Showing results by publisher "Quercus" in Contemporary Fiction

1962, Cornwall: Tara Jupp - vicar’s daughter, occasional thief, expert horse-rider and second fiddle to her sister ‘the beauty’ Lucy - sings at a wedding and is spotted by a record producer. With the spotlight suddenly, thrillingly shining on her alone, the roots of Tara’s country existence are shaken free and she is propelled to swinging-'60s London. Plunged into a dazzling new world of fashion, music and heartache, in a city where skirts are being hitched up as fast as the past is being pulled down, can Tara hold the limelight and hold on to who she really is?

Desert sands have laid waste to the Southwest of America. Las Vegas is buried. California - and anyone still there - is stranded. Any way out is severely restricted. But Luz and Ray are not leaving. They survive on water rations, black market fruit and each other's need. Luz needs Ray, and Ray must be needed. But then they cross paths with a mysterious child, and the thirst for a better future begins.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 2011. This is a story of five marriages and one gun. A British couple wonder at the unknowable city beyond their guarded compound while they build walls between themselves. An American begins to suspect his new home is having an insidious effect on his 'African queen' and their young daughter. An enthusiastic young intellectual follows his wife and his dreams to the city and finds only disillusion. An intelligence officer loses a crucial piece of evidence.

The newly discovered diary of Boris Alexander de Pfeffel Johnson, aged 13¼, provides a fascinating glimpse into how Boris, a lazy, bumptious and overweening child, comes to believe he should be Prime Minister. Along the way, we see him hone the techniques and persona that will one day hoodwink a nation.