Author:Tim Parks

Julia has left home. She has gone to Italy. She has left her lover, her job, her flat, the closely-knit group of friends who meant so much to her. Why? And the motley group of ex-pats she finds in Verona, the Oxbridge brigade, the revolutionary Scot, the cool Canadian, the feminist Flossy - why do they find it so impossible to return home, as if their very identities depend somehow on this thousand-mile displacement? Centred around a love story full of twists, turns and revelations, Home Thoughts explores a world of lost directions, wavering commitments and misplaced ambitions as Julia's adventurous departure confronts her more mercilessly than ever with the problem of what on earth she is to do with her life.
Karen Chance doesn't disappoint, once again we have an action packed adventure with a strong female character that, while tough as nails, and a dhampir - is also very human
—— SFRevuA grab-you-by-the-throat-and-suck-you-in sort of book with a tough, smart heroine and
sexy-scary vampires. Just what I like to curl up with. I loved it
A really exciting book with great pace and a huge cast of vivid characters. This is one of my favourite reads of the year
—— Charlaine HarrisStella is stellar
—— Sunday HeraldStella Gibbons’s gift is very special
—— Daily ExpressMurakami reveals throughout, along with turn-on-a-sixpence plotting and joyous satirical energy, a old-fashioned interest and accomplishment in creating a corps of living characters: exotic and eccentric, but always real
—— ScotsmanA world-class writer who takes big risks. . . . If Murakami is the voice of a generation then it is the generation of Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo.
—— The Washington Post Book WorldA Japanese Phillip K. Dick with a sense of humor . . . [Murakami belongs] in the topmost ranks of writers of international stature.
—— NewsdayLoaded with . . . mystery, mysticism, sex and rock 'n' roll. . . . Fast-moving and funny. . . . The narrative voice . . . pulls like a diesel.
—— Los Angeles Times Book ReviewThe plot is addictive.
—— Detroit Free PressThere are novelists who dare to imagine the future, but none is as scrupulously, amusingly up-to-the-minute as . . . Murakami.
—— NewsdayVintage Murakami [and] easily the most erotic of [his] novels
—— Los Angeles Times Book Review[A] treat...Murakami captures the heartbeat of his generation and draws the reader in so completely you mourn when the story is done
—— Baltimore SunMurakami's most famous coming of age novel of love, loss and longing
—— Dazed and ConfusedCatches the absorption and giddy rush of adolescent love... It is also, for all the tragic momentum and the apparently kamikaze consciousness of many of its characters, often funny and quirkily observed.
—— Times Literary Supplement[A] treat . . . Murakami captures the heartbeat of his generation and draws the reader in so completely you mourn when the story is done.
—— The Baltimore SunOne of the most poignant and evocative novels I have ever read
—— PalantinatePoignant, romantic and hopeless, it beautifully encapsulates heartbreak and loss of faith
—— Sunday TimesQuinn brings the period in question vividly to life: his research is exemplary, and his subject absorbing
—— Lucy Scholes , ObserverAll the ingredients of an upmarket page-turner
—— Max Davidson , Mail on SundayAmbitious, gripping and disturbingly well done
—— Kate Saunders , The TimesBeyond its splendid feel for the era’s chat and patter, the novel pits philanthropy and opportunism, ideals and selfishness, bracingly at odds
—— Boyd Tonkin , IndependentThis novel is refreshingly different and contains a cornucopia of wonderful material and evocative descriptions
—— Good Book GuideThe best book I’ve read in ages… You have to read it.
—— Hilary Rose , The Times






