Jonathan Coe, página 2 de 6

A Touch of Love is Jonathan Coe''s delightfully comic and moving novel about not fitting inRobin, a postgraduate student in Coventry, has spent four and a half years not writing his thesis. He and his academic colleagues, united by pallor, social ineptitude and sexual inexperience, once spent hours discussing their theories, but they somehow never made it into print.Now his unfinished thesis languishes in a drawer, and Robin hides in his room, increasingly frightened by a world he doesn''t understand. His friends have failed him and romance eludes him. His only outlet is his short stories, scribbled in notebooks and expressing his secret obsessions and frustrations.Then, when an unfortunate and embarrassing incident in a public park lands him in serious trouble, Robin''s life finally spirals out of control. . .A Touch of Love is a brilliant, bittersweet book that will be enjoyed by readers of David Nicholls, Nick Hornby and lovers of comic fiction.

From award-winning novelist Jonathan Coe and distinguished Italian artist Chiara Coccorese comes The Broken Mirror, a political parable for children, a contemporary fairy tale for adults, and a fable for all ages.One day Claire, to escape her quarrelsome parents, takes refuge in the dump behind her house. There she finds a broken mirror, a nasty piece of sharp glass yet she is strangely drawn to it. She soon discovers it has the power to transform even the most drab reality into a fairy-tale world: the grey sky is reflected blue, and Claires modest, suburban house is transformed into the most beautiful castle.

For the first time in his life, Gulliver felt ashamed of himself and his fellow-humans." Gulliver is a travel-hungry and adventurous ship's doctor, who has the odd misfortune of being shipwrecked four times in as many voyages. Through Jonathan Coe's expert retelling of Swift's famous satire about our human hubris and desires, today's young readers are swept along as Gulliver finds himself a giant among tiny humans in Lilliput; a tiny human among giants in Brobdignag; on the flying island of Laputa, with its most impractical intellectuals; and finally in the land of the Houyhnhnms, talking horses who think precious little of human "Yahoos".

Michael is a lonely writer, obsessed by a film featuring a mad knifeman. When he is commissioned to write the family history of the Winshaws he realizes that the family have cast a blight on his life and he decides to take his revenge by re-enacting his favourite film.

THE NEW STATE OF THE NATION MYSTERY FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR, AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOWWhen Phyl, a young literature graduate, moves back home with her parents, she soon finds herself frustrated by the narrow horizons of English country life. As for her plans of becoming a writer, those are going nowhere. But the chance discovery of a forgotten novelist from the 1980s stirs her into action, as does a visit from her uncle Richard - especially when he tells her that hes working on a political story that might put his life in danger.Richard has been following the careers of a group of students, all present at Cambridge University in the 1980s, now members of a think-tank which has been quietly pushing the British government towards extremism. And now, after years in the political wilderness, they might be in a position to put their ideas into action.As Britain finds itself under the leadership of a new Prime Minister whose tenure will only last for seven weeks, Richard pursues his story to a mysterious conference taking place deep in the Cotswolds. When Phyl hears that one of the delegates has been murdered, she begins to wonder if real life is starting to merge with the novel shes been trying to write. But does the explanation really lie in contemporary politics, or in a literary enigma that is almost forty years old?Darting between decades and genres, THE PROOF OF MY INNOCENCE reimagines the coming-of-age story, the cosy crime caper and the state-of-the-nation novel with Coes trademark humour and warmth. From one of Britains finest living novelists, this is a witty, razor-sharp novel which explores how the key to understanding the present can often be found in the murkiest corners of the past.

On Millennium night, with Blair presiding over a sexed-up new version of the country, Benjamin Trotter finds himself watching the celebrations on his parents TV. Watching, in fact, his younger brother, Paul, now a New Labour MP who has bought wholeheartedly into the Blairite dream. Neither of them can know that their lives are about to implode.

Maxwell Sim seems to have hit rock bottom: separated from his wife and daughter, estranged from his father, and with no one to confide in even though he has 74 friends on Facebook. Hes not even sure whether hes got a job until suddenly a strange business proposition comes his way which involves a long journey to the Shetland Isles.

William has a lot on his mind. Firstly theres The Alaska Factory, the band he plays in. Theyre no good and they make his songs sound about as groovy as an unpressed record. Secondly, theres Madeleine, his high-maintenance girlfriend whose idea of a night of passion is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical followed by a doorstep peck on the cheek.

For Maria, nothing is certain. Her life is a chain of accidents. Friendship passes her by, and shes unimpressed by the devoted Ronny and his endless proposals of marriage. Maria lives in a world of her own - yet not of her own making. Stumbling through university, work, marriage and motherhood, she finds it hard to see what all the fuss is about.

Dans le Shropshire, un frère et une sœur, rivaux et complices de toujours, visitent la tombe de leurs grands-parents et font surgir les fantômes du passé. Lors d’un festival du film d’horreur, sur un

"La zia Rosamund e appena morta nella sua casa nello Shropshire, dove viveva sola dopo la morte della pittrice che e stata la sua ultima compagna. A trovare il cadavere e stato il suo medico. La sorpresa viene dal testamento: un terzo del patrimonio va a una ragazza che i suoi parenti sembrano non ricordare. L''hanno vista una sola volta anni prima, era una bambina di sette anni ed era cieca. Occorre ritrovarla, e l''unico modo sembra ascoltare le cassette che la zia aveva inciso mentre sfogliava il suo album di fotografie: la voce della zia racconta la storia della famiglia e le sue drammatiche vicende. "

Maxwell Sim est un loser de quarante-huit ans. Voué à l'échec dès sa naissance (qui ne fut pas désirée), poursuivi par l'échec à l'âge adulte (sa femme le quitte, sa fille rit doucement de lui), il s'accepte tel qu'il est et trouve même certaine satisfaction à son état. Mais voilà qu'une proposition inattendue lui fait traverser l'Angleterre au volant d'une Toyota hybride, nantie d'un GPS à la voix bouleversante dont, à force de solitude, il va tomber amoureux. Son équipée de commis-voyageur, représentant en brosses à dents dernier cri, le ramène parmi les paysages et les visages de son enfance, notamment auprès de son père sur lequel il fait d'étranges découvertes : le roman est aussi un jeu de piste relancé par la réapparition de lettres, journaux, manuscrits qui introduisent autant d'éléments nouveaux à verser au dossier du passé. Et toujours Max pense à la femme chinoise et à sa fille, aperçues dans un restaurant en Australie, dont l'entente et le bonheur d'être ensemble l'ont tant fasciné. Va-t-il les retrouver ? Et pour quelle nouvelle aventure ? Brouillant joyeusement les cartes de la vérité et de l'imposture, Coe l'illusionniste se réserve le dernier mot de l'histoire, qui ne manquera pas de nous surprendre. Plus d'une génération va se reconnaître dans ce roman qui nous enchante avec un humour tout britannique, bien préférable au désespoir.

Maxwell Sim could be any of us. He could be you. He´s about to have a mid-life crisis (though he doesn´t know it yet). He´ll be found in his car in the north of Scotland, half-naked and alone, suffering hypothermia, with a couple of empty whisky bottles and a boot full of toothbrushes.

Rosamond vient de mourir, mais sa voix résonne encore, dans une confession enregistrée, adressée à la mystérieuse Imogen. S'appuyant sur vingt photos soigneusement choisies, elle laisse libre cours à