The book begins in the 1950s with the brutal murder of the central protagonist, Nina Hardy, at the hands of a mentally and physically scarred veteran of the First World War. What follows is an explanation of the motivation leading to the murder, of her childhood, her parents' lives, the brutality of war and the aftermath of her demise. The novel's narrative jumps between times and between narrators cohesively.
The title itself comes from the shade (or ghost) of Nina Hardy which, travelling through time, is able to review but not change the events leading to its loss of corporeality. Along with accounts of analogous occurrences that foreshadow Nina's brutal end, the impotence of her ghost to actually alter its fate lends a poignant air of inevitability to the entire story. The book is strongly descriptive, especially visually, and deals with emotional issues with plenty of narrative tricks and a strong literary style.
Pale Fire is a 1962 novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is presented as a 999-line poem titled "Pale Fire", written by the fictional poet John Shade, with a foreword, lengthy commentary and index written by Shade's neighbor and academic colleague, Charles Kinbote. Together these elements form a narrative in which both fictional authors are central characters. Nabokov wrote Pale Fire in 1960–61, after the success of Lolita had made him financially independent, allowing him to retire from teaching and return to Europe. It was commenced in Nice and completed in Montreux, Switzerland.
A Pair of Blue Eyes is a novel by Thomas Hardy, published in 1873, first serialised between September 1872 and July 1873. It was Hardy's third published novel, and the first not published anonymously upon its first publication. Hardy included it with his "romances and fantasies".
The Return of the Native is Thomas Hardy's sixth published novel. It first appeared in the magazine Belgravia, a publication known for its sensationalism, and was presented in twelve monthly installments from January to December 1878. Because of the novel's controversial themes, Hardy had some difficulty finding a publisher; reviews, however, though somewhat mixed, were generally positive. In the twentieth century, The Return of the Native became one of Hardy's most popular and highly regarded novels.
Nina Kiriki Hoffman is an American fantasy, science fiction and horror writer.
Birdsong is a 1993 war novel and family saga by the English author Sebastian Faulks. It is Faulks's fourth novel. The plot follows two main characters living at different times: the first is Stephen Wraysford, a British soldier on the front line in Amiens during the First World War, and the second is his granddaughter, Elizabeth Benson, whose 1970s plotline follows her attempts to recover an understanding of Stephen's experience of the war.
Anil's Ghost is the critically acclaimed fourth novel by Michael Ondaatje. It was first published in 2000 by McClelland and Stewart.
Lost is a 2001 novel by American author Gregory Maguire. Unlike many of Maguire's other adult novels, Lost is set in the real world. The novel's concept is that the protagonist is a distant relation of the man who inspired Charles Dickens' character of Ebenezer Scrooge.
Doina Ruști (Romanian pronunciation: [dojna ruʃti]; is a Romanian writer and novelist. Some of her novels are: Fantoma din moară, 2008, Zogru, 2006, and Lizoanca la 11 ani, 2009.
Maurice Leitch MBE is an author born in Northern Ireland. Leitch's work includes novels, short stories, dramas, screenplays and radio and television documentaries. His first novel was The Liberty Lad, published in 1965. His second novel, Poor Lazarus was awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1969, and Silver's City won the Whitbread Prize in 1981.
Sharpe's Honour is the sixteenth historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1985. In the Vitoria Campaign of the Peninsula War in 1813, Sharpe is framed for murder. He must find a way to clear his name to preserve the fragile alliance between Britain and Spain during the Napoleonic Wars.
A Disappearing Number is a 2007 play co-written and devised by the Théâtre de Complicité company and directed and conceived by English playwright Simon McBurney. It was inspired by the collaboration during the 1910s between the pure mathematicians Srinivasa Ramanujan from India, and the Cambridge University don G.H. Hardy.
Purge is a novel by Finnish-Estonian writer Sofi Oksanen, which has been translated into thirty-eight languages. Oksanen's third Finnish-language novel, Purge was published in 2008 and is based upon her original play of the same name, staged at the Finnish National Theatre in 2007. As of 2010, Purge is the only one of Oksanen's novels which has been translated into English.
Carrion Comfort is a science fiction/horror novel by American writer Dan Simmons, published in 1989 in hard cover by Dark Harvest and in 1990 in paperback by Warner Books. It won the Bram Stoker Award, the Locus Poll Award for Best Horror Novel, and the August Derleth Award for Best Novel. It is based on a novelette of the same title, published in 1983 in the magazine Omni. The first half of the novelette makes up chapter 1 of the novel, while the second half forms chapter 3.
Joyland is a novel by American writer Stephen King, published in 2013 by Hard Case Crime. It is King's second book for the imprint, following The Colorado Kid (2005). The first edition was released only in paperback, with the cover art created by Robert McGinnis and Glen Orbik. A limited hardcover edition followed a week later. The novel was nominated for the 2014 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original.
The Book of Night Women is a 2009 novel by Jamaican author Marlon James. The book was first published in hardback on February 19, 2009, by Riverhead Books. The story follows Lilith, a young woman born into slavery, who challenges the boundaries of what is expected of her.
The Winter Ghosts is a 2009 historical fiction novel by English author Kate Mosse based on The Cave, a novella she wrote earlier that year as part of the Quick Reads initiative.
I Am Providence is a 2016 murder mystery novel by American author Nick Mamatas. It was first published in paperback on August 9, 2016 through Night Shade Books in the United States and United Kingdom. The work alternately follows two writers both before and after one of them is murdered.
When the Elephants Dance is a historical fiction novel written by Tess Uriza Holthe and published in 2002. It is set in February, 1945 in the Philippines during the final week of the battle for control between the Americans and the Japanese during World War II. The story is divided into four parts, each told from a character's perspective and detailing events that occur in the moments leading up to the Japanese surrender. Within each part are multiple short stories that contain mythological elements and important themes of unity and loyalty and the downfall of innocence.
The Race is a 2014 science fiction and literary fiction novel by English writer Nina Allan. It is her debut novel and was first published in August 2014 in the United Kingdom by NewCon Press. A second edition of the book, in which an appendix was added, was published by Titan Books in July 2016. This new edition is the first book of a two-book deal Allan signed with Titan in 2015; the second book is The Rift, published in 2017.
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