Kirjahaku

From the Sunday Times bestselling and award-winning author Christie Watson, comes a heart-pounding new psychological drama of secrets, lies, morals and medicine.'Unique and compelling' ELIZABETH DAY 'True literary perfection' EMMA JANE UNSWORTH'Heart-stopping, twisting, funny and frightening' CHRIS WHITAKER'Enthralling, gripping, deliciously dark... An immersive, unforgettable gem' RACHEL CLARKE'Propulsive, funny and filled with suspense'SARAH LANGFORDYou're trained to save the lives of others. How far would you go to protect your own? Ruthlessly ambitious Olivia, anxious perfectionist Laura and free-spirited risk-taker Anjali couldn't be more different. Yet their friendship, which began on the first day of medical school, has kept them inseparable for twenty-five years. As wild all-nighters and exam pressures gave way to the struggles and joys of new motherhood and intense jobs, their bond remained unbreakable. Years ago they promised that nothing would come between them and that they'd do anything for one another, including burying one night they have never spoken about: a drug-fuelled university party that forced them to make a deadly choice that could still destroy them. When an eerily similar tragedy strikes involving their teenage children, everything the three women have built threatens to shatter around them. And they are left asking: just how far can you stretch a friendship before it snaps?'Each new twist screeches like nails on plaster'KATHRYN MANNIX'Where medicine meets morality... with page-turning twists' NATHAN FILER'Intelligent, propulsive and disturbing... I couldn't put it down' NIKKI SMITH'An extraordinary book'JOHN SUTHERLAND'No-one writes about the drama of medicine like Christie Watson'DR GAVIN FRANCIS

'Compulsively readable' SUNDAY TIMES'A superior medical thriller' GUARDIAN'Darkly gripping' OBSERVERYou're trained to save the lives of others. But how far would you go to save your own?Olivia, Laura and Anjali couldn't be more different. Inseparable since the first day of medical school, their bond has remained unbreakable. Years ago, they promised nothing would come between them - including the wild university party that forced them to make a deadly choice.Now working as doctors in high-pressure jobs, with lives and families of their own, their secret binds them tighter still. But when an eerily similar tragedy affects their teenage children, the choice the three women face may not be one their friendship can survive . . .

A frank, funny and inspiring new memoir from the bestselling author of The Language of Kindness about the search for meaning in midlife'Brilliant... Like having an honest conversation with a smart and funny friend' Cathy RentzenbrinkAm I a terrible mother? Is the world ending? Did I turn the oven off? Did I pay the parking fine? Is my TV licence up to date? Will I go to prison? Who will take care of the children?This is the story of Christie Watson's journey through midlife. The joy of letting go and the pain of the morning after, the unstoppable power of female friendship and the struggle to raise teenagers as a single parent. It lays bare the exhilaration, agony, wonder and fears of being a middle-aged woman with a wild heart, a changing body and a new set of challenges. And as her world takes on a different shape, there's something else she starts to feel: the hot flush of possibility...'I adore Christie Watson. Quilt on Fire is full of her trademark candour, compassion and humour' Elizabeth Day'You don't have to be in midlife to appreciate this funny, real, empathetic memoir about the multitudes contained in every woman' Red

Winner of the 2011 Costa First Novel AwardWhen their mother catches their father with another woman, twelve year-old Blessing and her fourteen-year-old brother, Ezikiel, are forced to leave their comfortable home in Lagos for a village in the Niger Delta, to live with their mother's family. Without running water or electricity, Warri is at first a nightmare for Blessing. Her mother is gone all day and works suspiciously late into the night to pay the children's school fees. Her brother, once a promising student, seems to be falling increasingly under the influence of the local group of violent teenage boys calling themselves Freedom Fighters. Her grandfather, a kind if misguided man, is trying on Islam as his new religion of choice, and is even considering the possibility of bringing in a second wife. But Blessing's grandmother, wise and practical, soon becomes a beloved mentor, teaching Blessing the ways of the midwife in rural Nigeria. Blessing is exposed to the horrors of genital mutilation and the devastation wrought on the environment by British and American oil companies. As Warri comes to feel like home, Blessing becomes increasingly aware of the threats to its safety, both from its unshakable but dangerous traditions and the relentless carelessness of the modern world. Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away is the witty and beautifully written story of one family's attempt to survive a new life they could never have imagined, struggling to find a deeper sense of identity along the way.

Read Costa Award-winning author Christie Watson's incredible No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling memoir of nursing today. 'It made me cry. It made me think. It made me laugh' Adam Kay, author of This is Going to Hurt and Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas Christie Watson was a nurse for twenty years. Taking us from birth to death and from A&E to the mortuary, The Language of Kindness is an astounding account of a profession defined by acts of care, compassion and kindness. We watch Christie as she nurses a premature baby who has miraculously made it through the night, we stand by her side during her patient's agonising heart-lung transplant, and we hold our breath as she washes the hair of a child fatally injured in a fire, attempting to remove the toxic smell of smoke before the grieving family arrive. In our most extreme moments, when life is lived most intensely, Christie is with us. She is a guide, mentor and friend. And in these dark days of division and isolationism, she encourages us all to stretch out a hand.'A powerful insight into the life of nurses' The Times, Books of the Year'A remarkable book about life and death and so brilliantly written it makes you hold your breath' Ruby Wax

'A wildly entertaining and necessary book' Elizabeth Day, author of Magpie An honest conversation about Christie Watson's journey through midlife and how to navigate new challenges of a changing body. In her early twenties, Christie Watson was convinced she'd found her soulmate, in a glowing flash of light that turned out to be a tealight setting her quilt on fire. Twenty years later, her bed is burning once again... as she wakes in a perimenopausal sweat, night after night.This is the story of her journey through midlife: of the joy of letting go and the pain of the morning after, of the unstoppable power of female friendship and the struggle to raise teenagers as a single parent. It lays bare the exhilaration, agony, wonder and fears of being a middle-aged woman with a wild heart, a changing body and a new set of challenges. And as her world takes on a different shape, there's something else she starts to feel: the hot flush of possibility...'A must-read for every woman' Jacqueline Wilson, author of The Story of Tracy Beaker 'A laugh-out-loud, haunting and beautifully crafted manual' Dreda Say Mitchell, author of Say Her Name 'Wickedly funny, deliciously candid and deeply moving' Rachel Clarke, author of Dear Life'Give Quilt on Fire to your daughter, mother, sister, friends. A howlingly good midlife battle cry' Jess Kidd, author of Things in Jars'Brilliant... Like having an honest conversation with a smart and funny friend' Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of Dear Reader

WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD. 'Everything changed after Mama found Father lying on top of another woman.'Blessing and her brother Ezikiel adore their larger-than-life father, their glamorous mother and their comfortable life in Lagos. But all that changes when their father leaves them for another woman. Their mother is fired from her job at the Royal Imperial Hotel - only married women can work there - and soon they have to quit their air-conditioned apartment to go and live with their grandparents in a compound in the Niger Delta.Adapting to life with a poor countryside family is a shock beyond measure after their privileged upbringing in Lagos. Told in Blessing's own beguiling voice, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away shows how some families can survive almost anything. At times hilarious, always poignant, occasionally tragic, it is peopled with characters you will never forget.'This is not a bleak book: there is humour and love, especially in the growing relationship between Blessing and her grandmother, a traditional midwife. Absorbing and passionate' Guardian

Elijah, seven years old, is covered in scars and has a history of disruptive behaviour. His adoptive mother Nikki believes that she and her husband Obi are strong enough to accept his difficulties - and that being white will not affect her ability to raise a black son. Elijah's birth mother Deborah loves her son like the world has never known. Elijah thinks it's his fault they can't be together. Each of them faces more challenges than they could have dreamed, but just as Elijah starts to settle in, a shocking event rocks their fragile peace and the result is devastating.

Every year the UK’s longest-running Creative Writing MA Prose Fiction programme draws together an eclectic mix of writers from across the globe. They tread in the footsteps of some well-established names, most notably the recipient of last year’s Nobel Prize in Literature, Kazuo Ishiguro, as well as Booker Prize for Fiction winners Ian McEwan and Anne Enright, but also more recent successful graduates: Naomi Alderman, Ayobami Adebayo, and Emma Healey.To be a student on UEA’s prestigious Prose Fiction MA isn’t merely an invitation to stand on the shoulders of giants; it is a rare opportunity to be part of a vibrant community of writers who both support and challenge each other to produce imaginative, thrilling and ambitious work. This year’s anthology showcases the enormous talent of the cohort and gives a tantalising glimpse into the early work of writers that are sure to become household names in the future.Harriet Avery • Gemma Barry • S.G. Bayat • Rick Bland • J. Marcelo Borromeo • Grace Brown • Greg Buchanan • Zoe Cook • Frank Costello • Emily Coutts • Jill Crawford • Sean David Gilbert • Niamh Gordon • Francis Gosper • Jenny Hedger • Faye Holder • Sarah Hopkinson • Naomi Ishiguro • Silvia Kwon • Louise Lamb • Ayanna Gillian Lloyd • Philly Malicka • Senica Maltese • Arathi Menon • Benjamin Stickney Morrison • Victoria Proctor • D.C. Restaino • Anita Sharma • Kate Vine • Millie Walton • Anna Wharton

När Elijah är nyfödd dör hans pappa i en bilolycka. Hans mamma mår efter tragedin så dåligt att hon faller offer för en präst som övertygar henne om att en elak "trollkarl" har intagit Elijahs kropp -- och att pojken därför är roten till allt ont som händer, däribland pappans död. Elijahs mamma blir till slut tvångsintagen på sinnessjukhus och Elijah omhändertas av myndigheterna. Efter att ha bott hos flera dysfunktionella fosterfamiljer hamnar han hos Nikki och Obi, ett barnlöst par som genomlidit flera missfall. De tar emot Elijah med öppna armar och deras kärlek ger honom äntligen viss sinnesro. Men Nikki och Obi anar oråd när Elijah börjar skylla på den elaka trollkarlen varje gång han gör något olämpligt. När Nikki mot alla odds blir gravid och ska föda ett litet syskon till Elijah hotar trollkarlen att ta över helt.

'Compelling, moving, incredibly funny, brilliantly disturbing, yet filled with so much humanity' Joanna Cannon 'Eye-opening, jaw-dropping, spell-binding' M J Arlidge 'A deliciously dark, twisty, funny novel inhabited by a gloriously complex cast of harassed, heroic and haunted nurses' John Sutherland 'Thrilling as a murder mystery, beautifully written, it grabs you by the heart and refuses to let go' Charlie Gilmour Unexpected deaths and untoward incidents are becoming alarmingly frequent at City Emergency Department. A&E Senior Sister, Aoife, begins to question whether her new nurses are incompetent - or worse. Earnest recruit Eden cares deeply for her patients and carries the Code of Conduct around in her pocket, reporting everyone whose views don't align with hers. But despite her self-righteousness, Eden keeps making mistakes. Is she dangerous? It is Sophie who worries Aoife the most. Acerbic, over-confident and seemingly lacking in empathy, how Sophie ever became a nurse is beyond her. When Sophie begins an affair with Aoife's best friend, Michael, a man twenty-five years her senior, tensions escalate further, threatening to eclipse the fact that lives are at stake. Aoife is the nurse we'd all want. Compassionate to the core. She's the nicest, kindest nurse in the world. Until she is tested to the limit . . . Fearless, fast-paced and darkly funny, Killing Me Softly is a jaw-dropping novel about the hidden extremes of nursing and three complex women who hold the lives of their patients - and each other - in their hands.

'I'm used to dead people,' said Sophie. 'The death rate at my last hospital was off the scale.' She looked at the window, and her eyes glazed over a fraction. 'I can hear death coming, you know?' Unexpected deaths and untoward incidents are becoming alarmingly frequent at City Emergency Department. A&E Senior Sister, Aoife, begins to question whether her new nurses are incompetent - or worse. Earnest recruit Eden cares deeply for her patients and carries the Code of Conduct around in her pocket, reporting everyone whose views don't align with hers. But despite her self-righteousness, Eden keeps making mistakes. Is she dangerous? It is Sophie who worries Aoife the most. Acerbic, over-confident, and seemingly lacking in empathy, how Sophie ever became a nurse is beyond her. When Sophie begins an affair with Aoife's best friend, Michael, a man twenty-five years her senior, tensions escalate further, threatening to eclipse the fact that lives are at stake. Aoife is the nurse we'd all want. Compassionate to the core. She's the nicest, kindest nurse in the world. Until she is tested to the limit . . . Fearless, fast-paced and darkly funny, Killing Me Softly is a jaw-dropping novel about the hidden extremes of nursing and three complex women who hold the lives of their patients - and each other - in their hands.

'Thrilling . . . I adored every single second' YOMI ADEGOKE 'Incredibly funny, brilliantly disturbing, filled with humanity' JOANNA CANNON 'A nifty, twisty crime story of surgical precision' SEBASTIAN FAULKS Unexpected deaths and untoward incidents are becoming alarmingly frequent at City Hospital's Emergency Department. A&E Senior Sister, Aoife, begins to question whether her new nurses are incompetent - or worse. Earnest recruit Eden cares deeply for her patients and carries the Code of Conduct around in her pocket, reporting everyone whose views don't align with hers. But despite her self-righteousness, Eden keeps making mistakes. Is she dangerous? It is Sophie who worries Aoife the most. Acerbic, over-confident and seemingly lacking in empathy, how Sophie ever became a nurse is beyond her. When Sophie begins an affair with Aoife's best friend, Michael, a man twenty-five years her senior, tensions escalate further, threatening to eclipse the fact that lives are at stake. Aoife is the nurse we'd all want. Compassionate to the core. She's the nicest, kindest nurse in the world. Until she is tested to the limit . . . Fearless, fast-paced and darkly funny, Killing Me Softly is a jaw-dropping novel about the hidden extremes of nursing and three complex women who hold the lives of their patients - and each other - in their hands.