featured
- Lou Reed - I'll Be Your MirrorFaber to publish first comprehensive volume of Lou Reed’s lyrics
- The Faber Short StoriesFaber designer Jonny Pelham on the short stories design process
- New BBC programme sheds light on Lord of the FliesThe story behind the publication of William Golding's iconic novel
featured
- Lou Reed - I'll Be Your MirrorFaber to publish first comprehensive volume of Lou Reed’s lyrics
- The Faber Short StoriesFaber designer Jonny Pelham on the short stories design process
- New BBC programme sheds light on Lord of the FliesThe story behind the publication of William Golding's iconic novel
New & Recommended
The TIMES, OBSERVER and EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF THE WEEK
'The world's most powerful people are lying like never before, and no one understands the art of their lies like Peter Pomerantsev.' Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland: The Inside Story of the Crooks and Kleptocrats Who Rule the World
When information is a weapon, everyone is at war.
We live in a world of influence operations run amok, a world of dark ads, psy-ops, hacks, bots, soft facts, ISIS, Putin, trolls, Trump. We’ve lost not only our sense of peace and democracy – but our sense of what those words even mean.
As Peter Pomerantsev seeks to make sense of the disinformation age, he meets Twitter revolutionaries and pop-up populists, ‘behavioural change’ salesmen, Jihadi fan-boys, Identitarians, truth cops, and much more. Forty years after his dissident parents were pursued by the KGB, he finds the Kremlin re-emerging as a great propaganda power. His research takes him back to Russia – but the answers he finds there are surprising.
Part reportage, part intellectual adventure, This is Not Propaganda is a Pynchon-like exploration of how we can reimagine our politics and ourselves in a time where truth has been turned topsy-turvy.
'Through our current smog of smouldering bullshit, This is Not Propaganda shines a necessary, humane and dissident light.' Nick Rankin, author of Churchill's Wizards: the British Genius for Deception 1914-1945
'Groundbreaking.' CNN
‘It's just another song to me. I've written 1,000 of them and it's really just another one.’ Jimmy Webb
‘When I heard it I cried. It made me cry because I was homesick. It's just a masterfully written song.’ Glen Campbell
The sound of ‘Wichita Lineman’ was the sound of ecstatic solitude, but then its hero was the quintessential loner. What a great metaphor he was: a man who needed a woman more than he actually wanted her.
Written in 1968 by Jimmy Webb, ‘Wichita Lineman’ is the first philosophical country song: a heartbreaking torch ballad still celebrated for its mercurial songwriting genius fifty years later. It was recorded by Glen Campbell in LA with a legendary group of musicians known as ‘the Wrecking Crew’, and something about the song’s enigmatic mood seemed to capture the tensions in America at a moment of crisis. Fusing a dribble of bass, searing strings, tremolo guitar and Campbell’s plaintive vocals, Webb’s paean to the American West describes a telephone lineman’s longing for an absent lover, who he hears ‘singing in the wire’ – and like all good love songs, it’s an SOS from the heart.
Mixing close-listening, interviews and travelogue, Dylan Jones explores the legacy of a record that has entertained and haunted millions for over half a century. What is it about this song that continues to seduce listeners, and how did the parallel stories of Campbell and Webb – songwriters and recording artists from different ends of the spectrum – unfold in the decades following? Part biography, part work of musicological archaeology, The Wichita Lineman opens a window on to America in the late-twentieth century through the prism of a song that has been covered by myriad artists in the intervening decades.
‘Americana in the truest sense: evocative and real.’ Bob Stanley
‘Louise Doughty leads her unnerved readers into dark territory.’ Hilary Mantel.
'Utterly mesmerizing, with the pace of a thriller and a sense of profound mystery in the most ordinary of settings. I was hooked from its start to its nerve-racking, surprising finish.' Deborah Moggach
The new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Louise Doughty
Platform Seven at 4am: Peterborough Railway Station is deserted. The man crossing the covered walkway on this freezing November morning is confident he’s alone. As he sits on the metal bench at the far end of the platform it is clear his choice is strategic – he’s as far away from the night staff as he can get.
What the man doesn’t realise is that he has company. Lisa Evans knows what he has decided. She knows what he is about to do as she tries and fails to stop him walking to the platform edge.
Two deaths on Platform Seven. Two fatalities in eighteen months - surely they’re connected?
No one is more desperate to understand what connects them than Lisa Evans herself. After all, she was the first of the two to die….
Award-winning comedian Sara Pascoe turns her attention to the things that really matter to humans – sex, power and money.
'A genuinely hilarious explanation of the science of sex' FRANKIE BOYLE
Following her hit book Animal, Sara Pascoe decides to confront her fear of the male libido, and turns her attention to the things that really matter to humans, delving into such questions as:
Why don’t people care about the welfare of the people they masturbate to?
and
Why is there such stigma around those who work in the sex industry?
when
Some women still want men to buy them dinner?
In this comedic and educational hopscotch over anatomy, the history of sexual representation and the sticky way all human interactions are underwritten by wealth, Pascoe explores whether we'll ever be able to escape the Conundrum of Heterosexuality. Drawing on anecdotal experience, unqualified opinion, interviews and original research, Sex Power Money is thought-provoking and riotously funny: a fresh take on the oldest discussion.
'Important, timely, poignant, mind-blowing and VERY FUNNY. Written with kindness, bravery and ridiculous attention to detail, it will make you feel cleverer without all the usual effort.' AISLING BEA
**SUBSCRIBE TO THE SEX POWER MONEY PODCAST**
Paperback Picks
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Normal People
9780571334650Paperback2019-05-02288THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES AND TOP FIVE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA BBC ONE DRAMA ADAPTATION CURRENTLY IN PRODUCTIONWINNER OF THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2018WINNER OF THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEARWINNER OF NOVEL OF THE YEAR AND BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDSWINNER OF THE SPECSAVERS NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS INTERNATIONAL AUTHOR OF THE YEARLONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2018LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2019Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in the west of Ireland, but the similarities end there. In school, Connell is popular and well-liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation – awkward but electrifying – something life-changing begins. Normal People is a story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find they can’t.'The literary phenomenon of the decade.' – GuardianSHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD 2019SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ENCORE PRIZE 2019LONGLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2019 -
Shell Life on the Seashore
9780571354450Paperback2019-08-01240'Armed with this intrepid survey, we can see a brave new world down there on the beach ... Exquisite revelation, of the most wonderful, watery kind.' - Philip HoareFor many, the highlights of seaside holidays are rockpooling and gathering the glorious array of shells left strewn on the beach after the receding tide. Attracted by the infinite variety of shapes and colours, visitors can never resist making a souvenir collection of their own - but little do they suspect the fascinating lives of the animals who once occupied them. What if each shell had a story of its own to tell us, if only we knew the language? Mr Street’s delightful, informative guide uncovers the secret history of each common shell, revealing not only which marine creature once inhabited it but the unique challenges of its watery habitat it had to solve. From barnacles to oysters, cockles to sea slugs, winkles to carnivorous snails, molluscs and lesser-known members of the octopus family, Shell Life on the Seashore is the essential primer for recognising and collecting both these curious specimens and the 'empties' they leave behind - and will greatly increase the old-fashioned pleasures of a coastal holiday for all the family. -
I Am Dynamite!
9780571336227Paperback2019-08-01464The Times Biography of the YearWinner of the Hawthornden Prize 2019Longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2019Longlisted for the Cundhill History Prize 2019Longlisted for the HWA Non-Fiction Prize 2019‘Outstanding.’ The Sunday Times ‘A revelation.’ Guardian ‘Wonderful.’ The Times ‘Riveting.’ New StatesmanFriedrich Nietzsche’s work rocked the foundation of Western thinking and continues to permeate our culture, high and low – yet he is one of history’s most misunderstood philosophers. Sue Prideaux’s myth-shattering book brings readers into the world of a brilliant, eccentric and deeply troubled man, illuminating the events and people that shaped his life and work. I Am Dynamite! is the essential biography for anyone seeking to understand Nietzsche, the philosopher who foresaw – and sought solutions to – our own troubled times. -
The Falconer
9780571355938Paperback2019-08-01288‘An electric debut’ New York Times ‘Exhilarating’ Claire Messud ‘Deeply affecting’ Salman RushdieA new coming-of-age classic, an early '90s New York-set novel of love, basketball, art and feminismSeventeen-year-old Lucy Adler, a street-smart, trash-talking baller, is often the only girl on the public courts. Lucy’s inner life is a contradiction. She’s by turns quixotic and cynical, insecure and self-possessed and, despite herself, is in unrequited love with her best friend and pick-up teammate Percy, son of a prominent New York family who is trying to resist his upper crust fate.As Lucy questions accepted notions of success, bristling against her own hunger for male approval, she is drawn into the world of a pair of provocative female artists living in what remains of New York’s bohemia. In her hit US debut, Dana Czapnik memorably captures the voice of a young woman in the first flush of freedom searching for an authentic way to live and love.
Award-winning books
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Three Poems
9780571337675Paperback2018-01-1880WINNER OF THE 2018 T S ELIOT PRIZE FOR POETRYHannah Sullivan’s debut collection is a revelation – three long poems of fresh ambition, intensity and substance. Though each poem stands apart, their inventive and looping encounters make for a compelling unity. ‘You, Very Young in New York’ captures a great American city, in all its alluring detail. It is a wry and tender study of romantic possibility, disappointment, and the obduracy of innocence. ‘Repeat until Time' begins with a move to California and unfolds into an essay on repetition and returning home, at once personal and philosophical. ‘The Sandpit after Rain’ explores the birth of a child and the loss of a father with exacting clarity. In Three Poems, readers will experience Sullivan's work with the same exhilaration as they might the great modernising poems of Eliot and Pound, but with the unique perspective of a brilliant new female voice. -
Milkman
9780571338757Paperback2018-09-20368WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2018SHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2019SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2019SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2019‘Blazing.’ Daily Telegraph‘Outstanding.’ New Statesman‘A triumph.’ Guardian ‘Utterly compelling.’ Irish Times ‘The best Booker winner in years.’ MetroIn an unnamed city, where to be interesting is dangerous, an eighteen-year-old woman has attracted the unwanted and unavoidable attention of a powerful and frightening older man, 'Milkman'. In this community, where suggestions quickly become fact, where gossip and hearsay can lead to terrible consequences, what can she do to stop a rumour once it has started? Milkman is persistent, the word is spreading, and she is no longer in control . . . -
The Immeasurable World
9780571319749Paperback2019-06-06416WINNER OF THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL WRITING AWARD 2019One third of the earth’s land surface is desert, much of it desolate and inhospitable. What is it about this harsh environment that has captivated humankind throughout history? Travelling to five continents over three years, William Atkins discovers a realm that is as much internal as physical. From the contested borderlands of the USA to Australia’s nuclear test zones, via Nevada’s riotous Burning Man festival and the ancient monasteries of Egypt, he illuminates the people, history, nature and symbolism of these remarkable but often volatile places. -
Days Without End
9780571340224Paperback2017-06-15320Winner of the 2016 Costa Book of the YearWinner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2017Winner of the Independent Bookshop Week Book Award 2017Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017'Pitch perfect, the outstanding novel of the Year.' ObserverAfter signing up for the US army in the 1850s, aged barely seventeen, Thomas McNulty and his brother-in-arms, John Cole, fight in the Indian Wars and the Civil War. Having both fled terrible hardships, their days are now vivid and filled with wonder, despite the horrors they both see and are complicit in. Then when a young Indian girl crosses their path, the possibility of lasting happiness seems within reach, if only they can survive.
