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Recommendations based on Star of the Seaby Joseph O'Connor
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Our Man in Havana
by Graham Greene
A humorous tale of espionage in Cold War Cuba, as a vacuum cleaner salesman attempts to outwit the British Secret Service.
Graham Greene's classic Cuban spy story, now with a new package and a new introduction, First published in 1959,, Our Man in Havana, is an espionage thriller, a penetrating character study, and a ... (Goodreads)
No Country for Old Men
by Cormac McCarthy
A gripping tale of violence and pursuit in Texas' desolate landscape.
The plot follows the interweaving paths of the three central characters (Llewelyn Moss, Anton Chigurh , and Ed Tom Bell) set in motion by events related to a drug deal gone bad near the ... (Wikipedia)
The King's Curse
by Philippa Gregory
The story of Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, and her struggle to protect her family from the malicious schemes of King Henry VIII.
Since Henry Tudor's accession to the English throne as Henry VII , Margaret Plantagenet has had to distance herself from her connection to the former royal family to survive. Married to a minor Tudor ... (Wikipedia)
The Remains of the Day
by Kazuo Ishiguro
A butler reflects on his past, grappling with the lost opportunities of a life devoted to service.
The novel tells, in first-person narration , the story of Stevens, an English butler who has dedicated his life to the loyal service of Lord Darlington (who is recently deceased, and whom Stevens ... (Wikipedia)
Let the Great World Spin
by Colum McCann
Interconnected stories of ordinary lives in 1970s New York, inspired by a high-wire artist's death-defying feat.
The events of the story are told in a largely non-linear fashion, with several different narrators telling the story from different perspectives. The story is interspersed with fictionalized accounts ... (Wikipedia)
American Tabloid
by James Ellroy
A riveting crime drama set in the 1950s, featuring a complex web of characters and their dark and twisted agendas.
"Shakedowns" covers just 26 days, introducing the three principal characters, and establishing their relationships, history, and career trajectories. Pete Bondurant is a former LASD deputy; he ... (Wikipedia)
Ireland
by Frank Delaney
A storyteller travels through Ireland, sharing tales of its history, culture, and people, weaving together a rich tapestry of the Emerald Isle.
In the winter of 1951, a storyteller arrives at the home of nine-year-old Ronan O'Mara in the Irish countryside. The last practitioner of an honored, centuries-old tradition, the Seanchai enthralls ... (Goodreads)
The White Tiger
by Aravind Adiga
An exploration of the Indian class system, told from the perspective of a lower-caste man.
The entire novel is narrated through letters by Balram Halwai to the Premier of China, who will soon be visiting India. Balram is an Indian man from an impoverished background, born in the village of ... (Wikipedia)
The Invention of Wings
by Sue Monk Kidd
A powerful story about a girl's journey to freedom, despite the limitations of slavery.
Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world—and it is now ... (Goodreads)
A Spot of Bother
by Mark Haddon
A middle-aged man's struggle to overcome his anxieties and accept the changes in his life.
The novel follows George Hall, a 57-year-old hypochondriac , and his family following George's retirement from a career manufacturing playground equipment. George has hypochondria, an excessive ... (Wikipedia)
Carter Beats the Devil
by Glen David Gold
A thrilling story of secrets & magic, set against the backdrop of 20th century America.
This novel is a fictionalised biography of Charles Joseph Carter. The main character, Carter, is followed through his career, from his first encounter with magic to his last performance. Along the ... (Wikipedia)
TransAtlantic
by Colum McCann
Interwoven stories of transatlantic journeys that span generations of history.
It tells the intertwined stories of Alcock and Brown (the first non-stop transatlantic fliers in 1919), the visit of Frederick Douglass to Ireland in 1845/46, and the story of the Irish peace process ... (Wikipedia)
The Good People
by Hannah Kent
A suspenseful tale of superstition and secrets in a rural Irish village.
From the bestselling author of the multi-award-winning, Burial Rites, County Kerry, Ireland, 1825., The fires on the hills smouldered orange as the women left, pockets charged with ashes to guard ... (Goodreads)
The Bees
by Laline Paull
An epic adventure of a humble worker bee who challenges the social hierarchy of the hive.
The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut set in an ancient culture where only the queen may breed and deformity means death. Flora 717 is a sanitation worker, a ... (Barnes & Noble)
NW
by Zadie Smith
A story of a group of friends in London navigating love and identity in their complex lives.
Set in northwest London, Zadie Smith’s brilliant tragicomic novel follows four locals—Leah, Natalie, Felix, and Nathan—as they try to make adult lives outside of Caldwell, the council estate of their ... (Goodreads)
What a Carve Up!
by Jonathan Coe
A satirical novel that explores the lives of the Winshaw family, a wealthy and corrupt British clan. Darkly humorous and politically charged.
Godfrey, son of the wealthy Matthew and Frances Winshaw of Yorkshire, is shot down by German anti-aircraft fire during a secret wartime mission over Berlin, on 30 November 1942. His sister Tabitha ... (Wikipedia)
The Virgin Suicides
by Jeffrey Eugenides
A dark and mysterious tale about the mysterious suicides of five teenage sisters in a suburban town.
As an ambulance arrives for the body of Cecilia Lisbon, a group of anonymous adolescent neighborhood boys recalls the events leading up to her death. The Lisbons are a Catholic family living in the ... (Wikipedia)
Bel Canto
by Ann Patchett
A story of redemption and transformation amidst a hostage crisis.
Set in an unspecified South American country, , the story begins at a birthday party thrown at the country's vice presidential home in honor of Katsumi Hosokawa, the visiting chairman of a large ... (Wikipedia)
A Farewell to Arms
by Ernest Hemingway
A story of unrequited love in the midst of war.
The novel is divided into five sections or 'books'. Frederic Henry is first person narrator of the story. Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American paramedic , is serving in the Italian Army . The novel ... (Wikipedia)
The Crimson Petal and the White
by Michel Faber
A prostitute's journey of self-empowerment as she navigates the seedy underbelly of Victorian England.
Sugar, 19, prostitute in Victorian London, yearns for a better life. From brutal brothel-keeper Mrs Castaway, she ascends in society. Affections of self-involved perfume magnate William Rackham soon ... (Goodreads)
Pyramids
by Terry Pratchett
A young pharaoh and his advisor navigate the absurdities of ancient Egypt, including camels, gods, and a pyramid-building competition.
The main character of Pyramids is Pteppic , the crown prince of the tiny kingdom of Djelibeybi (a pun on the candy Jelly Baby ,) the Discworld counterpart to Ancient Egypt . Young Pteppic has been in ... (Wikipedia)
Dictator
by Robert Harris
A political thriller of a Roman dictator's rise to power and the struggles to maintain it.
The story is told through Tiro , secretary of Cicero , detailing Cicero's last fifteen years. It begins with Cicero fleeing Publius Clodius Pulcher and his mob in Rome and going into exile in ... (Wikipedia)
Kidnapped
by Robert Louis Stevenson
A young man's thrilling escape from kidnappers and the pursuit of justice.
The main character and narrator is 17-year-old David Balfour. (Balfour is Stevenson's mother's maiden name.) His parents have recently died, and he is out to make his way in the world. He is given a ... (Wikipedia)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Díaz
An exploration of love, identity, and the power of fate in a family's struggles and triumphs.
Oscar de León (nicknamed Oscar Wao, a bastardization of Oscar Wilde ) is an overweight Dominican growing up in Paterson, New Jersey. Oscar desperately wants to be successful with women but, from a ... (Wikipedia)
King Lear
by William Shakespeare
An aging king's descent into madness reveals the consequences of pride and vanity.
Shakespeare’s King Lear challenges us with the magnitude, intensity, and sheer duration of the pain that it represents. Its figures harden their hearts, engage in violence, or try to alleviate the ... (Goodreads)
Long Day's Journey into Night
by Eugene O'Neill
Tragic story of a family's struggles with addiction, emotions and guilt.
Eugene O'Neill's autobiographical play Long Day's Journey into Night is regarded as his finest work. First published by Yale University Press in 1956, it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1957 and has since ... (Goodreads)
Cloud Atlas
by David Mitchell
A dynamic narrative spanning centuries, exploring the interconnectedness of humanity.
The book consists of six nested stories; each is read or observed by a main character of the next, thus they progress in time through the central sixth story. The first five stories are each ... (Wikipedia)
One Day
by David Nicholls
A story of friendship and love, exploring the complexities of life and relationships.
Dexter and Emma spend the night together following their graduation from the University of Edinburgh , in 1988. They talk about how they will be once they are 40. While they do not become ... (Wikipedia)
Ghostwritten
by David Mitchell
A series of interconnected stories spanning across the globe, exploring the lives of seemingly unrelated characters and their impact on each other.
This section details the actions of Quasar, a member of a millenarianist doomsday cult , attempting to evade capture after releasing nerve agents into a Tokyo subway train. He believes himself to be ... (Wikipedia)
Sweet Tooth
by Ian McEwan
Story of a young woman's journey of self-discovery and the moral dilemmas she faces.
The plot is set in early-1970s England. Serena Frome ("rhymes with plume"), the daughter of an Anglican bishop, shows a talent for mathematics and is admitted to the University of Cambridge . But she ... (Wikipedia)
