Anthologies & Short Stories

Book SynopsisSurreal, ambitious and exquisitely conceived, The Doll's Alphabet is a collection of stories in the tradition of Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood. Dolls, sewing machines, tinned foods, mirrors, malfunctioning bodies – many images recur in stories that are in turn child-like and naive, grotesque and very dark. In ‘Unstitching’, a feminist revolution takes place. In ‘Waxy’, a factory worker fights to keep hold of her Man in a society where it is frowned upon to be Manless. In ‘Agata's Machine’, two schoolgirls conjure a Pierrot and an angel in a dank attic room. In ‘Notes from a Spider’, a half-man, half-spider finds love in a great European city. By constantly reinventing ways to engage with her obsessions and motifs, Camilla Grudova has come up with a method for storytelling that is highly imaginative, incredibly original, and absolutely discomfiting.Trade Review‘That I cannot say what all these stories are about is a testament to their worth. They have been haunting me for days now. They have their own, highly distinct flavour, and the inevitability of uncomfortable dreams.’ — Nick Lezard, Guardian‘If fairytales could dream, this nightmarish collection is what you might end up with. Grudova’s closest living counterpart could be Ben Marcus, with whom she shares a heavy debt to Kafka ... But the atmosphere of her fantastical, semi-dystopian settings is so unique and persuasive that the day after finishing the book, I awoke from a dream to realize that it had taken place in Grudova’s universe. ... The author’s surreal humour, often delivered via deadpan dream logic, recalls the startling short stories of Leonora Carrington. Both Carrington and Grudova excel at a certain well-placed, pedestrian literalism that works deliciously against the magical elements in their fiction.’ — Claire Lowdon, Times Literary Supplement‘The comic grotesqueries that emerge from this collection owe a bit to Dickens, Kafka and Heinrich Hoffmann’s “Der Struwwelpeter,” but their total effect is delightfully unclassifiable.... The Doll's Alphabet is clearly a revisionist undertaking. It unsettles assumptions about motherhood and marriage. But it also separates itself from its feminist predecessors. The world it inhabits – droll, inexplicable and even beautiful in its slovenly fashion – is unlike any other I’ve encountered.’ — Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal‘This doll’s eye view is a total delight and surveys a world awash with shadowy wit and exquisite collisions of beauty and the grotesque.’ — Helen Oyeyemi, author of Boy, Snow, Bird‘The Doll's Alphabet ... has already garnered comparisons to Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, Leonora Carrington, Ben Marcus, and Franz Kafka. To this list let me add another name: George Orwell. Not the dystopian Orwell of 1984 or the allegorical Orwell of Animal Farm but the down-and-out, grubby-oilcloth Orwell of The Road to Wigan Pier and Keep the Aspidistra Flying. Grudova does mermaids and magic, but she also does moldy, dingy, scratch-and-sniff interiors that reek of cabbage and old shoes.’ — Christine Smallwood, Harper's Magazine‘Imagine a world in which the Brothers Grimm were two exquisite, black-eyed twin sisters in torn stockings and handstitched velvet dresses. Knowing, baroque, perfect, daring, clever, fastidious, Camilla Grudova is Angela Carter’s natural inheritor. Her style is effortlessly spare and wonderfully seductive. Read her! Love her! She is sincerely strange – a glittering literary gem in a landscape awash with paste and glue and artificial settings.’ — Nicola Barker, author of Darkmans‘One of the most purely original collections I’ve read, filled with strange and squirmy imagery, monsters and sewing machines and things with many, many legs.’ — Julia Armfield, author of Salt Slow

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Book SynopsisThe definitive editions of Philip K. Dick''s short stories, containing some of the most defining works in the Science Fiction genre.This stunning new edition of Philip K Dick''s work includes the influential ''Adjustment Team'' and ''The Father Thing'', as well as a litany of mind-expanding other works. Work your way through some of the most influential stories from the 20th century, which have had a massive impact on popular culture.''I am bowled over. I am so impressed by the variety in stories, and how interesting the individual story ideas are'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐''Philip K. Dick is a master of messing with your head in a story'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐''Enter the Mind of a Genius . . . This collection of short stories by Philip K. Dick are great, thought provoking, funny, and some really frightening'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ є

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Book SynopsisAlice Munro was born in 1931 and was the author of thirteen collections of stories and the novel, Lives of Girls and Women. She received many awards and prizes, including three of Canada's Governor General's Literary Awards and two Giller Prizes, the Rea Award for the Short Story, the Lannan Literary Award, the WHSmith Book Award in the UK, the National Book Critics Circle Award in the US, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Who Do You Think You Are? (previously published as The Beggar Maid), and was awarded the Man Booker International Prize 2009 for her overall contribution to fiction on the world stage, and in 2013 she won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Paris Review and other publications, and her collections have been translated into thirteen languages. Alice Munro died in 2024.Trade ReviewBrilliant at evoking life's diversity and unpredictability, [Alice Munro is] an unrivalled chronicler of human nature * Sunday Times *A superb collection... Marriage, gambles, disappearances, motiveless vandalism - it is the stuff of unremarkable lives, conveyed in a remarkable fashion * Independent *Alice Munro excites the writer in me - there is something new to learn from her in every sentence * A. S. Byatt *Alice Munro's stories are miraculous -- Lucy Hughes-Hallet * Sunday Times *Open Secrets by the wonderful Alice Munro, is a collection of short stories, written with exquisite style -- Joanna Trollope

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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 SynopsisThirteen strangely wrought, ingeniously crafted stories make up Nabokov''s baker''s dozen. In some of these stories shadowy people pass through, cooped up by life, with nowhere to escape to. Their dreams lie stifled, smothered by routine and repetition, and frustrations lurk in all the corners. In others, elusive glimpses of fleeting happiness, which flutter away before they can be snatched, waylay their victims. Like the shimmer of the sea, the gleam of a glass caught by the sun, they sparkle brilliantly only to dissolve again.Trade ReviewAt their best they display a Lawrentian power of evocation, a Proustian depth of subtlty, sadness and loss * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisDispatch the maimed, the old, the weak, destroy the very world itself, for what is the point of life if the promise of fulfilment lies elsewhere?On the windswept coast of rural Suffolk, a deranged scientist attempts to extract the essence of life itself.Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York''s underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.

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Book SynopsisThe dead wreak revenge on the living, paintings come alive, spectral brides possess mortal men and a priest devours human flesh in these chilling Japanese ghost stories retold by a master of the supernatural. Lafcadio Hearn drew on the phantoms and ghouls of traditional Japanese folklore - including the headless 'rokuro-kubi', the monstrous goblins 'jikininki' or the faceless 'mujina' who stalk lonely neighbourhoods - and infused them with his own memories of his haunted childhood in nineteenth-century Ireland to create these terrifying tales of striking and eerie power. Today they are regarded in Japan as classics in their own right. Edited with an introduction by Paul MurrayTrade ReviewThe particular value of Murray's collection is that it leads us in chronological order through a much greater breadth of Hearn's writings on the supernatural in Japan, with ghostly tales selected from 11 of his books ... This book insightfully shows how Hearn filtered Japanese ghostly originals through the prism of his own expansive imagination and traumatized experience to create works that were distinctly, and chillingly, his own * Japan Times *What makes these stories, preserved from ancient times, especially readable today is the preternaturally postmodern form they are given in Hearn's deeply idiosyncratic telling * New Yorker *The overarching mood is of wonder . . . the stories occupy the reverie world our mind projects onto the backs of our eyelids, where the ordinary mingles with the supernatural * The Wall Street Journal *An extraordinary author . . . Paul Murray, a former Irish diplomat, has been hooked since a 1970s posting in Japan. His Penguin compilation includes 34 selections, a chronology of Hearn's peripatetic life, some intriguing background information about the sources of the stories, and a number of evocative woodblock prints. Murray's introduction is exceptionally useful to contextualize the man and his oeuvre, tracing the powerful influence of Irish folktales and ghost stories on Hearn's take on Japanese counterparts * Los Angeles Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisThe perfect gift this Christmas season: a generous selection of some of the greatest festive stories of all time - now in a beautiful clothbound editionThis is a collection of the most magical, moving, chilling and surprising Christmas stories from around the world, taking us from frozen Nordic woods to glittering Paris, a New York speakeasy to an English country house, bustling Lagos to midnight mass in Rio, and even outer space. Here are classic tales from writers including Truman Capote, Shirley Jackson, Dylan Thomas, Saki and Chekhov, as well as little-known treasures such as Italo Calvino''s wry sideways look at Christmas consumerism, Wolfdietrich Schnurre''s story of festive ingenuity in Berlin, Selma Lagerlof''s enchanted forest in Sweden, and Irène Nemerovsky''s dark family portrait. Featuring santas, ghosts, trolls, unexpected guests, curmudgeons and miracles, here is Christmas as imagined by some of the greatest short story writers of all time.Trade ReviewFrom Hans Christian Andersen to Angela Carter, this greatest hits compilation also happens to be beautifully published. Inside you'll find ghosts, miracles, grouchy curmudgeons and plenty of snow * Daily Mail Books of the Year *Perfect for any looming Boxing Day boredom. The list of rather superior contributors includes the likes of Truman Capote, Shirley Jackson, Italo Calvino and Dylan Thomas * Herald Scotland Books of the Year *

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Book Synopsis''I thank heaven for small mercies. The first of these is Rumpole'' Clive JamesHorace Rumpole, the irrepressible barrister fuelled by cigars, Tennyson, steak-and-kidney pud and the cooking claret from Pommeroy''s wine bar, is back for further misadventures. Amid an unfortunate and temporary downturn in London crime, the Old Bailey Hack sits in Chambers (he never writes at home for fear of She Who Must Be Obeyed) and picks up his pen to recount six classic tales of his recent trials. Here he deals with, among others, a clergyman on a shoplifting rampage, a backstage theatrical murder, a villain with unfortunate sartorial taste and, worst of all, the possibility that he may have to hang up his wig and retire. ''Rumpole, like Jeeves and Sherlock Holmes, is immortal'' P. D. James

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Book Synopsis''So clear is Ditlevsen''s eye that it is impossible to tear yourself away'' John Self, GuardianAn unforgettable collection of stories from the author of The Copenhagen Trilogy''The most important thing is probably always precisely the thing you can''t have. That''s where all the happiness is''In these brief, acid-sharp stories of love, marriage and family from one of Denmark''s most celebrated writers, the ordinary events of everyday life - a wife anxious not to wake her husband, a little boy losing his father''s beloved knife, a woman''s obsessive longing for a yellow silk umbrella - become dark and disconcerting. Here Tove Ditlevsen explores yearning, fear and the elusiveness of that strange thing called happiness.''The purity and dazzling insight of Ditlevsen''s writing speaks for itself'' Daily Telegraph''Authentic, unforced and utterly lucid'' Sunday Times''Ditlevsen''s wonderful and devastatingly bleak short stories simmer with melancholy and despair'' Daily MailTranslated by Michael Favala GoldmanTrade ReviewSplendid short stories... the purity and dazzling insight of Ditlevsen's writing speaks for itself -- Lucy Scholes * The Telegraph *An intense reading experience... so clear is Ditlevsen's eye that it's impossible to tear yourself away from the fates of her characters, however grim -- John Self * Guardian *These short stories show off her astonishingly precise prose -- New Statesman * Ellen Peirson-Hagger *A bracingly bleak selection of stories by the celebrated Danish writer Tove Ditlevsen... These are perfectly judged pieces: authentic, unforced and utterly lucid -- Phil Baker * Sunday Times *Ditlevsen's wonderful and devastatingly bleak short stories simmer with melancholy and despair ... Her prose is clear and spare, pared back to the essential task of describing the struggle for an unwon freedom from domestic despair and unsatisfactory marriages * Daily Mail *The depths of desire and despair are Ditlevsen's subjects and illuminating them is her talent * Monocle *Ditlevsen's writing is crystal clear and vividly, painfully raw * The Paris Review *A terrifying talent * The New York Times *Her writing is incredible, so focused and clear. Not a word that doesn't need to be there -- Tracey Thorn

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Book SynopsisFaber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles.

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Book SynopsisFaber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles.

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Book SynopsisFaber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles. A chance encounter leads a man to spend the afternoon with an older woman, now a widow, who escaped him fifteen years earlier. Neither of them doubts that the day will end in disgust, but for one intimate moment each finds a way to overcome mortality.Written in 1969, before Milan Kundera was known to English-speaking readers, this story renders male and female characters painful equals, and prompted Philip Roth to admire its detached Chekhovian tenderness'.Bringing together past, present and future in our ninetieth year, Faber Stories is a celebratory compendium of collectable work.

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Book SynopsisA joyful ode—in a single soaring, crazy sentence—to the interconnectedness of great (and mad) mindsTrade Review"Krasznahorkai establishes his own rules and rides a wave of exhilarating energy. Apocalyptic, visionary, and mad, it flies off the page and stays lodged intractably wherever it lands." -- Publishers Weekly"One of the most important—and eccentric—writers working today." -- Hari Kunzru - The Spectator"A single eighty-page-long sentence, scrawled in the journal of a “gray little librarian” who is named “herman melvill,” and who is losing his mind. By choosing this difficult form and this metafictional name, Krasznahorkai comes dangerously close to replicating the brainy but predictable tropes of deconstructionist archive fiction. Yet Spadework for a Palace also attempts to diagnose a fresh variant of archive fever—a kind of repulsion, native to an age of incomprehensible databases and sublime technology, that drives its sufferer to give up the task of archival interpretation altogether." -- Tadhg Larabee - Boston Review"Breathtaking and hypnotic, this unorthodox novella boldly merges fiction, travelogue and literary criticism into one 96-page sentence." -- Thuy Dinh - National Public Radio"If Spadework has a moral, as storybooks are supposed to, it is that ‘There is no duality in existence.’ We have one life to live, this storybook tells us, and it is not ours." -- J.W. McCormack - The New Left Review

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Book SynopsisA literary glimpse into the early decades of independent India. Drawing influences from Indian folktales, French existentialism, and the Bengali Hungryalist movement, Rajkamal Chaudhary’s œuvre is like a secret back alley in an old city—not completely forgotten but existing only for the few. Even though Chaudhary also wrote in Maithili and Bengali, it was his writings in Hindi that established him as the bold new experimentalist of Indian literature. His India of the 1950 and 60s is populated with hopeless literature professors, scattered alcohol bottles, prostitutes, hysteria patients, and sell-out painters. His unconventional life and writing place him outside the mainstream, and so he remains as uncategorizable as the characters and lives he wrote about. Bringing together twelve of his most representative short stories, translated for the first time in English, Traces of Boots on Tongue and Other Stories allows a glimpse into the early decades of independent India and its weariness, which many readers will find in today’s India as well.Table of Contents1.Pyramid2.Snakes of Silent Valleys 3.A Man in Anger4.A Champa Bud: A Venomous Snake 5.Veni Sanhar 6.Like a Wall of Glass7.Traces of Boots on Tongue8.Elementary Knowledge of Geography9.Sisters-in-Law10.Nature Morte11.Warrior Doesn’t Worry about the Right Time12.Some People in a Burning House

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Book SynopsisThe National Museum of African American History and Culture defines Afrofuturism as exploring Black identity, agency, and freedom through art, activism, and visions of liberated futures. This new anthology expands on the success of Black Sci-Fi (2021) with fresh stories from open submissions and by invitation.

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Book SynopsisA visitor to my Village in the Valley could be forgiven for thinking it is a quiet country backwater. But appearances can be deceptive. Particularly when we get together to tackle the village pantomime, an antiquated clock, and tyranny with gnomes ... The brilliant sequel to laugh out loud comedy My Village in the Valley

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Book Synopsis"Bold, beautiful and ebullient, it fizzes with life and dazzles with sheer power and intelligence" - Alison MacLeod "Perfectly constructed, wonderfully written stories" - Suzanne Joinson "Moving and powerful. This is such an important book." - Ed Hogan Welcome to the infamous Duncock Estate. Nestled on the South English coast, it is a place where identity matters; where people hold down jobs and do their best. Where taboos are broken, adultery is committed, and problems can''t be wished away. But even tragedy can be tinged with fragile hopes and humour. Brilliant Blue is a remarkable debut collection. Its characters are as rich, complex, dark and ambitious as any you will find in fiction. Let Karen Stevens lead you into areas where few writers dare to tread.

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Book SynopsisEverybody loves stories and Scotland is full of them. Every town, village, glen, loch, nook and cranny has a tale to tell and it’s these stories that bring those places to life. Scotland’s Stories is the key to unlocking those legends and seeing these incredible places in a new light. Loch Garve looks very different when you know there’s a Kelpie lurking somewhere in its depths. There’s a new appreciation for the iconic Eilean Donan Castle after discovering the man who built it spoke with birds. An empty moor or wooded gorge is easily brought to life with the clashing sounds of a battle fought long ago.Based on the popular travel blog from storyteller Graeme and Molly the Labrador, these tales will appeal to all who love history, folklore and Scotland.Trade ReviewThis book is a real treasure for anyone interested in Scotland. From fierce battles and fascinating figures of Scottish history to the wonders of Scottish mythology, this book has it all! -- Beth Reid * @historywithbeth *In his new book, Graeme Johncock brings together some of Scotland’s most intriguing stories, such as the Lady Ghosts of Crathes Castle… * Scotland magazine *"Everyone loves a good tale, whether it’s a rousing historical anecdote or a frightening fantasy… and they’re all better when heard in the place where the action is set, writes storyteller supreme Graeme Johncock" * Feature in Scotsman magazine *Johncock takes the reader on a tour of some incredible places while revealing the stories that bring them to life. A great read to dip into at your leisure. * Scottish Field *

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Book SynopsisA whip-smart, funny and very of the moment parody of uber-rich extravagance from brilliant, upcoming comedian Daniel Foxx. Author and comedian Daniel Foxx presents a wonderful collection of stories especially for the little darlings of the fabulously wealthy - that can also be enjoyed by YOU, the downtrodden, pitiful, ordinary adult! Read about the everyday adventures of Rupert, Shallotte and Genevievette as they ski, holiday, and drift around Selfridges - while always keeping a healthy distance from the dreaded hoi polloi! Other magical adventures include: Rupert goes on holiday! But what is 'duty free'? And why do poor people love it so much? Pippa and Retinol go for a picnic! But they can't find any Parma ham!! Lily goes with Daddy to work! And fires Kate from marketing!! BEDTIME STORIES FOR PRIVILEGED CHILDREN is the perfect Christmas gift - whether you're wintering in Aspen, summering in Tusca

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of Annihilation, now a major motion picture on Netflix.From Jeff VanderMeer, an author praised by writers such as Laren Beukes, China Miéville and Michael Moorcock, City of Saints and Madmen is by turns sensuous and terrifying. This collection of four linked novellas is the perfect introduction to VanderMeer's vividly imagined world.In the city of Ambergris, a would-be suitor discovers a sunlit street can become a killing ground in the blink of an eye. An artist receives an invitation to a beheading and finds himself enchanted. And a patient in a mental institution is convinced he's imagined a city called Ambergris, invented its every last detail, and that he's really from a place called Chicago. Ambergris is a cruelly beautiful metropolis a haven for artists and thieves, for composers and murderers. And once there, anything can happen.These tales of Ambergris include the World Fantasy Award-winning novella, The Transformation of Martin Lake.

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Book SynopsisSanditon, Lady Susan, & The History of England: The Juvenilia and Shorter Works of Jane Austen is a rare collection and a must for all Jane-ites.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features an introduction by Kathryn White.Representing what Richard Church regarded as Jane Austen's literary work-basket, this collection contains not only her hilarious History of England, illustrated by her favourite sister Cassandra, but the unfinished Sanditon, the novel of her maturity on which she was working at her death, aged forty-two. Also included are the two epistolary novels, Lady Susan and Love and Friendship [sic], and other, shorter works: ‘The Watsons’, ‘Catharine’, ‘Lesley Castle’, ‘Evelyn’, ‘Frederic and Elfrida’, ‘Jack and Alice’, ‘Edgar and Emma’, ‘Henry and Eliza’ and ‘The Three Sisters’.Trade ReviewWe will all die, though probably not from the thing that we feared or foresaw. That certainty haunts the book, sharpens the pitch of its comedy, and sets it apart from her earlier works. -- Anthony Lane * The New Yorker *

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Book SynopsisFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA. 'She wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense' GUARDIAN 'One of the last century's most original literary talents' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Du Maurier employs well the assured balancing of uncanny possibilities ... and the bitterly wry sense of absurdity that were to characterise her finest fiction' HELEN TAYLOR, INDEPENDENT 'I want to know if men realise when they are insane. Sometimes I think that my brain cannot hold together, it is filled with too much horror - too much despair . . . I cannot sleep, I cannot close my eyes without seeing his damned face. If only it had been a dream.'This collection showcases the budding talent and fierce imagination of Daphne du Maurier, before she went on to write one of the most beloved novels of all time. In these tales of human frailty and obsession, a waterlogged notebook washes ashore, revealing a dark story of jealousy and passion; a vicar coaches a young couple divided by class issues and an older man falls perilously in love with a much younger woman. Each tale demonstrates du Maurier's extraordinary storytelling gifts and her deep understanding of human nature.Trade ReviewShe wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense, and she was, too, a writer of fearless originality * Guardian *One of the last century's most original literary talents * Daily Telegraph *Daphne du Maurier's early short stories reveal a talented writer finding her voice -- Natasha Tripney * Guardian *Du Maurier employs well the assured balancing of uncanny possibilities, the clever manipulation of unconscious fears and desires, and the bitterly wry sense of absurdity that were to characterise her finest fiction -- Helen Taylor * Independent *She wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense, and she was, too, a writer of fearless originality * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisFROM THE WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTIONTWICE WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTIONTHE MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHORFaber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles.You have to marry outside your clan,'' she said. ''That's law. All the people we knew were Bird Clan. All the others were gone.''When Gloria's great-grandmother, Green Leaf, left her home in the Hiwassee Valley of Tennessee, it was with a man on a stolen horse. She was one of the fugitive bands of Cherokee who'd resisted capture long ago.Decades later, her family takes Great Mam on a road trip home. But the place that holds the scattered bones of her ancestors is no longer the land she remembers.Bringing together past, present and future in our ninetieth year, Faber Stories is a celebratory compendium of collectable work.

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Book SynopsisFrom the No. 1 bestselling author of THE MISSING AND THE DEAD comes the short novel: 22 DEAD LITTLE BODIES, plus two short stories: STRAMASH and DI STEEL''S BAD HEIR DAY, and a novella: THE 45% HANGOVER, all featuring his most popular characters DS Logan McRae and DCI Roberta Steel.They say small is beautiful', but as Stuart MacBride demonstrates in these four tales, it can also be dark, violent, disturbing, and sometimes really quite rude.So pour yourself a wee dram, curl up on the sofa and enjoy DS Logan McRae and his sometime boss, friend, mother substitute, and nemesis, DCI Steel at their best.Here you'll find Logan's week from hell; Steel's own personal nightmare before Christmas; an explosive shootout on a remote Scottish island; and the ultimate test of their relationshipTrade ReviewPraise for Stuart MacBride: ‘New Logan McRae novels are close to the top of my unmissable list, and yet again MacBride delivers. His chaotic cop hero is at his best. Superb storytelling’ Sun ‘Another from MacBride’s fantastic series of Logan McRae novels. A real page-turner’ Sunday Mirror ‘Stuart’s meticulous research shows. At times it feels like you are sitting in the back of a police car overhearing conversations between real policemen’ Sunday Sport ‘Another riveting page-turner … emotional and affecting.’ Independent on Sunday ‘Skilful storytelling … strong characterisation … both intriguing and engrossing’ Laura Wilson, Guardian ‘The multiple plots move fast’ Independent ‘MacBride is the natural heir to the late and much lamented Reginald Hill’ Andrew Taylor, Spectator ‘MacBride is a damned fine writer – no one does dark and gritty like him’ Peter James ‘Fierce, unflinching and shot through with the blackest of humour; this is crime fiction of the highest order’ Mark Billingham ‘Some of the grittiest crime-writing in the field’ Independent ‘Admirers of tough, modern crime novels will be in seventh heaven – or should that be hell?’ Express ‘Ferocious and funny’ Val McDermid ‘Hard-hitting prose with a bone-dry humour and characters you can genuinely believe in, Stuart MacBride’s novels are a real treat’ Simon Kernick

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Book SynopsisFor the past two centuries these delightful stories, gathered together and written down by brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, have entertained and frightened children and adults alike. The lives of Tom Thumb, Cinderella, Rumplestiltskin and the Frog Prince form part of our common heritage: they stimulate the imagination and the heart, and linger at the back of our minds for a lifetime. They are funny, disturbing, wise and compassionate. They speak of joy and terror, happiness and revenge, love and violence.Designed to appeal to the booklover, Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. This edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales is complete and unabridged, and features Arthur Rackham's masterly illustrations, all hand-coloured by Barbara Frith, one of Britain's leading colourists.

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Book SynopsisA Penguin Classics edition of three lesser-known Austen works, including Lady Susan, the basis for Whit Stillman's feature film Love and Friendship starring Kate Beckinsale and Chloë SevignyThese three short works show Austen experimenting with a variety of different literary styles, from melodrama to satire, and exploring a range of social classes and settings. The early epistolary novel Lady Susan depicts an unscrupulous coquette, toying with the affections of several men. In contrast, The Watsons is a delightful fragment, whose spirited heroine -­ Emma -­ finds her marriage opportunities limited by poverty and pride. Meanwhile Sanditon, set in a seaside resort, offers a glorious cast of hypochondriacs and spectators, treated by Austen with both amusement and scepticism.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With mo

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Book SynopsisHis words appear modest, but they have huge scope.'Wim WendersThis volume is the first collection of Sam Shepard's autobiographical fiction and poetry.It inspired the award-winning film, Paris, Texas.'Sam Shepard is the greatest U.S. playwright of his generation.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE CWA SHORT STORY DAGGER In Bloody Scotland a selection of Scotland's best crime writers use the sinister side of the country's built heritage in stories that are by turns gripping, chilling and redemptive. Stellar contributors Val McDermid, Chris Brookmyre, Denise Mina, Ann Cleeves, Louise Welsh, Lin Anderson, Doug Johnstone, Gordon Brown, Craig Robertson, E S Thomson, Sara Sheridan and Stuart MacBride explore the thrilling potential of Scotland's iconic sites and structures. From murder in an ancient broch and a macabre tale of revenge among the furious clamour of an eighteenth century mill, to a dark psychological thriller set within the tourist throng of Edinburgh Castle and a rivalry turning fatal in the concrete galleries of an abandoned modernist ruin, this collection uncovers the intimate - and deadly - connections between people and places. Prepare for a dangerous journey into the dark shadows of our nation's buildings - where passion, fury, desire and death collide.Trade Review'Like the most wonderful box of chocolates, this anthology delivers treat after treat, each with a different but harmonious flavour heightening the experience. A dozen great writers. A dozen great places. A killer combination.' * The Scotsman *'A brilliant publication capturing the unstoppable Scottish crime fiction scene in all its murderous glory via 12 short stories from writers including Val McDermid, Louise Welsh and Denise Mina . . . an astute publishing move' * The Herald, Books of the Year *'it is a brilliant read that celebrates some of the best writers we possess as a country, as well as some of our best historical landmarks' * The Courier *'An outstanding book that will broaden the horizons of its readers as it entertains them, in terms both of what Scotland has to offer visitors, and the breadth of its crime-writing talent.' * Undiscovered Scotland *'The result is a collection both diverse and surprisingly cohesive . . . In Bloody Scotland, geography, not biology, is destiny, and these 12 stories demonstrate that fate is not always kind. Here’s hoping that Scotland boasts enough landmarks for an encore.' * Kirkus Review *'The dozen entries in this fine anthology of original crime stories all feature actual Scottish landmarks, from castles to weaving mills . . . Fans of contemporary Scottish crime fiction will be well pleased.' * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisThe stories in this collection move from Malaya to America and England, and include some of Maugham''s most famous tales; ''Flotsam and Jetsam'', the story of an old woman trapped for years in a loveless marriage in the remote rubber plantations; ''The Man with the Scar'', and notably the opening story ''The Vessel of Wrath'', a tale of the unexpected love that grows between a devout missionary nurse and a drunken reprobate. In this second volume of his collected stories, Maugham illustrates his characteristic wry perception of human foibles and his genius for evoking compelling drama from an acute sense of time and place.Trade ReviewA brilliant entertainer * New York Times *A formidable talent, a formidable sum of talents * Spectator *As clever a craftsman as the cleverest * Observer *

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Book SynopsisThis representative selection includes five tales of very different kinds written in the 1850s and the longer Cousin Phillis. Immensely readable and sophisticated works of art, they show Gaskell's mastery of the genre, in an edition that celebrates her achievements in shorter fiction and the context in which they first appeared.Table of ContentsLizzie Leigh ; Morton Hall ; My French Master ; Half a Life-Time Ago ; The Manchester Marriage ; Cousin Phillis

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Book SynopsisTaut, brooding and densely atmospheric, these stories show us the ways in which murder can arise out of boredom, perversity can result from adolescent curiosity, and sheer evil might be the solution to unbearable loneliness.Trade ReviewMarks the debut of a talented and genuinely imaginative writer * New Statesman *As promising a first collection of stories as I have ever come across * Vogue *Ian McEwan writes to shock and succeeds... It is a tour-de-force of concision, and funny, too, in a deadpan manner * Times Literary Supplement *And now for a brand new writer of formidable talent, Ian McEwan who is 27. His stories First Love, Last Rites…are the most devastating debut I have seen for a long time * Daily Mail *A brilliant debut by the most promising writer around * Observer Books of the Year *

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Book SynopsisFaber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles. Who was she? Where was she going? Why did she return?It is 1945, and twenty-year-old Shiv, grieving his identical twin brother, retreats to a small town in Uttar Pradesh. He is preparing to jump onto the train tracks when he is stopped by the sight of a woman.Shanti's husband is a fighter pilot missing in Burma. For the past three years she has travelled the country in search of him. In every military hospital she visits she hears a new story, and every time she passes through Leharia she tells one to Shiv. Through stories within stories Chandra tells a spiralling tale of loss, and of two wounded people becoming something new.Borrowing a structure from the Mahabharata, Vikram Chandra tells a spiralling story of loss, and of two wounded people becoming something new.Bringing together past, pr

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Book SynopsisThe irresistible literary debut about the hidden desires of church-going Black women 'Left me wanting more. Masterfully written' Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie 'Joyous... It's a book in love with life' The Times 'Exquisite... delicious' Bolu Babalola, author of Love in Colour The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where Black women and girls dare to follow their desires, and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. There is fourteen-year-old Jael, who nurses a crush on the preacher's wife; the mother who bakes a sublime peach cobbler every Monday for her date with the married Pastor; and Eula and Caroletta, single childhood friends who seek solace in each other's arms every New Year's Eve. With their secret longings, new love, and forbidden affairs, these church ladies are as seductive as they want to be, as vulnerable as they need to be, as unfaithful and unrepentant as they care to be - and as free as they deserve to be.Trade Review'Tender, truthful... joyous... full of flawed, bruised, bold, complex, intensely human characters' - Sarah Waters'It's terrific. I'm savouring every story in it, reading them once, then again.' - Madeline Miller'Joyous... It's a book in love with life' - The Times'Left me wanting more. Masterfully written. Deesha Philyaw knows the craft of writing as well as she does the nuances of sex' - Candice Carty-Williams'Joyful, riotous... Philyaw's great triumph is to permit her characters to inhabit fully their rich and particular interior lives' - Alex Preston

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Book SynopsisA new collection of stories from the cult author of Terminal Boredom.Izumi Suzuki had ideas about doing things differently, ideas that paid little attention to the laws of physics, or the laws of the land. In this new collection, her skewed imagination distorts and enhances some of the classic concepts of science fiction and fantasy.A philandering husband receives a bestial punishment from a wife with her own secrets to keep; a music lover finds herself in a timeline both familiar and as wrong as can be; a misfit band of space pirates discover a mysterious baby among the stars; Emma, the Bovary-like character from one of Suzuki's stories in Terminal Boredom, lands herself in a bizarre romantic pickle.Wryly anarchic and deeply imaginative, Suzuki was a writer like no other. These eleven stories offer readers the opportunity to delve deeper in this singular writer's work.Trade ReviewFascinatingly skewy -- Cal Revely-Calder, best books of 2023 * Daily Telegraph *This collection showcases [Suzuki's] unique sensibility, which combined a punk aesthetic with a taste for the absurd. Her work-populated by misfits, loners, and femmes fatales alongside extraterrestrial boyfriends, intergalactic animal traffickers, and murderous teen-agers with E.S.P.-wryly blurs the boundary between earthly delinquency and otherworldly phenomena. * The New Yorker *The work and messages of Ursula K. Le Guin, the author's longer-lived contemporary, come to mind. Both Suzuki and Le Guin knew that gender roles are a matter of costume or control, affect or affliction. The terms we use to define humanity are often inhuman -- Catherine Lacey * New York Times *Brilliant and often bleak . all shot through with a camp ethos, dark humour and kitchen-sink realism . in their brio and jagged urgency, these stories have, if anything, only gained in their alarming immediacy. * Times Literary Supplement *Not only still relevant but remarkably fresh ... All these stories are brilliant * Guardian *With this impressive collection, translators Bett, David Boyd, Helen O'Horan, and Daniel Joseph bring 11 strange, transfixing, and compassionate short stories from Suzuki to English-speaking audiences. SFF fans are sure to be pleased with these slangy, accessible new translations of a master. * Publishers Weekly *Her punky irreverence remains radiant' * Frieze *These strangely prescient stories are perfect for fans of Haruki Murakami, George Saunders, and Philip K. Dick * Publishers Weekly *Extraordinary. To use one of her own coolly illuminating formulations, Suzuki is steward of a new anxiety -- China Miéville[A] riveting book of short stories by cult favorite Japanese sci-fi author Izumi Suzuki. -- Sophia June, Most Anticipated Books of 2023 * Nylon *A little speculative, a little punk, a little chaotic-all singular in their voice and vision. In this new collection, there will be cheating husbands, score settling, alternate timelines, bored teens, and space pirates...What a thrill it is to see that more of her stories are coming down the pipes. -- Most Anticipated Books of 2023 * Lit Hub *Even decades after her death, Suzuki's sci-fi fantasy worlds feel fresh. The 11 stories in this deeply unsettling and imaginative collection are sure to enthrall, disturb and entertain...A brilliant follow up. -- 15 Upcoming Releases We Can't Wait to Read in 2023 * Tokyo Weekender, *Sure to be wonderfully off-kilter and imaginative. -- Iain Maloney * Japan Times *This volume is at the top of my TBR list. -- Karla J. Strand * Ms. Magazine *This collection reaches out from the past not as a warning so much as the musings of a writer grasping for hope in a dark world. Music is woven through the book, as if Suzuki had created an accompanying playlist and is urging readers to listen along...These 11 stories surprise with wry humor and stun with the loneliness of living. * Kirkus Reviews *[Suzuki] has produced stories that delight in weaving the uncanny into everyday experiences. The stories are edgy and comic, taking a sharp, sardonic scalpel to male privilege in Japanese society ... a singular voice in Japanese literature -- Michael Cronin * Irish Times *Through stories of murderous aliens, rock-and-roll has-beens and failed witches, Suzuki knows very well that life on Earth sucks, but that doesn't stop her from constantly imagining and reimagining radical alterities. -- Marv Recinto * ArtReview Asia *Suzuki creates worlds subtly unstuck from specific times and locations ... The anxiety at the heart of her writing resonates far beyond its temporal walls. Suzuki's science fiction of the 1980s has an eerie accordance with the world as we know it today. -- Genie Harrison * Tokyo Weekender *Suzuki's work is richly steeped in science fiction, fantasy, and '70s counterculture...throughout [she] empathizes with those who feel alien, other, or ostracized-especially women and girls battling patriarchy and misogyny. -- Laura Zornosa * TIME *The continuing translation of Suzuki's work is extremely exciting, as it helps to provide a more thorough picture of a dynamic and experimental artist whose work parallels some of the most important work of the 1970s new wave, cyberpunk, and beyond. -- Nell Keep * Booklist, Starred Review *Sardonic, dystopian commentaries on the struggle to stay sane in a world that often fails to offer encouragement to do so. -- Sean Sheehan * The Prisma *This new collection brings the same gritty, surreal vibes we love. * Book Culture *These stories are deeply, persistently, wonderfully odd, full of humor, irony, heartache, and aliens. -- Patrick Rapa * The Philadelphia Inquirer *Sharp and achingly present, these eleven short stories ... present emotional and often unsettling glimpses into worlds both familiar and fantastical ... Suzuki's voice is boldly abrasive. -- Bella Creel * Asymptote Journal *Reader, beware: Suzuki's stories are soft, but they are not light. -- Nick Mamatas * The Fabulist *Blurring together magic, fantasy, and sci-fi, [Suzuki's] stories bend reality to explore themes of marriage, friendship, love, sexuality, and femininity. * The Millions *Wild and restless ... I can't think of anyone I'd rather read this spring than this countercultural icon of the Japanese literary underground. -- Angel Lambo * Frieze *A forerunner of cyberpunk ... With dark humour and cool affect, [Suzuki] presented the isolation of Japanese domestic life. -- Stephanie LaCava * Telegraph *An enjoyably acidic and darkly funny set of stories in which the novelty is not always so much in the ideas as in the consistently engaging execution. Suzuki's distinctly misanthropic voice enlivens these narratives of women whose mundane lives are altered - sometimes humorously, sometimes catastrophically - by science-fictional or supernatural occurrences. -- Dexter Palmer * The Washington Post *Translated into English decades after her death, the sci-fi stories of Izumi Suzuki gently twist modern Japan into tales of unspeakable loneliness. -- Amanda DeMarco * Spike Art Magazine *Impressively uncanny stuff. -- Tobias Carroll * Words Without Borders *[Hit Parade of Tears] challenges the concepts of fantasy and science fiction, twisting these genres into new and strange things. These tales are bleak, funny, feminist, angry, and often deeply allegorical and political. * Books & Bao *Hit Parade of Tears perfectly demonstrates Suzuki's sharp social satire, her singular voice, and her unique aesthetics ... mesmerising feminist explorations of gender, alienation and treacherous states of reality that could not have been written by anyone else -- Jonathan Thornton * Fantasy Hive *Suzuki's acidic voice permeates these 11 hazy, imaginative stories following women whose lives are altered by time travel, aliens, magic and more. * The New York Times Book Review *A collection of stories that sway between science fiction, fantasy and the intrigue of modern relationships. Expect a wild ride through affairs, space pirates and discoveries of new dimensions. -- Ellen Scott * Stylist *It's rare for a short story collection to captivate and glue your eyes to the page like a thriller. But Hit Parade of Tears ... does just that, lining up one twisted mindbender after another ... her plots beguile as they come apart and pull together like pieces of a deliberately imperfect puzzle. -- Eric Margolis * Japan Times *This newly translated collection of Izumi Suzuki's short stories, first published more than forty years ago, is jaunty, odd, violent, femme-centric, funny-but what strikes me most is its freshness." -- Young Kim * LIBER *[Hit Parade of Tears] has the could-it-be-prescience that renders good science fiction both captivating and uncanny. At the same time, it often feels so rooted in the '60s and '70s that it could have emerged from a time capsule..its prose is strong and clear, a message from the past that has, thanks to her stellar team of translators, arrived here asking to be heard. -- Lily Meyer * NPR *Two years ago, Izumi Suzuki's work was published in English for the first time in the collection Terminal Boredom. This second collection gives English language readers even more of her inventive and atmospheric stories that explore life on the outskirts using science fiction and fantasy elements. -- Patricia Thang * Book Riot *Suzuki's narratives might contain B-movie silliness. They also have the hypnotic power of a bender. Just look at the time - you've suddenly finished them all. -- Jen Vafidis * The New York Times Book Review *A unique voice in science fiction ... Suzuki's stories represent female rage at a society which refused to include her ... darkly witty -- Terri-Jane Dow * Mslexia *Packed with casual, occasional sadism ... Each story is air-locked away from the noisy links between organism and ecosystem, consumer supply chain and perpetual war ... Dreams of estrangement play out across a total lack of world. -- Alex Quicho * The White Review *[Suzuki's] characters' clever means of dealing with society give life to each story even half a century after their original publication. It is not so much the specifics of the worlds Suzuki creates as the way her characters find relief within them that makes Hit Parade of Tears translate well for a contemporary audience. -- Jenny Wu * The Harvard Review *[Hit Parade of Tears] speaks to our anxieties and fears about a world, a future, slowly slipping from our grasp -- Ian Mond * Locus Magazine *This posthumous collection of stories is absurd, with little to do with the laws of physics: Suzuki takes common sci-fi and fantasy tropes - themselves a skewer on reality - and twists them further so that what you're left with is time- and space-bending plotlines and very strange characters. * Harper's Bazaar *Both humorous and devastating ... [Suzuki's] signature sci-fi style is as moving as it is unpredictable and a must-read by anyone interested in the emotional politics of our potential future(s). -- Jennifer Brough * Lucy Writers Platform *Suzuki is a master at mixing high sci-fi concepts with melodrama. -- Ben Dreith * Maudlin House *Ominous and funny ... Suzuki's "sci-fi surreal" explores reality in the same way that surrealism did and still does in its contemporary manifestations, and critiques society as all good sci-fi does. -- Vik Shirley * Firmament Magazine *Izumi takes her insincerity to depths unimaginable, from where it floats up as alien, tampered, and wholly disorienting. -- Shahriar Shaams * The Daily Star (Bangladesh) *

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Book SynopsisWhat marks life in Addis Ababa are the starkly different realities coexisting in one place. It’s a growing city taking shape beneath the fraught weight of history, myth, and memory. It is a heady mix. It can also be disorienting, and it is in this space that the stories of Addis Ababa Noir reside . . . These are not gentle stories. They cross into forbidden territories and traverse the damaged terrain of the human heart. The characters in these pages are complicated, worthy of our judgment as much as they somehow manage to elude it. The writers have each discovered their own ways to get us to lean in while forcing us to grit our teeth as we draw closer . . . Despite the varied and distinct voices in these pages, no single book can contain all of the wonderful, intriguing, vexing complexities of Addis Ababa. But what you will read are stories by some of Ethiopia’s most talented writers living in the country and abroad. Each of them considers the many ways that myth and truth and a country’s dark edges come together to create something wholly original—and unsettling.Trade ReviewWhat I found when I wanted to read the next short story in this anthology, was that I had to take a rest. The stories in Addis Ababa Noir are that powerful. The finished story was good. Ergo, I wanted to read the next one.Not all the stories involve crime, but the anthology contains many gems and all hold a mirror to life and death in a country riven by civil warfare, notably one by Mengiste herself where experts from Argentina are called in to identify bodies of ‘disappeared’ Ethiopians. On the lighter side there is a wonderful piece of social observation in Bewketu Seyoum’s Under the Minibus Ceiling which follows the random thoughts and conversations of passengers on a bus, which range from the price of berbere (a blend of hot spices integral to Ethiopian cooking), how to confuse the Prophet Isiah with the President of Eritrea and who, exactly, is Angelina Jolie?Table of Contents11 IntroductionPART I: PAST HAUNTINGS17 Kind Stranger29 A Double-Edged Inheritance47 Ostrich66 Dust, Ash, FlightPART II: TRANSLATIONS OF GRIEF91 Father Bread105 The Blue Shadow120 A Night in Bela SeferPART III: MADNESS DESCENDS137 Insomnia153 Of the Poet and the Café174 Under the Minibus Ceiling183 Of Buns and HowlsPART IV: POLICE AND THIEVES207 Kebele ID220 None of Your Business228 Agony of the Congested Heart 244 About the Contributors

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Book Synopsis'I am not asking you to agree with me. In fact, I'd be happier if you didn't. I am afraid of self-censorship in a place of supposed radicalism like a liberal arts school because I am afraid that one day we will all be too afraid of being wrong.'We grew up on the internet, or the Internet, as it was originally known - a proper noun, a place to visit and explore, before we claimed it as everybody's, turning it into a place where we pay bills, shop, fall in love, where kids get past parental controls to come of age. Honor Levy lends her experience to the narrators of these propulsive, provocative and pill-fuelled dispatches, speaking to the malleable reality we all inhabit, where clicks, codes, unreliable words and memes shape identities, personas and reputations. In My First Book, Honor Levy endeavors to contextualize Gen-Z, a generation of young people desperate to discern what matters in a world that paints every event as a catastrophe. Irony is the salve of choice, and Levy deploys it masterfully. She paints the chasm in understanding between her parents' generation and the Zoomer reality overloaded with niche signs and meanings.

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Book SynopsisThese slow, beautiful stories - resolute and resonant - are small masterpieces: apparently simple but actually crafted with enormous skill and precision. Set against the unforgiving landscape of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, they are all concerned with the complexities and mysteries of the human heart, the unbreakable bonds and unbridgeable chasms between man and woman, parent and child. Steeped in memory and myth and washed in the brine and blood of the long battle with the land and the sea, these stories celebrate a passionate engagement with the natural world and a continuity of the generations in the face of transition, in the face of love and loss. As John McGahern says in his eloquent foreword: ''the work has a largeness, of feeling, of intellect, of vision, a great openness and generosity, even an old-fashioned courtliness. The stories stand securely outside of fashion while reflecting deep change''. Bringing together all Alistair MacLeod''s short fiction, and incTrade ReviewA lifetime's achievement in more than one sense * Sunday Times *Startling in their simple perfection * Sunday Tribune *Provokingly singular and rare, an island of richness * Guardian *Beautifully crafted stories: elegiac, honest, proud, and both eloquent and taciturn, like their subjects...a wonderfully talented writer * Margaret Atwood *Rarely does a great writer offer himself to us with an oeuvre so complete * New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisWith this, his first collection, Carver breathed new life into the short story.Trade ReviewCarver is the king of short fiction. His writing hits you in the pit of your stomach, and haunts you with its disenchantment. It's almost visceral. -- Natasha Lunn * Red *Carver has made himself the natural successor to his true mentor, Chekhov * Financial Times *He is alert to the unique, inconspicuous incident, when a life or a marriage may change course decisively * Sunday Telegraph *Carver's stories celebrate some lasting aspects of the human condition, however minimal, conjuring up a quality of fellow feeling which gives the stories a compelling, dry-eyed poignancy, a melancholy but intensely moving authenticity -- William Boyd * Daily Telegraph *There is nobody else like him. In some ways his pared-down style is an extreme development of the Hemingway style, but Carver writes about women and the ways men relate to them far more convincingly than Hemingway ever did * Frank Kermode *

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Book SynopsisOne of the greatest French novelists, Balzac was also an accomplished writer of shorter fiction. This volume includes twelve of his finest short stories - many of which feature characters from his epic series of novels the Comédie Humaine. Compelling tales of acute social and psychological insight, they fully demonstrate the mastery of suspense and revelation that were the hallmarks of Balzac''s genius. In The Atheist''s Mass, we learn the true reason for a distinguished atheist surgeon''s attendance at religious services; La Grande Breteche describes the horrific truth behind the locked doors of a decaying country mansion, while The Red Inn relates a brutal tale of murder and betrayal. A fascinating counterpoint to the renowned novels, all the stories collected here stand by themselves as mesmerizing works by one of the finest writers of nineteenth-century France.

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Book SynopsisThree stories by a French masterFirst published in 1877, these three stories are dominated by questions of doubt, love, loneliness, and religious experience—together they confirm Flaubert as a master of the short story. “A Simple Heart” relates the story of Félicité, an uneducated serving-woman who retains her Catholic faith despite a life of desolation and loss. “The Legend of Saint Julian Hospitator,” inspired by a stained-glass window in Rouen cathedral, describes the fate of a sadistic hunter destined to murder his own parents. The blend of faith and cruelty that dominates this story may also be found in “Herodias,” a reworking of the tale of Salome and John the Baptist.This new edition is a completely new translation with a new introduction by Geoffrey Wall, Flaubert's acclaimed biographer. It features a chronology, further reading, and explanantory notes.For more than seventy years, Penguin has

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Book SynopsisThe story of the title deals with a little boy named Larry and his feelings towards his father. When his father returns home from World War II, Larry is resentful and jealous of losing his mother''s undivided attention, and finds himself in a constant struggle to win back her affections.

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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 SynopsisThis exciting collection celebrates the richness and variety of the Spanish short story, from the nineteenth century to the present day.Featuring over fifty stories selected by revered translator Margaret Jull Costa, it blends old favourites and hidden gems - many of which have never before been translated into English - and introduces readers to surprising new voices as well as giants of Spanish literary culture, from Emilia Pardo Bazán and Leopoldo Alas, through Mercè Rodoreda and Manuel Rivas, to Ana Maria Matute and Javier Marías. Brimming with romance, horror, history, farce, strangeness and beauty, and showcasing alluring hairdressers, war defectors, vampiric mothers, and talismanic mandrake roots, the daring and entertaining assortment of tales in The Penguin Book of Spanish Short Stories will be a treasure trove for readers.Trade ReviewAn inspiring, interesting, thorough, beautifully-translated collection. The range - stylistic and thematic - of the volume is fascinating ... There isn't really a dud story in the book ... In presenting these and other wonderful things, Jull Costa has carried out a great service to English readers * Literary Review *

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