RNIB National Library Service
Giant Print 24
Biographical, General, Humour and War fiction
Biographical fiction.
Barnes, Julian.
Arthur & George. 2006. 5v.
Arthur and George grow up worlds apart in late nineteenth century Britain: Arthur in shabby-genteel Edinburgh, George in the vicarage of a small Staffordshire village. Arthur becomes a doctor, then a writer; George a solicitor in Birmingham. Arthur is to become one of the most famous men of his age, while George remains in hard-working obscurity. However as the new century begins, they are brought together by a sequence of events which made sensational headlines at the time as The Great Wyrley Outrages.
Syal, Meera.
Anita and me. 1997. 3v.
Like every nine-year-old girl, Meena can't wait to grow up and break free from her parents. But as the daughter of the only Punjabi family in the British mining village of Tollington, her fight for independence is far from typical.
General
Albom, Mitch
The five people you meet in heaven. 2004. 2v.
Eddie is a grizzled war veteran who dies in a tragic accident, trying to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakens in the afterlife, where your earthly life is explained to you by five people who were in it. These people may have been loved ones or distant strangers. Yet each of them changed your path forever.
Adiga, Aravind.
White tiger. 2008. 2v.
Balram gets his break when a rich man hires him as a chauffeur, and takes him to live in Delhi. As he drives his master to shopping malls and call centres, Balram becomes increasingly aware of immense wealth and opportunity all around him, while knowing that he will never be able to gain access to that world. As Balram broods over his situation, he realizes that there is only one way he can become part of this glamorous new India - by murdering his master. This book was a booker prize winner in 2008.
Ahern, Cecelia.
A place called here. 2007. 4v.
Sandy is obsessed with missing things. Finding becomes her goal, and she dedicates her life to finding missing people. But when she herself goes missing, and stumbles upon the place - and people - she's been looking for all of her life, will she be able to find her way back home?
Ahern, Cecelia.
If you could see me now. 2006. 3v.
Elizabeth's sister Saoirse is a red-haired whirlwind, always leaving behind pieces that Elizabeth struggles to pick up. One of these pieces is Saoirse's 6-year-old son Luke, a quiet, contemplative boy. When Luke is playing in Elizabeth's garden one day, witnessing the latest scene between his mother and his aunt, a friend named Ivan walks into his life. This unexpected and rather mysterious friend will change Luke - but will have an even greater impact on Elizabeth.
Ahern, Cecelia
Thanks for the memories. 2008. 4v.
Joyce Conway remembers things she shouldn't. She knows about tiny cobbled streets in Paris, which she has never visited. And every night she dreams about an unknown girl with blonde hair. When Joyce leaves hospital after a terrible accident, with her life and her marriage in pieces, she moves back in with her elderly father. All the while, a strong sense of deja vu is overwhelming her and she can't figure out why.
Andrews, Lynda M
The house on lonely street. 2002. 3v.
When Katherine's father is murdered in the unrest surrounding the docker's strike, she fears for her life and flees to Liverpool with Ceppi, an emotional orphan. Using her father's money to rent a ramshackle lodging house, Katherine discovers one of her tenants is a murderer.
Anthony, Michael.
Green days by the river. 2000. 2v.
A novel about a boy on the edge of adult responsibilities, this is the story of Shell, a Trinidadian boy who moves to a new village and meets two girls.
Barry, Sebastian.
The secret scripture. 2008. 3v.
Roseanne McNulty faces an uncertain future, as the RoscommonRegionalMental hospital where she's spent the best part of her adult life prepares for closure. Over the weeks leading up to this upheaval, she talks often with her psychiatrist Dr Grene, and their relationship intensifies and complicates. Refracted through the haze of memory and retelling, Roseanne's story becomes an alternative, secret history of Ireland's changing character and the story of a life blighted by terrible mistreatment and ignorance, and yet marked still by love and passion and hope.
Binchy, Maeve
Circle of friends. 2006. 7v.
On their first day at UniversityCollege, Dublin, a fatal accident draws together a group of students from different backgrounds and with different aspirations.
Binchy, Maeve.
Heart and soul. 2008. 5v.
Clara Casey has more than enough on her plate with her daughters' problems, a new job to cope with and now her ex-husband wants something from her. For Ania, meeting Clara is a miracle. She never intended to leave Poland, but perhaps a new
job in a new country will mend her broken heart?
Hoffman, Alice.
The third angel: a novel. 2009. 3v.
Unravelling the years from the present to the 1950s, The Third Angel is a compelling novel, set mainly in London, about girls and women who make the wrong choices and have to live with the sometimes unbearable consequences.
Boyd, William
Brazzaville beach. 1991. 4v.
Hope Clearwater lives on an African beach. She examines the complex circumstances that brought her there, reassessing the violent, complicated and tragic events which have occurred in her life.
Brookner, Anita
Hotel du Lac. 1993, c1984.
Edith Hope has been banished by her friends to a stately hotel in Switzerland. During her stay she befriends some of the other guests, each of whom has his or her own tale.
Buchan, Elizabeth
The second wife. 2007. 3v.
What happens when the mistress gets her man? Against the odds, that's what happened to Minty. She stole her best friend Rose's husband Nathan and made him her own. But now that she's got what she wanted - marriage, kids, a family home - she's discovering a few things she didn't bargain on: the cold shoulder from Nathan's other family, her husband's middle age and growing distance...and accepting that first wives don't just go away.
Byatt, A S
The children's book. 2009. 8v.
Olive Wellwood, a famous writer, writes for each of her children a separate private book, bound in different colours and placed on a shelf. In their rambling house near Romney Marsh the children play in a story-book world - but their lives, and those of their rich cousins, children of a city stockbroker, and their friends, the son and daughter of a curator at the new Victoria and Albert Museum, are already inscribed with mystery.
Collins, Jackie
Deadly embrace. 2002. 5v.
Distraught after finding out her father has been hiding secrets from her all her life - and is possibly involved with the mob - Madison flies to L.A. only to find herself held hostage by masked gunmen. Michael Castelli is being accused of murder. But has he been set up as pay-back for a deed in his past? And could his daughter's life or death situation be connected?
Collins, Jackie
Lethal seduction. 2000. 5v.
Fashion designer Jamie Nova has chosen the glitz of Las Vegas as the setting for celebrating her impending divorce. Joined by her two best friends - Jamie plans to make the most of her hard-earned holiday and forget all about her controlling ex.
Doyle, Roddy.
Paddy Clarke ha, ha, ha. 1993. 2v.
Paddy Clarke is ten in 1968 and loves George Best, Geronimo and the smell of his hot water bottle. He hates zoos, kissing and boys from the Corporation houses and his brother. He knows that his mother is crying, that Da leaves the house in silence, but he doesn't know why...
Desai, Kiran.
The inheritance of loss. 2006. 2v.
At the foot of MountKanchenjunga in the Himalayas, lives an embittered old judge who wants nothing more than to retire in peace. But with the arrival of his orphaned granddaughter, Sai, and his cook's son trying to stay a step ahead of US immigration services, this is far from easy. When a Nepalese insurgency threatens Sai's blossoming romance with her handsome tutor they are forced to consider their colliding interests. The judge must revisit his past, his own journey and his role in this grasping world of conflicting desires every moment holding out the possibility for hope or betrayal.
Doyle, Roddy.
Not just for Christmas. 1999. 1v.
Danny Murphy is going to meet his brother, Jimmy. They haven't seen each other in more than 20 years. On the way to the meeting, Danny remembers the fun and the fights - and the one big fight that drove them apart. Will they fight again, or will they become the friends they used to be.
Dunmore, Helen
Burning bright. 2008. 3v.
A 16-year-old girl leaves home to live with her Finnish lover, Kai and his business partner, Tony. Nadine is bright but naive, she likes feeling looked after and doesn't question where the money comes from. The story charts her growing friendship with the elderly Enid who is a sitting tenant.
Elton, Ben.
Chart throb. 2006. 5v.
"Chart throb" is the ultimate pop quest. Ninety five thousand hopefuls. Three judges. Just one winner. And that's Colin Simms, the genius behind the show. Colin always wins because Colin writes the rules. But the 'real' is about to be put back into 'reality' television and Colin and his fellow judges are about to become ex-factors themselves!
Elton, Ben.
Past mortem. 2004. 3v.
With old friends like these, who needs enemies? It's a question detective Edward Newson is forced to ask himself having in romantic desperation logged on to the Friends Reunited website searching for girlfriends from his past. Meanwhile, back in the present, Newson is secretly in love with Natasha, his lovely but very attached sergeant, and completely failing to solve a series of baffling and gruesome murders. When a school reunion is planned, history begins to repeat itself.
Faulks, Sebastian.
A week in December. 2009. 4v. General fiction.
London, the week before Christmas, 2007. Over seven days, we follow the lives of seven major characters: a hedge fund manager trying to bring off the biggest trade of his career; a professional footballer recently arrived from Poland; a young lawyer with little work and too much time to speculate; a student who has been led astray by Islamist theory; a hack book-reviewer; a schoolboy hooked on skunk and reality TV; and, a Tube train driver whose Circle Line train joins these and countless other lives together in adaily loop. The novel pieces together the complex patterns and crossings of modern urban life. Greed, the dehumanising effects of the electronic age and the fragmentation of society are some of the themes dealt with in this book.
Ferris, Joshua.
Then we came to the end. 2008. 4v.
They spend their days - and too many of their nights - at work. There's Chris Yop, clinging to his ergonomic chair; Lynn Mason, the boss, whose breast cancer everyone pretends not to talk about; Carl Garbedian, secretly taking someone else's medication; Marcia Dwyer, whose hair is stuck in the eighties; and Benny, who's just - well, just Benny. Amidst the boredom, redundancies, water cooler moments, meetings, flirtations and pure rage, life is happening, to their great surprise, all around them.
Fforde, Katie.
Life skills. 2004. 3v.
When Julia breaks off her engagement to boringly safe Oscar, she decides to go for a complete change of life, as cook on a narrow boat. But even afloat, Julia's past catches up with her and she must contend with not only Oscar and his awful mother but also the arrival of the enigmatic Fergus.
Ford, Richard
The sportswriter. 2006. 4v.
Frank Boscombe; book 1. Frank Boscombe, sportswriter is experiencing the end of a marriage. He suffers the pangs of emotional dislocation and discovering a new way of life.
Gayle, Mike
The life and soul of the party. 2008. 2v.
Set across a year of leaving dos, birthday parties and anniversaries celebrating love, life and those special moments we've all spent in the kitchen at parties. Contains strong language.
Grant, Linda.
The clothes on their backs. 2008. 3v.
In a red brick mansion block off the Marylebone Road, Vivien, a sensitive, bookish girl grows up sealed off from both past and present by her timid refugee parents. Then one morning a glamorous uncle appears, dressed in a mohair suit, with a diamond watch on his wrist and a girl in a leopard-skin hat on his arm. Why is Uncle Sandor so violently unwelcome in her parents' home?
Gregson, Julia.
East of the sun. 2008. 8v
Autumn 1928. Three young women are on their way to India, each with a new life in mind. Rose, a beautiful but naive bride-to-be, is anxious about leaving her family and marrying a man she hardly knows. Victoria, her bridesmaid couldn't be happier to get away from her overbearing mother, and is determined to find herself a husband. And Viva, their inexperienced chaperone, is in search of the India of her childhood,
Haddon, Mark.
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time. 2004. 2v.
The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone, who is fifteen and has Asperger's, a form of autism. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour's dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.
Contains language that some readers may find offensive.
Hall, Sarah.
How to paint a dead man. 2009. 3v.
Italy in the early 1960s: a dying painter considers the sacrifices and losses that have made him an enigma, both to strangers and those closest to him. He begins his last life painting, using the same objects he has painted obsessively for his entire career - a small group of bottles. In Cumbria 30 years later, a landscape artist and admirer of the Italian recluse – finds himself trapped in the extreme terrain that has made him famous. And in present-day London, his daughter, an art curator struggling with the sudden loss of her twin brother while trying to curate an exhibition about the lives of the twentieth-century European masters, is drawn into a world of darkness and sexual abandon. Covering half a century, this is a luminous and searching novel, and Hall's most accomplished work to date. Warning: contains sex scenes.
Heller, Zoe
Notes on a scandal. 2007. 3v.
When the new teacher first arrives, Barbara immediately senses that this woman will be different from the rest of her staff-room colleagues. But Barbara is not the only one to feel that Sheba is special, and before too long Sheba is involved in an illicit affair with a pupil.
Hensher, Philip.
The northern clemency. 2008. 8v.
Set in Sheffield, this epic charts the relationship between two families: Malcolm and Katherine Glover and their three children; and their neighbours the Sellers family, In the background, England is changing: from a manufacturing and industrial based economy into a new world of shops, restaurants and service industries, a shift particularly marked in the North with the miners' strike of 1984, which has a dramatic impact on both families.
Hill, Susan.
I’m the king of the castle. 1974. 2v.
Used to roaming alone through the large house in which he lives with his father, Edmund, aged 11, bitterly resents the arrival of the new housekeepers son and sets about ridding himself of the intruder with malicious relentlessness.
Hill, Susan.
Strange meeting. 1974. 2v.
John Hilliard, a subaltern returning to the Western Front after a period of sick leave back in an England blind to the horrors of the trenches, finds his battalion tragically altered. His commanding officer finds escape in alcohol, there is a new adjutant and even Hilliard's batman has been killed.
Hislop, Victoria.
The return. 2008. 5v.
In a quiet cafe, a chance conversation and an intriguing collection of old photographs draw Sonia Cameron into the extraordinary tale of Spain's devastating civil war. Seventy years earlier, the cafe is home to the close-knit Ramirez family. In 1936, an army coup led by Franco shatters the country's fragile peace, and in the heart of Granada the family witnesses the worst atrocities of conflict. Divided by politics and tragedy, everyone must take a side, fighting a personal battle as Spain rips itself apart.
Hosseini, Khaled.
A thousand splendid suns. 2007. 4v.
Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry the troubled and bitter Rasheed, who is thirty years her senior. Nearly two decades later, in a climate of growing unrest, tragedy strikes fifteen-year-old Laila, who must leave her home and join Mariam's unhappy household. Laila and Mariam are to find consolation in each other, their friendship to grow as deep as the bond between sisters, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter.