Urban fantasy from the author of The Petrovs in and Around the Flu and Hilary Mantel's First Historical Novel: New Books in May

In May, Alexei Salnikov's new book Occulttraeger, written in the genre of urban fantasy, appeared on bookstores. The work shows the author's version of the world order, in which otherworldly forces influence people's actions. Several writers released historical novels at once. Megan Chance's Splendid Ruins is set in San Francisco at the beginning of the 20th century, Elodie Harper writes about ancient Pompeii in The House of the Wolves, and Hilary Mantel presents an unorthodox look at the French Revolution in Heart of the Storm. About these and other releases - in the material RT.

Alexey Salnikov, "Okkulttreger" ("Edition by Elena Shubina", AST)

Russian writer Alexei Salnikov is the author of the novel The Petrovs in and Around the Flu, which won the National Bestseller Award and was filmed by Kirill Serebrennik.

The writer's new book is written in the genre of urban fantasy.

In it, Christian motifs are intertwined with occult elements.

According to the plot, cherubs, demons, devils, and also occult tragers live among people on Earth - creatures that are the link between people and mystical creatures.

Their tasks include keeping cities warm and gradually replacing bad memories in people's heads with good ones.

The main character is the occult treger Praskovya.

She lives with her assistant, a homunculus who looks like a child, and periodically gets into different adventures.

The novel presents a non-standard version of the world order, in which many of the actions of people are explained by the intervention of otherworldly forces.

“A lot of different knowledge sometimes flew out of Praskovya’s head, memories disappeared, but she knew for sure that, by their nature, angels cannot linger on earth for a very long time.

They don't have enough vitamins.

Or the environment is too toxic, God knows.

A day or two - and hello.

However, there were a couple of exceptions.

Firstly, thrones - since they are able to feed on electricity in material form, they live among people in the form of neon, LED signs, images on TVs, and sometimes on smartphone screens for many years, inspiring subconscious delight and awe in mortals.

Secondly, of course, the cherubim, the strongest of all this brethren.

But even they had a hard time.

In order to maintain their material form, they needed either alcohol or sugar, which caused them to have problems with either the liver or their teeth.

The inability to lie and the messianic need to convey the truth to people were the causes of traumatic ill health in other parts of the cherubic bodies.

Bruises, dislocations, cracks in the bones - all this was the result of truthfulness and inability to lie.

Jenny Colgan, Little Bakery by the Sea (ABC-Atticus)

Polly's measured life changes dramatically when the graphic design studio that the heroine managed with her husband goes bankrupt.

At the same time, the girl's marriage is falling apart.

Left practically destitute, she moves from a comfortable apartment in Plymouth to the resort town of Cornwall.

There, Polly films a crumbling house that used to be a bakery.

To cope with despair, the girl takes up her hobby - baking.

She thinks about turning her passion into work, but it turns out to be a difficult task: the townspeople themselves hardly earn a living and not everyone is ready to share opportunities with outsiders.

"This book will warm your heart like you've received an amazing Mother's Day gift,"

Closer

said in a review.

As a nice bonus, there are bakery recipes at the end of the book.

“Polly put the first six focaccias in the oven and immediately burned her fingers.

And yes, the bread was on fire.

It was only on her third attempt that she managed to bake real focaccia, in which salt, rosemary and olive oil were equally felt.

But when the girl nevertheless coped with the task, the difference in quality struck her herself.

She has never tasted anything better.

The bread, crisp and brittle on the outside, was tender and airy on the inside.

And what an amazing smell!

Warm aroma of baked bread with a slightly bitter, incredibly appetizing note.

It was only by sheer force of will that Polly didn't stuff the whole cake into her mouth at once.

Then she set about baking pissaladière, a French onion pie.

This one was even better for her.

The onions were tender and sweet in the oven, a nice contrast to the tangy olives and anchovies Polly had garnished on top of the pie.

Then it was the turn of the cheese cake, and she pleased with a juicy, rich taste.

Elodie Harper, House of Wolves (MYTH)

The action of the novel "House of the Wolves" takes place in ancient Pompeii.

The main character is the slave Amara.

Once she lived happily with her parents, but after the death of her father, the girl's mother sold her.

Now Amara works in a brothel where she has to hide all her talents, and belongs to a man she despises.

However, Amara is not broken - she is looking for opportunities to gain freedom.

First of all, the book will be of interest to fans of the plots and atmosphere of the ancient world - the novel contains many historical details.

However, according to reviewers, the work is still relevant today.

“The best historical literature always reflects our time, and The House of the Wolves is a triumph.

Harper transports us thousands of years and thousands of miles, and yet we see ourselves reflected in her storytelling,” says Claire Glasson of ITV News Anglia.

“When the girls reach Via Veneria, the broad main street leading to the forum, the path becomes easier.

Now you can go not in single file, but shoulder to shoulder.

Amara takes Dido's hand and squeezes it gently.

“You can’t look down at your feet all the time,” she says.

“I know it's hard, but we're supposed to get male attention, not avoid it.

“I know,” Dido replies.

- But it is so hard.

- And here it is not.

Your face does half the work for you.

You are the most beautiful woman in Pompeii.

Amara had never met anyone more charming than Dido.

The trouble is that her charm is characterized by an extraordinary fragility that evokes in Amara's memory the lovely glass figurine of the goddess Athena.

Parents kept this priceless figurine on a high shelf, which little Amara could not reach.

“I hate my beauty,” Dido says.

“I hate it when men stare at me.

I hate it when…” She trails off mid-sentence.

“Maybe one day I’ll get used to all this.

- Not.

Just be patient.

You can't get used to this."

Megan Chance, Splendid Ruins (AST)

The historical novel was also published by American writer Megan Chance.

The characters in her book Splendid Ruins live in San Francisco at the beginning of the 20th century.

After the death of her mother, young Mae Kimble is left alone without a penny.

One day, a wealthy aunt, whose existence the girl did not suspect, invites her to her place in San Francisco.

Mei is trying to fit into the local community.

Soon, the girl realizes that some secrets surround her: her cousin often disappears at night, her aunt walks in her sleep, and the maid hints that Mei is in danger.

A fictional story full of surprises unfolds against the backdrop of real events: the characters become witnesses of a strong earthquake that occurred on April 18, 1906.

“As soon as I took off the fish and took out the hairpins from my hair, I heard a sound - a light, almost indistinguishable step - and turned around.

At that moment, the door opened and a woman stepped through the threshold of my bedroom.

Mother!

Shocked, I rooted my feet to the floor.

My mother stood in front of me - alive, with blond hair braided behind her back, and a button on her nightgown unbuttoned at the throat ... But almost immediately I realized: this is not my mother.

— Aunt Florence?

— Who are you?

she asked in a harsh whisper.

- I'm Mei.

Your niece.

“My niece is dead,” my aunt frowned.

“They told me she was dead.

Aunt was not awake.

I recognized that hazy look.

In our boarding house, one woman suffered from sleepwalking.

Old Mrs. Wadling disturbed our peace so often that the neighbors had to lock the poor thing in the room.

No, my mother died.

Your sister, Charlotte,” I tried to say as softly as possible.

“May…” Aunt Florence said my name like it was foreign.

— Oh, Mei!

May!

It can't be... Why are you here?

Why did you come here?

- You invited me.

You asked me to come.

“No, no,” said Aunt Florence, backing away, shaking her head.

“You must leave immediately.

I banned them.

I told them "No!"

Hilary Mantel, Heart of the Storm (ABC-Atticus)

Hilary Mantel, author of the Thomas Cromwell trilogy, tells the story of the French Revolution in her new novel Heart of the Storm.

At the same time, the writer does not describe the events of the end of the 18th century from a critical point of view, she tried to look at the period presented in the book through the eyes of those who made the revolution.

Almost all the characters that appear on the pages of the book really lived in those years.

Among them are revolutionaries Maximilian Robespierre, Jean-Paul Marat, Georges Jacques Danton, Camille Desmoulins, writer Pierre Choderlos de Laclos and others.

Also, the work presents mostly true facts - Mantel's personal assumptions appear only in those moments, the details of which are unknown to historians.

“I became a writer solely because I missed the chance to become a historian ... I had to tell myself the story of the French Revolution, but not from the point of view of its enemies, but from the point of view of those who committed it,” Mantel said.

“The dog came again,” says the son.

"Didn't I tell you to get away from the window?"

Stop kidding.

- Why not?

Camille argues.

“Because I am a child.

The father crosses the room and picks up his son, tearing his fingers off the window frame.

Camille's eyes widen in amazement as he is lifted into the air by an irresistible force.

Everything amazes him: his father's accusatory speeches, specks on eggshells, women's hats, ducks in a pond.

Jean-Nicolas carries his son across the room.

At thirty, he thinks, you'll be sitting at this table dividing your time between ledgers and local practice;

for the tenth time drafting the mortgage on the Viege estate.

It will erase the ironic expression from your face forever.

And at forty, when you turn gray and go crazy with anxiety for your eldest son, I will be seventy.

I will sit on the bake and watch the pears ripen on the wall, and Monsieur Sauls and the cure, passing by me, will raise their hats.

Tali Sharot, Illusions of the Human Brain (ABC-Atticus)

Neuroscientist Tali Sharot argues that the human brain forms a false idea of reality - even pessimists and cynics look at the world through rose-colored glasses.

Naturally, this happens for a reason: according to the author of the book Illusions of the Human Brain, optimism is essential for people to survive.

“This book describes the greatest deception that the human brain is capable of - the tendency to optimism.

You will learn when this predisposition is beneficial and when it is harmful, and you will get evidence that moderately optimistic illusions can support a person’s inner well-being, ”says Sharot.

“The fact that people prefer to wait for a pleasant event than to experience it immediately shows that we enjoy thinking about what might happen later.

Even if at the moment we are tense (for example, we had to stay late at work on Friday evening), we can feel happiness just thinking about the upcoming weekend.

In fact, when you ask people to rank the days of the week in order of preference, Friday comes out higher than Sunday even though Friday is a work day and Sunday is a holiday.

Do people enjoy working more than having fun?

Not really.

Saturday, also a day off, is put higher than Fridays and Sundays.

So why do people prefer Friday to Sunday?

The reason is that Friday brings hope - hope for the upcoming vacation and all the things (or idleness) that you have planned.

Sunday, although it is a day off, does not give the joy of waiting.

On the contrary, on Sunday, even a picnic or a walk around the city is overshadowed by the imminent onset of a whole working week.

Natalia Sposobina, "Polyhedra" (MYTH)

Natalya Sposobina is familiar to many fans of the Harry Potter books - it was she who wrote one of the most famous fan fiction in the J.K. Rowling universe - The Color of Hope.

In his novel Polyhedrons, the writer talks about the problems of fathers and children, overcoming complexes and accepting oneself, as well as friendship and betrayal.

The story is sequentially revealed from the perspective of the three main characters.

Girl Masha from a simple family studies at a prestigious university and is friends with one of the students.

One day, another guy is transferred to the group.

For some unknown reason at first, he immediately develops a tense relationship with Masha's friend.

Over time, the girl realizes that the reason for this is some old events.

Sposobina promises that the "Polyhedrons" will have the same atmosphere as the "Color of Hope", and readers will be able to remember the emotions that arise only in youth, during the first love.

“My heart skipped a beat as the checkboxes of the delivered message turned red to indicate that it had been read.

Masha bit her index finger, looking at the system inscription "The novel is typing ...".

“I’m not decent,” came the answer, followed by a smiley smiley too.

Masha swallowed and, wiping her sweaty palm on the blanket, wrote:

"I hope Julia is in the know."

The answer came quickly:

"I think yes".

And right there:

"How's your back?"

Masha looked at the message for a few seconds, and then slowly, letter by letter, typed:

"Good.

What about your nose?

The inscription "The novel is printing ..." hung for so long, as if he was typing "War and Peace" there.

"On the spot."

Masha, holding her breath, looked at the two words, thinking how it would be better to end the correspondence, because it was definitely time to finish.

She did some crazy stuff with this photo anyway.

"Good night," she sent, closing her eyes and clutching the phone in her hand.

For some time nothing happened, and then the mobile phone set to vibrate trembled, announcing the call.

No one but Volkov would call her at ten in the evening.

Preparing for the showdown, Masha looked at the screen and felt her heart jump.

The inscription stretched across the entire width of the screen: "Roman Krestovsky."