A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews (Fourth Estate, \u00a316.99)<\/p>\n
When acclaimed novelist Miriam Toews (Women Talking)\ufeff \ufeff\ufeffwas asked \u201cWhy do you write?\u201d, her struggles to form an answer \ufeffled to this powerful memoir,\ufeff which explores the \ufeffeffect on her life and work of the deaths by suicide of her father and sister. Segueing between the present and the past, Toews endeavours to find a link between silence, suicide and creativity. She does not shy away from her own vulnerability, and writes with both candour and humour.<\/p>\n
Seduction Theory by Emily Adrian (W&N, \u00a318.99)<\/p>\n
Married couple Simone and Ethan are fellow academics in the same creative writing department at a New York university\ufeff; Simone is treated as \ufeffa \ufeffstar, while Ethan hasn\u2019t produced a novel for years. When Ethan sleeps with the department secretary, Simone engages in an \u201cemotional affair\u201d with a student, who subsequently turns their relationship dramas into a piece\u00a0of barely\ufeff veiled fiction. Cynicism unites Emily Adrian\u2019s characters, who favour caustic retorts over attempts at self-awareness, somewhat limiting the potential for deep engagement with them\u00a0or their\u00a0dilemmas.<\/p>\n
Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound by\u00a0Kate Kennedy (Apollo, \u00a310.99)<\/p>\n
Merging cultural and musical history with the biographies of extraordinary individuals, Kate Kennedy tells the stories of four unique cellos and their players: from a Jewish composer whose Gagliano was lost when he was captured by the Nazis, to a Stradivari shipwrecked off the coast of Buenos Aires. Kennedy traverses Europe following their journeys, and while the book perhaps tries to encompass too much \u2013 including the history of the cello and the author\u2019s own musical tribulations \u2013 it nonetheless makes for fascinating reading.<\/p>\n
Order any of these titles from The Observer Shop<\/a> to receive a\u00a010% discount. Delivery charges\u00a0may apply<\/p>\n