Isabella Vaj Knihy

Marjam je pouhých patnáct let, když ji pošlou do Kábulu, aby se provdala za pětačtyřicetiletého Rašída. O necelých dvacet let později vyroste mezi Marjam a dospívající dívkou Lajlou ze sousedství silné pouto podobné vztahu matky s dcerou. Když se dostane k moci Tálibán, už tak neutěšený život se promění v zoufalý boj s hladem, krutostí a neustálým strachem. Láska však dokáže člověka pohnout k nečekaným skutkům a překvapivým hrdinstvím překonat i nesmírně bolestivé překážky. Druhý román Khaleda Hosseiniho přijalo světové publikum neméně příznivě než autorovu veleúspěšnou prvotinu Lovec draků.

Strhující drama ze současného Afghanistánu. Autor, kalifornský lékař, inspirován vlastními vzpomínkami, vypráví příběh osudových zvratů, jimiž jeho hrdina Amír prochází od dětství na cestě k dospělému zmoudření nejprve za mírových posledních let afghánské monarchie a poté za sovětské válečné okupace, na útěku z vlasti a při hledání nového života v emigraci. Události těžko pochopitelné krutosti i bezmezné oddanosti a očistné lásky se v tomto bravurně napsaném románu střídají bez sentimentu, bez jediného zbytečného slova. Svou opravdovostí zasáhl čtenáře ve čtyřiceti zemích světa a v milionových nákladech stále zůstává hlavní literární událostí knižních žebříčků. Podle knihy byl natočen i úspěšný film. V roce 2008 se Khaled Hosseini stal nejprodávanějším autorem světa.

In 1913 an orphan girl boards a steamship bound for Wuhu in South East China. Left in the hands of her soft-hearted but opium-addicted uncle she is delivered to the hall of eternal splendour which, with its painted faces and troubling cries in the night, seems destined to break her spirit. And yet the girl survives and one day hope appears in the unlikely form of a customs inspector, a modest man resistant to the charms of the corrupt world that surrounds him but not to the innocent girl who stands before him.

Surgeon Michael Severin knows all about tragedy: he works with international aid organisations at scenes of disaster all over the world. He is himself is a survivor of an appalling childhood horror, and it is this which drives him to undergo hardship and sometimes danger to do what he can to help. Severin’s stock in trade may be earthquakes and floods, but at home in London, with his beloved wife Caitlin, there at least he is sure of his ground. Respected by his profession, loved both by Caitlin and by his endearingly eccentric foster-father Anthony, Severin’s life is rich and fulfilled – even if he can never quite lay the ghost of his own childhood tragedy. Until something happens which shakes his world more profoundly than any tsunami. Returning from a mission in South America, Severin finds Caitlin dying in their London flat. She has been brutally beaten. From then on, the mysteries deepen as Michael Severin’s secure world begins to fall apart. Who is the strange young woman who turns up unannounced after the killing, and who seems to know more than she should? Who has been sending Caitlin childish drawings of a house in the woods – a house Severin has never seen before? And who really was Caitlin? Did Severin really know her at all? Do we ever really know the people we love?

Natasha Blake is a detective with a difference. She's an ancestor detective, an ambitious young genealogist with a passion for history, whose choice of career is partly driven by the mystery of her own roots. Natasha's investigations are a matter of life and death, involving secrets, scandals and supernatural happenings, forgotten tragedies and buried crimes. The trails she must follow lead her from her Cotswold home to ancient houses, deserted chapels, overgrown graveyards and into cyberspace. Her clients could be anyone for whom the past affects the present ¿ the haunted, the hopeful, or the just plain curious. The disappearance of a young girl, Bethany, appears to be linked in some way to Lizzie Siddall, the haunting, ethereal Pre-Raphaelite model and artist, wife of painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Lizzie's tragic life was cut short by an overdose of laudanum. Was it accident or suicide? Why is Bethany so obsessed with her, and at the same time so determined to put herself beyond the reach of her lover, Adam?