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Life after life / Kate Atkinson.

By: Atkinson, Kate [author.].
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookPublisher: London : Black Swan, 2014Copyright date: ©2013Description: 621 pages ; 20 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9780552776639 (paperback) .DDC classification: 823.92 ATK
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Item type Current library Call number Status Barcode
Fiction MTU Kerry North Campus Library Fiction 823.92 ATK (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 38888000951834
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The PRIZE-WINNING BESTSELLER, now a major BBC1 DRAMA SERIES starring Thomasin McKenzie, Sian Clifford and James McArdle , directed by BAFTA award-winning John Crowley.

'Dazzling, witty, moving, joyful, mournful, profound... one of the best novels I've read this century' Gillian Flynn, bestselling author of GONE GIRL

'A box of delights ... it grips the reader's imagination on the first page and never lets go.' HILARY MANTEL, author of THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT
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What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right?

During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath.

During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale.

What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to?

Life After Life follows Ursula Todd as she lives through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. With wit and compassion, Kate Atkinson finds warmth even in life's bleakest moments, and shows an extraordinary ability to evoke the past. Here she is at her most profound and inventive, in a novel that celebrates the best and worst of ourselves.

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'Merging family saga with a fluid sense of time and an extraordinarily vivid sense of history at its most human level. A dizzying and dazzling tour de force ' Daily Mail

' Absolutely brilliant ...it reminded me a bit of her first book Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which is one of my most favourite books ever.' Marian Keyes, author of Rachel, Again

'An exceptional writer' Guardian

'[A] magnificently tender and humane novel' Observer

'A ferociously clever writer...a big, bold novel that is enthralling, entertainin g' New Statesman

'Exceptionally captivating' New York Times

' Truly brilliant. ..Think of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife or David Nicholl's One Day .. a rare book that you want to start again the minute you have finished.' The Times

Originally published: London: Doubleday, 2013.

Formerly CIP. Uk.

Includes bibliographical references.

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

November 1930 A fug of tobacco smoke and damp clammy air hit her as she entered the café. She had come in from the rain and drops of water still trembled like delicate dew on the fur coats of some of the women inside. A regiment of white-aproned waiters rushed around at tempo, serving the needs of the Münchner at leisure - coffee, cake and gossip. He was at a table at the far end of the room, surrounded by the usual cohorts and toadies. There was a woman she had never seen before - a permed, platinum blonde with heavy make-up - an actress by the look of her. The blonde lit a cigarette, making a phallic performance out of it. Everyone knew that he preferred his women demure and wholesome, Bavarian preferably. All those dirndls and knee-socks, God help us. The table was laden. Bienenstich, Gugelhupf, Käsekuchen . He was eating a slice of Kirschtorte. He loved his cakes. No wonder he looked so pasty, she was surprised he wasn't diabetic. The softly repellent body (she imagined pastry) beneath the clothes, never exposed to public view. Not a manly man. He smiled when he caught sight of her and half rose, saying, ' Guten Tag, gnädiges Fräulein ,' indicating the chair next to him. The bootlicker who was currently occupying it jumped up and moved away. ' Unsere Englische Freundin ,' he said to the blonde, who blew cigarette smoke out slowly and examined her without any interest before eventually saying, ' Guten Tag. ' A Berliner. She placed her handbag, heavy with its cargo, on the floor next to her chair and ordered Schokolade . He insisted that she try the Pflaumen Streusel . ' Es regnet ,' she said by way of conversation. 'It's raining.' 'Yes, it's raining,' he said with a heavy accent. He laughed, pleased at his attempt. Everyone else at the table laughed as well. 'Bravo,' someone said. ' Sehr gutes Englisch .' He was in a good mood, tapping the back of his index finger against his lips with an amused smile as if he was listening to a tune in his head. The Streusel was delicious. ' Entschuldigung ,' she murmured, reaching down into her bag and delving for a handkerchief. Lace corners, monogrammed with her initials, 'UBT' - a birthday present from Pammy. She dabbed politely at the Streusel flakes on her lips and then bent down again to put the handkerchief back in her bag and retrieve the weighty object nesting there. Her father's old service revolver from the Great War, a Webley Mark V. A move rehearsed a hundred times. One shot. Swiftness was all, yet there was a moment, a bubble suspended in time after she had drawn the gun and levelled it at his heart when everything seemed to stop. ' Führer ,' she said, breaking the spell. ' Für Sie .' Around the table guns were jerked from holsters and pointed at her. One breath. One shot. Ursula pulled the trigger. Darkness fell. Excerpted from Life after Life by Kate Atkinson All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Kate Atkinson was born in York, and studied English Literature at the University of Dundee. She earned her Masters Degree from Dundee in 1974. She then went on to study for a doctorate in American Literature but she failed at the viva (oral examination) stage. After leaving the university, she took on a variety of jobs from home help to legal secretary and teacher. Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, won the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year ahead of Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh and Roy Jenkins's biography of William Ewart Gladstone. It went on to be a Sunday Times bestseller.

Since then, she has published another five novels, one play, and one collection of short stories. Her work is often celebrated for its wit, wisdom and subtle characterisation, and the surprising twists and plot turns. Her most recent work has featured the popular former detective Jackson Brodie. In 2009, she donated the short story Lucky We Live Now to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Atkinson's story was published in the 'Earth' collection. In March 2010, Atkinson appeared at the York Literature Festival, giving a world-premier reading from an early chapter from her forthcoming novel Started Early, Took My Dog, which is set mainly in the English city of Leeds.

Atkinson's bestselling novel, Life after Life, has won numerous awards, including the COSTA Novel Award for 2013. The follow-up to Life After Life is A God in Ruins and was published in 2015. This title won a Costa Book Award 2015 in the novel category.

(Bowker Author Biography)

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