Paula is a victim of mysterious harassment. She lives near the railway line that carries nuclear waste through the heart of London and feels curiously, constantly unwell. Grace, her remarkable eighty-five-year-old aunt, deplores the evils of the modern world. When she, too, is plagued by silent phone calls, she escapes to Seabourne on the South Coast, where nothing ever happens except quiet deaths and holidays. Bruno is a sexually quirky private detective who attacks daisies with scissors, germs with bleach and old ladies for fun. If he follows Grace to Seabourne, can anything save her? Inspired by the real-life murder of anti-nuclear protester Hilda Murrell, Grace is a breathtaking thriller that asks whether, in a bankrupt, dishonest, security-mad Britain, courage and love still count for something. 'Excellent' The Times 'Heart-stoppingly exciting' Time Out 'Maggie Gee's excellent novel treads a sure path between love and fear, taking as its starting point sinister and secret happenings in contemporary England. I read it twice, and it was even better the second time.' Anita Brookner, The Spectator 'Full of poignancy and power.' Jeannette Winterson
Vanessa Henman, a plucky but accident-prone white writer, flies from London to Uganda for an African writers' conference. She also means to visit her former cleaner, Ugandan Mary Tendo, now the successful Executive Housekeeper of Kampala's up-market Sheraton Hotel. But Mary has her own agenda: her son Jamil is missing, and she has secretly summoned Vanessa's beloved ex-husband Trevor, a plumber, to her home village to build a new well. Vanessa sets off alone on safari to distant Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to see the mountain gorillas. But she quarrels with her driver and a bloody war closes in on Bwindi from Congo. Can anyone save her? Will Mary Tendo find her son? One of her strongest novels to date...fast-moving, energetic, constantly surprising' Hilary Mantel Maggie Gee has never written better' Rose Tremain A tour de force - brilliantly structured, surprising, humane, and suspenseful' Elaine Showalter Brilliant...just brilliant...this book deserves to be published in every language' Hillary Jordan 'Executed with a lovely, light touch ... an immensely enjoyable novel.' Lionel Shriver, Daily Telegraph 'Worldy, witty, enjoyable, impressive' Doris Lessing 'Sparky, funny and terrifically entertaining' Guardian
It's the middle of the twenty-first century, and the next Ice Age has suddenly sent global warming into reverse. Saul is one of the Ice People, the threatened peoples of the northern hemisphere, who, watching their world freeze over, try to move south towards the equator... 'Excellent ... intelligent, driven, imaginative, obsessive yet still gracious, one of our best ... Exciting stuff.' Fay Weldon 'Ambitious and subtle... She writes elegantly, unsentimentally, expertly... The Ice People works persuasively as science fiction, and is truthful about our emotional lives.' Independent 'Infused with poetic intensity ... this is a gripping fictional realisation of what we fear: the death of civilisation. Maggie Gee achieves her apocalyptic vision without the clank of hardware and intergalactic wars. Her detail is precise and controlled and her beautifully orchestrated whisper of redemption is rooted in eternal myth.' Elizabeth Buchan The Times 'An intriguing novel of ideas, fully fleshed out ... Classy science fiction.' Mail on Sunday 'A remarkable novel... up there with Orwell and Huxley.' Jeremy Paxman 'A gem of a book.' Rose Tremain 'A rattling good page-turning yarn.' George Melly 'A fantastic book' Mariella Frostrup
It's the 2030s in Ramsgate and four people who don't look quite human are found sitting, naked, in the early spring sunlight on the quay of the quiet south coast resort. The locals are puzzled – the newcomers are larger and heavier than they are and say they are fleeing the heat. Soon more arrive. Their tall red-haired leader, The Professor, talks to the universe. The locals talk among themselves. Red people appear everywhere, making friends, going into the caves, liked by some but accused of bringing infection by others. Two rivalrous brothers, Liam and Joe, take different sides as one joins a notorious far-right group. Their teacher Monica is the first to warn there'll be trouble. And she's right, there is; but there is also a great Midsummer Festival, laughter and love. Set in a world in crisis, this original, gripping fable about migration and global warming restores belief in the power of human kindness. 'A stylish, intriguing novel. A fable bursting with freshness and foresight, a charming, sparkling jewel of a novel to be cherished and held high as an antidote to modern day bleakness and climate despair.'-- Leila Aboulela ' The Red Children offers a warning and a vision of our past, present and future. This timely, vital and generous book is extraordinary in its courage, and hopeful and brutally honest in its clarity. An essential book for our times.'-- Salena Godden 'Superb. A mesmerising, deeply engrossing work.'-- Irenosen Okojie
Ugandan Mary Tendo worked for many years in the white middle-class Henman household in London, cleaning for Vanessa and looking after her only child, Justin. More than ten years after Mary has left, Justin - now twenty-two - is too depressed to get out of bed. To his mother's surprise, he asks for Mary. When Mary responds to Vanessa's cry for help and returns from Uganda to look after Justin, the balance of power in the house shifts dramatically. Both women's lives change irrevocably as tensions build towards a climax on a snowbound motorway. 'Beautifully observed, intelligent and moving ... a carefully wrapped surprise that gets better and better with the unravelling.' The Scotsman 'A moving, funny, engrossing book.' The Observer 'Gee satirises the liberal conscience of the chattering classes with uncomfortable perception in this hugely enjoyable novel ... her portrayal of Britain's new underclass of immigrant workers is presented with her trademark stinging clarity.' Metro 'Maggie Gee is a superb and pitiless analyser of middleclass angst. Elegant, humorous and surprising, this is a classy performance.' The Times 'It's amazing how many details, characters, stories within stories, Maggie Gee's unquenchable exuberance crams into this comparatively short book.' The Spectator An intelligent and satisfying read.' The Sunday Times 'A masterful study in Africa/UK relations which manages to be supremely uncomfortable without being cynical, and clever without being calculating.' Big Issue 'The Flood was chillingly predictive. My Cleaner is a calmer, happier novel. Yet a gnawing tragedy lies in the shadows, all the more poignant for the deftness with which it's brushed aside.' The Independent
Alfred White, a London park keeper, rules his home with a mixture of rigidity and tenderness that has estranged his three children. For years, Alfred's daughter Shirley and her black partner Elroy have avoided her comically ignorant younger brother Dirk, who admires his father and hates people of colour. But family ties are strong: when Alfred collapses on duty one day, all the children rush to be with him. The scene is set for bloodshed, forcing Alfred to make a climactic choice between justice and kinship. Exploring the roots of racism in British society, The White Family traces what happens when a family reaches breaking point after years of love and hate, violence and polite silence. This twentieth-anniversary edition includes an introduction by Bernardine Evaristo and a note from the author revealing the story behind this contemporary classic. SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION AND THE INTERNATIONAL IMPAC DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 'In this ground-breaking new novel, Maggie Gee bravely and uniquely explores the nuances of racism from the perspective of the perpetrators, within the context of family relationships. The resulting work is a brilliant depiction of British society at the end of the twentieth century.'-- Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other 'Outstanding ... tender, sexy and alarming.' -- Jim Crace 'Courageous, honest, powerfully real'-- The Times 'Gee is unflinching in her exploration of the causes and consequences of racism.'-- The Observer 'The White Family points to new directions in British writing. Full of power and passion as well as some timely warnings ... it deserves the widest possible readership.'-- Literary Review 'A transcendent work.'-- Daily Telegraph 'A triumph of hope over despair, reconciliation over bitterness ... an unashamedly contemporary novel that embraces the ideological and emotional chaos of our time.'-- The Independent 'An audacious, ground-breaking condition-of-England novel that delves for the roots of xenophobic hatred and violence in the English hearth ... The White Family is finely judged and compulsively readable. Its head-on scrutiny of the uglier face of fair Albion is the more impressive for its rarity in British fiction.'-- The Guardian
President Bliss is handling a tricky situation with customary brio, but after months of ceaseless rain the city is sinking under the floods. The rich are safe on high ground, but the poor are getting damper in their packed tower blocks, and the fanatical 'Last Days' sect is recruiting thousands. When at last the sun breaks through the clouds Lottie heads off to the opera, husband Harold listens to jazz and their ditsy teenage daughter Lola fights capitalism by bunking off school. Shirley takes her twin boys to the zoo. The government - eager to detract attention from a foreign war it has waged - announces a spectacular City Gala. But not even TV astrologer Davey Lucas can predict the extraordinary climax that ensues. 'Gripping, original and highly entertaining - Maggie Gee at her superb best.' J G Ballard 'Dazzling ... alternately lyrical and austere ... unbearably touching.' The Observer 'Eloquent, angry and beautiful ... her best book yet.' Hilary Mantel 'The Flood is Gee's most apocalyptic vision to date ... an incredible feat of sustained imaginative continuity.' The Guardian 'A Must-Read Book for 2004.' Daily Mail ' ... an addition to an eccentric but valuable tradition of English fiction ... in which the visionary and the mundane mingle, producing effects by turn comical and grand.' Sunday Times 'Gee's ability to ask big "what if?" questions while never losing sight of the humdrum details of life ... gives her un-brave new world credibility.' The Independent '...exhuberant ... I thoroughly enjoyed it.' Sunday Telegraph 'The Flood, for all its passion and intricacy, is also a very funny book ... rewarding ... carefully written, using language echoing the water that ebbs and flows, and eventually floods the pages.' TLS ' ...a rare writer who is willing to address issues topical to contemporary Britain' Daily Telegraph 'A playful apocalypse.' The Bookseller ' ... a surprising melange of fantasy, realism, and very dry humour' Big Issue ' ... startling, insidious imagery' Metro 'Gee's admirably dyspeptic and frequently funny novel is a wake-up call to us all' Mail on Sunday 'Acutely drawn characters, and subtle observations about relationships and nature.' Time Out 'A satirist this lyrical, warm-hearted and imaginative is, like a unicorn, a rare and precious beast.' Weekend Australian
How do you become a writer, and why? Maggie Gee's journey starts a long way from the literary world in a small family in post-war Britain. At seventeen, Maggie goes, a lamb to the slaughter, to university. From the 1960s onwards she lives the defining events of her generation: the coming of the Pill and sexual freedom, tremors in the British layer-cake of class and race. In the 1980s, Maggie finally gets published, falls in love, marries and has a daughter -- but for the next three decades and beyond, she survives, and sometimes thrives, by writing. This frank, bold memoir dares to explore the big questions: success and failure, sex, death and parenthood -- our animal life. 'A wise and beautiful book about what it feels like to be alive -- I really loved it' Zadie Smith 'Exceptionally interesting and brave ... a wonderful book' Claire Tomalin 'A fine, honest, complex portrait of an artist's mind' Michele Roberts, Independent 'Every word strikes like a hammer on an anvil, throwing off sizzling sparks' Bidisha, The f word 'Anyone who yearns for that lost post-war Britain would do well to read this vivid, minutely observed memoir ...Gee has a sensuous eye for detail' Sinclair McKay, Telegraph 'It is a testament to Gee's skill with structure, her lightness of touch and her honesty, particularly about the most painful episodes, that she has fashioned this account of a fundamentally satisfying and happy writer's life into such a page-turner.' Melissa Benn, New Statesman 'Maggie Gee writes with such courage and wit. This is a vivid portrait of a woman finding her way through the maze of class ridden post war England, the 60's, feminism and how to be a mother and a writer.' Diana Melly 'Highly recommended for all aspiring writers' Bernardine Evaristo 'Observant, honest and sensitively-written...' Michael Holroyd 'Fresh and funny ... with a zest for living that bounces off the page...' Psychologies 'Sensitive, honest, courageous, stylish' The Times '[Gee's] utterly compelling on the rollercoaster of writing life, from early success to rock-bottom rejection. Often joyous; infinitely wise; passionate and poised, this is a book you'll want to sit in silence with and hug to yourself -- then start again.' Daily Mail
Lottie Lucas is the luckiest person she knows. She has looks, money, three houses and a teenage son she adores So why is her husband Harold walking out on her? Light Years is also about zoos and the zodiac; the seasons and the stars; and how humans see the natural world. It is a novel about the possibilities of happiness, a surprising and beautiful contemporary love story. In the tradition of the best romantic comedy.' The Observer Sublimely funny and infinitely subtle, Light Years is pure delight.' Daily Telegraph Energetic and beguiling.' Sunday Telegraph 'This is so fine a novel, because so completely a planned and crafted one.' Times Literary Supplement
Dear Readers, There are at least five good reasons to Tip It! right now. 1. My daughter Kathy put out her memoir last year, which was real nice except for the controversial parts. And it got to be a #1 New York Times bestseller. Congratulations, Kathleen! But now it's my turn. I've written my own book. I have things to say, too, without having to be all controversial like you were. Tip it! 2. People recognize me on the street a lot now and come over, nicely, and say "Maggie, you remind me of my own mother." And they say "Maggie, I love your show"--referring to Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List as my show. Sometimes I correct them, I say, "Oh, it's not my show." But sometimes . . . I don't correct them. It's kind of fun being a star, isn't it Tip it! 3. If you want to know a few things about my daughter Kathleen that only a mother could know (How the heck did she get this way? Did she always swear so much, for Chrissake?), you have come to the right book. Tip it! 4. You know how a box of wine is never empty just because the spigot seems to have run dry (There's always a little more if you just tip it!) This book is like that. There's so much in it--never-before-published Griffin family photos!, a love story (me and my dear departed husband Johnny), a whole guide to good living (including how to survive on what's in your purse), and a lot of funny business in this book from Kathleen (she made comments in this book; readers, I was not able to stop her!). So take this book and Tip It! 5. And be sure to get the last drop out of living. Isn't it nice that "Tip It" acts as a toast I'm 90 years old, and I think "Tip It!" even works pretty well as a motto for living to the fullest. So, Tip It! today. Yours, Maggie Griffin A funny thing happened on the way to Kathy Griffin's sky-rocketing stardom. The more she told stories about her mother, Maggie, in her stand-up act and on her Emmy-winning television show, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, the more popular her mother became. (At the mere mention of Maggie, a stadium full of fans will cheer, "Tip It! Tip It!") Shocked by Kathy, exasperated by Kathy, grudgingly amused by Kathy, and at the end of the day, always a loving mother to Kathy, Maggie Griffin has become the darling Gracie to Kathy's George Burns, the wry Cher to Kathy's Sonny Bono, the spry, sweet Roadrunner to Kathy's Wile E. Coyote.
What does it mean to 'kiss and part'? This collection of previously unpublished short stories from a stellar list of contemporary women novelists is a literary celebration of the spirit of place. Each contributor shares one thing in common - they have all stayed at a small cottage in the village of Clifford Chambers near Stratford-upon-Avon, courtesy of a trust set up to provide women writers with ‘a room of one’s own’, as Virginia Woolf put it. Clifford Chambers was the home of the Jacobean poet Michael Drayton, who incorporated the phrase ‘Kiss and part’ into a sonnet. Each of the ten short stories in this collection takes this as its theme and the result is wonderfully eclectic mix of storytelling of the highest quality. All royalties go the Hosking Houses Trust to further encourage women’s writing. Contents List Preface ‘Kiss and Part’ by Michael Drayton Introduction by Margaret Drabble Buck Moon Marina Warner ‘A Merrie Meeting’ Salley Vickers The Incumbent Elizabeth Speller ‘Colossal Wreck’ Maria McCann The Visitation Maggie Gee And the River Flows On Joan Bakewell The Creature Jill Dawson The Turn Catherine Fox The Fabric of Things Jo Baker ‘Place of Dreams’ Lucy Durneen The Writers Afterword by Sarah Hosking Acknowledgements of Photographs
This book is for an audience of young children ages ranging from 2 to 5 year olds. The title is "Maggie." The topic relates to Australia's native bird the magpie. The word count is 227 words with 12 illustrations. The characters are the male and female magpie. The genre of the book is non-fiction. POSITIVE LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN IN THIS BOOK ARE: Young children will develop an understanding, identify, connect and have a clearer description of the magpie, seen in their own environment, parks and in the neighbourhood.Young children's learning will be enhanced relating to the magpie's characteristics and social behaviour. The "Maggie" rhyme will enhance young children's language relating to their cognitive development. Recognising and understanding words similar in sound but having different meanings. Rhyming makes reading fun, creates a sense of humour and young children's imaginary skills are enhanced. Young children's physical development will be enhanced.The musical structure of a rhyme is made easier by the movement of the mouth and tongue.This movement contributes to young children developing their fine motor skills, the ability to pronounce and learn new words .Rhyming provides a great foundation for early literacy development in young children.
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