Anthologies & Short Stories

Book SynopsisKatherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) lived a long life which fluctuated between glamour and loneliness. Porter experienced firsthand many of the most iconic events of the twentieth century and wrote about most of them. Growing up on a farm in Texas at the end of the nineteenth century, she was a lifelong advocate of liberal social politics, and worked as a journalist on the American home-front during the First World War; she barely survived the influenza epidemic of 1918; moved to Greenwich village during its heyday as a center of radical politics and bohemian artists; lived in Mexico during and after its failed revolution; was in Europe during the rise of Nazism; and returned to the US during the Cold War and rabid McCarthyism.Trade ReviewKatherine Anne Porter's short stories are unsurpassed in modern fiction -- Robert PennPorter writes English of a purity and precision almost unique in contemporary fiction -- Edmund WilsonShe solves the essential problem: how to satisfy exhaustively in writing briefly -- V.S. PritchettPorter's stories take accurate and deadly aim... dazzling * The New York Times *

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Book SynopsisMargaret Drabble is one of the major literary figures of her generation. In this collection of her complete short fiction from across four decades, she examines the intense private worlds and passions of everyday people.From one man''s honeymooning epiphany in ''Hassan''s Tower'' to the journeying fantasies of ''A Voyage to Cythera'', and from the sharp joy of ''The Merry Widow'' to the bloody reality of the collection''s title story, these are moving, witty and provocative tales, exploring cruel and loving relationships, social change and personal obsessions, and confirming her status as a leading practitioner of the art of the short story.Trade ReviewBrims with sharply observed life and the author's seemingly infinite sympathy for "ordinary women" -- Joyce Carol OatesDrabble writes so penetratingly about the female condition that it is impossible not to laugh, wince and admire -- Amanda Craig * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisIsaac Bashevis Singer''s work explores humanity in all of its guises. This collection of forty-seven short stories, selected by Singer himself from across the whole of his career, brings together the best of his writing. From the supernatural ''Taibele and Her Demon'' to the poignant ''The Unseen'', and from gentle humour in ''Gimpel the Fool'' to tragedy with ''Yentl the Yeshiva Boy'', these tales explore good and evil, passion and restraint, religious fervour and personal failings, within the traditional shtetls of pre-war Eastern Europe and post-war America.Trade ReviewThere are whole fistfuls of masterpieces in this one volume: a cornucopia of invention... The Collected Stories, when all is said and done, is an American Master's 'Book of Creation'. * The New York Times Book Review *Sparkling and triumphant, Isaac Bashevis Singer's stories are filled with wonder, gratitude, humour, irony and a wry eroticism that manages to exalt the pleasures of the flesh and the soul at the same time * Washington Post Book World *

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Book SynopsisFirst published in 1949, THE GOLDEN APPLES is an acutely observed, richly atmospheric portrayal of small town life in Morgana, Mississippi. There''s Snowdie, who has to bring up her twin boys alone after her husband, King Maclain, disappears one day, discarding his hat on the banks of the Big Black. There''s Loch Morrison, convalescing with malaria, who watches from his bedroom window as wayward Virgie Rainey meets a sailor in the vacant house opposite. Meanwhile, Miss Eckhart the piano teacher, grieving the loss of her most promising pupil, tries her hand at arson.Eudora Welty has a fine ear for dialogue and describes each of the characters in incisive, haunting prose. ''...in the South,'' she says, ''everybody stays busy talking all the time - they''re not sorry for you to overhear their tales''. Welty deftly picks up their stories to create an unflinching potrait of everyday life in the American South and offers a deeply moving look at human nature.Trade ReviewA great and generous achievement -- Jonathan RabanI doubt that a better book about 'the South' - one that more completely gets the feel of the particular texture of Southern life and its special tone and pattern - has ever been written * New Yorker *A hauntingly beautiful work...This excellent new edition is prefaced with an essay by Paul Binding which sheds light on the mythic structures that underpin the tales * The Independent, Paperbacks of the Year *

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Book SynopsisFeatures stories ranging from teenagers coming into awareness of their sexual and artistic powers to humdrum housewives whose lives are shattered by unexpected epiphanies to old people who don't know what to do with themselves.Trade ReviewOne of the hidden geniuses of the twentieth century -- Colm TóibínLispector reads with lively intelligence and is terrifically funny. Language, for her, was the self's light -- Lorrie MooreAn emblematic twentieth-century artist who belongs in the same pantheon as Kafka and Joyce -- Edmund WhiteLispector's Complete Stories is a remarkable book, proof that she was - in the company of Jorge Luis Borges, Juan Rulfo and her 19th-century countryman Machado de Assis - one of the true originals of Latin American literature * New York Times *Plenty of writers inspire fierce devotion in their readers... but no one converts the uninitiated into devout believers as suddenly and as vertiginously as Clarice Lispector, the Latin American visionary, Ukrainian-Jewish mystic, and middle-class housewife and mother so revered by her Brazilian fans that she's known by a single name: "Clarice"... You will not be disappointed if you read The Complete Stories. It might even become your bible * New Republic *Translated beautifully and with a vigorous pulse by Katrina Dodson, The Complete Stories is bound to become a kind of bedside Bible or I Ching for readers of Lispector, both old and new. Wherever one opens the book, there is a slice of life to confront. In one of her later stories Lispector recalls the writer Sergio Porto, her friend, who was once asked by a stewardess on a plane if he wanted coffee. To which he replied: "I'll take everything I have a right to." We can approach this volume in a similar spirit: take everything * Publishers Weekly *

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Book Synopsis''The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'' sees a baby born in 1860 begin life as an old man and then age backwards. F. Scott Fitzgerald hinted at this kind of inversion when he called his era ''a generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken''. Perhaps nowhere in American fiction has this ''Lost Generation'' been more vividly preserved than in Fitzgerald''s short fiction. Spanning the early twentieth-century American landscape, this collection captures, with Fitzgerald''s signature blend of enchantment and disillusionment, America during the Jazz Age.Trade ReviewA master of the American short story * Philadelphia Enquirer *

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Book SynopsisHorace Rumpole - witty, eloquent, dishevelled and cynical - is one of fiction''s best-loved barristers-at-law. In these twenty classic tales, Rumpole battles through the Old Bailey, whether defending various members of an incompetent South London crime family, taking on haute-cuisine chefs and showfolk or mocking the pomposity of his own profession, all the while being held in check by his wife, Hilda: the wonderful, fearsome She Who Must Be Obeyed.These collected stories, in Penguin Modern Classics for the first time, are a definitive introduction to one of the wisest and wittiest characters in British comic writing and a reminder of what justice should really be about. With a new introduction by Sam Leith, former literary editor of the Daily Telegraph and contributor to the Evening Standard, Guardian and Spectator.Trade ReviewI thank Heaven for small mercies. The first of these is Rumpole -- Clive JamesRumpole is simply one of the great fictional characters of modern English literature -- Marcel Berlin * Sunday Times *The best mock heroic fatty since Falstaff -- Alan Coren

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Book SynopsisIn these dark, dreamlike love stories with a twist, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya tells of strange encounters in claustrophobic communal apartments, ill-fated holiday romances, office trysts, schoolgirl crushes, tentative courtships, rampant infidelity, tender devotion and terrifying madness. By turns sly and sweet, earthy and sublime, these fables of flawed love blend black humour and macabre spectacle with transformative moments of grace.Trade ReviewOne of Russia's best living writers ... her tales inhabit a borderline between this world and the next * The New York Times *Petrushevskaya proves that the literary tradition that produced Dostoyevsky, Gogol and Babel is alive and well * The Daily Beast *

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Book SynopsisThe Penguin English Library Edition of The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe''... an agility astounding, a strength superhuman, a ferocity brutal, a butchery without motive, a grotesquerie in horror absolutely alien from humanity...''Horror, madness, violence and the dark forces hidden in humanity abound in this collection of Poe''s brilliant tales, including - among others - the bloody, brutal and baffling murder of a mother and daughter in Paris in ''The Murders in the Rue Morgue'', the creeping insanity of ''The Tell-Tale Heart'', the Gothic nightmare of ''The Masque of the Red Death'', and the terrible doom of ''The Fall of the House of Usher''.The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

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Book SynopsisThe Penguin English Library Edition of Dubliners by James Joyce''Every night as I gazed up at the window I said softly to myself the word paralysis. It had always sounded strangely in my ears ... But now it sounded to me like the name of some maleficent and sinful being. It filled me with fear, and yet I longed to be nearer to it and to look upon its deadly work''From a child grappling with the death of a fallen priest, to a young woman''s dilemma over whether to elope to Argentina with her lover, to the dance party at which a man discovers just how little he really knows about his wife, these fifteen stories bring the gritty realism of existence in Joyce''s native Dublin to life. With Dubliners, James Joyce reinvented the art of fiction, using a scrupulous, deadpan realism to convey truths that were at once blasphemous and sacramental.The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighte

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Book SynopsisIn the dark narratives that make up When I Was Mortal by Javier Marías, winner of the Dublin IMPAC prize and author of the bestselling A Heart So White, a dapper Paris doctor dispenses a treatment for dissatisfied wives. A mother auditions for her first porn movie. A writer working on a study of pain makes himself the subject of his experiments. A voyeur mistakes a murderer for a fellow peeping tom ... these are some of the characters observed by the narrator of these chilling stories. Ironic, unsettling, imbued with dread and with droll humour, Javier Marías'' short tales cast a shrewd, sardonic eye on humanity.Javier Marías was born in Madrid in 1951. He has published ten novels, two collections of short stories and several volumes of essays. His work has been translated into thirty-two languages and won a dazzling array of international literary awards, including the prestigious Dublin IMPAC award for A Heart So White. He is also a highly practised tr

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Book SynopsisDarkly funny, searingly honest short stories from Hans Fallada, author of bestselling Alone in BerlinIn these stories, criminals lament how hard it is to scrape a living by breaking and entering; families measure their daily struggles in marks and pfennigs; a convict makes a desperate leap from a moving train; a ring - and with it a marriage - is lost in a basket of potatoes.Here, as in his novels, Fallada is by turns tough, darkly funny, streetwise and effortlessly engaging, writing with acute feeling about ordinary lives shaped by forces larger than themselves: addiction, love, money.Trade ReviewA powerful chronicler of human weakness shot through with hope * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisA charming, mind-bending and anarchic book of imagined civilizations''Most cosmic civilizations long for things, in the depths of their souls, they would never openly admit to...''Trurl and Klapaucius are ''constructors'' - they travel around the universe creating machines of astonishing inventiveness and power and visiting a bewildering variety of violent, peculiar and morose civilizations. The Cyberiad is oddly reminiscent of Gulliver''s Travels, The Hitchhiker''s Guide to the Galaxy, The Phantom Tollbooth and Alice in Wonderland. Charming, mind-bending and anarchic, it is perhaps Lem''s greatest work. This edition includes all of Daniel Mroz''s hallucinatory original illustrations.Trade ReviewStanislaw Lem may be the most famous science fiction writer you've never heard of ... [this] collection of stories may go some way to redressing that ... The linguistic inventiveness is extraordinary ... Lem has created a curious world in which robots and rockets rub shoulders with kings, dragons, witches and pirates * Independent on Sunday *A Jorge Luis Borges for the Space Age * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisThe story of Mowgli, the abandoned “man-cub” who is brought up by wolves in the jungles of Central India, is one of the greatest literary myths ever created. As he embarks on a series of thrilling escapades, Mowgli encounters such unforgettable creatures as the bear Baloo, the graceful black panther Bagheera and Shere Khan, the tiger with the blazing eyes. Other animal stories in The Jungle Books range from the dramatic battle between good and evil in “Rikki-tikki-tav” to the macabre comedy, “The Undertakers.” With The Jungle Books, Rudyard Kipling drew on ancient beast fables, Buddhist philosophy, and memories of his Anglo-Indian childhood to create a rich, symbolic portrait of man and nature, and an eternal classic of childhood. This edition contains both of Kipling’s Jungle Books, as well as “In the Rukh,” the story that introduced readers to Mowgli.Part of Penguin’s beautiful Hardcover ClassicsTrade ReviewBy the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

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Book Synopsis''A bold anthology ... alive with provocations and insights'' John Carey, Sunday Times''The Boy-scouts mistook my signal, and have killed the postman. I''ve had very little practice in this sort of thing, you see''The British short story tradition is probably the richest, most varied and historically extensive in the world. This new anthology celebrates the full diversity and energy of its writers, subjects and tones, from the story''s origins with Defoe, Swift and Fielding, to the ''golden age'' of the fin de siècle and Edwardian period, ending with the First World War. Including the most famous authors as well as some magnificent, little-known stories never republished since their first appearance in magazines and periodicals, these stories are by turns topical and playful, ghostly and theatrical, rumbustious and sublime.Edited with an introduction by Philip HensherTrade ReviewHensher's anthology is bigger, better and broader in several senses than anything else currently available * The Spectator *Almost 100 potent doses of the form which editor Philip Hensher claims very plausibly to be "the richest, most varied and most historically extensive national tradition anywhere in the world"... Hensher has spent a couple of years searching libraries and magazine archives and comes out staggering under a weight of treasures -- Claire Harman * Evening Standard *Like one of the legion of cantankerous, eccentric hosts we meet across this generous terrain, Hensher knows how to lay a grand spread...so enjoy the feast -- Boyd Tonkin * The Independent *Anyone reading this collection just for pleasure should start at the end of the second volume and work backwards...it would quickly bring you to four outstanding stories by women...each of these, though quickly over, leaves a lasting mark in the mind -- John Carey * The Sunday Times *Big and clever...three cheers then, for this chunky two-volume anthology, edited by Philip Hensher with imagination and a dash of mischievous wit -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * The Times *Made me shiver with pleasure -- Michele Roberts * The Financial Times *Charted a very personal view of the form's development from the early 18th century to the present day' -- Tim Martin * Telegraph *It's been a big year for anthologies and few come bigger than The Penguin Book of the British Short Story. Philip Hensher's introduction is spiky and thought-provoking and Volume I: From Daniel Defoe to John Buchan and Volume II: From P.G. Wodehouse to Zadie Smith (Penguin Classic, £25 each) offer readers the chance to enjoy the varieties and mutations of British stories across four centuries. -- Max Liu * Independent *In two handsomely designed volumes ... you have to admire Hensher's championing of unfamiliar names alongside established greats -- Neville Hawcock * FT *

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Book SynopsisPhilip Hensher is a novelist, critic, librettist and short story writer. The Northern Clemency was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His most recent novel is The Emperor Waltz.Trade ReviewHensher's anthology is bigger, better and broader in several senses than anything else currently available * The Spectator *Almost 100 potent doses of the form which editor Philip Hensher claims very plausibly to be "the richest, most varied and most historically extensive national tradition anywhere in the world"... Hensher has spent a couple of years searching libraries and magazine archives and comes out staggering under a weight of treasures -- Claire Harman * Evening Standard *Like one of the legion of cantankerous, eccentric hosts we meet across this generous terrain, Hensher knows how to lay a grand spread...so enjoy the feast -- Boyd Tonkin * The Independent *Anyone reading this collection just for pleasure should start at the end of the second volume and work backwards...it would quickly bring you to four outstanding stories by women...each of these, though quickly over, leaves a lasting mark in the mind -- John Carey * The Sunday Times *Big and clever...three cheers then, for this chunky two-volume anthology, edited by Philip Hensher with imagination and a dash of mischievous wit -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * The Times *Made me shiver with pleasure -- Michele Roberts * The Financial Times *Charted a very personal view of the form's development from the early 18th century to the present day' -- Tim Martin * Telegraph *It's been a big year for anthologies and few come bigger than The Penguin Book of the British Short Story. Philip Hensher's introduction is spiky and thought-provoking and Volume I: From Daniel Defoe to John Buchan and Volume II: From P.G. Wodehouse to Zadie Smith (Penguin Classic, £25 each) offer readers the chance to enjoy the varieties and mutations of British stories across four centuries. -- Max Liu * Independent *In two handsomely designed volumes ... you have to admire Hensher's championing of unfamiliar names alongside established greats -- Neville Hawcock * FT *

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Book SynopsisThe complete short stories of the masterful Irish writerFairy tales, ghost stories, detective fiction and comedies of manners—the stories collected in this volume made Oscar Wilde's name as a writer of fiction, showing breathtaking dexterity in a wide range of literary styles. Victorian moral justice is comically inverted in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and The Canterville Ghost, and society's materialism comes under sharp, humorous criticism in The Model Millionaire, while The Happy Prince and The Nightingale and the Rose are hauntingly melancholic in their magical evocations of selfless love. These small masterpieces convey the brilliance of Wilde's vision, exploring complex moral issues through an elegant juxtaposition of wit and sentiment.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best work

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Book SynopsisThe Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings is a collection that displays the full force of Edgar Allan Poe''s mastery of both Gothic horror and the short story form. This Penguin Classics edition is edited with an introduction and notes by David Galloway.This selection of Poe''s critical writings, short fiction and poetry demonstrates his intense interest in aesthetic issues, and the astonishing power and imagination with which he probed the darkest corners of the human mind. ''The Fall of the House of Usher'' is a slow-burning Gothic horror, describing the final hours of a family tormented by tragedy and the legacy of the past. In ''The Tell-Tale Heart'', a murderer''s insane delusions threaten to betray him, while stories such as ''The Pit and the Pendulum'', ''The Raven'' and ''The Cask of Amontillado'' explore extreme states of decadence, fear and hate.In his introduction, David Galloway re-examines the myths surrounding Poe''s life and reputation. This edition includes a new chronology and suggestions for further reading.As well as his remarkable literary output, Boston-born Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) had a variety of occupations - he served in the US army and was a magazine editor. Towards the end of his life, he was plagued by mental instability. If you enjoyed The Fall of the House of Usher, you might like Horace Walpole''s The Castle of Otranto, also available in Penguin Classics.''The most original genius that America has produced''Alfred, Lord Tennyson''Poe has entered our popular consciousness as no other American writer''The New York Times Book ReviewTable of ContentsThe Fall of the House of Usher and Other WritingsChronologyIntroductionFurther ReadingA Note on the TextPoemsStanzasSonnet - To ScienceAl AaraafRomanceTo HelenIsrafelThe City and the SeaThe SleeperLenoreThe Valley of UnrestThe RavenUlalumeFor AnnieA ValentineAnnabel LeeThe BellsTalesMS. Found in a BottleLigeiaThe Man that was Used UpThe Fall of the House of UsherWilliam WilsonThe Man of the CrowdThe Murders in the Rue MorgueA Decent into the MaelströmEleonoraThe Oval PortraitThe Masque of the Red DeathThe Pit and the PendulumThe Tell-Tale HeartThe Gold BugThe Black CatThe Purloined LetterThe Facts in the Case of M. ValdemarThe Cask of AmontilladoHop-FrogEssays and ReviewsLetter to B--Georgia ScenesThe Drake-Halleck Review (excerpts)Watkins TottleThe Philosophy of FurnitureWyandottéMusicTime and SpaceTwice-Told TalesThe American Drama (excerpts)HazlittThe Philosophy of CompositionSong-WritingOn ImaginationThe Veil of the SoulThe Poetic Principle (excerpts)Notes

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Book SynopsisAs children, Charles and Mary Lamb took great delight in exploring their benefactor''s extensive library; as adults they began writing children''s books together that also appealed to all generations. In Tales of Shakespeare they wished to bring their favourite plays to life for children too young to read and appreciate Shakespeare''s work. This collection of twenty of Shakespeare''s stories begins with The Tempest, which explores themes of magic, power and reconciliation, and ends with Pericles, Prince of Tyre, an exotic play of love, loss and family ties. Between these two tales are twelve romances and comedies, all written by Mary, and six tragedies, all written by Charles. Each tale is told chronologically and retains much of Shakespeare''s lyricism, phrasing and rhythm. Together, they form a captivating and accessible introduction to the Bard''s work.

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Book SynopsisThis collection of short stories traces D. H. Lawrence''s development as a writer. His early tales often draw on personal experiences, as in ''Odour of Chrysanthemums'', a work he described as ''full of my childhood''s atmosphere'', while the horror of the First World War haunts ''England, My England''. Later stories, such as ''Things'', powerfully express his evolving ideas about the duality of our lives. With their complex characters, these stories illuminate emotional lives and, above all, illustrate Lawrence''s passionate belief about the destructive forces in modern society and their effect on love.With an Introduction by Louise Welsh and Notes by Sue Wilson

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Book SynopsisWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ALI SMITHKatherine Mansfield''s clear, sparkling and perceptive short stories revolutionized the genre, and this collection represents the whole range of her writing. Moving, resonant, full of light and colour, they range from short sharp studies to longer, richer tales, encompassing her three major volumes Bliss, The Garden Party and In a German Pension, and fifteen tantalizing fragments of unfinished stories published after her tragic death, including ''Honesty'', an intriguing tale of two bachelors, and ''The Doves'' Nest'', an exquisite story of a widowed mother and her daughter in the Riviera who receive a mysterious gentleman caller. Graceful, delicate and quietly devastating, they observe apparently trivial incidents to create sensitive, often painful revelations of her characters'' inner lives.

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Book SynopsisThe early short stories of an essential 20th century literary personageHerbert George Wells was perhaps best known as the author of such classic works of science fiction as The Time Machine and War of the Worlds. But it was in his short stories, written when he was a young man embarking on a literary career, that he first explored the enormous potential of the scientific discoveries of the day. He described his stories as a miscellany of inventions, yet his enthusiasm for science was tempered by an awareness of its horrifying destructive powers and the threat it could pose to the human race. A consummate storyteller, he made fantastic creatures and machines entirely believable; and, by placing ordinary men and women in extraordinary situations, he explored, with humor, what it means to be alive in a century of rapid scientific progress.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking w

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Book SynopsisIn this beautiful book of classic fairy tales, award-winning author Philip Pullman has chosen his fifty favourite stories from the Brothers Grimm and presents them in a''clear as water'' retelling, in his unique and brilliant voice. From the quests and romance of classics such as ''Rapunzel'', ''Snow White'' and ''Cinderella'' to the danger and wit of such lesser-known tales as ''The Three Snake Leaves'', ''Hans-my-Hedgehog'' and ''Godfather Death'', Pullman brings the heart of each timeless tale to the fore, following with a brief but fascinating commentary on the story''s background and history. In his introduction, he discusses how these stories have lasted so long, and become part of our collective storytelling imagination. These new versions show the adventures at their most lucid and engaging yet. Pullman''s Grimm Tales of wicked wives, brave children and villainous kings will have you reading, reading aloud and rereading them for many years to come.Trade ReviewNever putting a foot wrong, the result is a magical complexity-in-simplicity that is sure to become a classic in its own right -- Adam Lively * Sunday Times *Philip Pullman has radically reworked the Grimm tales for all ages -- Nicolette Jones * Telegraph *One of Pullman's most useful additions is the vastly improved poems and jingles...his freer versions are catchy and authentic * Guardian *I've admired Philip Pullman since his early fantasy Galatea on through the splendid trilogy His Dark Materials. All of his gifts, including his prose eloquence, and his endless high Romantic imagination, are manifested in this marvelous retelling of Grimm -- Harold Bloom

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Book SynopsisRudyard Kipling is one of the most magical storytellers in the English language. This title brings together some of the best of his short writings, including "The Village that Voted the Earth Was Flat", "Baa Baa, Black Sheep", "Mary Postgate" and "The Gardener".Trade ReviewBy the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

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Book SynopsisA relentlessly inventive collection of myths that betray a deep love and respect for the natural worldA Penguin ClassicThe Camel gets his Hump, the Whale his Throat, and the Leopard his Spots in these bewitching stories that conjure up distant lands, the beautiful gardens of splendid palaces, and the jungle and its creatures. Inspired by Rudyard Kipling's delight in human eccentricities and the animal world, and based on bedtime stories he told to his daughter, these strikingly imaginative fables explore the myths of creation, the nature of beasts, and the origins of language and writing. They are linked by poems and scattered with Kipling's illustrations, which contain hidden jokes, symbols, and puzzles.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and acroTrade ReviewBy the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

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Book SynopsisA remarkable collection of dark, funny and haunting short stories from the inimitable author of ''The Lottery''.An anxious devil, an elderly writer of poison pen letters and a mid-century Jack the Ripper; a pursuit though a nightmarish city, a small boy''s thrilling train ride with a female thief, and a town where the possibility of evil lurks behind perfect rose bushes. This is the world of Shirley Jackson, by turns frightening, funny, strange and unforgettably revealed in this brilliant collection of short stories.''Jackson at her best: plumbing the extraordinary from the depths of mid-twentieth-century common. [Just an Ordinary Day] is a gift to a new generation'' - San Francisco Chronicle''For Jackson devotees, as well as first-time readers, this is a feast ... A virtuoso collection'' - Publishers WeeklyTrade ReviewJackson at her best: plumbing the extraordinary from the depths of mid-twentieth-century common. [Just an Ordinary Day] is a gift to a new generation * San Francisco Chronicle *For Jackson devotees, as well as first-time readers, this is a feast ... A virtuoso collection * Publishers Weekly *One of the great practitioners of the literature of the darker impulses -- Paul Theroux * The New York Times Book Review *The world of Shirley Jackson is eerie and unforgettable -- A. M. HomesA dark, disturbing, wonderful treat ... A collection to press on people and demand they read -- Alison Flood * The Bookseller *

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Book SynopsisNew to Penguin Classics, the remarkable, devastating collected stories by the author of Wide Sargasso Sea.Some of Jean Rhys''s most powerful writing is to be found in this rich, dark collection of her collected stories. Her fictional world is haunted by her own, painful memories: of cheap hotels and drab Parisian cafés; of devastating love affairs; of her childhood in Dominica; of drifting through European cities, always on the periphery and always perilously close to the abyss. Rendered in extraordinarily vivid, honest prose, these stories show Rhys at the height of her literary powers and offer a fascinating counterpoint to her most famous novel, Wide Sargasso Sea. This volume includes all the stories from her three collections,The Left Bank (1927), Tigers Are Better-Looking (1968) and Sleep It Off, Lady (1976).Trade ReviewIncludes some of the best British short stories of the last century ... You hear her voice speaking directly to you; her reality is your reality * Guardian *The force of her stories lies in the fusion of elegant prose with an uncanny penetration into the darker reaches of the soul * Washington Post *She is the novelist of longing and yearning and rage and sexual desire ... One of the twentieth-century greats -- Linda GrantThis book fully exhibits Rhys's extraordinary talent for prose * Independent *

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Book Synopsis''Sometimes - not often - a book comes along that feels like Christmas. Philip Hensher''s timely, but timeless, selection of the best short stories from the past 20 years is that kind of book. His introduction is as enriching as anything that has been published this year'' Sunday TimesA spectacular treasury of the best British short stories published in the last twenty yearsWe are living in a particularly rich period for British short stories. Despite the relative lack of places in which they can be published, the challenge the medium represents has attracted a host of remarkable, subversive, entertaining and innovative writers. Philip Hensher, following the success of his definitive Penguin Book of British Short Stories, has scoured a vast trove of material and chosen thirty great stories for this new volume of works written between 1997 and the present day.Includes short stories by A.L. Kennedy, Tessa Hadley, Kazuo Ishiguro,Trade ReviewSometimes - not often - a book comes along that feels like Christmas. A Santa's sack of goodies to be unwrapped, revealing ever more lovely treats. Philip Hensher's timely, but timeless, selection of the best short stories from the past 20 years is that kind of book. In fact, his introduction is as enriching as anything that has been published this year. -- Melissa Katsoulis * The Times *Like its predecessors, this volume is a feast, and every morsel worth savouring * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisKate Chopin''s groundbreaking depiction of a woman who dares to defy the expectations of society in the pursuit of her desireWhen The Awakening was first published in 1899, charges of sordidness and immorality seemed to consign it into obscurity and irreparably damage its author''s reputation. But a century after her death, it is widely regarded as Kate Chopin''s great achievement. Through careful, subtle changes of style, Chopin shows the transformation of Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother, who - with tragic consequences - refuses to be caged by married and domestic life, and claims for herself moral and erotic freedom.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Trade Review"A Creole Bovary is this little novel of Miss Chopin's."--Willa Cather

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Book SynopsisA new edition of the Fantasy Tales that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft A pioneer in the realm of imaginative literature, Lord Dunsany has gained a cult following for his influence on modern fantasy literature, including such authors as J.R.R. Tolkien and H. P. Lovecraft. This unique collection of short stories ranges over five decades of work. Liberal selections of earlier tales—including the entire Gods of Pegana as well as such notable works as Idle Days of the Yann and The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth—are followed by memorable later tales, including several about the garrulous traveler Joseph Jorkens and the outrageous murder tale The Two Bottles of Relish. Throughout, the stories are united by Dunsany's cosmic vision, his impeccable and mellifluous prose, and his distinctively Irish sense of whimsy.Here published for the first time by Penguin Classics, this edition is the only annotated version of DunsanTrade Review"Dunsany's best stories remain unique: nobody else has ever been able to capture his visions....S.T. Joshi, a biographer of Dunsany and an expert in the Weird, has given us an excellent introduction and notes." —Ursula K. Le Guin, Los Angeles Times Book ReviewTable of ContentsIntroductionSuggestions for Further ReadingA Note on the TextI. Pegana and EnvironsThe Gods of PeganaTime and the GodsA Legend of the DawnIn the Land of TimeThe Relenting of SardinacThe Fall of BabbulkundII. Tales of Wonder The Sword of WelleranThe Kith of the Elf-FolkThe GhostsThe Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for SacnothBlagdarossIdle Days on the YannA Shop in Go-by StreetThe Avenger of PerdónarisThe Bride of the Man-HorseIII. Prose PoemsWhere the Tides Ebb and FlowThe Raft-BuildersThe Prayer of the FlowersThe WorkmanCharonCarcassonneRosesThe CityIV. Fantasy and RealityThe Wonderful WindowThe Coronation of Mr. Thomas ShapThe City on Mallington MoorThe Bureau d'Echange de MauxThe Exile's ClubThirteen at TableThe Last Dream of Bwona KhublaV. JorkensThe Tale of the Abu LaheebOur Distant CousinsThe Walk to LinghamThe Development of the Rillswood EstateA Life's WorkVI. Some Late TalesThe Policeman's ProphecyThe Two Bottles of RelishThe CutPoseidonHelping the FairiesThe Romance of His LifeThe Pirate of the Round PondExplanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisOne of the masters of ''weird fiction'', H. P. Lovecraft expanded the vast boundaries of the horror genre with his vividly imagined stories of exotic and fantastical otherworlds, nightmarish dreamscapes and the supernatural terrors lurking beneath the surface of small-town America.The shadow of New England''s witch-hunting past hangs over many of the tales, as in ''The Shunned House'' and ''The Dreams in the Witch House'', in which malevolent spectres return to haunt the region. Others, such as ''From Beyond'' and ''The Shadow Out of Time'', depict the catastrophic results when cosmic channels of time and space are opened, while stories such as ''Polaris'' and ''The Doom that Came to Sarnath'' portray the downfall of mythical civilizations.

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Book SynopsisFor fans of outrageous and fascinating animal narratives such as Netflix’s “Tiger King,” a collection of tales by the renowned T.C. Boyle that explore humanity’s wild sideSince his first collection of stories, Descent of Man, appeared in 1979, T.C. Boyle has become an acknowledged master of the form who has transformed the nature of short fiction in our time. Among the fourteen tales in his seventh collection are the comic yet lyrical title story, in which a young man wins a vicious African cat in a bar bet; Dogology, about a suburban woman losing her identity to a pack of strays; and The Kind Assassin, which explores the consequences of a radio shock jock's quest to set a world record for sleeplessness. Muscular, provocative, and blurring the boundaries between humans and nature, the funny and the shocking, Tooth and Claw is Boyle at his best.

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Book SynopsisPlunged into the nightmarish brutality of war, Henry Fleming, a young Union soldier, must struggle with the principles of courage, patriotism, and survival in The Red Badge of Courage, in a collection that also includes The Open Boat, The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky, and The Blue Hotel, among other works. Reissue.

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Book SynopsisA seemingly ordinary man, Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning only to discover that he has been transformed into a gigantic insect and must deal with the depression over his new physical alteration, as well as the rejection of his family, in a new translation, honoring the 125th anniversary of the author''s birth. Reprint.Trade Review"I think of a Kafka story as a perfect work of literary art, as approachable as it is strange, and as strange as it is approachable." —Michael Hofmann

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age StoriesIntroduction by Patrick O'DonnellSuggestions for Further ReadingA Note on the TextAcknowledgmentsThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age StoriesFlappers and PhilosophersThe Offshore PirateThe Ice PalaceHead and ShouldersThe Cut-Glass BowlBernice Bobs Her HairBenedictionDalyrimple Goes WrongThe Four FistsTales of the Jazz AgeMy Last FlappersThe Jelly-BeanThe Camel's BackMay DayPorcelain and PinkFantasiesThe Diamond as Big as the RitzThe Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonTarquin of Cheapside"O Russet Witch!"Unclassified MasterpiecesThe Lees of HappinessMr. IckyJeminaAppendixExplanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisA Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of Steinbeck's brilliant short novelsCollected here for the first time in a deluxe paperback volume are six of John Steinbeck's most widely read and beloved novels. From the tale of commitment, loneliness and hope in Of Mice and Men, to the tough yet charming portrait of people on the margins of society in Cannery Row, to The Pearl's examination of the fallacy of the American dream, Steinbeck stories of realism, that were imbued with energy and resilience.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Trade ReviewBy the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

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Book SynopsisThe timeless collection that introduced Rip Van Winkle, Ichabod Crane, and the Headless HorsemanPerhaps the marker of a true mythos is when the stories themselves overshadow their creator. Originally published under a pseudonym as The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories gave America its own haunted mythology. This collection of larger-than-life tales contains Washington Irving’s best-known literary inventions—Ichabod Crane, the Headless Horseman, and Rip Van Winkle—that continue to capture our imaginations today.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by intrTrade Review"Washington Irving... makes Nathaniel Hawthorne read like Dr. Seuss!"

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThe debut by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat Pray Love, Big Magic and City of Girls; a PEN/Hemingway Award finalist and New York Times Notable BookWhen it appeared in 1997, Elizabeth Gilbert’s story collection, Pilgrims, immediately announced her compelling voice, her comic touch, and her amazing ear for dialogue. “The heroes of Pilgrims . . . are everyday seekers” (Harper’s Bazaar)—brave and unforgettable, they are sure to strike a chord with fans old and new.

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisA dual-language edition of Japanese stories—many appearing in English for the first time   This volume of eight short stories, with parallel translations, offers students at all levels the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of contemporary literature without having constantly to refer back to a dictionary.   The stories—many of which appear here in English for the first time—are by well-known writers like Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto, as well as emerging voices like Abe Kazushige, Ishii Shinji, and Kawakami Hiromi. From the orthodox to the cutting-edge, they represent a range of styles and themes, showcasing the diversity of Japanese fiction over the past few decades in a collection that is equally rewarding for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students of English or Japanese.   Complete with notes, the stories make excellent reading in either language.

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Book SynopsisHere is the perfect introduction to contemporary fiction from the world''s most spoken language. These eight short stories, with parallel translations, offer students at all levels the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of contemporary literature without having constantly to refer to a dictionary. Richly diverse in themes and styles, the stories are by both new and well-established writers and range from a story by Li Rui about the honest simplicity of a Shanxi farmer to a story by Ma Yuan exposing the seamy underside of contemporary urban society. Complete with notes, these selections make excellent reading in either language.

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Book SynopsisLove stories, with a twist, by Russia’s preeminent contemporary fiction writer—the author of the prizewinning memoir about growing up in Stalinist Russia, The Girl from the Metropol Hotel   By turns sly and sweet, burlesque and heartbreaking, these realist fables of women looking for love are the stories that Ludmilla Petrushevskaya—who has been compared to Chekhov, Tolstoy, Beckett, Poe, Angela Carter, and even Stephen King—is best known for in Russia.   Here are attempts at human connection, both depraved and sublime, by people across the life span: one-night stands in communal apartments, poignantly awkward couplings, office trysts, schoolgirl crushes, elopements, tentative courtships, and rampant infidelity, shot through with lurid violence, romantic illusion, and surprising tenderness. With the satirical eye of Cindy Sherman, Petrushevskaya blends macabre spectacle with transformative moments of grace and shows j

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