This book offers a sharp and unsentimental portrayal of Lively, blending humor with insightful reflections on her life and the historical context surrounding her experiences. It captures both her personal journey and the broader societal changes, providing a compelling glimpse into her character and the era she navigated.
Penelope Lively Pořadí knih (chronologicky)
Penelope Lively je autorkou mnoha oceňovaných románů a povídkářských sbírek, které oslovují čtenáře všech věkových kategorií. Její díla se často zaměřují na témata paměti, času a způsobu, jakým minulost ovlivňuje přítomnost. Lively zkoumá složitost lidských vztahů a vnitřní život postav s pronikavým postřehem. Její styl je známý svou elegancí, úsporností a schopností vyvolat silné emoce.







Wry, compassionate and glittering with wit, Penelope Lively's stories get beneath the everyday to the beating heart of human experience. In intimate tales of growing up and growing old, chance encounters and life-long relationships, Lively explores with keen insight the ways that individuals can become tangled in history, and how small acts ripple through the generations. With two new never-before-published stories alongside treasures from her early writing days, Metamorphosis showcases the very best from a literary master.
Mezi záhony lze kromě plevele a cestiček najít také inspiraci, štěstí a občas i spisovatele. Penelope Lively je nejen oceňovaná spisovatelka, ale také náruživá zahradnice. V knize Život v zahradě se obě její vášně propojují: vzpomíná na život strávený v zahradách, ať už během svého dětství v Káhiře, na babiččině zahrádce, nebo na svých vlastních zahradách v Oxfordshiru a Londýně. A zároveň si vybavuje všechny záhony, na které narazila při svém bloumání světovou literaturou. Život v zahradě je okouzlující kniha, ze které téměř cítíte vůni starého papíru a mokré hlíny. Na stránkách se střídají příběhy spisovatelů a umělců, kteří si stejně jako Penelope Lively nedokázali představit život bez záhonů, květin a bujných keřů, s jejími vlastními vzpomínkami, úvahami a postřehy nad literaturou, zahradničením a dalšími životními radostmi.
The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories
- 197 stránek
- 7 hodin čtení
This glimmering collection of new short fiction from a Booker Prize winner showcases a unique blend of sympathy, emotional wisdom, and satiric wit. The author, known for acclaimed novels like The Photograph and Family Album, captivates readers with themes of history, family, and relationships set in vividly rendered environments. In the title story, a Mediterranean purple swamp hen reveals the secrets of Quintus Pompeius's villa, highlighting his narrow escape from Vesuvius's eruption. "Abroad" depicts a low point for an artist couple on a tumultuous European road trip, forced to paint a mural in a remote Spanish farmhouse while repairing their broken-down car. Other tales explore friends and lovers in pivotal moments of indiscretion and discovery, such as in "The Third Wife," where a woman uncovers her husband's con artist ways and turns a house-hunting trip into a revenge scheme. Each story is enhanced by the author's graceful prose and keen eye for evocative detail. Wry, charming, and insightful, this collection is a masterful achievement from one of our most beloved writers.
Intimate, perceptive, critically acute, funny, and moving, this biography explores the life of one of the finest English novelists of the last century, Penelope Fitzgerald (1916-2000). A great writer who would never describe herself as such, her novels are short, spare masterpieces that are self-concealing and subtle. She won the Booker Prize for Offshore in 1979, and her last work, The Blue Flower, was hailed as genius. Her early novels drew from personal experiences, such as a boat on the Thames in the 1960s and a failing bookshop in Suffolk, while her later works ventured into historical realms, including pre-Revolution Russia and post-war Italy. Fitzgerald's life mirrored the complexity of her fiction, spanning the twentieth century and shifting from a Bishop's Palace to a sinking barge, and from an intellectual family to hardship. First published at sixty and achieving fame at eighty, her story embodies lateness, patience, and a unique form of heroism. Despite being loved and admired, she remained mysterious, often presenting herself as an absent-minded old lady, concealing a sharp intellect and a rich imagination. This brilliant account, penned by a biographer Fitzgerald admired, delves into her life, writing, and enigmatic self with fascination.
Ammonites and Leaping Fish
- 234 stránek
- 9 hodin čtení
'Sharp, unsentimental and ruefully funny. A fascinating portrait not only of Lively but of the times through which she has lived' Daily Telegraph 'Clever and poignant . . . there is much to enjoy. This is Lively at her best' Sunday ExpressIn this powerful and compelling 'view from old age', Penelope Lively, at eighty, reports back on what she finds. There are meditations on what it is like to be old as well as on how memory shapes us. There are intriguing examinations of key personal as well as historical moments she has lived through and her thoughts on her own bookishness - both as reader and writer. Lastly, she turns to six treasured possessions to speak eloquently about who she is and where she's been - fragments of memories from a life well lived.'A superb study of memory and of her own voyage into the ninth decade of her life. Lively is a compelling, vitally interested witness to time past' Helen Dunmore, Observer, Books of the Year'Enthralling. Will delight all those who love Lively's novels' Daily Mail
La fotografía
- 272 stránek
- 10 hodin čtení
Glyn Peters, un prestigioso historiador del paisaje, encuentra por casualidad una vieja fotografía en la que aparece su mujer, Kath, fallecida quince años antes, cogida de la mano de otro hombre. El hallazgo le impulsará a indagar en la vida de su mujer con la saña del marido humillado y la meticulosidad del arqueólogo. El descubrimiento de la fotografía también afectará, de una forma u otra, a otras cuatro personas muy cercanas a Kath y les llevará a rememorar algunos de los momentos que compartieron con ella. El lector descubrirá que además de la Kath que vive en el recuerdo de todas ellas existió otra a la que ninguna llegó a conocer.
A Stitch in Time
- 224 stránek
- 8 hodin čtení
Maria likes to be alone with her thoughts. She talks to animals and objects, and generally prefers them to people.
A vibrant novel from Booker Prize winner Penelope Lively—a wry, wise story about the surprising ways lives intersect When Charlotte Rainsford, a retired schoolteacher, is accosted by a petty thief on a London street, the consequences ripple across the lives of acquaintances and strangers alike. A marriage unravels after an illicit love affair is revealed through an errant cell phone message; a posh yet financially strapped interior designer meets a business partner who might prove too good to be true; an old-guard historian tries to recapture his youthful vigor with an ill-conceived idea for a TV miniseries; and a middle-aged central European immigrant learns to speak English and reinvents his life with the assistance of some new friends. In this engaging, utterly absorbing and brilliantly told novel, Penelope Lively shows us how one random event can cause marriages to fracture and heal themselves, opportunities to appear and disappear, lovers who might never have met to find each other and entire lives to become irrevocably changed. Funny, humane, touching, sly and sympathetic, How It All Began is a brilliant sleight of hand from an author at the top of her game.








