Bøker utgitt av Harpervia

One of the great lyricists of our time, the lead singer and songwriter for the iconic Glasgow-based band Belle and Sebastian, pens a sensitive and intimate account--his debut novel based on his own youthful experiences--of dark days leading to light and a coming of age through music. It's the early 1990s in Glasgow, Scotland, and Stephen has emerged from a lengthy hospital stay. Diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, a little-understood disease which has robbed him of any prospects of work, friends, or independent living, he moves slowly toward new goals and meets others like him, including Richard, a friend from school, and Carrie, a young woman bedridden for five years. Feeling isolated and alone, they form their own support group, and try to get by with as little money and pain as possible. Since he's been ill, Stephen never feels warm, inspiring Carrie to affectionately call him "The World's Coldest Boy." As the world seems to care less for them, the trio start to care less about fitting in with the world.Stephen soon discovers he has a talent for writing songs. He awakens to the possibility of a spiritual life that transcends the everyday, and feels a calling for a place that might as well be on the other end of the universe let alone the world. Buoyed by tentative hope, he and Richard leave Glasgow in search of a cure in the mythic warmth and sun of California. As they float between hostels, sofas, and park benches, they discover the trip is life-changing in ways neither expected, and Stephen embraces a new-world reinvention that will change his life forever.Melodic and captivating, filled with graceful notes, melancholic chords, and witty, thoughtful riffs on life's infinite possibilities and curiosities, Nobody's Empire is a warm and wonderful coming-of-age novel, imbued with Stuart Murdoch's magical lyricism.

Part coming-of-age tale, part family saga, an extraordinary debut novel set between Berlin, Chicago, and Jerusalem "about being Jewish and German, and all the awkwardness that entails" (The Guardian). It's the hottest of summers in Chicago, and fifteen-year-old Margarita is spending her vacation as usual, under the not-so-watchful eyes of her aging maternal grandparents. The tempestuous yet vulnerable teen would much rather be at home in Germany, exploring texciting Berlin with her best friend Anna, or with Avi, her doting Israeli father, a cantor at their local synagogue with whom she has shared a special bond ever since her mother, Marsha, abandoned the family. Instead, she's stuck halfway around the world in a cavernous house, homesick and tortured by the awful sound of her grandparents' chewing. Yet young Margarita is blindsided whenthe announcement is made that arrangements have been made behind her back for her to meet Marsha in Israel before returning to Germany. Margarita wants no part of the ill-conceived plan but finds herself traveling to her father's birthplace to spend two weeks with a mother she hardly knows in an attempt at overdue reconciliation. When her mother fails to show up, however, it's clear that things are about to go awry. Meanwhile, in Germany, Avi tries to fill the hole left by Margarita's absence with a trip of his own, embarking on a personal journey, both hope-inducing and despairing.Expertly straddling the two narratives of daughter and father, Dana Vowinkel's debut is a graceful exploration of imperfect family relationships and larger cultural displacement. Centered around a neurotic but loveable cast of characters, Misophonia is a heartfelt and tender story that explores modern Jewish identity and the diaspora -- an illuminating portrait of Jewish life in contemporary Germany.Translated from the German by Adrian Nathan West

The New York Times bestselling author of The Hangman's Daughter returns with the first volume in a brand-new mystery series which introduces a gravedigger and young inspector who must stop a serial killer in fin de siecle Vienna--the period during which modern criminology was born.Vienna, 1893. A gravedigger at the city's famous Central Cemetery, Augustin Rothmayer is aan unorthodox yet highly educated oddball who finds solace amongst the dead as well as in the writing the pages of the first almanac of his profession. But his fragile peace is abruptly disturbed when young inspector Leopold von Herzfeldt, an ambitious young transfer from Graz, arrives in need of help from someone expert in death. No one knows the subject better than Augustin Rothmeyer.A superstitious killer is on the loose. His victims include several maids, each brutally staked. Recognizing the killer is using an ancient ritual for keeping the undead buried, the gravedigger joins the inspector on a journey that will take them deep into the underworld of their glamorous cosmopolitan city. In their search for a depraved monster, they receive unexpected help from telephone operator Julia Wolf, who impresses them with her unusual insight even as she fights her own personal demons.Oliver Pötzsch's inventive historical crime series delivers the thrills and historical detail modern international mystery fans crave: a grippingly plotted mystery, a rich and painstakingly researched setting, a fascinating look into the beginnings of modern criminology, and an unlikely and unforgettable trio of characters.

Reminiscent of the works of Joanna Quinn and The Children’s Train, a poignant and hopeful novel, set in  small town 1940s Italy, in which a young illiterate herdsman learns to read with the help of his two friends—a gift that will open his eyes to a new world and change the course of his life. September 1942. Davide is an uneducated but sensitive pigskeeper, a dreamer who imagines a life beyond his small town in Southern Italy—away from the animals he cares for, from the other children who mock him for the limp he has born since birth, and the brutal hand of his Mussolini-loving father.Teresa, his friend and the only person with the courage to defend him from the schoolroom bullies, also yearns to escape. She hopes to go to Rome before she is trapped in a marriage of convenience arranged by her parents.When a group of thirty-six Jews from Naples forcibly relocated by the Fascist authorities arrives, everyday life begins to change. Among them is Nicolas, a boy who brings with him an unknown world that is initially met with animosity by the villagers. But when Nicolas’ father sets up an underground school, Davide begins to attend classes and soon, as he learns to read, this illiterate herdsman begins a journey that will change him forever. As Davide, Teresa, and Nicolas grow closer, they venture into the countryside surrounding the village and into the unmarked terrain of adolescence and unspoken feelings. Though the war and a single tragic event will break them apart, their friendship indelibly marks Davide, leading him on the path to a new future beyond this small world.Many years later, Davide, now a successful writer for the theater, sets out to find his lost friends again.

"A classic story . . . delivers real news from Cuba in a lyrical way."-NPRAvailable for a new generation, Wendy Guerra's intoxicating and heartrending classic--a portrait of economically depressed post-revolutionary Cuba in the late 1970s, written as the diary of a young girl left behind by her parents and the state, who becomes caught in an acrimonious custody battle.It is 1978, and Nieve finds herself caught between the tides of her parents' turbulent relationship and a country in turmoil. To try to control her situation, she begins to record the intimate and harsh details of her life in her diary. Becoming her sole means of expression, the diary is her only constant and her only friend. From being torn from her mother, her mother's free-spirited and loving boyfriend, and her childhood city of Cienfuegos, to living with her abusive father, an alcoholic theater actor, to her forced induction as a Cuban "revolutionary Pioneer," Nieve records in honest detail a life in which she is powerless as she loses the people and freedom she loves.Mirroring Wendy Guerra's own adolescent experiences, Everyone Leaves is a vivid portrait of family life and social and political unrest in Castro's Cuba that explores how the patriarchal and conformist notions of the Revolution ultimately betrayed the nation's women.Translated from the Spanish by Achy Obejas

"A decades-long, seemingly rock-solid marriage suddenly falls apart during one hot Stockholm summer"--

"A tense and darky comic novel that casts a caustic light on the relationship between mothers and daughters and truth and self-preservation"--]cProvided by publisher.

Set between the last years of the ?Chinese Windrush? in 1966 and Hong Kong's Handover to China in 1997, a mysterious inheritance sees a young woman from London uncovering buried secrets in her late mother's homeland in this captivating, wry debut about family, identity, and the price of belonging.Hong Kong, 1966. Sook-Yin is exiled from Kowloon to London with orders to restore honor to her family. But as she trains to become a nurse in cold and wet England, Sook-Yin realizes that, like so many transplants, she must carve out a destiny of her own to survive.Thirty years later in London, having lost her mother as a small child, biracial misfit Lily can only remember what Maya, her preternaturally perfect older sister, has told her about Sook-Yin. Unexpectedly named in the will of a powerful Chinese stranger, Lily embarks on a secret pilgrimage across the world to discover the lost side of her identity and claim the reward. But just as change is coming to Hong Kong, so Lily learns Maya's secrecy about their past has deep roots, and that good fortune comes at a price. Heartfelt, wry and achingly real, Ghost Girl, Banana marks the stunning debut of a writer-to-watch.

Translated into 40 languages, winner of the Norwegian Bookseller's Prize, and the most successful Norwegian author of her generation, Maja Lunde returns with a heart-wrenching tale, set in the distant past and the dystopian future, about extinction and survival, family and hope.Mikhail lives in Russia in 1881. When a skeleton of a rare wild horse is brought to him, the zoologist plans an expedition to Mongolia to find the fabled Przewalski horse, a journey that tests not only his physicality, but his heart.In 1992, Karin, alongside her troubled son Mathias and several Przewalski horses, travels to Mongolia to re-introduce the magnificent horses to their native land. The veterinarian has dedicated her life to saving the breed from extinction, prioritizing the wild horses, even over her own son. Europe's future is uncertain in 2064, but Eva is willing to sacrifice nearly everything to hold onto her family's farm. Her teenage daughter implores Eva to leave the farm and Norway, but a pregnant wild mare Eva is tending is about to foal. Then, a young woman named Louise unexpectedly arrives on the farm, with mysterious intentions that will either bring them all together, or devastate them one by one.Spanning continents and centuries, The Last Wild Horses is a powerful tale of survival and connection?of humans, animals, and the indestructible bonds that unite us all. Translated from the Norwegian by Diane Oatley

An IndieNext Pick! A Best Book of 2022 in Harper's Bazaar, Daily Mail, Glamour, and Thrillist!Most Anticipated of 2022 in The Millions, Ms. Magazine, LitHubA young, mixed-race vampire must find a way to balance her deep-seated desire to live amongst humans with her incessant hunger in this stunning debut novel from a writer-to-watch.Lydia is hungry. She's always wanted to try Japanese food. Sashimi, ramen, onigiri with sour plum stuffed inside - the food her Japanese father liked to eat. And then there is bubble tea and iced-coffee, ice cream and cake, and foraged herbs and plants, and the vegetables grown by the other young artists at the London studio space she is secretly squatting in. But, Lydia can't eat any of these things. Her body doesn't work like those of other people. The only thing she can digest is blood, and it turns out that sourcing fresh pigs' blood in London - where she is living away from her vampire mother for the first time - is much more difficult than she'd anticipated.Then there are the humans - the other artists at the studio space, the people at the gallery she interns at, the strange men that follow her after dark, and Ben, a boyish, goofy-grinned artist she is developing feelings for. Lydia knows that they are her natural prey, but she can't bring herself to feed on them. In her windowless studio, where she paints and studies the work of other artists, binge-watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer and videos of people eating food on YouTube and Instagram, Lydia considers her place in the world. She has many of the things humans wish for - perpetual youth, near-invulnerability, immortality ? but she is miserable; she is lonely; and she is hungry - always hungry.As Lydia develops as a woman and an artist, she will learn that she must reconcile the conflicts within her - between her demon and human sides, her mixed ethnic heritage, and her relationship with food, and, in turn, humans - if she is to find a way to exist in the world. Before any of this, however, she must eat.?Absolutely brilliant ? tragic, funny, eccentric and so perfectly suited to this particularly weird time. Claire Kohda takes the vampire trope and makes it her own in a way that feels fresh and original. Serious issues of race, disability, misogyny, body image, sexual abuse are handled with subtlety, insight, and a lightness of touch. The spell this novel casts is so complete I feel utterly, and happily, bitten.? -- Ruth Ozeki, Booker-shortlisted author of A Tale for the Time Being

A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY * A PEOPLE MAGAZINE PICK * AN INDIE NEXT PICK * A LIBRARYREADS PICK *AN AMAZON EDITORS PICK ?On every page there are little shimmering bombs. Like Room, where parenthood is at once your jail and your salvation, it is almost claustrophobic?but in the most glorious way.??Lisa Taddeo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Three Women and AnimalA rising international literary star makes her American debut with this visceral, tender, and brave portrait of addiction, recovery, and motherhood, as harrowing and intense as Shuggie Bain.Sonya used to perform on stage. She used to attend glamorous parties, date handsome men, ride in fast cars. But somewhere along the way, the stage lights Sonya lived for dimmed for good. In their absence, came darkness?blackouts, empty cupboards, hazy nights she can't remember.What keeps Sonya from losing herself completely is Tommy, her son. But her immense love for Tommy is in fierce conflict with her immense love of the bottle. Addiction amplifies her fear of losing her child; every maternal misstep compels her to drink. Tommy's precious life is in her shaky hands. Eventually Sonya is forced to make a choice. Give up drinking or lose Tommy?forever.Bright Burning Things is an emotional tour-de-force?a devastating, nuanced, and ultimately hopeful look at an addict's journey towards rehabilitation and redemption.A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK FROM: Washington Post, The Millions, PopSugar, Shondaland, Good Morning America, Nylon, Good Housekeeping, Town & Country

From one of China's most acclaimed and decorated writers comes a powerful first-person account of life in Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak.On January 25, 2020, after the central government imposed a lockdown in Wuhan, acclaimed Chinese writer Fang Fang began publishing an online diary. In the days and weeks that followed, Fang Fang's nightly postings gave voice to the fears, frustrations, anger, and hope of millions of her fellow citizens, reflecting on the psychological impact of forced isolation, the role of the internet as both community lifeline and source of misinformation, and most tragically, the lives of neighbors and friends taken by the deadly virus. A fascinating eyewitness account of events as they unfold, Wuhan Diary captures the challenges of daily life and the changing moods and emotions of being quarantined without reliable information. Fang Fang finds solace in small domestic comforts and is inspired by the courage of friends, health professionals and volunteers, as well as the resilience and perseverance of Wuhan's nine million residents. But, by claiming the writer¿s duty to record she also speaks out against social injustice, abuse of power, and other problems which impeded the response to the epidemic and gets herself embroiled in online controversies because of it.As Fang Fang documents the beginning of the global health crisis in real time, we are able to identify patterns and mistakes that many of the countries dealing with the novel coronavirus have later repeated. She reminds us that, in the face of the new virus, the plight of the citizens of Wuhan is also that of citizens everywhere. As Fang Fang writes: ?The virus is the common enemy of humankind; that is a lesson for all humanity. The only way we can conquer this virus and free ourselves from its grip is for all members of humankind to work together.? Blending the intimate and the epic, the profound and the quotidian, Wuhan Diary is a remarkable record of an extraordinary time. Translated from the Chinese by Michael Berry

?Two world wars and the passage of more than a century do not overshadow [Bernhard Schlink's] story of lovers who never fully belong to each other, just as they never fully belonged to the world.??Booklist?A brilliant novel about history and the nature of memory.??Evening StandardA sweeping novel of love and passion from author of the international bestseller The Reader about a woman out of step with her time, whose life is witness to some of the most tumultuous events of modern age.Abandoned by her parents, young Olga is raised by her grandmother in a Prussian village in the early years of the twentieth century. Smart and precocious, endearing but uncompromising, she fights against ingrained chauvinism to find her place in a world run by lesser men.When Olga falls in love with her neighbor, Herbert, the son of a local aristocrat, her life is irremediably changed. While Herbert indulges his thirst for exploration and adventure, Olga is limited by her gender and circumstance. Her love for Herbert goes against all odds and encounters many obstacles, but even when they are separated, it enduresUnfolding across decades?from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century?and across continents?from Germany to Africa and the Arctic, from the Baltic Sea to the German south-west?Olga is an epic romance, and a wrenching tale of a woman's devotion to a restless man in an age of constant change. Though Olga exists in the shadows of others, she pursues life to the fullest and her magnetic presence shines?revealing a woman complex, fascinating, and unforgettable. Told in three distinct parts, brilliantly shifting from different points of view and narrative formats, Bernhard Schlink's magnificent novel is a rich, full portrait of a singular woman and her world.Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins

Featured on NPR's WEEKEND EDITIONSet in the wake of Hurricane Maria, Xavier Navarro Aquino's unforgettable debut novel follows a remarkable group of survivors searching for hope on an island torn apart by both natural disaster and human violence.Camila is haunted by the death of her sister, Marisol, who was caught by a mudslide during the huracán. Unable to part with Marisol, Camila carries her through town, past the churchyard, and, eventually, to the supposed utopia of Memoria. Urayoán, the idealistic, yet troubled cult leader of Memoria, has a vision for this new society, one that in his eyes is peaceful and democratic. The paradise he preaches lures in the young, including Bayfish, a boy on the cusp of manhood, and Morivivi, a woman whose outward toughness belies an inner tenderness for her friends. But as the different members of Memoria navigate Urayoán's fiery rise, they will need to confront his violent authoritarian impulses in order to find a way to reclaim their home.Velorio?meaning ?wake??is a story of strength, resilience, and hope; a tale of peril and possibility buoyed by the deeply held belief in a people's ability to unite against those corrupted by power.