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» JavascotiaBenjamin Obler
I have a great hunger for coffee.
Already I had done some work, informally, a portion of it, at the hotel, where I had a cup of coffee with breakfast. Breakfast was a slightly unpalatable surreal medley of fried meats, grains and vegetables arranged decorously on a plate, which I tapped with my fingernail to see if it had been fried too.
»The BelieversZoë Heller
At a party in a bedsit just off Gower Street, a young woman stood alone at the window, her elbows pinned to her sides in an attempt to hide the dark flowers of perspiration blossoming at the armholes of her dress. The forecast had been for a break in the week-long heatwave, but all day the promised rain had held off.
» Singing to the DeadCaro Ramsay
Detective Inspector Colin Anderson held a handkerchief to his nose, trying not to breathe, his eyes watering on the acrid smoke, and looked at the remains of the ground floor flat, 34 Lower Holburn Street.
» Ruso and the Demented DoctorR.S.Downie
Many miles south of Coria, Ruso gathered both reins into his left hand, reached down into the saddlebag and took out the pie he had saved from last night. The secret of happiness, he reflected as he munched on the pie, was to enjoy simple pleasures.
» Death or GloryMichael Asher
Lieutenant Rowland Green was bleeding to death. He had been hit by a 9mm dum-dum round that had plunged into his armpit and burst out through his back in a shower of gore.
» GypsyLesley Pearse
'Stop playing that Devil's music and come and help me,' Alice Bolton yelled angrily from the kitchen. Fifteen-year-old Beth smirked at her mother's description of her fiddle playing and was tempted to continue louder and wilder.
» A Fraction of the WholeSteve Toltz
You never hear about a sportsman losing his sense of smell in a tragic accident, and for good reason; in order for the universe to teach excruciating lessons that we are unable to apply in later life, the sportsman must lose his legs, the philosopher his mind, the painter his eyes, the musician his ears, the chef his tongue.
» ViperMichael Morley
Francesca Di Lauro had the kind of eyes you never forgot. Hypnotic, almost translucent. An indefinable shade between blue and green. More hologram than optic.
» The Tenth GiftJane Johnson
'There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they have never happened before, like larks that have been singing the same five notes for thousands of years.'
» Blonde RootsBernadine Evaristo
So while my boss Bwana and his family are out clinking rumand-coke glasses and shaking their wobbly backsides at fancy parties down the road, I've been assigned duties in his office to sort through his ledgers.
» Lost and FoundLucy Cavendish
For the first time in his life, Edward is wearing clothes on the beach. I am watching him from where I'm perched on a sand dune. I'm trying to pretend I'm not looking at him as I know he will be cross if he thinks I am: now, aged ten, 'or nearly eleven', as he puts it, he has become aware of his body.
» The NavigatorClive Cussler
The monster emerged from the morning mists in the pearly light of dawn. The massive head, with its long snout and flaring nostrils, advanced toward shore where the hunter knelt, bowstring taut to his cheek, eyes focused on a deer grazing in the marsh.
» The Owl KillersKaren Maitland
Giles knew they'd come for him, sooner or later. He didn't know where or when, he didn't know what his punishment would be, but he knew that there would be one. A dead owl had been left in front of his door in the middle of the night.
» ButterflySonya Hartnett
Plum is soon to turn fourteen, and one evening she stands in front of a mirror with her school dress around her ankles, her body reflected naked and distressing in the glass.
» Can I Tell you a Secret?Evelyn Cosgrave
Angela O'Regan looked round the room and smiled to herself. Who would have thought she'd ever have an eighty-fifth birthday party? She’d nearly given up on living half her lifetime ago, and now look at her....
» The Gulf Between UsGeraldine Bedell
I was thinking about happiness. (I was meant to be thinking about menus but my mind had wandered.) Specifically, I was thinking about how no one knows what to believe in any more, let alone where to look for it.
» I Play the Drums In a Band called OkToby Litt
'Wouldn't the coolest thing now be to be Japanese, eh?'
We are in Rotterdam Europe lost in thick fog together.
'A bridge over a river next to a church. Haven't we walked past this once before?'
» Wolf TotemJiang Rong
As Chen Zhen looked through the telescope from his hiding place in the snow cave, he saw the steely gaze of a Mongolian grassland wolf. The fine hairs on his body rose up like porcupine quills, virtually pulling his shirt away from his skin
» Warrior of RomeHarry Sidebottom
By the time the warship had cleared the harbour breakwater of Brundisium, the spies had found each other. They sat on the deck, inconspicuous among the men of the Dux ipae.
» The Birthday PresentBarbara Vine
Thirty-three is the age we shall all be when we meet in heaven because Christ was thirty-three when he died. It's an interesting idea. One can't help thinking that the people who invent these things chose it because it's an ideal age, no longer one's first youth but not ageing either.
» CorsairClive Cussler
No sooner had the squadron sighted the fortified walls of the Barbary capital than a storm struck suddenly, forcing the ketch Intrepid and the larger brig Siren back out into the Mediterranean.
» Keeping It In the FamilySinead Moriarty
I heard laughing behind me. Then a voice said, 'This is priceless, Tom. Listen. "The difference between men and women: I was out for lunch with two male colleagues yesterday. The conversation went as follows.
» The Secret FireMartin Langfield
For a split second the room seemed to twist and roar about him, buckling and cracking, as if the walls of the world were caving in. Robert raised his arms over his head, pushing his chair violently back...
» Kieron Smith, boyJames Kelman
In the old place the river was not far from our street. There was a park and all different things in between. The park had a great pond with paddleboats and people sailed model yachts. Ye caught fish in it too.
» A Dance in TimeOrna Ross
Christmas Eve, 1982. My mother opened the front door of Doolough Lodge, saw me standing on the step and rubbed her eyes. Fury surged in me, sudden and complete, and the good intentions Ihad nursed all the way across the Atlantic Ocean were instantly swept away.
» The Road from DamascusRobin Yassin- Kassab
Uncle Mazen drove Sami into the city as far as the parliament building, then shrugged and peered out through the windscreen. 'The car wouldn't make it up there,' he said, pointing an ear at the mountainside. 'There aren't any roads anyway. Just steps. Perhaps you can walk.'
