This month saw the re-publishing of Tim O’Brien’s classic Vietnam war novels: If I Die in a Combat Zone, Going After Cacciato, The Things they Carried, Northern Lights and In the Lake of the Woods. Tim O’Brien’s works have been hailed as some of the finest books to emerge from the Vietnam conflict, with New York Times Book Review saying: ‘A personal document of aching clarity … O’Brien brilliantly and quietly evokes the foot soldier’s daily life in the paddies and foxholes. …beautiful, painful…’ Read more…
It’s getting cold, isn’t it? The weather is meant to be great tomorrow, but we’re not holding our breath. More like we’re seeing our breath (okay- we’ll stop making dad jokes and/or talking about the weather). As we see the chilly evenings creeping in, we thought we’d give you a recipe to both keep you busy of an evening, and make you all warm and full of delicious dinner. Read more…
Here at 4th Estate, we like to spoil our readers with an occasional extract or two, and we’re currently loving Joyce Carol Oates’ new memoir so much that we thought we would share a little bit of it with you. The Lost Landscape is a fascinating look into the life of a prolific writer, and in this extract Oates reveals the book that inspired her prodigious output…
Congratulations to Bruce Robinson for making it onto the 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize longlist for They All Love Jack: Busting the Ripper, his gripping quest to discover the identity of history’s most notorious murderer.
As you’ll know by now, this month’s theme is SECRETS AND LIES; a common thread in literature, because there’s nothing better than a hidden story. We thought that it might be nice to share a short story from the incredible Barbara the Slut. Take it away, Mike Anonymous… Read more…
We all have those books which sit on the shelf months after purchase, or are picked up in charity shops, or hastily bought on a near out of date Waterstones card. Yet, once read, it’s often these books which surprise and intrigue us. Some of our own treasured books include: an eccentric guest list which gets held hostage; a dissection of our human need for superheroes; a local murder which pans out to reflect the global politics of the sixties; and an ethical guide to buying good food which doesn’t exploit the world. So take your pick, you can’t say we don’t give you an eclectic range: Read more…
We are delighted to report that two of 4th Estate’s most exciting and thought-provoking works of fiction have been longlisted for the the National Book Awards! Read more…
‘I buy butternut squash thinking, how useful, and then it sits for weeks on the side. They are very forgiving, however. There is always enough juicy, orange flesh under its hard skin for this late-night fry-up.’ Read more…
