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Literary And Contemporary Fiction Books
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The Water Theatre
Lindsay Clarke
September 2010 Book of the Month.
This is deeply impressive, with rich imagery, a complex and absorbing plot and a style reminiscent of John Fowles' The Magus. It is a tale of...
Format: Paperback - Released: 09/09/2010
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The Brave
Nicholas Evans
September 2010 Book of the Month.
This will sweep you up in it’s grasp in the same way The Horse Whisperer did from it’s intriguing start and through the past and present...
Format: Hardback - Released: 16/09/2010
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Room
Emma Donoghue
August 2010 Book of the Month.
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010.
This is probably the most extraordinary book you will read for a long time. Although the premise has been done before...
Format: Hardback - Released: 20/08/2010
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The Finkler Question
Howard Jacobson
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010.
The Finkler Question is a scorching
story of friendship and loss, exclusion and belonging, and of the
wisdom and humanity of maturity. Funny, furious, unflinching, this
extraordinary novel shows one of our finest writers at his brilliant
best.
Format: Hardback - Released: 02/08/2010
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In a Strange Room
Damon Galgut
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010.
A novel of longing and thwarted desire, rage and compassion, In a Strange Room is the hauntingly beautiful evocation of one man’s search for love and for a place to call home.
Format: Hardback - Released: 01/04/2010
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Parrot and Olivier in America
Peter Carey
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010.
Olivier is a French aristocrat, the traumatized child of survivors of the Revolution. Parrot the son of an itinerant printer who always wanted to be an artist but has ended up a servant. Born...
Format: Hardback - Released: 04/02/2010
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C
Tom McCarthy
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010.
Reminiscent of Bolaño, Beckett and Pynchon, this is a remarkable novel - a compelling, sophisticated and sublimely imaginative book uncovering the hidden codes and dark rhythms that sustain life.
Format: Hardback - Released: 05/08/2010
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The Grass is Singing
Doris Lessing
This is Doris Lessing’s first novel published in 1950 and is still as powerful today as it was then. As interesting and stunning a read as it was then and surprising how relevant it still is today.
A "Piece of Passion"...
Format: Paperback - Released: 28/09/1989
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A Thousand Acres
Jane Smiley
For a “literary” family saga, it’s hard to beat A Thousand Acres, set in Iowa; Jane Smiley’s novel is a modern retelling of the King Lear story. A novel to sweep you up and carry you along as the tragic...
Format: Paperback - Released: 08/10/1992
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The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
David Wroblewski
This is the author’s first novel and what a masterpiece it is. Edgar is deaf and has grown up in an idyllic world with his parents and their specially trained breed of dogs, in the heart of America. The return...
Format: Paperback - Released: 23/07/2009
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Larry's Party
Carol Shields
This won the Orange Prize for fiction back in 1997. We follow Larry through the maze (a subject on which he becomes very astute) of his life, his relationships, his work, physical changes – all is laid bare. A great...
Format: Paperback - Released: 12/05/1998
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Bel Canto
Ann Patchett
Terrorists highjack a gathering in a small Latin American country hoping to hold hostage the President, however he had decided to stay home and so the terrorists find themselves with a group of foreign hostages as their bargaining tool. This...
Format: Paperback - Released: 30/04/2002
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Julia's Chocolates
Cathy Lamb
Julia leaves her abusive fiancé and goes to stay with her aunt in an idyllic farmhouse setting, Introduced to her aunt’s group of slightly eccentric friends Julia begins to rebuild her life and move forward. This book just begs to...
Format: Paperback - Released: 13/09/2010
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Last Night in Twisted River
John Irving
John Irving does not disappoint in this tale of a father and son, spanning 50 years of their relationship at the end of the twentieth century. This is his twelfth novel and although familiar Irving themes are there it is...
Format: Paperback - Released: 16/09/2010
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Second Hand Heart
Catherine Ryan Hyde
A moving story about a young girl who has a heart transplant. Although the story revolves around Vida and her relationship with the husband of her donor this is much more about the wonder of what a life saving operation...
Format: Paperback - Released: 16/09/2010
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Nourishment
Gerard Woodward
Tory Pace’s husband is a Prisoner of War in World War II. When she receives a request from him for spicy letters she is at a loss but soon finds herself on a journey of discovery of carnal desire in...
Format: Hardback - Released: 03/09/2010
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The Children's Book
A.S. Byatt
Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction 2010.
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2009.
An engrossing family saga set in the era of the late 19th century
and up to the end of World War One. A simpler time,...
Format: Paperback - Released: 07/01/2010
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Shades of Grey
Jasper Fforde
The start of a new series from the wonderful writer of the ‘Thursday Next’ and ‘Nursery Crimes’ books. In my opinion this is his best work yet and with it he has attained a new level of brilliance. It’s a...
Format: Hardback - Released: 14/01/2010
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The Small Hand
Susan Hill
October 2010 Good Housekeeping selection.
Best-selling author of The Woman In Black, Susan Hill is on top form with this chilling ghost story about a book dealer who comes across a derelict old house and suddenly feels an invisible child’s...
Format: Hardback - Released: 02/09/2010
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The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood
September 2010 Guest Editor Belle de Jour on Margaret Atwood...
Atwood’s books hugely influenced my reading style (though probably not my writing style!). I love the way she weaves research so seamlessly into her stories. In the hands of a...
Format: Paperback - Released: 03/01/1998
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The Legacy
Katherine Webb
July 2010 Debut of the Month.
Voted the public's favourite TV Book Club Summer Read 2010.
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 11 July 2010.
August 2010 Good Housekeeping selection.
July 2010 Editor's...
Format: Paperback - Released: 24/06/2010
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Invisible
Paul Auster
A coming-of-age story in four interlocking parts by three different narrators, a tale of sex and obsession.
September 2010 Guest Editor Belle de Jour on Paul Auster...
Auster is a bit of a Marmite – he puts himself fearlessly into everything...
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/07/2010
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Before the Storm
Diane Chamberlain
May 2010 Book of the Month.
A kids’ social is moved from the youth centre to the local church for various reasons. The church goes up in flames and an autistic child leads...
Format: Paperback - Released: 21/05/2010
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The Long Song
Andrea Levy
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010.
Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 1 April 2010.
Longlisted for the prestigious 2010 Orange Prize.
February 2010 Book of the Month.
With the recent television...
Format: Hardback - Released: 04/02/2010
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This is where you’ll find the cream of modern writing, from the prize-laden greats to the new kids on the literary block. Our regular emails will give you direct access to free opening extracts and the ability to read online book reviews for all the newest and best Literary and Contemporary novels. We can keep you up to speed with home-grown favourites from Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie and Beryl Bainbridge to Monica Ali, Zadie Smith and Mark Haddon. We’ll keep you informed about the best of international literature, too, from acclaimed authors like Margaret Atwood and Isabel Allende, Andre Dubus III and David Guterson. Oscar Hijuelos and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Passion (Sebastian Faulks) and repression (Anita Brookner), soaring imagination (Jostein Gaarder) and ferocious intellect (Alain de Boton), a sense of darkness (Helen Dunmore) and a light touch (Joanne Harris)... The range on offer is huge, so sign up for the emails that will help you find the right reading for you. All our literary and contemporary novels are available to order online at discounted prices.
Member of a Reading Group? - Buy 5 or more copies of any single title and get an extra 5% discount!
A selection of authors who will feature in this Lovereading category include:
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Case Histories
Kate Atkinson
Wow! You are in for a treat here. Kate has a tremendous reputation but in my mind she has never really lived up to Behind the Scenes at the Museum,...
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Chocolat
Joanne Harris
Into a small rural French village comes a mysterious woman, Vianne, her young daughter and the child’s invisible rabbit. They open a chocolate shop opposite the church. It is Lent...
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One Good Turn
Kate Atkinson
A queue at the Edinburgh Festival witness a supposed act of “road rage” so begins a wonderfully convoluted plot with twists and turns, humour and surprises which, very satisfactorily, goes...
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Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel
Winner of the inaugural Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction 2010.
Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction 2010.
Shortlisted for the prestigious 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction.
“I thought...
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The Prince of Mist
Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 30 May 2010.
June 2010 Good Housekeeping selection.
Utterly gripping, this is a deliciously haunting and chilling tale of dark magic and treachery...
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Secrets She Left Behind
Diane Chamberlain
This follows directly on from Before the Storm one year later but does stand perfectly well alone – only you’ll get more from it if you have previously read...
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Meltdown
Ben Elton
The comedian and satirist turns his attention to the credit crunch with this tale of a privileged futures trader who becomes bankrupt and the effect on his family and friends....
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Bad Karma
David Safier
OK now bear with us on this – a selfish, egotistical TV star is killed by a falling satellite and finds herself re-incarnated as an ant – it sounds ridiculous...
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Started Early, Took My Dog
Kate Atkinson
Another outing for Jackson Brodie in Atkinson's next crime novel. She seems to really be getting in to her stride with this series and as each book can be read...
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Black Mamba Boy
Nadifa Mohamed
August 2010 Debut of the Month.
A compelling story about a young boy, Jama, growing up in Somalia and searching for his father...
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The Confessions of Edward Day
Valerie Martin
Set in the theatre world of the 1970’s this story brings together a group of colourful, charming and calculating characters. A story of misplaced loyalties, a love triangle and the...
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The Mother's Tale
Camilla Noli
A powerful and controversial tale of a career woman being swamped by motherhood as she copes with her demanding 14-month old girl and newly-born son. All mothers will empathise. Then...
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The Year of the Flood
Margaret Atwood
This is essentially a follow up to Oryx and Crake tells the story of that world created there from a totally different prospective. It may help in some ways...
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The Stolen Child
Laura Elliot
A moment of madness determines the fate of two families in this heart-wrenching novel. A two day old child is stolen and destroys one family while pulling another together but...
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Kehua
Fay Weldon
September 2010 Good Housekeeping selection.
Kehua! is a gripping tale of a young woman who flees New Zealand in the wake of a murder and finds herself haunted by a Maori...
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The Butterfly Cabinet
Bernie McGill
September 2010 Good Housekeeping selection.
The Butterfly Cabinet is a dramatic and haunting novel that tells the tale of two women whose lives are entwined by an appalling tragedy. Inspired in...
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The Crying Tree
Naseem Rakha
On picking this up you might feel it a little bleak for a holiday but it is a powerful and deeply moving tale which I highly recommend. It is a...
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Atonement
Ian McEwan
An excellent film but the beauty of the book is in its writing for McEwan is indeed one of our country’s literary giants. Get lost in his words, the hypocrisy...
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The French Lieutenant's Woman
John Fowles
A tale of illicit love, passion and repression for this is Victorian England and such events that unfold in this brilliant novel were not correct. It’s not an easy read...
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Fight Club
Chuck Palahniuk
This is one of the few books in this list that if you’ve seen and loved the film you are in for a very different and wild experience. There is...
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Brighton Rock
Graham Greene
I just love this man’s writing. The 17-year old, razor happy gang leader, Pinkie, is one of fiction’s great characters, truly nasty. Despite the dated period, the underlying message is...
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Catch 22
Joseph Heller
I thought this was a rotten film, but then I read the book first which is ten times better than the film and then some. Full of black humour, pure...
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Trainspotting
Irvine Welsh
I tried this before the film came out and found the Scottish dialect difficult to cope with and gave up. Then I saw the film and was able to return...
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The Talented Mr Ripley
Patricia Highsmith
I hated Jude Law as Mr Ripley, not how I saw this wonderfully manipulative character at all, and not a good portrayal of one of the greatest crime novels of...
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The Chymical Wedding
Lindsay Clarke
This won the Whitbread Award for Fiction back in 1989 and certainly deserves this re-issue to coincide with the publication of Clarke’s new novel The Water Theatre. Characters in...
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Zazie in the Metro
Raymond Queneau
August 2010 Guest Editor Veronica Henry on Zazie in the Metro...
As a teenager I went through a horribly pretentious phase of reading existential literature. A lot of it was...
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The World According to Garp
John Irving
This is an extraordinary book, funny, surreal and, at times, heartbreakingly sad. It’s long, some 600 pages, and truly compulsive. Even if at times you are not sure quite what...
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Memoirs of a Geisha
Arthur Golden
A first novel, so in some ways one must forgive the author for a little flagging in the middle. Having said that I do most earnestly recommend it. As an...
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The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
John Boyne
Voted 2009 Penguin Orange Readers' Group Book of the Year. Initially it is difficult to believe that the young son of the commandant of Auschwitz is as innocent...
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No and Me
Delphine de Vigan
Deeply moving, this is the touching story of two teenagers from very different backgrounds whose friendship raises huge questions about what concepts of home and family really mean. Lou is...
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The Month Before's Featured Books
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The Passage
Justin Cronin
July 2010 Mega Book of the Month.
A chilling end of the world as we know it saga, this first volume of a...
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Strangers
Anita Brookner
Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction 2010.
A novel about old age and loneliness and perhaps not the cheeriest of books but Brookner exposes the main character’s...
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The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
Reif Larsen
Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction 2010.
A 12 year old genius wins a prestigious Science Award from The Smithsonian although they are unaware he is only...
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Making Shore
Sara Allerton
Making Shore is a hugely accomplished debut novel from a small Scottish publisher. It's beautifully written with incredibly well-drawn characters who you really care about andyou can even hear and...
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The Help
Kathryn Stockett
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 27 June 2010.
An unputdownable debut following the story of three women in 1960’s Jackson, Mississippi. A story of friendship, loyalty, racism...
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Stone's Fall
Iain Pears
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 25 July 2010.
Shortlisted for the inaugural Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction 2010.
A brilliantly plotted novel tracing back through John Stones’s...
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Ellis Island
Kate Kerrigan
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 1 August 2010.
Although the title suggests a new start in America the main character in this novel does move to the...
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The Edible Woman
Margaret Atwood
Although set in the mid 1960’s this is still a relevant book about marriage and relationships and explores the characters in a depth.
July 2010 Guest Editor Louise Candlish on...
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The Dud Avocado
Elaine Dundy
A young girl in the 1950’s leaves her home of the States and sets off to Paris in search of adventure. Firmly turning he back on all things conventional Sally...
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The Cry of the Sloth
Sam Savage
The tale of a loser editing a dingy literary magazine who decides to set up a literary festival.Written as a series of letters between various characters, affecting the life of...
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The Blue Notebook
James A. Levine
This fictionalised diary of a child aged 9 sold by her parents into prostitution in Mumbai is incredibly moving, heartrending and harrowing and yet it will also have you completely...
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Ties That Bind
Catherine Deveney
July 2010 Debut of the Month.
A debut novel exploring the loneliness, secrets and silences that haunt even the most loving of families...
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Turbulence
Giles Foden
Successfully blending one man’s fictional story with real life events and related by a flawed and anxious young scientist, this is a complex and gripping tale of weather and war...
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The House with Blue Shutters
Lisa Hilton
A dual-time story set in occupied France and modern day, where a girl confides in an elderly neighbour and learns of wartime secrets. Beautifully written and quite mesmerising.
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Life of Pi
Yann Martel
Pi’s family is moving their zoo when the boat sinks and 16-year old Pi is left afloat in a lifeboat with four animals that includes a tiger. Up to that...
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South of Broad
Pat Conroy
August 2010 Good Housekeeping selection.
Bestselling author of Prince Of Tides, Pat Conroy, has made his fans wait 14 years for South of Broad, an intricate and beautifully written tale...
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The Essential Tales of Chekhov
A.P. Chekhov
August 2010 Good Housekeeping selection.
On My Bookshelf by Joseph Fiennes...
The short stories of Anton Chekhov are continual reading for me and can be tuned into any time. They are beautiful...
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Siddhartha
Hermann Hesse
August 2010 Good Housekeeping selection.
On My Bookshelf by Joseph Fiennes...
I read Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse when I was 16 and it ignited my passion for literature – I’d been completely...
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The Man Who Disappeared
Clare Morrall
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 4 July 2010.
Felix Kendall disappears one day leaving his wife, Kate, to discover that her mild-mannered, accountant husband has, in fact,...
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The Last Warner Woman
Kei Miller
July 2010 Book of the Month.
We follow Adamine as she grows up in Jamaica, discovering through her church that she has a...
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The Boat to Redemption
Su Tong
A coming of age novel set in China. Dongliang once held high status as the grandson of an admired revolutionary but after his ancestry is questioned his life changes dramatically....
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