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John Boyne

    30 de abril de 1971

    John Boyne es un novelista irlandés cuyas obras profundizan en las complejas relaciones humanas y los dilemas morales. Su estilo es conocido por su franqueza y su capacidad para penetrar en la psicología de sus personajes. Boyne explora magistralmente temas como la pérdida de la inocencia, los prejuicios y la búsqueda de identidad en medio de la adversidad. Sus libros resuenan entre los lectores de todo el mundo por su profundidad emocional y sus mensajes atemporales.

    John Boyne
    El secreto de Gaudlin Hall
    Quedaos en la trinchera y luego corred
    El niño en la cima de la montaña
    Motín en la Bounty
    El nino con el pijama de rayas
    La casa del propósito especial
    • La casa del propósito especial

      Novela - 2ª edición

      • 416 páginas
      • 15 horas de lectura

      Mientras acompaña a su esposa Zoya, que agoniza en un hospital de Londres, Georgi Danilovich Yáchmenev rememora la vida que han compartido durante sesenta y cinco años, marcada por un gran secreto. Los recuerdos surgen en una sucesión de imágenes, comenzando con el día en que Georgi dejó su pueblo natal para unirse a la guardia personal de Alexis Romanov, el único hijo varón del zar Nicolás II. La fastuosa vida en el Palacio de Invierno, las intimidades de la familia imperial, los eventos que precedieron a la revolución bolchevique, y la reclusión y ejecución de los Romanov se entrelazan con su duro exilio en París y Londres. Esta historia de amor improbable combina un relato histórico apasionante con una conmovedora tragedia íntima. Con un dominio absoluto del ritmo y el suspense, el autor mantiene el interés hasta las últimas páginas, donde un desenlace inesperado deja una profunda huella en los lectores. Tras el éxito de su obra anterior, el autor demuestra nuevamente su habilidad para narrar grandes acontecimientos históricos desde perspectivas desconocidas, iluminando lo ya conocido con una luz nueva y sorprendente.

      La casa del propósito especial
      4,3
    • El nino con el pijama de rayas

      • 219 páginas
      • 8 horas de lectura

      Bruno tiene nueve años y desconoce el significado del Holocausto. Todo lo que sabe es que su padre, recién nombrado comandante de un campo de concentración, ha ascendido en su trabajo, y que ha pasado de vivir en una confortable casa de Berlín a una zona aislada. Todo cambia cuando conoce a Shmuel, un niño judío que vive una extraña existencia paralela al otro lado de la alambrada

      El nino con el pijama de rayas
      4,1
    • Motín en la Bounty

      • 480 páginas
      • 17 horas de lectura

      Instalado en los últimos compases de su vida, el capitán Turnstile rememora los extraordinarios acontecimientos que dieron inicio a su larga y fructífera carrera de marino. A sus catorce años, de padres desconocidos, John Jacob Turnstile es un chico alegre y vivaz que se gana el sustento de forma no muy honrosa por las calles y mercados de Portsmouth. Justo cuando está a punto de dar con sus huesos en la cárcel, surge una última tabla de salvación: embarcar como ayuda de cámara del capitán en un navío destinado a una importantísima y exótica misión. El capitán es William Bligh, la nave es la fragata HMS Bounty y el destino, Tahití. Tras el fabuloso éxito de su novela anterior, El niño con el pijama de rayas, John Boyne vuelve a mostrar su particular don narrativo con otra novela diferente, en la que el motín más famoso de la historia es el vehículo idóneo para sumergir al lector en un complejo microcosmos donde el juego de la ambición, el poder, las jerarquías, la lealtad y el valor reflejan con inusitada precisión toda la miseria y la grandeza de la condición humana.

      Motín en la Bounty
      4,1
    • El niño en la cima de la montaña

      • 256 páginas
      • 9 horas de lectura

      París, 1935. La infancia de Pierrot, hijo de un padre alemán y una madre francesa, transcurre con la inocencia típica de un niño. Sin embargo, la guerra transforma su vida. Tras la muerte de sus padres, Pierrot debe dejar París y separarse de su mejor amigo, Anshel, un niño judío. Viaja solo a Alemania para vivir con su tía Beatrix en el Berghof, la residencia de Adolf Hitler en los Alpes de Baviera. Hasta ese momento, Pierrot, ahora Pieter, desconocía la existencia de los nazis. En el entorno del Führer, se enfrenta a un mundo seductor pero peligroso, donde la inocencia no tiene cabida. Al final de la guerra, Pieter regresa a París en busca de redención y, en un sorprendente desenlace, el lector se verá obligado a reinterpretar un aspecto clave de la historia, explorando las complejidades del perdón y la amistad. Casi diez años después de su obra anterior, el autor presenta nuevamente a un niño atrapado en el horror nazi, logrando despertar en el lector compasión y empatía incluso por aquellos que cometen actos de traición y silencio.

      El niño en la cima de la montaña
      4,0
    • Quedaos en la trinchera y luego corred

      • 256 páginas
      • 9 horas de lectura

      El 28 de julio de 1914, Alfie celebra la fiesta de su quinto cumpleaños que coincide con el estallido de la primera guerra mundial. El padre de Alfie, Georgie, decide alistarse inmediatamente porque cree que es su obligación de ciudadano y, además, está convencido de que todo acabará antes de que lleguen las Navidades. Después de cuatro años y enfrentado a un panorama desolador, Alfie descubre que el padre al que ya daba por muerto no regresa porque está internado en un hospital militar, así que decide coger un tren e ir a buscarlo para traerlo de vuelta.

      Quedaos en la trinchera y luego corred
      3,9
    • El secreto de Gaudlin Hall

      • 256 páginas
      • 9 horas de lectura

      Después de perder a su anciano padre, la joven Eliza Caine no tiene más opción que aceptar un puesto de institutriz en la mansión de Gaudlin Hall, en Norfolk. Pero lo que debería ser un trabajo digno y sencillo se convierte en una experiencia espeluznante. En cuanto se apea del tren, un par de manos invisibles intentan arrojarla a la vía, y cuando finalmente llega al caserón, los únicos que salen a recibirla son dos niños, Isabella y Eustace, que aparentemente viven solos. Eliza no sabe quién la ha contratado, y una serie de extraños sucesos la convencen de que algo muy grave está ocurriendo en la casa. Es como si una presencia maligna, que parece querer proteger a los pequeños, se manifestara continuamente, por lo que Eliza comprende que deberá desvelar los secretos que Gaudlin Hall guarda celosamente.

      El secreto de Gaudlin Hall
      3,6
    • Cyril Avery is not a real Avery or at least that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he? Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead. At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from - and over his three score years and ten, will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country and much more. In this, Boyne's most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. The Heart's Invisible Furies is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit.

      The Heart's Invisible Furies
      4,5
    • Gretel Fernsby is a quiet woman leading a quiet life. She doesn't talk about her escape from Germany seventy years ago or the dark post-war years in France with her mother. Most of all, she doesn't talk about her father, the commandant of one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps. But when a young family moves into the apartment below her, Gretel can't help but befriend their little boy, Henry, though his presence brings back painful memories. One night, she witnesses a violent argument between his parents, which threatens to disturb her hard-won peace. For the second time in her life, Gretel is given the chance to save a young boy. To do so would allay her guilt, grief and remorse, but it will also force her to reveal her true identity. Will she make a different choice this time, whatever the cost to herself?

      All the Broken Places
      4,5
    • Air

      • 176 páginas
      • 7 horas de lectura

      From internationally bestselling author John Boyne, a contemplative story about one man trying to move forward from the trauma of his youth to become a better father to his son. Being in limbo, 30,000 feet in the air, offers time to reflect and take stock. For Aaron Umber, it's an opportunity to connect with his 14-year-old son as they travel halfway across the world to meet a woman who isn't expecting them. Unsettled by his past, and anxious for his future, Aaron is at a crossroads in life. The damage inflicted upon him during his youth has made him the man he is, but now threatens to widen the growing fissures between him and his only child. This trip could bind them closer together, or tear them further apart. In this penetrating examination of action and consequence, fault and attribution, acceptance and resolution, John Boyne gives us a redemptive story of a father and a son on a moving journey to mend their troubled lives.

      Air
      4,4
    • Water

      • 176 páginas
      • 7 horas de lectura

      The first thing Vanessa Carvin does when she arrives on the island is change her name. To the locals, she is Willow Hale, a solitary outsider escaping Dublin to live a hermetic existence in a small cottage, not a notorious woman on the run from her past. But scandals follow like hunting dogs. And she has some questions of her own to answer. If her ex-husband is really the monster everyone says he is, then how complicit was she in his crimes? Escaping her old life might seem like a good idea but the choices she has made throughout her marriage have consequences. Here, on the island, Vanessa must reflect on what she did - and did not do. Only then can she discover whether she is worthy of finding peace at all.

      Water
      4,3
    • Earth

      • 176 páginas
      • 7 horas de lectura

      From million-copy-bestselling author John Boyne, an inescapably gritty story about one young man whose direction in life takes a vastly different turn than what he expected. It's the tabloid sensation of the year: two well-known footballers standing in the dock, charged with sexual assault, a series of vile text messages pointing towards their guilt. As the trial unfolds, Evan Keogh reflects on the events that have led him to this moment. Since leaving his island home, his life has been a lie on many levels. He's a talented footballer who wanted to be an artist. A gay man in a sport that rejects diversity. A defendant whose knowledge of what took place on that fateful night threatens more than just his freedom or career. The jury will deliver a verdict but, before they do, Evan must judge for himself whether the man he has become is the man he wanted to be. ___________ Praise for John Boyne 'A master storyteller' Daily Express 'One of the best novelists of Ireland' Sunday Express 'Boyne offers writing of insight and beauty' Observer 'One of the greatest craftsmen in contemporary literature' Colum McCann

      Earth
      4,3
    • Odran Yates enters Clonliffe Seminary in 1972 after his mother informs him that he has a vocation to the priesthood. He goes in full of ambition and hope, dedicated to his studies and keen to make friends. Forty years later, Odran's devotion has been challenged by the revelations that have shattered the Irish people's faith in the church. He has seen friends stand trial, colleagues jailed, the lives of young parishioners destroyed and has become nervous of venturing out in public for fear of disapproving stares and insulting remarks. But when a family tragedy opens wounds from his past, he is forced to confront the demons that have raged within a once respected institution and recognise his own complicity in their propagation. It has taken John Boyne fifteen years and twelve novels to write about his home country of Ireland but he has done so now in his most powerful novel to date, a novel about blind dogma and moral courage, and about the dark places where the two can meet. At once courageous and intensely personal, A History of Loneliness confirms Boyne as one of the most searching chroniclers of his generation.

      A history of loneliness
      4,3
    • The absolutist

      • 432 páginas
      • 16 horas de lectura

      September 1919- Twenty-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a clutch of letters to Marian Bancroft. Tristan fought alongside Marian's brother Will during the Great War. They trained together. They fought together. But in 1917, Will laid down his guns on the battlefield and declared himself a conscientious objector, an act which has brought shame and dishonour on the Bancroft family. The letters, however, are not the real reason for Tristan's visit. He holds a secret deep within him. One that he is desperate to unburden himself of to Marian, if he can only find the courage. Whatever happens, this meeting will change his life - forever.

      The absolutist
      4,3
    • Fire

      • 176 páginas
      • 7 horas de lectura

      Freya appears to lead a luxurious life as a successful surgeon, enjoying wealth and privilege. However, her seemingly perfect existence is rooted in a troubled past filled with darkness. The contrast between her current status and her previous struggles hints at deeper themes of resilience and the complexities of identity, suggesting that her journey is shaped by both triumphs and hidden challenges.

      Fire
      4,2
    • A Ladder to the Sky

      • 448 páginas
      • 16 horas de lectura

      If you look enough, you can find stories pretty much anywhere. They don't even have to be your own. Or so would-be-novelist Maurice Swift decides early on in his career. A chance encounter in a Berlin hotel with celebrated author Erich Ackerman gives Maurice an opportunity. For Erich is lonely, and he has a story to tell ; whether or not should is another matter. Once Maurice has made his name, he finds himself in need of a fresh idea. He doesn't care where he finds it, as long as it helps him rise to the top. Stories will also make him beg, borrow and steal. They may even mak him do worse.

      A Ladder to the Sky
      4,2
    • Here I Stand: Stories That Speak for Freedom

      • 320 páginas
      • 12 horas de lectura

      A varied and thought-provoking collection of short stories and poems for teens with a conscience, with striking cover illustrations by award-winning children's laureate Chris Riddell

      Here I Stand: Stories That Speak for Freedom
      4,2
    • Russia 1915 - Aged 16, Georgy Jachmenev steps in front of an assassin's bullet intended for a senior member of the Russian Imperial family. He is proclaimed a hero and soon becomes bodyguard to Tsar Nicholas II's son. 65 years later, visiting his dying wife in hospital, memories of the life they had together flood his mind.

      The House of Special Purpose. Das Haus zur besonderen Verwendung, englische Ausgabe
      4,1
    • This reading guide is aimed at the student and offers a 'way in' to different aspects of the novel of the same title. Activities actively engage students and take their understanding of the aspect under scrutiny to a deeper level - so enhancing their reading of the novel. The reading guide is highly illustrated and has a magazine-feel to appeal to students. It can be used during the early stages of a 'Scheme of Work' based on the novel, and can also be built in to lessons as the reading progresses and to support further reading activities.

      The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: Reading Guide
      4,1
    • The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Playscript

      • 144 páginas
      • 6 horas de lectura

      Leaving behind their home in Berlin, nine-year-old Bruno and his family move to a new house in a desolate area far from his friends. Bruno soon discovers that a mysterious fence runs alongside the new house, separating his family from the strange people in the striped pyjamas on the other side. A chance encounter with a young boy beyond the fence sparks an unlikely friendship that finally reveals the true horror of their situation. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas features a detailed scheme of work including a range of inspiring activities and drama techniques, written by title consultants and leading Drama in English experts Paul Bunyan and Ruth Moore

      The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Playscript
      3,5
    • Barnaby Brocket is an ordinary 8-year-old boy in most ways, but he was born different in one important way: he floats. Unlike everyone else, Barnaby does not obey the law of gravity. His parents, who have a horror of being noticed, want desperately for Barnaby to be normal, but he can't help who he is. And when the unthinkable happens, Barnaby finds himself on a journey that takes him all over the world. From Brazil to New York, Canada to Ireland, and even to space, the floating boy meets all sorts of different people—and discovers who he really is along the way. This whimsical novel will delight middle graders, and make readers of all ages question the meaning of normal.

      The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket
      4,0
    • Crippen

      • 512 páginas
      • 18 horas de lectura

      July 1910: The grisly remains of Cora Crippen, music hall singer and wife of Dr Hawley Crippen, are discovered in the cellar of 39 Hilldrop Crescent, Camden.

      Crippen
      3,9
    • The Echo Chamber

      • 432 páginas
      • 16 horas de lectura

      What a thing of wonder a mobile phone is. Six ounces of metal, glass and plastic, fashioned into a sleek, shiny, precious object. At once, a gateway to other worlds - and a treacherous weapon in the hands of the unwary, the unwitting, the inept. The Cleverley family live a gilded life, little realising how precarious their privilege is, just one tweet away from disaster. George, the patriarch, is a stalwart of television interviewing, a 'national treasure' (his words), his wife Beverley, a celebrated novelist (although not as celebrated as she would like), and their children, Nelson, Elizabeth, Achilles, various degrees of catastrophe waiting to happen. Together they will go on a journey of discovery through the Hogarthian jungle of the modern living where past presumptions count for nothing and carefully curated reputations can be destroyed in an instant. Along the way they will learn how volatile, how outraged, how unforgiving the world can be when you step from the proscribed path. Powered by John Boyne's characteristic humour and razor-sharp observation, The Echo Chamber is a satiric helter skelter, a dizzying downward spiral of action and consequence, poised somewhere between farce, absurdity and oblivion. To err is maybe to be human but to really foul things up you only need a phone.

      The Echo Chamber
      3,9
    • Next of Kin

      • 512 páginas
      • 18 horas de lectura

      John Boyne has been heralded as “one of the most imaginative and adventurous of the young Irish novelists working today†by the Irish Independent . He achieved bestseller status and won numerous awards worldwide for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Now in Next of Kin, he steps into the drawing rooms and private clubs of the prewar English aristocracy to offer an unobstructed view of a social elite driven by the conflicting desires to uphold tradition and to acquire vast wealth. It is 1936, and London is abuzz with gossip about the affair between Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson. But the king is not the only member of the aristocracy with a hard decision to make. Owen Montignac, the handsome and charismatic scion of a wealthy family, is anxiously awaiting the reading of his late uncle’s will, for Owen has run up huge gambling debts and casino boss Nicholas Delfy has given him a choice: Find 50,000 pounds by Christmas or find yourself six feet under. So when Owen discovers that he has been cut out of the will in favor of his cousin Stella, he finds that even a royal crisis can provide the means for profit, and for murder. Next of Kin vividly captures the spirit of 1930s London, revealing the secrets of the upperclass, complete with gambling, murder, an art heist, and a conspiracy to unseat the new king that could change the future of the country.

      Next of Kin
      3,8
    • My brother's name is Jessica

      • 256 páginas
      • 9 horas de lectura

      Sam has known his sister Jessica all his life. Tonight is the first time they're going to meet. Sam Waver has always been a loner- bullied, struggling at school, with parents who have very little time for him. The one person he has always been able to rely on is his beloved older sibling - but when they announce that they are transitioning, Sam's life is thrown upside down. He's convinced nothing will ever be the same again - but as Sam is about to discover, nothing is more constant than love.

      My brother's name is Jessica
      3,8
    • Some stories are universal. Some are unique. They play out across human history, and time is the river that flows through them. This story starts with a family. For now, it is a father and a mother with two sons. One with his father's violence in his blood. One with his mother's artistry. One leaves. One stays. They will be joined by others whose deeds will determine their fate. It is a beginning. Their stories will intertwine and evolve over the course of two thousand years. They will meet again and again at different times and in different places. From Palestine at the dawn of the first millennium and journeying across fifty countries to a life amongst the stars in the third, the world will change around them, but their destinies remain the same. It must play out as foretold.

      A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom
      3,7
    • Noah Barleywater Runs Away

      • 221 páginas
      • 8 horas de lectura

      Noah is running away from his problems the day he takes the untrodden path through the forest - or at least that's what he thinks. When he comes across a very unusual toyshop and meets the even more unusual toymaker, he's not sure what to expect. But the toymaker has a story to tell, a story full of adventure, wonder and broken promises. And Noah travels with him on a journey that will change his life for ever.

      Noah Barleywater Runs Away
      3,7
    • The Thief of Time

      • 384 páginas
      • 14 horas de lectura

      John Boyne has become internationally known for his acclaimed novels Crippen and the bestselling The Boy in the Striped Pajamas . Now, for the first time in the United States, comes the book that started the career of the author that the Irish Examiner calls "one of the best and original of the new generation of Irish writers." It is 1758 and Matthieu Zela is fleeing Paris after witnessing the murder of his mother and his stepfather's execution. Matthieu's life is characterized by one extraordinary fact: before the eighteenth century ends, he discovers that his body has stopped ageing. At the end of the twentieth century and the ripe old age of 256 he is suddenly forced to answer an uncomfortable question: what is the worth of immortality without love? In this carefully crafted novel, John Boyne juxtaposes history and the buzz of the modern world, weaving together portraits of 1920s Hollywood, the Great Exhibition of 1851, the French Revolution, the Wall Street Crash, and other landmark events into one man's story of murder, love, and redemption.

      The Thief of Time
      3,5
    • The Congress of Rough Riders

      A Novel About Buffalo Bill

      • 336 páginas
      • 12 horas de lectura

      William Cody grows up surrounded by his father's tales of Buffalo Bill, to whom he is distantly related, and his fantasies of the Wild West.Though he escapes his heritage by fleeing abroad and starting a new life for himself, he finds that he is always drawn back to England and to his ancestry.When his father proposes that together they should recreate Buffalo Bill's stage show, "The Congress of Rough Riders of the World" for a contemporary audience, William refuses to have any part of it. When tragedy strikes, however, it is to his father that he must eventually return.

      The Congress of Rough Riders
      3,4
    • Quick Reads: The Dare

      • 299 páginas
      • 11 horas de lectura

      Danny Delaney anticipates a carefree summer, but his plans change when his mother comes home with two policemen. She has accidentally hit a small boy with her car, leaving him in a coma at the local hospital.

      Quick Reads: The Dare
      3,3
    • Les éléments

      • 512 páginas
      • 18 horas de lectura

      D'une mère en fuite sur une île à un jeune prodige des terrains de football en passant par une chirurgienne des grands brûlés hantée par des traumatismes, et enfin, un père qui monte dans un avion pour un voyage initiatique avec son fils, John Boyne crée un kaléidoscope de quatre récits entrelacés pour former une fresque magistrale. Grâce à une prose envoûtante, John Boyne sonde les éléments et les êtres avec une empathie extraordinaire et une honnêteté implacable, nous mettant sans cesse au défi de confronter nos propres définitions de la culpabilité et de l'innocence.

      Les éléments
      4,7
    • Rebrík do neba

      • 360 páginas
      • 13 horas de lectura

      Hovorí sa, že byť prehnane ctižiadostivý je ako stavať rebrík do neba. Výsledkom môže byť dlhý a bolestivý pád. Ak človek hľadá na správnom mieste, takmer vždy objaví nejaký zaujímavý príbeh. A ani nemusí byť jeho. Aspoň to si myslí začínajúci spisovateľ Maurice Swift na začiatku svojej kariéry. Príležitosť preraziť a konečne naštartovať literárnu dráhu sa mu naskytne v jednom berlínskom hoteli pri náhodnom stretnutí so slávnym spisovateľom Erichom Ackermannom. Ten totiž žije sám a má veru o čom rozprávať. Otázka je, či nemal radšej mlčať. Keď sa Maurice preslávi, začne sa obzerať po novom príbehu. Nezáleží mu na tom, kde ho nájde, pokiaľ mu pomôže dostať sa na vrchol.

      Rebrík do neba
    • De jongen op de berg

      Pierrot wordt opgenomen in Hitlers buitenhuis, maar moet daardoor zijn afkomst te verraden

      De jongen op de berg
    • Die Elemente - 1: Wasser

      Roman

      • 144 páginas
      • 6 horas de lectura

      Vanessa Carvin ist auf der Flucht vor ihrem alten Leben. Mit kurz geschorenen Haaren und neuem Namen will sie auf der kleinen Insel vor der irischen Küste noch einmal neu anfangen. Zu Hause in Dublin kannte die Presse über Monate kein anderes Thema als die missbräuchlichen Taten ihres Mannes. Hier, in der Abgeschiedenheit zwischen tosendem Ozean und ihrer einsamen Hütte, drängt sich Vanessa nun die Frage auf, die nur sie beantworten kann – wo liegt die Grenze zwischen Unwissen und Mitschuld? Kompromisslos und doch voller Empathie erzählt John Boyne in »Wasser« von einer Frau und ihrer Suche nach der eigenen Schuld. Eine fesselnde Lektüre über die Tiefen und Untiefen des Menschen. »Subtil, intelligent und menschlich« Sunday Telegraph »Wasser« ist Teil 1 von John Boynes großem Erzählprojekt »Die Elemente«.

      Die Elemente - 1: Wasser