Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
Poppyland - cover

Poppyland

D. J. Taylor

Publisher: Salt

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

On Stewkey Blues: 'In his solid, grounded, entertaining collection of stories, DJ Taylor draws out the mythical qualities of East Anglia's terrain, urban or rural or somewhere marginal in between.' —Hilary Mantel
Most of the people in Poppyland are watching their lives begin to blur at the margins. From small-hours taxi offices, out-of-season holiday estates and flyblown market stalls, they sit observing an environment that seems to be moving steadily out of kilter, struggling to find agency, making compromises with a world that threatens to undermine them, and sometimes – but only sometimes – taking a decisive step that will change their destinies.
Available since: 06/02/2025.
Print length: 208 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • In the Forest of Forgetting - cover

    In the Forest of Forgetting

    Theodora Goss

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Theodora Goss's first major short story collection showcases such stories as "The Rose in Twelve Petals," "The Rapid Advance of Sorrow," "Lily, With Clouds," "In the Forest of Forgetting," "Sleeping With Bears," and many more.
    Show book
  • You Know When the Men Are Gone - cover

    You Know When the Men Are Gone

    Siobhan Fallon

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    In Fort Hood housing, like all army housing, you get used to hearing through the walls. You learn too much. And you learn to move quietly through your own small domain. You also know when the men are gone. No more boots stomping above, no more football games turned up too high, and, best of all, no more front doors slamming before dawn as they trudge out for their early formation, sneakers on metal stairs, cars starting, shouts to the windows above to throw them down their gloves on cold desert mornings. Babies still cry, telephones ring, Saturday morning cartoons screech, but without the men, there is a sense of muted silence, a sense of muted life. 
     
    There is an army of women waiting for their men to return to Fort Hood, Texas. As Siobhan Fallon shows in this collection of loosely interconnected short stories, each woman deals with her husband's absence differently. One wife, in an attempt to avoid thinking about the risks her husband faces in Iraq, develops an unhealthy obsession with the secret life of her neighbor. Another woman's simple trip to the PX becomes unbearable when she pulls into her Gold Star parking space. And one woman's loneliness may lead to dire consequences when her husband arrives home. In gripping, no-nonsense stories that will leave you shaken, Fallon allows you into a world tightly guarded by gates and wire. It is a place where men and women cling to the families they have created as the stress of war threatens to pull them apart. 
     
    Track listing for You Know When the Men Are Gone: 
     
    Disc 1 
     
    "You Know When the Men Are Gone"—Track 1 
     
    "Camp Liberty"—Track 21 
     
    Disc 2 
     
    "Remission"—Track 15 
     
    Disc 3 
     
    "Inside the Break"—Track 7 
     
    "The Last Stand"—Track 22 
     
    Disc 4 
     
    "Leave"—Track 14 
     
    Disc 5 
     
    "You Survived the War, Now Survive the Homecoming"—Track 6 
     
    "Gold Star"—Track 17
    Show book
  • Planet of No-Return - cover

    Planet of No-Return

    Wilbur S. Peacock

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Stranded on a mysterious and deadly world, a group of explorers faces the ultimate challenge in Wilbur S. Peacock's gripping sci-fi adventure, Planet of No-Return. Sent on a mission to investigate an uncharted planet, they soon realize that leaving may be impossible. With hostile landscapes, unknown dangers, and a growing sense of doom, survival becomes their only goal. As they uncover the planet's terrifying secrets, they must confront their deepest fears. Packed with suspense, mystery, and classic sci-fi thrills, Planet of No-Return is a thrilling journey into the unknown, where escape is uncertain and the future is bleak.
    Show book
  • The Blue Cross - cover

    The Blue Cross

    G.K. Chesterton

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was an English writer best known for his fictional priest-detective, Father Brown. In The Blue Cross however, we are following the famous Parisien sleuth Aristide Valentin in pusuit of a master criminal in London.Valentin's problem is that he has no clue where to start looking... until in a restaurant where he has his breakfast, the salt and sugar are in the wrong containers. And then he learns that two priests had been in the restaurant earlier, and one of them had deliberately thrown his soup at the wall.On a hunch, Valentin at once sets off in hot pursuit of the two priests, and finds a trail of the oddest clues all across London.
    Show book
  • The Blind Man Deaf Man and the Donkey - cover

    The Blind Man Deaf Man and the...

    Mary Frere

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Mary Eliza Isabella Frere (1845–1911) was an English author of the first English-language field-collected book of Indian folk stories. 
    "The Blind Man, the Deaf Man and the Donkey" is a strange but compelling tale of two co-dependent friends who nonetheless mistrust each other. They find a donkey and a large container... and then when sheltering from a storm in what they mistake for a temple, they find a Rakshas' (terrifying monster with elephant tusks) treasure.  While attempting to trick the Rakshas and steal the treasure, the two are still also intent on swindling each other... then karma deals a strange twist to the tale.
    Show book
  • Conan the Barbarian: Beyond the Black River - cover

    Conan the Barbarian: Beyond the...

    Robert E. Howard

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Conan the Barbarian is employed by one of the civilized countries to help in it's push to claim lands from the primitive Picts. The Picts are not excited about the idea however. Old gods and mythical creatures are called up by the Pict witches to contest the invading army and Conan finds himself battling for his life amid the blood thirsty hordes that include saber-toothed tigers, 40 foot long venomous snakes and a demon from another dimension who is intent on crushing him. The huge dog Slasher makes an appearance here and distinguishes himself so well in a doomed battle to delay their forces that Conan openly praises his courage and pledges that 7 Pict heads will roll in his honor
    Show book