MICHELE ROBERTS

Inspired by Jane Austens heroes and villains, this contemporary short-story anthology has been selected by Michele Roberts from the Jane Austen Short Story Competition 2011 run by Chawton House. When a young lady is to be a heroine... Something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way. Or, if she is unlucky, maybe a villain with a treacherous heart... Whether a Dary or a Wickham, an Elizabeth Bennet or a Miss Dashwood, there is something within these twenty contemporary and original stories for all Austen readers and fans. From Wikram Jayanaths exploits in Mumbai to the antics of a vicars book obsessed wife, there are heroes and villains to suit all tastes.

From the Booker-shortlisted author comes a sensuous, evocative novel exploring the lives of women in Victorian London, for fans of Sarah Waters, Emma Donoghue and Kate Atkinson 2011: When Madeleine loses her job as a lecturer, she decides to leave her riverside flat in cobbled Stew Lane, where history never feels far away, and move to Apricot Place. Yet here too, in this quiet Walworth cul-de-sac, she senses the past encroaching: a shifting in the atmosphere, a current of unseen life. 1851: and Joseph Benson has been employed by Henry Mayhew to help research his articles on the working classes. A family man with mouths to feed, Joseph is tasked with coaxing testimony from prostitutes. Roaming the Southwark streets, he is tempted by brothels' promises of pleasure - and as he struggles with his assignment, he seeks answers in Apricot Place, where the enigmatic Mrs Dulcimer runs a boarding house. As these entwined stories unfold, alive with the sensations of London past and present, the two eras brush against each other - a breath at Madeleine's neck, a voice in her head - the murmurs of ghosts echoing through time. Rendered in immediate, intoxicating prose, The Walworth Beauty is a haunting tale of desire and exploitation, isolation and loss, and the faltering search for human connection; this is Michele Roberts at her masterful best.

From the Booker-shortlisted author comes a sensuous, evocative novel exploring the lives of women in Victorian London, for fans of Sarah Waters, Emma Donoghue and Kate Atkinson 2011: When Madeleine loses her job as a lecturer, she decides to leave her riverside flat in cobbled Stew Lane, where history never feels far away, and move to Apricot Place. Yet here too, in this quiet Walworth cul-de-sac, she senses the past encroaching: a shifting in the atmosphere, a current of unseen life. 1851: and Joseph Benson has been employed by Henry Mayhew to help research his articles on the working classes. A family man with mouths to feed, Joseph is tasked with coaxing testimony from prostitutes. Roaming the Southwark streets, he is tempted by brothels' promises of pleasure - and as he struggles with his assignment, he seeks answers in Apricot Place, where the enigmatic Mrs Dulcimer runs a boarding house. As these entwined stories unfold, alive with the sensations of London past and present, the two eras brush against each other - a breath at Madeleine's neck, a voice in her head - the murmurs of ghosts echoing through time. Rendered in immediate, intoxicating prose, The Walworth Beauty is a haunting tale of desire and exploitation, isolation and loss, and the faltering search for human connection; this is Michele Roberts at her masterful best.

Adam is a writer, struggling to come to terms with the death of his painter father, Robert, and his difficult marriage to Catherine. Before he married Catherine, he had been the lover of her sister, Vinny. The classic menage a trois seems about to repeat itself, when Adam discovers his wife's father was less innocent than he had thought. Set mainly in contemporary London, partly in France, the action also harks back to the 1970's. The narrative evokes the style of the nineteenth century novelists and their themes: desire, guilt, pleasure. Pastoral landscapes alternate with those of the inner city and the past's interaction with the present is acted out by ghosts. The dead father haunts his son; in real life Vinny haunts her sister; and the whole novel is haunted by one of its great earliest exponents, Charlotte Bronte, and her passionate search for creative fulfilment.

A unique work of literary and culinary joie de vivre part food memoir part recipe book French Cooking for One is a personal and quirky take on Edouard de Pomiane s classic With over 160 recipes including a majority of vegetarian ones with piquant storytelling and feminist wit this is a working cook s book with French flair bursting with life French cuisine classic though it is still holds delicious surprises worth exploring Whether cooking for one on a daily or an occasional basis cooking well for yourself means cherishing yourself and your appetites joyously giving yourself pleasure opening yourself to new experiences This book will encourage you to do all that From quick bites for busy days to sumptuous main courses for those who enjoy spending more time in the kitchen the focus throughout is on dishes that are simple and fun to prepare and results that are mouthwatering to contemplate and of course to eat Mixed in with the recipes are stories and vignettes of Michele Roberts childhood in Normandy and her life in Mayenne Pays de la Loire plus original ink drawings full of charm and humour