"The Hour of Revelation", Muriel Barberi ("ABC-Atticus")
The novel "The Hour of Revelation" is, in fact, a prequel to the author's work "Only a Rose" published in Russia in 2021.
It tells the story of a girl named Rosa, who first came to Japan, to the house of her deceased father, whom the heroine had never seen, in order to gain roots.
In The Hour of Revelation, the reader learns the story of Rosa's father.
Haru Ueno lived in the outback of Kyoto until he realized his destiny and became a collector and dealer of modern Japanese art.
In his lifetime, he met many women, but it was his relationship with a Frenchwoman named Maud who was shrouded in some kind of mystery, incompleteness.
Their romance lasted a short ten days, after which the girl left Japan.
Haru Ueno learned about the existence of his daughter from third parties, he was ready to become a father, but fate decreed otherwise.
Both novels, "Only a Rose" and "The Hour of Revelation", were created by the French writer Muriel Barberi after living in Japan for several years.
Therefore, the life of the Japanese people, the rules and traditions, as well as the landscapes of the country are described in books with special attention to detail.
“You are a pilgrim,” said the potter, “and wandering about your own life.
You may have found your home, but originally you are the son of the mountains, who ripped out his heart and went into exile.
And therefore, wanting to run from the rules, you run from the truth.
From what truth?
Keisuke laughed, "Truth is love."
Haru wanted to answer, but the phone rang and he went to answer the new herald of fate.
When he returned, Keisuke read to him two stanzas from Rilke's poem, the very one that he himself quoted to Mellan: "And away from the twinkling of stars, a heavy ball of earth flies away into an empty night."
Even Rilke understands your country better than you.
But Haru didn't care.
He did not care about the land of Japan, about exile, about the stars and about loneliness.
He didn't care about anything that had made sense to him so far.
He waited for Keisuke to leave, and when Sayoko came in to put away the sake set, he said to her:
- Her name is Rose.
He spoke the name in English, the language he had learned to communicate with the Europeans.
- Rose?
Sayoko repeated, saying it in Japanese.
He nodded, she said nothing and went back to her room.
Later he took a bath, read a little, turned off the light and fell asleep in a feeling of grace.
© Azbuka-Atticus
"OTMA.
Rescue of the Romanovs”, Alexey Kolmogorov (AST)
The debut book of director and screenwriter Alexei Kolmogorov is published in the Non-Historical Romance series, in which the author fantasizes using historical events.
Kolmogorov decided to take as a basis the story of the Romanov family, who was shot on the night of July 16-17, 1918.
The action in the novel takes place in two time periods, the first of which begins in the Ipatiev house on the night when Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, heir and daughters were supposed to die.
But in the world of the writer, the royal family is saved.
The story is told from the perspective of midshipman Leonid Annenkov, whom the princesses simply call Leonidik.
He participated in the daring release of the Romanovs from captivity, and also accompanied the royal family on a long and dangerous escape.
Further, the reader moves to the future, to 1937, where the Chekist Krivoshein is trying to find out what happened in 1918.
Two storylines intersect, thanks to the investigation and a series of mysterious events.
Alexey Kolmogorov acted as a director and screenwriter of such projects as Anna Detective, Secrets of Mrs. Kirsanova, and also wrote the script for the series Head of Intelligence.
“Kolchak watched the lieutenant approaching, pulling a revolver from his holster as he went.
What if it's a mistake?
What if the Romanovs are not on the ship?
What if this messenger is not alone and someone else in the city is waiting for a signal from him?
The lieutenant walked past Kolchak into the cell.
What if, indeed, without receiving a signal from this orderly, the Romanovs will again disappear into the taiga?
This cannot be allowed!
- Leave it!
Kolchak ordered.
The lieutenant lowered his revolver, which he had already aimed at the arrested man's head.
Bring him back to human form.
Call the doctor, let him put him on his feet.
Can he walk?
“The bones are intact,” the lieutenant shrugged.
“No one else should interrogate him.
And a doctor - immediately.
- Will be done!
- Vessels to prepare, but not to go out.
Wait for special instructions.
- I'm listening!
the colonel drew himself up.
The king's shadow, like the shadow of Hamlet's father, loomed on the stage again.
They buried him, danced on his grave, and he was resurrected.
Unthinkable, impossible."
© AST
"Storykeeper" by Sally Page ("ABC-Atticus")
Janice is a treasure trove of stories.
Someone collects stamps, coins, and she prefers to keep the stories of people who surround her.
By the way, Janice is a little over forty and she works as a cleaner.
She loves her profession, because thanks to her she learns a lot of new things for her collection.
When her hobby began, the heroine does not remember.
At some point, she noticed: it is easy for people to pour out their souls to her, while she washes the sink or wipes the dust.
So, story after story began to accumulate in her mind, like a valuable treasure.
But no one has ever been interested in Janice herself: even the woman's husband is not particularly keen on her nature.
However, the heroine does not claim attention, because she believes that she has nothing to tell about herself.
But everything changes when Janice starts working for Mrs. B, a 92-year-old woman who, thanks to her intelligence and insight, sees that the cleaning lady is an interesting person and deserves close attention.
The elderly lady will try to talk the heroine and find out what she is silent about.
The Storyteller is the debut novel by author Sally Page.
Previously, the author studied history at the university, and in the evenings she was fond of floristry.
As a result, Paige opened her own flower shop.
The writer realized that this is a unique window in the history of people.
She photographed plants and also published a series of non-fiction books about flowers and working in a flower shop.
So Sally Page developed a love of writing.
“Oh, Mrs. B, let me help you up.
You don't need to sit on the floor at all.
“Janice, I don't feel like sending you at all, and I must say there are very, very few such people.
So could you just leave me alone?
“Sorry, but your condition is far from rest.
I can see that something is wrong.
Let me lift you up and... well, I don't know... Maybe I can make you some hot chocolate?
She was about to add: “And you will tell me everything,” but she is afraid that her words will sound too patronizing, and Janice does not want to risk the status of a person whom Mrs. B does not want to send.
For Janice, this is a reason to be proud of herself.
"Back off, Janice!"
— (Well, the status wasn't long enough.) — Hot chocolate?
How old do you think I am - two years old?
For your information, I am 92 and graduated with honors, earning nearly the highest grades in the history of this college.
You may be interested to know that my husband got his master's degree thanks to my connections - not mine, mine!
I speak four languages, I have an exceptionally high IQ, and once I strangled a man with a belt, and before that I neutralized his accomplice, who, in turn, tried to kill me.
And do you know how I disabled it?
She drugged him.
So hot chocolate from a caring nanny will not calm me down.
© Azbuka-Atticus
"Theatre of Melting Shadows", Elena Afanasyeva (AST)
The young girl Anna was born into a wealthy noble family, in a house on Bolshaya Morskaya Street.
In October 1917, the pregnant Anna travels from Petrograd to the Crimea with her family.
There, in the estate of her mother, Anna, together with her husband, two daughters, mother and servants, is going to survive the troubled times of the Civil War.
All Anna wants is to be free.
The one she had as a child, when she wrote poetry and stood on her favorite cliff.
Now she has exchanged poetry for children.
The heroine does not feel like herself surrounded by family people.
Talking about politics and other everyday conversations are alien to her.
Anna has a long way to go to feel alive again in difficult times for the country.
This is a thorny road, and it stretches through the horrors of war, bloodshed, the struggle of the Bolsheviks with the Whites, established traditions, unfaithful and sudden love.
Anna will have to face death and loss, but she will do her best to save herself and her children.
This is not the first novel by Elena Afanasyeva.
The Russian writer and journalist has previously published several books, including "The Sign of the Snake", "The Well in the Sky", as well as a work under the unusual title Ne-bud-duroi.ru.
For his creativity and style, the author was nicknamed "Akunin in a skirt" and "Russian Perez-Revert".
“The ship emits a hysterical horn and moves off.
Now.
The boat will catch up.
The mother's face flickers next to the husband's.
Mother is alone.
There is no captain.
There are no sailors around.
The boat is hanging on the side of the ship right below them, and no one intends to lower it.
“Mommy-mommy-mommy!”
- Masha's cry covers all the cries of the crowd, cormorants and pierces Anna with a sharp awl.
Shout Masha.
Oli's eyes
Irinushka's little hand clung to her neck painfully... And only one thought, like that of a delinquent schoolgirl, would scold her mother that everything happened because of her.
I didn’t follow Olya’s lead, I would have listened to my mother, everyone would be on the ship now ...
“They are sailing away,” Olya says only.
Husband Dmitry Dmitrievich rushes about on the deck, if it is possible to rush about in that crowd that is hardly smaller on the ship than on the pier.
Mother stands like a stone block.
Evil, confused.
Quicker than her husband understands that everything is useless.
Or Anna just imagines it.
The faces are no longer visible.
Only some kind of indistinct movement ... Someone, leaning over the deck railing, falls into the water.
© AST
Anatomy of Love, Dana Schwartz (AST)
Young American writer Dana Schwartz created a novel that quickly gained popularity among readers and became a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.
This is a mysterious, exciting and at the same time dark story that unfolds against the backdrop of 19th century Scotland.
Hazel Sinnett is a 17-year-old miss who prefers to carve frogs instead of socializing and drinking tea.
She dreams not of getting married, like many other girls of her age, but of becoming a surgeon, which in those days was not at all as honorable as in the modern world.
Hazel is lucky, she can almost easily hide her hobbies from her mother, because she is focused on raising her youngest son and pays little attention to her daughter.
That is why one day the girl, under the pretext of a long walk, goes to an anatomical demonstration, which is arranged in the city by the head of surgeons at the University of Edinburgh on a live test subject.
There she meets Jack Carrer, a resurrectionist who is struggling to survive in a city where it's so easy to die.
This meeting will change everything in Hazel's life.
The fact is that the girl made a bet with the teacher: if she passes the exams, she will be able to study as a surgeon.
She is not allowed to attend classes, and for self-study she needs books, as well as bodies for practice.
It is fortunate that a new acquaintance professionally digs up corpses.
Hazel and Jack will work together.
He will help her prepare for the exams, and she will help him in uncovering the mystery of the disappearance of his friends, as well as the secrets that lie in the nameless graves of the Edinburgh cemetery.
“Whatever the reason, the gloves remained on Beecham’s hands even as he selected from the tray a knife with a long, serrated blade and a polished silver handle.
Beecham smiled at him, watched the candlelight gleam on the blade for a while, then put it back on the tray.
He seemed to forget that he was standing in a theater full of people watching his every gesture.
Hazel was so engrossed in looking at him that it took only a couple of minutes for her to notice the patient lying on the table in front of him, a middle-aged man with a leg covered by a piece of cloth.
At last Beecham spoke.
“I promised you something extraordinary, gentlemen, and that is what I will now demonstrate.
My grandfather founded this society so that the eminent men of science would come together and share their experiences and discoveries.
And today I will push Edinburgh into the nineteenth century.
As he continued to speak, he shifted his gaze to the patient on the table and yanked the cloth from his leg with a sweeping motion.
The audience shuddered in unison.
Hazel also sighed sharply, which, fortunately, no one heard.
The man's leg looked terrible: inflamed, greenish in some places, reddish in others, twice the size of a normal leg, and besides, entwined with swollen crimson veins.
Dr. Beecham selected another instrument from the assistant's tray, a saw.
He lifted it up, almost playfully, and now the patient shuddered.
© AST