Books published by publisher Peter Owen Ltd

In December 1926 the celebrated crime writer Agatha Christie disappeared from her home in Berkshire, leaving her car abandoned off a Surrey road. The story was front-page news. She was identified in a Harrogate hotel eleven days later, claiming to be the victim of amnesia caused by a driving accident.Up till now none of her biographers has come up with definitive evidence as to how Agatha Christie spent the days after she went missing or whether her memory loss was genuine.Claims by previous biographers that the writer never gave her own explanation of the incident during her lifetime are in error; in his new book, Jared Cade reproduces Agatha's own written account which gives the reader insight into why she was forced to collude in the family cover-up. He has unearthed startling new evidence, including accounts by Agatha's relatives, that reveal for the first time why she staged the disappearance with the help of a friend and how it all went terribly wrong.Meticulously researched and illustrated with many photographs never before seen, this biography provides the definitive key to the author's life and works.

Two 11-year old girls, Unn and Siss, meet. Unn is about to reveal a secret, one that leads to her death in a formation of ice caused by a large waterfall. Siss's struggle with her fidelity to the memory of a friend, the strange frozen world of the waterfall, and the description of Unn's fatal exploration of the ice palace are described in prose of a lyrical economy that ranks among the memorable achievements of modern literature. Often short-listed for the Nobel Prize, Tarjei Vesaas (1897-1976) was awarded the Nordic Council Prize in 1973 for this novel. A modernist who maintained a degree of technical experimentation throughout his work, he is generally considered to be one of Norway's great modern writers. How simple this novel is. How subtle. How strong. How unlike any other. It is unique. It is unforgettable. It is extraordinary.""--Doris Lessing. ""It is hard to do justice to The Ice Palace. The narrative is urgent, the descriptions relentlessly beautiful, the meaning as powerful as the ice piling up on the lake.""--The London Times.

Hitherto unpublished in English, this book describes Eberhardt's wanderings from Marseilles to Tunis and Algeria from 1899 to 1904. She spent much of her short life in North Africa, where she was converted to Islam and learned to speak fluent Arabic. Her eccentric behavior shocked the French colonials. She smoked kif, wore men's clothing, drank alcohol, and was promiscuous with men. She died in a flash-flood at the age of twenty-seven. From the narrative introduction through the cinematic scenes of desert tribes, Eberhardt proves herself a masterfully evocative writer"" - Publishers Weekly.

Centering on 1606, when the artist killed a man in a duel and was forced to flee into exile, the narrative mixes history and biographical data into a lush fiction with the suspense of a mystery novel""-Publishers Weekly. ""Naess's novel retrieves Caravaggio from the dust of history-while avoiding the pitfalls of idolatry and caricature-in his brilliant, provocative, often comical, and ultimately generous novel. He gives this familiar story an urgent and contemporary terror in which we recognize the terrors and assassinations that continue to haunt our culture today""-Rain Taxi. ""A nicely textured tale.""-Kirkus Reviews