uncharacteristically daring plan. If Nicky were to become Russell and leave his old life lying dead on the bathroom floor, he and his family could start again. But when the foundations of their glittering existence start to crack, the impact of his hasty decision begins to be felt by those around him: by Nicky's distant father; by his daughter's babysitter and her boyfriend, who harbour grand hopes of their own; by a young Englishwoman attempting to find her father; and by Catherine, an ex-soldier with a suspicious interest in Nicky's movements...

Chameleon - A True Crime Quickie is the fifth book in a compelling series of true crime short stories for readers who don't have time to read a full-length novel. "The Story of Chester Turner" examines the horrifying account of the serial killer dubbed, "Chester the Molester".

2018 People’s Book Prize Finalist Longlisted for the 2017 Guardian Not the Booker Prize Meet Sonny Anderson: budding author, ex-meth-head, neurotic and Shaun of the Dead obsessive. Sonny doesn’t remember his mother because when he was five, his father kidnapped him from his home in Scotland and took him to live on a commune in the Brazilian outback. Since the age of eleven, he has lived in Southern California with his enigmatic guardian, Thomas – but on his twenty-first birthday he receives a gift that will throw his life wildly off course, all over again. Armed with five mysterious letters and a list of addresses, Sonny musters the courage to return to the UK and finally learn the truth about his childhood. As the story of his past unravels, though, he's less sure it's the truth he wants to hear.

Weaving together the story of his fractured relationship to his mother with research into her paranormal abilities, Dr. Christian Smith has created, in The Scientist and the Psychic, a captivating, one-of-a-kind memoir of belief, skepticism and familial love. Christian Smith realized his mother was different in the autumn of 1977 when he was eight years old. Before then, he'd witnessed séances at home and the kids at school sometimes teased him about his mom being a witch--so he sensed that his life wasn't typical. But it wasn't until he was backstage at a renowned concert venue in Toronto, watching from behind a curtain as Geraldine commanded an audience of 2,000 with her extrasensory readings, that he understood she was special. As Geraldine's only child, he would assume the role of the quiet observer while she guided a live CBC broadcast of a séance; made startling and consistently accurate predictions; and eventually moved to LA to work with the parents of murder victims--and with convicted murderer Jeffrey R. MacDonald. Over time, the high profile and emotionally depleting work affected Geraldine's health and relationships. Addiction took over her life, and her son pulled away. Fast forward to the present day: Christian is a molecular biologist and Geraldine is retired and in poor health. They are closer than they've ever been, and now he gives us the story of her undeniable perceptual abilities and pioneering work as a psychic--and endeavours to make scientific sense of it.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The award-winning book that inspired an Apple Original series from Apple TV+ • A landmark investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina—and the suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and justice—from a Pulitzer Prize–winning physician and reporter “An amazing tale, as inexorable as a Greek tragedy and as gripping as a whodunit.”—Dallas Morning News After Hurricane Katrina struck and power failed, amid rising floodwaters and heat, exhausted staff at Memorial Medical Center designated certain patients last for rescue. Months later, a doctor and two nurses were arrested and accused of injecting some of those patients with life-ending drugs. Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting by Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink, unspools the mystery, bringing us inside a hospital fighting for its life and into the most charged questions in health care: which patients should be prioritized, and can health care professionals ever be excused for hastening death? Transforming our understanding of human nature in crisis, Five Days at Memorial exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals how ill-prepared we are for large-scale disasters—and how we can do better. ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Chicago Tribune, Seattle Times, Entertainment Weekly, Christian Science Monitor, Kansas City Star WINNER: National Book Critics Circle Award, J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Ridenhour Book Prize, American Medical Writers Association Medical Book Award, National Association of Science Writers Science in Society Award

"SURPRISINGLY FUN . . . The heroic trio lead strenuous lives, ER-style, all with an eye for the Nobel Prize." --Kirkus Reviews Now from the bestselling author of Love Story and Doctors comes a powerful and moving saga of three extraordinary individuals as they compete for the ultimate glory: the Nobel Prize. Erich Segal takes us inside the research labs and clinics, the homes and hearts, of the world's most elite doctors and scientists--two men and one woman--whose genius, dedication, and passion cannot always win for them the love and recognition they so desperately seek. Loyalty and betrayal, disappointment and loss, scandal and secrets--all will play roles in the personal and professional lives of these gifted scientists who hold the key to life and death for so many. And through it all the Nobel Prize beckons with its seductive promise. Two will be selected for this highest honor; one of them will not live to receive it. Yet all will discover the enduring truth: that life has many prizes to offer, and many come to us in the most unexpected ways. . . . "COMPELLING . . . It is reward in itself to follow the chronicle of three trailblazing scientists, each out to better the world while conquering his own personal demons." --West Coast Review of Books A MAIN SELECTION OF THE LITERARY GUILD(c)

The first full-scale biography of John Hay since 1934: From secretary to Abraham Lincoln to secretary of state for Theodore Roosevelt, Hay was an essential American figure for more than half a century. John Taliaferro’s brilliant biography captures the extraordinary life of Hay, one of the most amazing figures in American history, and restores him to his rightful place. Private secretary to Lincoln and secretary of state to Theodore Roosevelt, Hay was both witness and author of many of the most significant chapters in American history—from the birth of the Republican Party, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, to the prelude to World War I. As an ambassador and statesman, he guided many of the country’s major diplomatic initiatives at the turn of the twentieth century: the Open Door with China, the creation of the Panama Canal, and the establishment of America as a world leader. Hay’s friends are a who’s who of the era: Mark Twain, Horace Greeley, Henry Adams, Henry James, and virtually every president, sovereign, author, artist, power broker, and robber baron of the Gilded Age. His peers esteemed him as “a perfectly cut stone” and “the greatest prime minister this republic has ever known.” But for all his poise and polish, he had his secrets. His marriage to one of the wealthiest women in the country did not prevent him from pursuing the Madame X of Washington society, whose other secret suitor was Hay’s best friend, Henry Adams. All the Great Prizes, the first authoritative biography of Hay in eighty years, renders a rich and fascinating portrait of this brilliant American and his many worlds.