This intimate and compelling historical novel deftly interweaves three periods in the life of 17th-century painter Nathaniel Deller: in 1650, just after Charles I's execution, the young Deller joins a political group too radical even for the Roundheads; ten years later, on the night of Charles II's return from exile, Deller is accused by his former friend Thomas Digby of betraying their ideals; and in 1680, the increasingly blind painter commissions his former pupil William Stroud to finish the portrait of his late wife, knowing this could reignite the romance between Stroud and the daughter he tyrannises. Offering a vivid picture of England spanning the English Civil War and Restoration, GHOST PORTRAIT explores the conflict between public duty and private desire, idealism and ambition.
The characters on Norminton's purgatorial 'Ship of Fools' - a ship that's going nowhere fast - bicker and struggle for attention; telling tales that bounce off one another to form a compendium of interralated stories, running from lyrical romance to scabrous satire, by way of fairy-tale and black comedy. Often wickedly funny, always stunningly written and displaying an astonishing range of voices (the prudish nun, the bawdy old woman, the penitent drunkard, and the glutton whose stomach does all the talking - to name a few) 'The Ship of Fools' is truly a treasure chest of a novel, and an example of story-telling at its very best.
Three journeys. Three thousand years. One destination. The Devil's Highway is a thrilling, epic and intimate tale of love, loss, fanaticism, heroism and sacrifice. A Roman road, an Iron Age hill fort, a hand-carved flint, and a cycle of violence that must be broken. An ancient British boy, discovering a terrorist plot, must betray his brother to save his tribe. In the twenty-first century, two people - one traumatised by war, another by divorce - clash over the use and meaning of a landscape. In the distant future, a gang of feral children struggles to reach safety in a broken world. Their stories are linked by one ancient road, the 'Devil's Highway' in the heart of England: the site of human struggles that resemble one another more than they differ. Spanning centuries, and combining elements of historical and speculative fiction with the narrative drive of pure thriller, this is a breathtakingly original novel that challenges our dearly held assumptions about civilisation.
Known for both its industrial roots and arboreal abundance, Sheffield has always been a city of two halves. From its botanical gardens and elegant parks, to the brutalist high-rise estates of Park Hill, and the hinterland nightclubs of ‘Centertainment’, it is a city caught between the forges of the past and the melting pot of the present. Bringing together new short stories from some of the city’s most celebrated writers, The Book of Sheffield traces the contours of this complex landscape from both sides of the economic dividing line. From the aspirations of young creatives, ultimately driven to leave, to the more immediate demands of refugees, scrap metal collectors, and student radicals, these stories offer ten different look-out points from which to gaze down on the ever-changing face of the ‘Steel City’.
In the early 1990s, at an old-fashioned boarding school, two boys form an intense friendship that will shape the course of their lives. Bruno Jackson, the shy and lonely son of British expats, is infatuated by the glamorous but troubled Anthony Blunden. Taken under the wing of an idealistic English teacher, the boys are encouraged to explore the 'more serious things' of life beyond college. But in the hothouse of the school, a slight from their mentor seems of earth-shattering importance, with fateful consequences. Years later, with the memories of that time almost buried, Bruno leads a blameless, uneventful life. The sudden reappearance of Anthony forces him to revisit the dark corners of his past and to decide how far he's prepared to go to assuage his conscience. From the acclaimed writer of GHOST PORTRAIT and THE SHIP OF FOOLS, this is a gripping tale of vengeance, morality and the complex paths that can lead to redemption.
For those who loved The Alchemist, Siddhartha, and Jonathan Livingston Seagull, This Flawless Place Between is a mesmerizing and uplifting story about death and dying. Interweaving themes from The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Portier takes us to Tibet and the scene of a motorcycle accident. Anne’s life is over, but with the help of a stranger her spirit begins a cathartic voyage that carries her back through the traumas and ecstasies of her life.
Three journeys. Three thousand years. One destination. The Devil’s Highway is a thrilling, epic and timely tale of love, loss, fanaticism, heroism and sacrifice. ‘Brilliant ... a powerful meditation on the damages – and the good – we have wrought, and will wreak, on the living world’ Robert Macfarlane, Book of the Year
A simple act of gallantry in the Malaysian jungle spawns a lifelong feud in the Home Counties... A fading actor with a terminal illness devises a meticulous plan to leave the stage in style... A pregnant composer contemplates motherhood at the end of civilisation... Spanning centuries and continents, the stories in this collection amount to a tour de force of literary worldbuilding. From deeply insecure time travellers to medieval mystics and futuristic body modification cults, Norminton’s characters find themselves torn between conflicting impulses – temptation and fortitude, hubris and shame, longing and regret. By turns sad, strange and darkly comic, The Ghost Who Bled reveals a master storyteller of incredible range. “Witty, intelligent, crunchily written, Norminton’s collection is pure reading pleasure.” Neel Mukherjee (Booker-shortlisted author of The Lives of Others) '"All the doors of the imagination are open to Gregory Norminton, the author of micro-fictions and exuberantly long novels; this collection roves magnificently from one side of the world to the other, bringing together people and their predicaments as only its author can. Read it and be transported, too." Michael Caines (The TLS) "Gregory Norminton’s tautly written, mordant short stories make the reader sit up and think. Startlingly original imagery and that rare thing, moral and political bite." Maggie Gee
Known for both its industrial roots and arboreal abundance, Sheffield has always been a city of two halves. From its botanical gardens and elegant parks, to the brutalist high-rise estates of Park Hill, and the hinterland nightclubs of ‘Centertainment’, it is a city caught between the forges of the past and the melting pot of the present. Bringing together new short stories from some of the city’s most celebrated writers, The Book of Sheffield traces the contours of this complex landscape from both sides of the economic dividing line. From the aspirations of young creatives, ultimately driven to leave, to the more immediate demands of refugees, scrap metal collectors, and student radicals, these stories offer ten different look-out points from which to gaze down on the ever-changing face of the ‘Steel City’.
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