Showing results by author "Claire North" in All Categories

This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before. Beyond Ithaca's shores, the whims of gods dictate the wars of men. But on the isle, it is the choices of the abandoned women—and their goddesses—that will change the course of the world.

Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. 'I nearly missed you, Doctor August,' she says.

Many years ago, Odysseus sailed to war and never returned. For twenty years his wife Penelope and the women of Ithaca have guarded the isle against suitors and rival kings. But peace cannot be kept forever, and the balance of power is about to break . . . A beggar has arrived at the Palace. Salt-crusted and ocean-battered, he is scorned by the suitors - but Penelope recognises in him something terrible: her husband, Odysseus, returned at last. Yet this Odysseus is no hero.

He tried to take my life. Instead I took his. It happened so long ago, I've forgotten the details. But he was desperate, hungry enough to kill. As I was dying, my hand touched his.That's when my first switch took place. I looked through the eyes of my killer just in time to see my own body die. Now switching is easy. I can jump from body to body, have any life, be anyone. All it takes is a touch.

The award-winning Claire North returns with her most powerful and imaginative novel yet - a spellbinding tale set in a future utopian society that is thrilling, moving and thought-provoking in equal measure. Once the world was on fire - but that was long ago. The Burning Age gave way to an era of peace, humanity finding harmony with nature and each other, as new cities rose from the ruins of the old. Ven used to be a holy man, a guardian of ancient archives. Sorting secrets from sacrilege, he studied the past so that we might never repeat it.

On the island of Ithaca, queen Penelope maintains a delicate balance of power. Many years ago, her husband Odysseus sailed to war with Troy and never returned. In his absence, Penelope uses all her cunning to keep the peace - but this is shattered with the arrival of Orestes, King of Mycenae. Orestes, son of Agamemnon, is mad. Wracked with guilt for putting his own mother to death, he grows ever more unhinged. But a king cannot be seen to be weak. To keep him safe from the ambitious men of Mycenae, his sister Elektra brings him to Ithaca to recover under the protection of Penelope.

Charlie meets everyone - but only once. You might meet him in a hospital, in a war zone, or at the scene of traffic accident. Then again, you might meet him at the North Pole - Charlie gets everywhere. Sometimes he is sent as a courtesy, sometimes as a warning. Either way, this is going to be the most important meeting of your life. The End of the Day is the stunning new story from Richard and Judy Book Club author Claire North: the voice behind the word-of-mouth best-seller The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August.

My name is Hope Arden. I am the girl the world forgets. It started when I was 16 years old. A father forgetting to drive me to school. A mother setting the table for three, not four. A friend who looks at me and sees a stranger. No matter what I do, the words I say, the crimes I commit - you will never remember who I am. That makes my life tricky. It also makes me dangerous.... The Sudden Appearance of Hope is the tale of a girl no one remembers, yet her story will stay with you for ever.

It is the place where fortunes can be made and lost though chess, backgammon - every game under the sun. But those whom fortune favours may be invited to compete in the higher league...where the games played are of politics and nations, of economics and kings. It is a contest where Capture the Castle involves real castles and where hide and seek takes place on the scale of a continent. Among those worthy of competing in the higher league, three unusually talented contestants play for the highest stakes of all....

South Africa, 1884. A young and naive English doctor by the name of William Abbey witnesses the lynching of a local boy by white colonists. He's guilt-struck but too cowardly to stand up against this horrific act. And as the child dies, his mother curses William. William begins to understand when what the curse means when the shadow of the dead boy starts following him across the world. It never stops, never rests. It can cross oceans and mountains. And if it catches him, the person he loves most in the world will die....

Theo Miller knows the value of human life - to the very last penny. Working in the Criminal Audit Office, he assesses each crime that crosses his desk and makes sure the correct debt to society is paid in full. But when his ex-lover is killed, it's different. This is one death he can't let become merely an entry on a balance sheet.

My name is Mawukana na-Vdnaze, and I am a very poor copy of myself. In telling my story, there are certain things I should perhaps lie about. I should make myself a hero. Pretend I was not used by strangers and gods, did not leave people behind. Here is one truth: out there in deep-space, in the pilot's chair, I died. And then, I was reborn. I became something not quite human, something that could speak to the infinite dark. And I vowed to become the scourge of the world that wronged me.

How do you live your life when everything you do is meaningless and forgotten? What is a life worth? And what really is perfection? Claire’s first novel, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, the extraordinary journey of one unforgettable character who lives his life over and over again, became a best seller and was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club, the Waterstones Book Club and the Radio 2 Book Club.

Harmony is tired. Tired of working so hard, tired of the way she looks, tired of being average. But all that changes when she decides to splash out and upgrade her nanos. And why not? Everyone's doing it now. With a simple in-app purchase, you can update the tech in your bloodstream to transform yourself - get enhanced brain power, the perfect body or a dazzling smile.

GEWINNER DES WORLD FANTASY AWARDS 2017 in der Kategorie "Bestes Buch"! Ich bin das Mädchen, das die Welt vergisst... Mein Name ist Hope Arden. Und ich bin die wohl beste Diebin der Welt. Der Grund dafür ist einfach, wenn auch erstaunlich: Niemand kann sich an mich erinnern. Seit meinem sechzehnten Lebensjahr bin ich für andere Menschen nicht mehr als ein Schatten, ein namenloses Gesicht. Ich habe keine Freunde außer Reena, mit der ich mich immer wieder anfreunde. Doch nun ist sie tot.

Mein Name ist Kepler. Ihr könnt mich einen Geist nennen, eine Seele, einen Körperwanderer. Ich bin seit Jahrhunderten kein Mensch mehr. Körper sind für mich nur Gefäße, die ich mit einer Berührung in Besitz nehmen kann, Haut an Haut, mehr braucht es nicht. Ich könnte dieser alte Mann dort sein. Die junge Frau mit dem Kinderwagen. Oder eine Sekunde später das Schulkind neben ihr. Doch jemand kennt mein Geheimnis und hat einen Killer auf mich angesetzt. Ich werde herausfinden, wer dahintersteckt.

New York, Gegenwart: Silver ist einer der besten Spieler der Welt. Nun will er es mit der Spielmeisterin aufnehmen, der Herrin des Spielhauses. Dieses ultimative Duell wird auf dem gesamten Globus ausgetragen. Silver riskiert nicht weniger als seine Seele - doch das Spiel wird auch das Antlitz der Welt verändern. Der Spielhaus-Zyklus: Das Spielhaus existiert jenseits von Raum und Zeit. Eingeweihte spielen hier um die wirklich interessanten Gewinne: die Macht über ganze Reiche, Einfluss, sogar Lebensjahre.

Bangkok 1938: Nach einer durchzechten Nacht wacht der legendäre Spieler Remy Birke auf und erinnert sich nur vage an das Versteckspiel, auf das er sich eingelassen hat. Das Spielfeld: Ganz Thailand. Der Einsatz: All seine Erinnerungen. Eine atemlose Jagd beginnt! Der "Spielhaus-Zyklus": Das Spielhaus existiert jenseits von Raum und Zeit. Eingeweihte spielen hier um die wirklich interessanten Gewinne: Die Macht über ganze Reiche, Einfluss, sogar Lebensjahre.

Venedig in der Renaissance: Die junge Thene führt eine unglückliche, arrangierte Ehe. Doch im Spielhaus erweist sie sich als geschickte Spielerin. Bald wird sie in ein ebenso reizvolles wie grausames Ränkespiel verwickelt: Die Spielfiguren sind echte Menschen, und es geht um Leben und Tod.

Mein Name ist Kepler. Ihr könnt mich einen Geist nennen, eine Seele, einen Körperwanderer. Ich bin seit Jahrhunderten kein Mensch mehr. Körper sind für mich nur Gefäße, die ich mit einer Berührung in Besitz nehmen kann, Haut an Haut, mehr braucht es nicht. Ich könnte dieser alte Mann dort sein. Die junge Frau mit dem Kinderwagen. Oder eine Sekunde später das Schulkind neben ihr. Doch jemand kennt mein Geheimnis und hat einen Killer auf mich angesetzt.