Showing results by author "Maggie O'Farrell" in All Categories

I Am, I Am, I Am is Maggie O'Farrell's astonishing memoir of the near-death experiences that have punctuated and defined her life. The childhood illness that left her bedridden for a year, which she was not expected to survive. A teenage yearning to escape that nearly ended in disaster. An encounter with a disturbed man on a remote path. And, most terrifying of all, an ongoing, daily struggle to protect her daughter - for whom this book was written - from a condition that leaves her unimaginably vulnerable to life's myriad dangers.

Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and to devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Moderna and Regio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf.

London, 1976. In the thick of a record-breaking heatwave, Gretta Riordan's newly-retired husband has cleaned out his bank account and vanished. Now, for the first time in years, the three Riordan children are converging on their childhood home: Michael Francis, a history teacher whose marriage is failing; Monica, with two stepdaughters who despise her and an ugly secret that has driven a wedge between her and the little sister she once adored; and Aoife (pronounced EE-fah), the youngest, whose new life in Manhattan is elaborately arranged to conceal her illiteracy.

Edinburgh in the 1930s. The Lennox family is having trouble with its youngest daughter. Esme is outspoken, unconventional, and repeatedly embarrasses them in polite society. Even Kitty, Esme's beloved sister, is beginning to lose patience. Something will have to be done.

Alice Raikes takes a train from London to Scotland to visit her family, but when she gets there she witnesses something so shocking that she insists on returning to London immediately. A few hours later, Alice is lying in a coma after an accident that may or may not have been a suicide attempt. Alice's family gathers at her bedside and as they wait, argue, and remember, long-buried tensions emerge. The more they talk, the more they seem to conceal. Alice, meanwhile, slides between varying levels of consciousness, recalling her past and a love affair that recently ended.

England, 1580. A young Latin tutor—penniless, bullied by a violent father—falls in love with an eccentric young woman: a wild creature who walks her family's estate with a falcon on her shoulder and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer.

When the bohemian, sophisticated Innes Kent turns up by chance on her doorstep, Lexie Sinclair realises she cannot wait any longer for her life to begin, and leaves for London. There, at the heart of the 1950s Soho art scene, she carves out a new life for herself, with Innes at her side. In the present day, Elina and Ted are reeling from the difficult birth of their first child.

On a cold February afternoon, Stella catches sight of a man she hasn't seen for many years, but instantly recognizes. Or thinks she does. At the same moment on the other side of the globe, in the middle of a crowd of Chinese New Year revelers, Jake realizes that things are becoming dangerous. They know nothing of one another's existence, but both Stella and Jake flee their lives: Jake in search of a place so remote it doesn't appear on any map, and Stella for a destination in Scotland, the significance of which only her sister, Nina, will understand.

Daniel Sullivan, a young American professor reeling from a failed marriage and a brutal custody battle, is on vacation in Ireland when he falls in love with a world-famous actress who has fled fame for a rural village. Together, they make an idyllic life in the country, raising two more children in blissful seclusion—until a secret from Daniel's past threatens to destroy their meticulously constructed and fiercely protected home.

Florencia, mediados del siglo XVI. Lucrezia, tercera hija del gran duque Cosimo de' Medici, es una niña callada y perspicaz, con un singular talento para el dibujo, que disfruta de su discreto y tranquilo lugar en el palazzo. Pero cuando muere su hermana Maria, justo antes de casarse con Alfonso d'Este, primogénito del duque de Ferrara, Lucrezia se convierte inesperadamente en el centro de atención: el duque se apresura a pedir su mano, y su padre a aceptarla. Poco después, con solo quince años, se traslada a la corte de Ferrara, donde es recibida con recelo.

Un jour d'été 1596, dans la campagne anglaise, une petite fille tombe gravement malade. Son frère jumeau, Hamnet, part chercher de l'aide car aucun de leurs parents n'est à la maison... Agnes, leur mère, n'est pourtant pas loin, en train de cueillir des herbes médicinales dans les champs alentour ; leur père est à Londres pour son travail ; tous deux inconscients de cette maladie, de cette ombre qui plane sur leur famille et menace de tout engloutir.

Audible Exclusive. Maggie O'Farrell joins us to talk about This Must Be the Place....

When Lily moves into new boyfriend Marcus's apartment and plunges headlong into their relationship, she must contend with an intangible, hostile presence—Marcus’s ex-girlfriend, Sinead. As Lily and Marcus become more deeply involved, Lily becomes obsessed with Sinead's fate and thinks she sees her everywhere. She must question not only her sanity, but whether the man she loves is someone she can, or should, be with at all.

Edinburgh in the 1930s. The Lennox family is having trouble with its youngest daughter. Esme is outspoken, unconventional, and repeatedly embarrasses them in polite society. Something will have to be done. Years later, a young woman named Iris Lockhart receives a letter informing her that she has a great-aunt in a psychiatric unit who is about to be released.

Une écriture d'une beauté inouïe, portée par la voix de Marie Bouvet. C'est un grand jour à Ferrare. On y célèbre les noces du duc Alfonso et de Lucrèce de Médicis. La fête est extravagante et la foule n'a d'yeux que pour le couple. La mariée a quinze ans. Rien ne l'avait préparée à ce rôle. Elle n'était que la troisième fille du grand duc de Toscane, la discrète, la sensible, celle dont ses parents ne savaient que faire. Mais le décès soudain de sœur aînée a changé son histoire.

One night Sylvie awakens to an incredible sight: a glowing figure tiptoeing across her floor, with enormous feathery wings wafting from his back. He’s muttering to himself, trying to remember his orders, for this is his first flight. Could he really be the same angel she made last winter in the snow? Sylvie’s angel says she isn’t supposed to see him. He has been sent to save her life, and when the danger is past, she won’t remember he was there. But she does remember. She thinks of him every day.

Ante el inminente cierre del viejo hospital psiquiátrico de Cauldstone, en Edimburgo, las autoridades comunican a Iris que debe hacerse cargo de su tía abuela Esme Lennox, quien será puesta en libertad tras sesenta y un años de internamiento. El desconcierto inicial de la joven, que desconocía la existencia de la anciana, se verá pronto superado por una genuina curiosidad. ¿Qué motivo llevó a la reclusión de Esme cuando tenía solo dieciséis años? ¿Por qué se ocultó su historia al resto de la familia durante décadas?

A gorgeously written story of love and motherhood with stunning emotional punch - this is Maggie O'Farrell doing what she does better than anyone.This is the story of two women - Lexie and Elina, a journalist and a painter - separated by fifty years, but linked by a story of love, family secrets and deception, that touches powerfully on the theme of motherhood. It is acclaimed and bestselling author Maggie O'Farrell's most emotionally satisfying novel to date.

When the sophisticated Innes Kent turns up on her doorstep, Lexie Sinclair realizes she cannot wait any longer for her life to begin, and leaves for London. There, at the heart of the 1950s Soho art scene, she carves out a new life. In the present day, Elina and Ted are reeling from the difficult birth of their first child. Elina struggles to reconcile the demands of motherhood with her sense of herself as an artist, and Ted is disturbed by memories of his own childhood that don’t tally with his parents’ version of events.

Après le succès d'"Assez de bleu dans le ciel", Maggie O'Farrell revient avec un nouveau tour de force littéraire. Poétique, subtile, intense, une œuvre à part qui nous parle tout à la fois de féminisme, de maternité, de violence, de peur et d'amour, portée par une construction vertigineuse. Une romancière à l'apogée de son talent. Il y a ce cou, qui a manqué être étranglé par un violeur en Écosse. Il y a ces poumons, qui ont cessé leur œuvre quelques instants dans l'eau glacée. Il y a ce ventre, meurtri par les traumatismes de l'accouchement.