James Hynes

Minä Jaakob, ei-kenenkään-poika, ei-kenenkään-isä, ei-kenenkään-rakastama, orja, huora, persepoika, eunukki, murhaaja, sutenööri, mahdollisesti juutalainen, mahdollisesti syyrialainen, mahdollisesti Niilin lietettä, työläinen, työnjohtaja, rampa, keuhkotautipotilas, hylätty omistusesine, kulunut ajopuun kappale, jonka vetäytyvä vuorovesi on jättänyt rannalle, ainoa asukas kuolevan keisarikunnan hylätyn provinssin autiossa kaupungissa, kirjoitin muistiin tämän elämäntarinani. Tarina ei tule saamaan päätöstään, sillä kukapa minun loppuni kirjoittaisi ylös?”Kukaan ei tiedä, kuka minä olen, kaikkein vähiten minä itse.”Jaakob asuu bordellissa. Hänen syntyperäänsä ei kukaan tiedä. Jaakob on varpunen, joka laulaa ilman syytä ja pyrähtää pakoon vaikeuksista. Hänen maailmansa on keittiö, yrteille tuoksuva puutarha, äänekäs ja vaarallinen taverna sekä salaperäinen yläkerta, jossa sudet - prostituoidut ja orjat - hoitavat asioitansa.Jaakob viettää päivänsä keittiössä kuunnellen rakastetun ”äitinsä” Euterpen tarinoita, juosten asioilla kokin puolesta ja vältellen bordellin vaaroja. Myöhemmin hän raataa tavernassa, kunnes hänet lopulta johdatetaan arvoitukselliseen yläkertaan. Mutta kuten pieni varpunen, hän pakenee mielikuvituksessaan raakaa todellisuutta ja antaa laulullaan toivoa myös muille.James Hynesin vaikuttava ja elämää ylistävä romaani sukeltaa Espanjaan Rooman valtakunnan viimeisiin vuosiin Carthago Novan armottomille kaduille ja kujille, missä väkivalta ja rakkaus elävät rinta rinnan. Jaakob - Varpunen - muistelee vanhana miehenä elämäänsä ja muistuttaa meitä siitä, millä tavalla suuri ja loistava imperiumi rakennettiin kukoistukseensa.

Slaven Jacob – også kendt som Spurv – vokser op på et bordel i Carthago Nova i Spanien i Romerrigets sidste år. Som voksen ser han tilbage på sin umenneskelige barndom: som navn- og forældreløs var han overladt til det barske liv på bunden af samfundet, det hårde slid i værtshuset og blandt de prostituerede. Men trods vold, forfald og lidelse finder Spurv både kærlighed, venskab og ømhed. Og hans fantasi og hans sang lindrer den brutale virkelighed. Spurv er en betagende roman om slaveri og sammenhold i Romerriget og en livsbekræftende historie om overlevelse. Om forfatteren:James Hynes (f. 1955) har skrevet seks romaner, Spurv er hans første på dansk. Han har skrevet essays og anmeldelser for New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Review og Salon. Han bor i Austin, Texas.

Sparrow is the Sunday Times bestselling historical epic by James Hynes. An incredibly moving story of one boy’s journey to freedom in the harsh world of the Roman Empire.Raised in a brothel at the edge of a dying empire, a boy of no known origin creates his own identity. He is Sparrow.Sparrow’s world consists of a kitchen and herb-scented garden, a loud and dangerous tavern, and the mysterious upstairs where the wolves, the women who have shaped his world, conduct their business. Where freedom is only for a privileged few, Sparrow’s life is hard-edged and violent.But change is coming. The world outside his garden is about to be reshaped, and as an empire crumbles, murder and mayhem will come to Sparrow’s door. As the only family he’s ever known scatters, will Sparrow fall – or fly?'Unforgettable' - Daily Mail'Utterly engrossing . . . this coming of age story reaches across millennia to grab us by the throat.' – Emma Donoghue, author of Room‘Masterful in its portrayal of love, sex and friendship' – The Observer

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER Told from the perspective of an enslaved boy being raised in a Roman brothel, a stunning literary historical novel of identity, family, suffering, and freedom In a brothel on the Spanish coast during the waning years of the Roman Empire, a young enslaved boy of unknown parentage is growing up. His world is a kitchen, then an herb-scented garden, followed by a loud and dangerous tavern, and finally, the mysterious upstairs where the "wolves" do their business. The wolves, named after the muses and coming from across the vast empire, are Sparrow's surrogate family. They are his mothers and his sisters, his guides in a rough life, his solace from it. When he is not being told stories by his beloved Euterpe, he runs errands for her lover, the cook, while trying to avoid the blows of their brutal overseer or the machinations of the chief wolf, Melpomene. But a hard fate awaits Sparrow, one that involves suffering, murder, mayhem, and the scattering of the little community that has been his whole world. Through meticulous research and bold imagination, James Hynes brings the entirety of a Roman city to vivid life, recreating old Pagan Rome as its codes and morals give way before the new religion of Christianity, and introduces readers to one of the most powerfully affecting and memorable characters of recent fiction. Sparrow is an enthralling, heartbreaking novel of identity, endurance, and love in a dangerous and changing time.

A Sunday Times Book of the YearA stunning work of historical imagination . . . masterful in its portrayal of love, sex and friendship - The ObserverSparrow [is] truly unforgettable – Daily MailMeet Jacob – aka Sparrow – a boy slave in the Spanish city of New Carthage in the last years of pagan Rome. Raised in a brothel at the edge of a dying empire, a boy of no known origin creates his own identity. He is Sparrow, who sings without reason and can fly from trouble. His world is a kitchen, a herb-scented garden, a loud and dangerous tavern, and the mysterious upstairs where the ‘wolves’ – prostitutes and slaves from every corner of the empire – conduct their business.He spends his days listening to stories told by his beloved ‘mother’ Euterpe, running errands for her lover the cook, and dodging the blows of their brutal overseer and the machinations of the chief wolf, Melpomene. A hard fate awaits Sparrow, one that involves suffering, murder, mayhem, and the scattering of the women who have been his whole world . . .In Sparrow, James Hynes brings the entirety of the Roman city of Carthago Nova – its markets, temples, taverns of the lowly and mansions of the rich – to vivid, brutal life.Hynes renders this hidden world so powerfully and vividly. – The Guardian

As an empire burns, he will rise from the ashes.Sparrow, the Sunday Times bestselling historical epic by James Hynes, is the incredibly moving story of one boy’s journey to freedom in the harsh world of the Roman Empire.Raised in a brothel at the edge of a dying empire, a boy of no known origin creates his own identity. He is Sparrow.Sparrow’s world consists of a kitchen and herb-scented garden, a loud and dangerous tavern, and the mysterious upstairs where the wolves, the women who have shaped his world, conduct their business. Where freedom is only for a privileged few, Sparrow’s life is hard-edged and violent.But change is coming.The world outside his garden is about to be reshaped, and as an empire crumbles, murder and mayhem will come to Sparrow’s door. As the only family he’s ever known scatters, will Sparrow fall – or fly?‘Truly unforgettable' – Daily Mail‘Masterful in its portrayal of love, sex and friendship' – The Observer

Biological O2 sensing probes and measurement techniques were first introduced in the late 80s. In the last 3-5 years they have undergone major development that have made them available and affordable for a broad range of applications in various disciplines of the life and biomedical sciences. These new chemistries and technologies, which are significantly different from the majority of other fluorescence-based probes and detection techniques, have already demonstrated their high utility. This book will provide a systematic overview of the existing and emerging O2 sensing technologies in their different modifications, a practical guide to their rational selection and use, and examples of biological applications/case studies, including details on how to set up and conduct such experiments, troubleshoot and interpret the data.

Kevin Quinn is a standard-variety American male: middle-aged, liberal-leaning, self-centered, emotionally damaged, generally determined to avoid both pain and responsibility. As his relationship with his girlfriend approaches a turning point, and his career seems increasingly pointless, he decides to secretly fly to a job interview in Austin, Texas. Aboard the plane, Kevin is simultaneously attracted to the young woman in the seat next to him and panicked by a new wave of terrorism in Europe and the UK. He lands safely with neuroses intact and full of hope that the job, the expansive city, and the girl from the plane might yet be his chance for reinvention. His next eight hours make up this novel, a tour-de-force of mordant humor, brilliant observation, and page-turning storytelling.

"Immensely witty...thoroughly entertaining."--The Washington Post Book World Paul Trilby is having a bad day. If he were to be honest with himself, Paul Trilby would have to admit that he's having a bad life. His wife left him. Three subsequent girlfriends left him. He's fallen from a top-notch university teaching job, to a textbook publisher, to, eventually, working as a temp writer for the Texas Department of General Services. And even here, in this land of carpeted partitions and cheap lighting fixtures, Paul cannot escape the curse his life has become. For it is not until he begins a tentative romance with the office's sassy mail girl that he begins to notice things are truly wrong. Strange sounds come from the air conditioning vents, the ceiling bulges, a body disappears. Mysterious men lurk about town, wearing thick glasses and pocket protectors... Kings of Infinite Space is a hilarious and horrifying spoof on our everyday lives and gives true voice to the old adage, "Work is Hell."

Nelson Humboldt is a visiting adjunct English lecturer at prestigious Midwest University, until he is unceremoniously fired one autumn morning. Minutes after the axe falls, his right index finger is severed in a freak accident. Doctors manage to reattach the finger, but when the bandages come off, Nelson realizes that he has acquired a strange power he can force his will onto others with a touch of his finger. And so he obtains an extension on the lease of his university-owned townhouse and picks up two sections of freshman composition, saving his career from utter ruin. But soon these victories seem inconsequential, and Nelson's finger burns for even greater glory. Now the Midas of academia wonders if he can attain what every struggling assistant professor and visiting lecturer covets tenure. "The Lecturer's Tale" is a pitch-perfect blend of satire and horror."

After years of violence, a tense calm pervades Northern Ireland, soon to be broken by Jimmy Coogan, an IRA veteran gone renegade. Jimmy has stolen ten pounds of plastic explosive, intending to destroy the parliamentary ambitions of the IRA leadership. Into Jimmy's turbulent world come two young Americans: Brian, vain, ironic, but well-meaning; and Clare, a beautiful, earnest college student. In Ireland on an errand for his Irish Republican family in Detroit, Brian is recruited to Jimmy's bloody mission by his cousin Maire, Coogan's sharp-tongued wife. Soon they are all drawn into the unforgiving labyrinth of modern terrorism, borne toward a horrific and fatal climax.

A New York Times Notable Book of the YearA Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year Combining the wit of David Lodge with Poe's delicious sense of the macabre, these are three witty, spooky novellas of satire set in academia--a world where Derrida rules, love is a "complicated ideological position," and poetic justice is served with an ideological twist.