Author:Viktor E Frankl,Joelle Young,Daniel Goleman
'Viktor Frankl gives us the gift of looking at everything in life as an opportunity' Edith Eger, bestselling author of The Choice
'Offers a path to finding hope even in these dark times' The New York Times
A rediscoveredmasterpiece by the 16 million copy bestselling author of Man’s Search For Meaning
Just months after his liberation from Auschwitz renowned psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl delivered a series of talks revealing the foundations of his life-affirming philosophy. The psychologist, who would soon become world famous, explained his central thoughts on meaning, resilience and his conviction that every crisis contains opportunity.
Published here for the very first time in English, Frankl's words resonate as strongly today as they did in 1946. Despite the unspeakable horrors in the camp, Frankl learnt from his fellow inmates that it is always possible to say ‘yes to life’ – a profound and timeless lesson for us all.
With an introduction by Daniel Goleman.
'Frankl’s is a voice that seems as necessary now as it was in the shadow of the Holocaust' Guardian
Offers a path to finding hope even in these dark times
—— The New York TimesFrankl’s is a voice that seems as necessary now as it was in the shadow of the Holocaust
—— GuardianAn unmissable opportunity to understand the man and his work more deeply
—— The Jewish ChronicleViktor Frankl gives us the gift of looking at everything in life as an opportunity
—— Edith Eger, bestselling author of The Choice[An] incisive, deftly argued book.
—— Peter Conrad , ObserverSimon Jenkins extols the virtues of 100 of them, as well as offering a brief history of the rise, fall and rise again of Britain's railways. And he is the perfect person to do so. Excellent, enticing.
—— Gavin Stamp , Evening StandardThis glorious and utterly essential guide to Britain's best railway stations is also a history of some of the remarkable - but often undersung - landmarks to our social history
—— The BooksellerMasterly, perhaps a masterpiece
—— Independent, Books of the Year on 'England's Thousand Best Churches'Every house in England should have a copy of this book
—— Auberon Waugh on 'England's Thousand Best Churches' , Literary Review, Book of the CenturyJenkins is, like all good guides, more than simply informative: he can be courteous and rude, nostalgic and funny, elegant, convincing and relaxed'
—— Adam Nicolson on 'England's Thousand Best Houses' , Evening StandardAny passably cultured inhabitant of the British Isles should ask for, say, three or four copies of this book
—— Max Hastings on 'England's Thousand Best Houses' , Sunday TelegraphFull of stand-out facts . . . absolutely fascinating
—— Richard Bacon on 'A Short History of England' , BBC Radio 2Full of the good judgements one might hope for from such a sensible and readable commentator, and they alone are worth perusing for pleasure and food for thought
—— Michael Wood on 'A Short History of England' , New StatesmanJenkins has travelled the length and breadth of Great Britain's railways. Beautifully illustrated with colour photos, this is an uplifting exploration of our social history
—— The GuardianNatasha Brown's exquisite prose, daring structure and understated elegance are utterly captivating. She is a stunning new writer
—— Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize winning author of 'Girl, Woman, Other'This marvel of a novel manages to say all there is to say about Britain today in the most precise, poetic prose and within the story of one complicated, compelling woman. Formally thrilling, politically captivating, endlessly absorbing... I will never forget where I was when I read it, how I felt at the start of it and by the end - it takes you on a complete carousel of a life lived both in dread and in defiance. Superb.
—— Sabrina Mahfouz, poet & playwright, ‘A History of Water in the Middle East’Like the fictional companion to Jamaica Kincaid's nonfiction masterpiece A Small Place... A book like a finely honed scalpel - marking a new and electrifying dawn
—— Elaine Castillo, author of 'America is Not the Heart'Tightly conceived and distinctively written, perceptive, precise and unsparing... An elegiac examination of a Black woman's life and an acerbic analysis of Britain's racial landscape. Brown's rhythmic, economic prose renders the narrator's experiences with breathless clarity
Stunningly good
—— Elizabeth Day, presenter of the 'How to Fail' podcastAssembly is an astonishing work. Formally innovative, as beautiful as it is coolly devastating, urgent and utterly precise on what it means to be alive now
—— Sophie Mackintosh, author of 'The Water Cure'Searing... A rousing, inspired voice demanding to be recognized and heard
Deft, essential, and a novel of poetic consideration, Assembly holds (the Black-British) identity in its hands, examining it until it becomes both truer and stranger - a question more than an answer. I nodded, I mhmmed, I sighed (and laughed knowingly, bitterly)
—— Rachel Long, Folio Prize-shortlisted author of 'My Darling From the Lions'Bold and original, with a cool intelligence, and so very truthful about the colonialist structure of British society: how it has poisoned even our language, making its necessary dismantling almost the stuff of dreams. I take hope from Assembly, not just for our literature but also for our slow awakening
—— Diana Evans, author of 'Ordinary People'Mind-bending and utterly original. It's like Thomas Bernhard in the key of Rachel Cusk but about black subjectivity
—— Brandon Taylor, author of 'Real Life'Brilliantly sharp and curiously Alice-like... It centres on a gifted and driven young Black woman navigating a topsy-turvy and increasingly maddening modern Britain... Her indictment is forensic, clear, elegant, a prose-polished looking glass held up to her not-so-post-colonial nation. Only one puzzle remains unsolved: how a novel so slight can bear such weight
—— Times Literary SupplementA piercing, cautionary tale about the costs of assimilating into a society still in denial about its colonial past. Brown writes with the deftness and insight of a poet
—— Mary Jean Chan, author of 'Flèche'Bold, elegant, and all the more powerful for its brevity, Assembly captures the sickening weightlessness which a Black British woman, who has been obedient to and complicit with the capitalist system, experiences as she makes life-changing decisions under the pressure of the hegemony
—— Paul Mendez, author of 'Rainbow Milk'This is a stunning achievement of compressed narrative and fearless articulation
—— Publisher's WeeklyOne of the most talked-about debuts of the year . . . you'll read it in one sitting
—— Sunday Times StyleThrilling... Brown gets straight to the point. With delivery as crisp and biting into an apple, she short-circuits expectation... This is [the narrator's] story, and she will tell it how she wishes, unpicking convention and form. Like The Drivers' Seat by Muriel Spark, it's thrilling to see a protagonist opting out and going her own way
—— ScotsmanA nuanced, form-redefining exploration on class, work, gender and race
—— Harper’s BazaarAcross 100 lean pages, Brown deftly handles a gigantic literary heritage... Her style rivals the best contemporary modernists, like Eimear McBride and Rachel Cusk; innocuous or obscure on a first reading, punching on a second... Assembly is only the start
—— Daily TelegraphThere's something of Isherwood in Brown's spare, illuminating prose... A series of jagged-edged shards that when accumulated form an unhappy mirror in which modern Britain might examine itself
—— Literary ReviewA debut novel as slender and deadly as an adder
A razor-sharp debut... This powerful short novel suggests meaningful discussion of race is all but impossible if imperialism's historical violence remains taboo
—— Daily MailBold, spare, agonisingly well-observed. An impressive debut
—— TatlerExcoriating, unstoppable... The simplicity of the narrative allows complexity in the form: over barely a hundred pages, broken into prose fragments that have been assembled with both care and mercilessness
—— London Review of BooksBeguiling and beautifully written, this is the work of an author with a bright future
—— TortoiseCoruscating originality, emotional potency, astonishing artistic vim... This signals the arrival of a truly breathtaking literary voice... A scintillating tour de force
—— Yorkshire TimesFierce and accomplished, Assembly interrogates the high cost of surviving in a system designed to exclude you
—— EconomistI was blown away by Assembly, an astonishing book that forces us to see what's underpinning absolutely everything
—— Lauren Elkin, author of 'Flaneuse'Coiled and charged, a small shockwave... Sometimes you come across a short novel of such compressed intensity that you wonder why anyone would bother reading longer narratives... [Assembly] casts a huge shadow
—— MoneyControlA masterwork . . . it contains centuries of wisdom, aesthetic experimentation and history. Brown handles her debut with a surgeon's control and a musician's sensitivity to sound
—— Tess Gunty , GuardianAn extraordinary book, and a compelling read that had me not only gripped but immediately determined to listen again... Highly recommended
—— Financial Times on 'Assembly' in audiobook'As utterly, urgently brilliant as everyone has said. A needle driven directly into the sclerotic heart of contemporary Britain. Beautiful proof that you don't need to write a long book, just a good book'
—— Rebecca Tamas, author of 'Witch'Every line of this electrifying debut novel pulses with canny social critique
—— Oprah DailyDevastatingly eloquent, bold, poignant
—— Shelf AwarenessAn achievement that will leave you wondering just how it's possible that this is only the author's very first work... Brown packs so much commentary and insight inside of every single sentence... Original and startling all at once. After reading Assembly, I cannot wait to see what Natasha Brown does next
—— Shondaland[Brown's] work is like that of an excellent photographer - you feel like you are finally seeing the world sharply and without the common filters. That is hypnotising
—— Rowan Hisayo Buchanan , GuardianA brilliantly compressed, existentially daring study of a high-flying Black woman negotiating the British establishment
—— Guardian, 'Best Fiction of 2021' , Justine Jordan