Helen Phillips

'Ingenious' Observer'Mesmerising' Guardian'Gripping' Daily MailIn a hot and gritty city populated by super-intelligent robots called 'Hums', May seeks some reprieve from recent hardships and from her family's addiction to their devices. She splurges on a weekend away at the Botanical Garden - a rare, green refuge in the heart of the city, where forests, streams and animals flourish. But when it becomes clear that the Garden is not the idyll she hoped it would be, and her children come under threat, May is forced to put her trust in a Hum of uncertain motives in order to restore the life of her family.'Stunning... I loved it' Jeff VanderMeer

A Most Anticipated Book for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Goodreads, LitHub, and Book Riot A Best Book of the Summer for Esquire, Electric Lit, and Town & Country A People Book of the Week From "one of our most profound writers of speculative fiction" (The New York Times), this "tense dystopian thriller" (Time) and "tender portrait of love and care in an uncertain world" (Esquire) is an urgent and unflinching portrayal of a woman's fight for her family's security in a world shaped by global warming and rapid technological progress. In a near-future world addled by climate change and inhabited by intelligent robots called "hums," May loses her job to artificial intelligence. Desperate to resolve her family's debt and secure their future for another few months, she becomes a guinea pig in an experiment that alters her face so it cannot be recognized by surveillance. Seeking reprieve from her recent hardships and her family's addiction to their devices, May splurges on passes for her family to spend three nights respite in the Botanical Garden: a rare green refuge where forests, streams, and animals still thrive. But when her children come under threat, May is forced to put her trust in a hum of uncertain motives to save her family. Written with "precision, insight, sensitivity, and compassion" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Hum is a "striking new work of dystopian fiction" (Vogue) that delves into the complexities of marriage, motherhood, and selfhood in a world compromised by global warming and dizzying technological advancement, a world of both dystopian and utopian possibilities.

In a hot and gritty city populated by super-intelligent robots called 'Hums', May seeks some reprieve from recent hardships and from her family's addiction to their devices. She splurges on a weekend away at the Botanical Garden - a rare, green refuge in the heart of the city, where forests, streams and animals flourish. But when it becomes clear that the Garden is not the idyll she hoped it would be, and her children come under threat, May is forced to put her trust in a Hum of uncertain motives in order to restore the life of her family. Gripping and unflinching, Hum is about our most cherished human relationships in a world compromised by climate change and dizzying technological revolution, a world with both dystopian and utopian possibilities.

'Ingenious and unsettling' Observer'This sleek ride of a novel further cements Phillips's position as one of our most profound writers of speculative fiction.' New York TimesIn a hot and gritty city populated by super-intelligent robots called 'Hums', May seeks some reprieve from recent hardships and from her family's addiction to their devices. She splurges on a weekend away at the Botanical Garden - a rare, green refuge in the heart of the city, where forests, streams and animals flourish. But when it becomes clear that the Garden is not the idyll she hoped it would be, and her children come under threat, May is forced to put her trust in a Hum of uncertain motives in order to restore the life of her family. Gripping and unflinching, Hum is about our most cherished human relationships in a world compromised by climate change and dizzying technological revolution, a world with both dystopian and utopian possibilities.

From the National Book Award-longlisted author of The Need comes an extraordinary novel about a wife and mother who--after losing her job to AI--undergoes a procedure that renders her undetectable to surveillance...but at what cost? In a city addled by climate change and populated by intelligent robots called "hums," May loses her job to artificial intelligence. In a desperate bid to resolve her family's debt and secure their future for another few months, she becomes a guinea pig in an experiment that alters her face so it cannot be recognized by surveillance. Seeking some reprieve from her recent hardships and from her family's addiction to their devices, she splurges on passes that allow them three nights' respite inside the Botanical Garden: a rare green refuge where forests, streams, and animals flourish. But her insistence that her son, daughter, and husband leave their devices at home proves far more fraught than she anticipated, and the lush beauty of the Botanical Garden is not the balm she hoped it would be. When her children come under threat, May is forced to put her trust in a hum of uncertain motives as she works to restore the life of her family. Written in taut, urgent prose, Hum is a work of speculative fiction that unflinchingly explores marriage, motherhood, and selfhood in a world compromised by global warming and dizzying technological advancement, a world of both dystopian and utopian possibilities. As New York Times bestselling author Jeff VanderMeer says, "Helen Phillips, in typical bravura fashion, has found a way to make visible uncomfortable truths about our present by interrogating the near-future."

A Most Anticipated Book for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Goodreads, LitHub, and Book Riot A Best Book of the Summer for Esquire, Electric Lit, and Town & Country A People Book of the Week From "one of our most profound writers of speculative fiction" (The New York Times), this "tense dystopian thriller" (Time) and "tender portrait of love and care in an uncertain world" (Esquire) is an urgent and unflinching portrayal of a woman's fight for her family's security in a world shaped by global warming and rapid technological progress. In a near-future world addled by climate change and inhabited by intelligent robots called "hums," May loses her job to artificial intelligence. Desperate to resolve her family's debt and secure their future for another few months, she becomes a guinea pig in an experiment that alters her face so it cannot be recognized by surveillance. Seeking reprieve from her recent hardships and her family's addiction to their devices, May splurges on passes for her family to spend three nights respite in the Botanical Garden: a rare green refuge where forests, streams, and animals still thrive. But when her children come under threat, May is forced to put her trust in a hum of uncertain motives to save her family. Written with "precision, insight, sensitivity, and compassion" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Hum is a "striking new work of dystopian fiction" (Vogue) that delves into the complexities of marriage, motherhood, and selfhood in a world compromised by global warming and dizzying technological advancement, a world of both dystopian and utopian possibilities.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD longlist nominee, Helen Phillips's debut novel, And Yet They Were Happy is "A gallery of marvels."--Washington PostA young couple comes of age in a surreal world of apocalypse, delight, longing, and tenderness. A young couple sets out to build a life together in an unstable world haunted by monsters, plagued by disasters, full of longing--but also one of transformation, wonder, and delight, peopled by the likes of Noah, Bob Dylan, the Virgin Mary, and Anne Frank. Hovering between reality and fantasy, whimsy and darkness, these linked fables describe a universe both surreal and familiar.

***LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION*** "An extraordinary and dazzlingly original work from one of our most gifted and interesting writers" (Emily St. John Mandel, author of The Glass Hotel). The Need, which finds a mother of two young children grappling with the dualities of motherhood after confronting a masked intruder in her home, is "like nothing you've ever read before...in a good way" (People). When Molly, home alone with her two young children, hears footsteps in the living room, she tries to convince herself it's the sleep deprivation. She's been hearing things these days. Startling at loud noises. Imagining the worst-case scenario. It's what mothers do, she knows. But then the footsteps come again, and she catches a glimpse of movement. Suddenly Molly finds herself face-to-face with an intruder who knows far too much about her and her family. As she attempts to protect those she loves most, Molly must also acknowledge her own frailty. Molly slips down an existential rabbit hole where she must confront the dualities of motherhood: the ecstasy and the dread; the languor and the ferocity; the banality and the transcendence as the book hurtles toward a mind-bending conclusion. In The Need, Helen Phillips has created a subversive, speculative thriller that comes to life through blazing, arresting prose and gorgeous, haunting imagery. "Brilliant" (Entertainment Weekly), "grotesque and lovely" (The New York Times Book Review, Editor's Choice), and "wildly captivating" (O, The Oprah Magazine), The Need is a glorious celebration of the bizarre and beautiful nature of our everyday lives and "showcases an extraordinary writer at her electrifying best" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 2019 A New York Times 2019 Notable Book2019 BOOK OF THE YEAR: Oprah Magazine, Time, Vulture, and Entertainment Weekly 'The Need is a profound meditation on the nature of reality, a fearless examination of parenthood, and also somehow a thriller. This is an extraordinary and dazzlingly original work from one of our most gifted and interesting writers' Emily St. John MandelShe crouched in front of the mirror in the dark, clinging to them. The baby in her right arm, the child in her left. There were footsteps in the other room... Molly is exhausted, anxious, losing her grip on reality. Her husband is away and she is running between her children and her job, where things are unravelling. She’s a paleobotanist, working at a fossil quarry, and has recently unearthed artefacts that defy understanding; the coke bottle with the lettering that leans the wrong way, an alternate version of the Bible. Where do these things come from? At home, as dusk falls, she gets jumpy. Are those footsteps out in the hall? What was that noise? She holds her two small children close to her, and tries to pull herself together. But her worlds of work and home are about to collide. She discovers that the stranger in her sitting room knows everything about her life and, as their identity becomes chillingly clear, this intruder makes a demand of Molly that upends everything, forcing her to reckon with her most unspeakable fears. The Need is a gripping, unsettling and stunningly original story that probes deep truths about motherhood, and explores grief, loss and how we treat others. It's a compulsive, reality-warping novel that makes us rethink our world, and question how far we would go to protect the ones we love.'The atmosphere is as close and taut as a thriller, but this is, in fact, both a highly original examination of grief and an extraordinarily vivid evocation of motherhood -- the moments of terror and hilarity, the visceral burden of it, and the fleeting, but almost transcendent, joy' Daily Mail'A chilling novel from a blazing talent' Observer

A New York Times Notable Book Best book of the year in the New York Times, Bustle, Time Out, The Atlantic, Slate, Electric Literature'Funny, sad, scary and beautiful. I love it' Ursula K. Le Guin If the job market hadn't been so bleak during that long, humid summer, Josephine might have been discouraged from taking the administrative position in a windowless building in a remote part of town. As the days inch by and the files stack up, Josephine feels increasingly anxious in her surroundings - the drone of keyboards echoes eerily down the long halls, her boss has terrible breath, and there are cockroaches in the bath of her sublet. When one evening her husband Joseph disappears and then returns, offering no explanation as to his whereabouts, her creeping unease shifts decidedly to dread. Both chilling and poignant, this novel asks the biggest questions about marriage and fidelity, birth and death. Helen Phillips twists the world we know and shows it back to us full of meaning and wonder - luminous and new.

In a spine-tingling new collection, the "unique"(NPR) and "wickedly funny" (New York Times) Helen Phillips offers an idiosyncratic series of "what-ifs" about our fragile human condition. What if your perfect hermaphrodite match existed on another planet? What if you could suddenly see through people's skin to their organs? What if you knew the exact date of your death? What if your city was filled with doppelg ngers--of you? Forced to navigate these bizarre scenarios, Helen Phillips's characters search for solutions to the problem of how to survive in an irrational, infinitely strange world. By turns surreal, witty, and perplexing, the stories here explore the everyday indignities and surprising pleasures of living in a time and place that can feel futuristic, fantastical, and familiar all at once. Some Possible Solutions cements Phillips's standing as a true original and a treasure.

A lively and popular introductory textbook teaching French to absolute beginners working in a classroom setting. A diverse range of dialogues, video clips, and reading passages deliver new material which is carefully practised in a wide variety of imaginative exercises, both individually and in pair- and groupwork, and backed up by structured grammatical underpinning and exercises. Foundations Languages courses are tailor-made for undergraduates and other students on Institution-wide Languages Programmes (IWLPs), languages options and electives, ab initio and minor routes in languages, and open learning programmes at universities and in Adult Education. Foundations French 1 assumes no previous knowledge. Accompanying online resources for this title can be found at https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/series/bloomsbury-foundation-languages. These resources are designed to support teaching and learning when using this textbook and are available at no extra cost. Included are: accompanying audio and video, a substantial self-study section with practice material for homework and revision, and for extension purposes.

"Chilling . . . the perfect summer page-turner." --Chicago Tribune"Kafka would love The Beautiful Bureaucrat. . . . It's a surprising revelation of a book from an uncompromising author as unique as she is talented." --NPR"Riveting . . . thrillerlike . . . Ultimately, The Beautiful Bureaucrat succeeds because it isn't afraid to ask the deepest questions." --The New York Times Book Review In a windowless building in a remote part of town, a newly employed young woman, Josephine, inputs an endless string of numbers into something known only as The Database. As the days inch by and the files stack up, Josephine feels increasingly anxious in her surroundings--the office's scarred pinkish walls take on a living quality, the drone of keyboards echoes eerily down the long halls. When one evening her husband Joseph disappears and then returns, offering no explanation as to his whereabouts, her creeping unease shifts decidedly to dread, in Helen Phillips's The Beautiful Bureaucrat.

Flying Free; How to Reach Your Full Potential. We have all asked ourselves these questions. Who am I? Where am I going? What is my purpose? This book answers all those questions in a readable volume which is interesting and enlightening. If you read this book and follow the steps one by one you will reach your full potential'Step by revealing step we are processed through eight steps of our core being. We pause at the end of each step to establish a 'Rung in Our Ladder' of our rehabilitation process. Rung by rung our ladder is created, helping us to climb up and beyond ourselves in order to experience the exhilarating journey of 'FLYING FREE''Les Fenner. There are principals of wisdom from philosophy, from business success, from psychology, but above all the wisdom of the Christian faith. The analysis of our lives is enlightening and deep seeking and by approaching the subject with sensitivity we gain insight into our own strengths and weakness and learn how to overcome the faults and build on our strengths. We learn how to fly above the storms of life, how to break soul ties which bind us with negative paradigms, and how to forgive ourselves and our past as well as the people who have hurt us. We learn about communication which is the basis of all relationships. We learn how to communicate in different circumstances and how to listen to others and enrich our own lives. In this book we learn how to fly like an eagle.

Emotions are often seen as an intrinsic part of what makes us human; they underpin how we feel about ourselves, and our interactions with others. New discoveries continue to reveal more about how emotion translates into brain activity - what is actually happening in our brains to make us 'feel' the way we do. They are also illuminating our understanding of dysfunctional emotions - the emotional basis of addiction, or the maladaptive emotional behaviors that characterize our difficult, and sometimes pathological, relationship with food. Emotion presents the fundamental principles of the neural mechanisms underlying emotional processing as well as reviewing our current scientific understanding of pleasure and emotion. The book takes the reader from everyday conceptions of pleasure and emotion through to the latest insights into the nature and functions of emotions at the interface of psychology and neuroscience, before exploring topics such as the nature of subjective experience and future possibilities including emotions in silico. Throughout, the book focuses on the principles of reward systems in the brain and its links with mainstream psychology, helping the reader to understand the function and nature of emotion and pleasure, and its relevance to the rest of psychology. In addition, it also offers a clear understanding of fundamental topics such as the social emotions, individual emotions and the role of emotion and pleasure in decision making. The book also encourages the reader to achieve a better understanding of emotional disorders, which are central to clinical psychology and the treatment of a range of psychiatric disorders. Emotion is the ideal guide for any student wanting a clear, contemporary introduction to this complex yet fascinating subject. Online Resource Centre For registered adopters of the book: - Figures from the book in electronic format - A series of Journal Clubs - suggested papers and discussion questions related to topics featured in the book

Rebecca Stead, Newbery Medal-winning author of When You Reach Me, said this book is "brimming with surprises and grand adventure. Brave, smart, and full of heart, Madeline and Ruby are a gust of fresh air." Mad's dad is the Bird Guy. He'll go anywhere to study birds. So when he's offered a bird-tracking job in Central America, his bags are packed and he's jungle bound. But going bird tracking in the jungle and disappearing completely are very different things, and when the Very Strange and Incredibly Creepy Letter arrives, Mad can't shake the terrible feeling that her father is in trouble. Roo, Mad's younger sister, is convinced that the letter is a coded message. And their mom is worried, because the letter doesn't sound like Dad at all. But Mad is sure it's a sign of something sinister. The only way to get to the bottom of it is to go to Lava Bird Volcano and find their dad themselves. Though they never could have imagined what they're about to discover. From new talent Helen Phillips, Here Where the Sunbeams Are Green is the story of what can happen when two sisters make some unusual friends, trust in each other, and bravely face a jungle of trouble all to bring their family back together.