ROSE TREMAIN

Trapped in a London flat, Beth remembers a transgressive love affair in 1960s' Paris. The most famous writer in Russia takes his last breath in a stationmasters cottage, miles from Moscow. A father, finally free of his daughters demands,embarks on a long swim from his Canadian lakeside retreat. And in the grandest house of all, Danni the Polish housekeeper catches the eye of an enigmatic visitor.Rose Tremain awakens the senses in this diverse collection of short stories. In her precise yet sensuous style she lays bare the soul of her characters the admirable, the embarrassing, the unfulfilled, the sexy and the adorable to uncover a dazzling range of human emotions and desires.

She was 'The Angel of the Baths', the one woman whose touch everybody yearned for. Yet she would do more. She was certain of that. In the city of Bath, in the year 1865, an extraordinary young woman renowned for her nursing skills is convinced that some other destiny will one day show itself to her. But when she finds herself torn between a dangerous affair with a female lover and the promise of a conventional marriage to an apparently respectable doctor, her desires begin to lead her towards a future she had never imagined. Islands of Mercy is a novel that ignites the senses, and is a bold exploration of the human urge to seek places of sanctuary in a pitiless world.

Robert Mérivel, médecin renommé et ami du roi Charles II d’Angleterre, n’est désormais plus un jeune homme en âge de batifoler à sa guise. Désespéré à cette idée, il se rend en France pour tenter de

Set among the hills and gorges of the Cevennes, the dark and beautiful heartland of southern France, Trespass is a thrilling novel about disputed territory, sibling love and devastating revenge.

The heartbreaking new novel from the bestselling author of The Road Home: a story of betrayal, the struggle for happiness and the healing power of friendship.'It was a game of love and death. Neither of us will ever speak about it. It's locked inside us.'Gustav Perle grows up in a small town in Switzerland, where the horrors of the Second World War seem distant. He adores his mother but she treats him with bitter severity, disapproving especially of his intense friendship with Anton, the Jewish boy at school. A gifted pianist, Anton is tortured by stage fright; only in secret games with Gustav does his imagination thrive. But Gustav is taught that he must develop a hard shell, like a coconut, to protect the softness inside just like the hard shell perfected by his country, to protect its neutrality.But despite this hard shell, nothing in Gustavs life can be called neutral. Older, and increasingly curious about his absent father, Gustav discovers the traces of an erotic love affair traces which still glow white-hot even now.Fierce, astringent, profoundly tender and spanning the twentieth century Rose Tremains beautifully orchestrated novel explores the big themes of betrayal and the struggle for happiness, and above all, the passionate love of a childhood friendship as it is tested over a lifetime.

When a twist of fate delivers an ambitious young medical student to the court of King Charles II, he is suddenly thrust into a vibrant world of luxury and opulence. Blessed with a quick wit and sparkling charm, Robert Merivel rises quickly, soon finding favour with the King, and privileged with a position as paper groom to the youngest of the Kings mistresses. But by falling in love with her, Merivel transgresses the one rule that will cast him out from his new-found paradise

Nominada para el Premio Booker y ganadora del prestigioso Premio Whitbread. A través de la historia de Peter Claire, virtuoso del laúd, descubriremos el ambiente tan refinado y suntuoso como apasionado y dramático de la corte del rey Cristián IV de Dinamarca, donde los agudos contrastes entre el bien y el mal, la violencia y la ternura, la música y el silencio marcan sus respectivos destinos.

Cuando la realidad se erige en obstáculo insalvable para la consecución de nuestros deseos, el arte es casi el único refugio del espíritu atormentado, como si el contraste entre luz y sombra, sonido y silencio, palabra y mutismo reflejara mejor que cualquier otra expresión humana las fuerzas antónimas cuyo conflicto suele ser causa del desencanto y la infelicidad. En esta sorprendente y magistral novela —ganadora del Premio Whitbread y del Fémina Étranger, entre otros— Rose Tremain ha elegido la música como elemento restaurador de orden, belleza y armonía en unos seres zarandeados por las turbulentas corrientes de la Historia. Por medio de una serie de voces de matices exactos, donde los personajes secundarios cobran tanta importancia como los principales, Tremain sumerge al lector en la variopinta corte del erudito rey danés Cristián IV y su disoluta consorte Kirsten. La reina madre, inmersa en su muda soledad; el conde irlandés O'Fingal, que sueña con la melodía perfecta; el joven músico Peter Claire, virtuoso ejecutante de laúd; la joven Emilia, dama de compañía de la reina; y naturalmente, la lujuriosa Kirsten, que con su tenaz independencia es la supuesta raíz de todas las desgracias del rey, conviven en un ambiente tan refinado y suntuoso como apasionado y dramático, donde los agudos contrastes entre el bien y el mal, la violencia y la ternura, la música y el silencio marcan sus respectivos destinos. Como si de una inmensa obra polifónica se tratara, Tremain ha escrito una magnífica metáfora de la vida, con toda su fascinante y contradictoria complejidad.