Ape House – Sara Gruen

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Ape House - Sara GruenApe House
Sara Gruen

Sam, Bonzi, Lola, Mbongo, Jelani, and Makena are no ordinary apes. These bonobos, like others of their species, are capable of reason and carrying on deep relationships—but unlike most bonobos, they also know American Sign Language.

Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, doesn’t understand people, but animals she gets—especially the bonobos. Isabel feels more comfortable in their world than she’s ever felt among humans . . . until she meets John Thigpen, a very married reporter who braves the ever-present animal rights protesters outside the lab to see what’s really going on inside.

When an explosion rocks the lab, severely injuring Isabel and “liberating” the apes, John’s human interest piece turns into the story of a lifetime, one he’ll risk his career and his marriage to follow. Then a reality TV show featuring the missing apes debuts under mysterious circumstances, and it immediately becomes the biggest—and unlikeliest—phenomenon in the history of modern media. Millions of fans are glued to their screens watching the apes order greasy take-out, have generous amounts of sex, and sign for Isabel to come get them. Now, to save her family of apes from this parody of human life, Isabel must connect with her own kind, including John, a green-haired vegan, and a retired porn star with her own agenda.

Ape House delivers great entertainment, but it also opens the animal world to us in ways few novels have done, securing Sara Gruen’s place as a master storyteller who allows us to see ourselves as we never have before..

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Animal Farm – George Orwell

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Animal Farm - George OrwellAnimal Farm
George Orwell

“All animals are equal.  But some animals are more equal than others.”

Mr Jones of Manor Farm is so lazy and drunken that one day he forgets to feed his livestock.  The ensuing rebellion under the leadership of the pigs Napoleon and Snowball leads to the animals taking over the farm.  Vowing to eliminate the terrible inequities of the farmyard, the renamed Animal Farm is organised to benefit all who walk on four legs.  But as time passes, the ideals of the rebellion are corrupted, then forgotten.  And something new and unexpected emerges…

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The Einstein Girl – Philip Sington

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The Einstein Girl - Philip SingtonThe Einstein Girl
Philip Sington

Two months before Hitler’s rise to power, a beautiful young woman is found naked and near death in the woods outside Berlin.  When she finally wakes from her coma, she can remember nothing, not even her name.  The only clue to her identity is a handbill found nearby, advertising a public lecture by Albert Einstein: ‘On The Present State of Quantum Theory’.

Psychiatrist Martin Kirsch takes the case, little suspecting that this will be his last.  As he searches for the truth about ‘the Einstein Girl’, professional fascination turns to reckless love.  His investigations lead him to a remote corner of Serbia via a psychiatric hospital in Zurich.  There, the inheritor of Einstein’s genius – his youngest son, Eduard – is writing a book that will destroy his illustrious father and, in the process, change the world.

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French Lessons – Ellen Sussman

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French Lessons - Ellen SussmanFrench Lessons
Ellen Sussman

Sometimes the lessons you learn unexpectedly are the ones that teach you the most.

Josie arrives in Paris in the hope of healing a broken heart.

Riley, a lonely housewife, is struggling to feel connected to her husband, and new country.

Jeremy, a loyal, neglected husband of a famous actress, has accompanied his wife as she films on location, yet he feels increasingly isolated from her world.

As they meander along the grand boulevards and intimate winding Parisian streets with their French tutors – Josie with Nico, a sensitive poet, Riley with Philippe, a shameless flirt, and Jeremy with the beautiful Chantal – each succumbs to unexpected passion and unpredictable adventures.

When long-buried secrets come to bear and relationships are challenged – can their lives ever be the same again?

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The House of the Wind – Titania Hardie

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The House of the Wind - Titania HardieThe House of the Wind
Titania Hardie

A legendary ruin. An ancient mystery. Will unveiling the past transform the future?

San Francisco, 2007. Madeline Moretti is grieving for her fiancé. Nothing brings her joy any more, and Maddie’s grandmother, a fiery Italian, sends her to Tuscany to heal. Here, Maddie is immersed in the mystery of a ruined villa. Destroyed centuries ago in a legendary storm on the Eve of St Agnes, it has been known ever since as the Casa al Vento – the House of the Wind.

Tuscany, 1347. Mia hasn’t spoken since her mother’s death, and lives in silence with her beloved aunt. One dark night, a couple seek refuge in their villa. Used to welcoming passing pilgrims, Mia is entranced by the young bride’s radiance and compassion, but mystified by her reluctance to reveal even her name. Where has she come from, and why must her presence be a secret?

Centuries apart, each searching for a way to step into her future, Mia and Maddie will be haunted by the myth of the woman who walked unscathed from the ruins of the House of the Wind.

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Call for the Dead – John le Carré

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Call for the Dead - John le CarréCall for the Dead
John le Carré

It was less an interview than an amiable conversation over a walk in the park.  George Smiley had been sent to speak to a high-ranking civil servant after an anonymous tip-off that he was a security risk.  It was a formality – and the two men liked each other.  Why then did it apparently drive the poor man to despair?  And why was he found dead the next day, the victim of an apparent suicide?

Call For The Dead launched John le Carre’s unparalleled career as a novelist, and introduces one of fiction’s most famous spies – George Smiley, who is both brilliant and unremarkable.

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