We noted in our May 8th blog post featuring recent acquisitions from the UK that the Library purchases over 200 books a year from overseas. Listed below are some more recent arrivals from the UK that did not receive much—or any—attention in the American press, and thus may be unknown to Library members and interested readers.

FICTION

Arnaldur Indridason / Black Skies (translated from the Icelandic)

A new Icelandic crime novel by the author of Outrage, Hypothermia, etc.

Barstow, Sam / The Likes of Us: Stories of Five Decades

A hefty collection of stories from a writer associated with post-war working-class British authors such as John Braine, Alan Sillitoe, and Keith Waterhouse. A recent TLS review praised the “hand-finished feel of his precise, persuasive prose….Barstow has endured.”

Clanchy, Kate / Meeting the English

Clanchy’s debut is set in 1989, its main character a 17 year old student caring for an aging playwright in London. “Lacerating social observation mixed with Shakespearean comedy powers…” –The Telegraph

Hamilton-Paterson, James / Under the Radar

Hamilton’s (Cooking With Fernet Branca) latest novel is set in 1961 and examines the lives of British pilots at the height of the Cold War.

Hildyard, Daisy / Hunters in the Snow

An acclaimed first novel that has been compared to W.G. Sebald. A.N. Wilson, writing in The Spectator, called it “a truly dazzling first novel. Every paragraph bristles with cleverness and yet it is a warm-hearted book, at times overpoweringly moving.”

Hill Gumbao, Toni / The Good Suicides (translated from the Spanish)

A thriller set in Barcelona by the author of The Summer of Dead Toys.

Joyce, Rachel / Perfect

The second novel from the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

Madden, Deirdre / Time Present and Time Past

A new one by the acclaimed Irish writer (Molly Fox’s Birthday) who has been shortlisted for the Orange Prize twice.

Makine, Andrei / Brief Loves that Live Forever (translated from the French)

Makine won the Prix Goncourt for Dreams of My Russian Summers (1995). A Russian novelist who writes in French, Makine has been compared to Proust and Stendhal. This is his 12th novel translated into English.

Mendelson, Charlotte / Almost English

Mendelson’s fourth novel, short-listed for the Orange Prize and long-listed for the Man Booker in 2013. “A little masterpiece of characterization." – The Guardian.

Moore, Alison / The Pre-War House and Other Stories

Moore’s first novel, The Lighthouse (2012), was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and quite popular at the Society Library.

Ryan, Donal / The Spinning Heart

A debut long-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2013, and winner of the Book of the Year at the 2012 Irish Book Awards. 

Wilson, Paul / Mouse And The Cossacks

The lives of an 11-year-old girl mute and a captain in the second world war come together in a novel that the Financial Times describes as “moving and beautifully crafted.”

NON-FICTION

Appleton, Edith / A Nurse at the Front: The Great War Diaries of Sister Edith Appleton

Published by the Imperial War Museum, these “harrowing but moving” diaries provide a vivid picture of life just beyond the trenches in hospitals and first aid stations.

Bailey, Catherine / The Secret Rooms: A True Gothic History

Against the grand backdrop of post-WWI Belvoir Castle, Bailey investigates the dark secrets of an aristocratic family’s past.

Churchwell, Sarah / Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of The Great Gatsby

A look at Fitzgerald’s contemporary sources and inspiration for his masterpiece.

Cook, Jill / Ice Age Art: The Arrival of the Modern Mind 

Based on a recent British Museum exhibit, this book looks at the sculpture and drawings of the last European Ice Age, and the oldest known figurative art in the world.

Coughlin, Con / Churchill's First War: Young Winston and the Fight Against the Taliban

Foreign correspondent Con Coughlin has written an account of Winston Churchill’s time in Afghanistan in the 1890’s serving as a cavalryman during a bloody frontier war against Pashtun tribesmen.

Gibb, Lorna / West's World: The Extraordinary Life of Dame Rebecca West

Harman, Neil / Court Confidential: Inside the World of Tennis

Neil Harman is the tennis correspondent for The Times, and his Court Confidential features interviews with leading players, coaches, agents and managers. “Taking full advantage of his status, and forever diligent and enthusiastic, Harman delves into the big issues of the day.”—The Guardian

Hattersley, Roy / The Devonshires: The Story of a Family and a Nation

 “Hattersley's rollicking history illuminates a dynasty marked by all the contradictions of aristocratic entitlement …in a sense therefore, theirs is the story of modern Britain.” – The Guardian

Hermiston, Roger / The Greatest Traitor: The Secret Lives Of Agent George Blake

One of the most fascinating double-agents in Cold War Britain, Blake was sentenced to 42 years in prison in 1961. It is estimated that Blake betrayed the activities of 400 MI6 operatives to the Russians.

Hoare, Philip / The Sea Inside

Hoare’s follow-up to 2008’s Leviathan or, the Whale is a wide-ranging meditation on the ocean. The Telegraph calls The Sea Inside an “exhilarating…profound…grand cabinet of natural curiosities.”

Hurd, Douglas & Edward Young / Disraeli, or, The Two Lives

A reassessment and “character study” of the Victorian prime minister and writer. “Fluent, vivid, shrewd." – The Guardian

Laing, Olivia / The Trip to Echo Spring: Why Writers Drink

Part literary biography, part travel book, and part memoir, Laing examines alcoholism and its link to creativity in the lives of six American writers: Tennessee Williams, John Berryman, John Cheever, Raymond Carver, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway.

Mackrell, Judith / Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation

“By profiling six of the most celebrated women of the Roaring Twenties Mackrell captures the subversive force beneath the trademark shingled bobs, short straight dresses and gin-fuelled exuberance.” –The Guardian

Massie, Allan / Life & Letters: The Spectator Columns
 
Moore, Lucy / Nijinksy

The Telegraph called this new biography of Vaslav Nijinsky “enthralling:” “Moore uses her meticulous and intelligent research to tell the moving story.”
 
Roeg, Nicholas / The World is Ever Changing

A memoir from the director of Performance, Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell To Earth, and Bad Timing.
 
Segrave, Elisa / The Girl From Station X: My Mother's Unknown Life

As her elderly, distant mother descends into the darkness of Alzheimer’s, Segrave discovers personal diaries that reveal the person she never knew growing up.

Seymour-Jones, Carole / She Landed by Moonlight: The Story of Secret Agent Pearl Witherington: The Real Charlotte Gray

A biography of the remarkable Special Operations Executive hero.
 
Skidmore, Chris / Bosworth: The Birth of the Tudors

In this “fine, scholarly and elegantly written book” (The Telegraph), Chris Skidmore offers a vivid account of the famous 1485 battle (where Richard III became the last British King to die on the battlefield), as well as providing historical context to the dawn of the Tudor era.

Urban, Mark / The Tank War: The Men, the Machines and the Long Road to Victory

Drawing on new material, Urban tells the story of the 5th Royal Tank Regiment, which served on the front lines throughout WWII and saw action from the deserts of North Africa to the landings at Normandy.