Anthologies & Short Stories

Book SynopsisIntroducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world''s greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil.Twelve enchanting and fantastical stories about the evolution of the universe from the giant of Italian literature, Italo Calvino. His characters - whether human, dinosaur or mollusc - disport themselves among galaxies, experience the solidification of planets, move from aquatic to terrestrial existence, play games with hydrogen atoms - and have time for a love life.''A landmark in fiction, the work of a master'' - Ursula K Le GuinTrade ReviewIf you have never read Cosmicomics, you have before you the most joyful reading experience of your life -- Salman RushdieA landmark in fiction, the work of a master -- Ursula K Le GuinThis is classic Calvino, making you think and laugh at the same time -- John Self

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Book SynopsisLittle Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world''s greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.Dorothy Parker was the most talked-about woman of the decadent 1920s, notorious as a hard-drinking bad girl with a talent for endlessly quotable one-liners. In the stories collected here, she brilliantly captures the spirit of the decadent Jazz Age in New York, exposing both the dazzle and the darkness. This selection includes among others ''The Standard of Living'', ''Mr Durant'' and her masterpiece, ''Big Blonde''.''She has fascinated generations with her wit, flair and talent'' The New York Review of Books

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Book SynopsisSunday Times bestseller Tessa Hadley explores the big consequences of small events in this new collectionTessa Hadley is my favourite author' KATE ATKINSONHeloise's father died in a car crash when she was a little girl; at a dinner party in her forties, she meets someone connected to that long-ago tragedy. Janey's bohemian mother plans to marry a man close to Janey''s own age everything changes when an accident interrupts the wedding party. A daughter caring for her elderly mother during the pandemic becomes obsessed with the woman next door; in the wake of his best friend's death, a man must reassess his affair with the friend's wife. Teenager Cecilia wakes one morning on holiday with her parents in Florence and sees them for the first time through disenchanted eyes.These twelve stories plumb the depths of everyday life to reveal the shifting tides and hidden undercurrents of ordinary relationships.Few writers give me

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Book SynopsisCelebrating Fifty Years of Picador BooksThe world just goes along. Nothing much matters, you know? I mean really matters. but then sometimes, just for a second, you get this grace, this belief that it does matter, a whole lot.With an introduction from Lydia DavisLucia Berlin’s stories in A Manual for Cleaning Women make for one of the most remarkable unsung collections in twentieth-century American fiction. With extraordinary honesty and magnetism, Lucia Berlin invites us into her rich, itinerant life: the drink and the mess and the pain and the beauty and the moments of surprise and of grace, with a voice is witty, anarchic, compassionate, and completely unique. Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.Trade ReviewThis selection of 43 stories . . . should by all rights see her as lauded as Jean Rhys or Raymond Carver. -- John Self * Independent *In A Manual for Cleaning Women we witness the emergence of an important American writer, one who was mostly overlooked in her time. She is the real deal. * New York Times *Lucia Berlin's collection of short stories, A Manual for Cleaning Women, deserves all of the posthumous praise its author has received . . . Her work is being comp­ared to Raymond Carver, for her similar oblique, colloquial style; her mordant humour; the recurrence of alcoholics; and her interest in the lives of working-class or marginalised people. But only Carver's very final stories share Berlin's eye for the sud­den exaltation in ordinary lives, or her ability to shift the tone of an entire story with an unexpected sent­ence. -- Sarah Churchwell, 'Best Books of 2015' * Guardian *Some short story writers - Chekhov, Alice Munro, William Trevor - sidle up and tap you gently on the shoulder: Come, they murmur, sit down, listen to what I have to say. Lucia Berlin spins you around, knocks you down and grinds your face into the dirt. You will listen to me if I have to force you, her stories growl. But why would you make me do that, darlin'? . . . Berlin's stories are full of second chances. Now readers have another chance to confront them: bits of life, chewed up and spat out like a wad of tobacco, bitter and rich. * New York Times Book Review *[Berlin's] stories are peopled with sharp, unpredictable, vital characters (often drunk!). They hit you with a force the moment you happen upon them. -- Jackie Kay * Observer *Raw and funny and breathtakingly great. -- Lauren Groff * New Yorker *Berlin's stories . . . alternate between light and dark so seamlessly and suddenly that a certain emotion barely fades before you feel something abruptly different . . . The result is a fictional world of wide-ranging impact, a powerful chiaroscuro that manages to encompass the full spectrum of human experience . . . [Berlin] deserves to be ranked alongside Alice Munro, Raymond Carver, and Anton Chekhov. She excels at pacing, structure, dialogue, characterization, description, and every other aspect of the form. * The Boston Globe *[Berlin's] writing really soars. * Literary Review *There is a seemingly effortless style to these beautifully observant tales of detoxing, lapsing and old affections. * Sunday Express *This career-spanning volume should reward readers who return to it for months, years, even decades . . . Berlin's stories offer few answers, and no easy routes to redemption, but empathy pulses. -- Max Liu * Independent *Berlin writes about extremities of shame, humiliation and degradation with a ferocious elegance that allows neither bleakness not sentimentality . . . The editorial arrangement by Berlin's friend Stephen Emerson is particularly sensitive to the jazzy musicality of the stories . . . These perfectly poised cadences are the work of a writer who knew exactly how good she was. -- Jane Shilling * New Statesman *Full of humor and tenderness and emphatic grace . . . Those not lucky enough to have yet encountered the writing of Lucia Berlin are in for some high-grade pleasure when they make first contact. * Washington Post *A Manual for Cleaning Women is a miracle of storytelling. * Elle *Here's prose to fall hard for, from the first beautifully candid paragraph to the last. As Berlin's characters confide in the reader and in each other, somehow, through the "ifs" and "buts," laundry and flower clocks, grace and catastrophe, a mesh is woven that captures life itself. I'm bowled over by her. -- Helen OyeyemiWhat a thrilling, welcome discovery this collection is. These are stories to beguile, fascinate and surprise. You are never sure what will happen next. As soon as I'd finished this book, I had to turn back to the beginning and start again. -- Maggie O'FarrellBerlin's writing is characterised by an enormous appetite for life, for humour and for love . . . This almost chatty style is undercut by brutal one-liners and swift reversals that, along with skilful narrative shaping, remind you that these are painstakingly crafted stories. -- Catherine O’Flynn * Guardian *Berlin's literary model is Chekhov, but there are extra-literary models too, including the extended jazz solo, with its surges, convolutions, and asides. This is writing of a very high order. -- August Kleinzahler on Where I Live Now * London Review of Books *[The stories] are set in the places Berlin knows best: Chile, Mexico, the Southwest and California, and they have the casual, straightforward, immediately intimate style that distinguishes her work . . . [They] are told in an easy conversational voice and they go from start to finish with a swift and often lyrical economy . . . Berlin's stories capture and communicate these moments of grace and cast a lovely, lazy light that lasts. She is one of our finest writers. -- Molly Giles on So Long * San Francisco Chronicle *Lucia Berlin might be the most interesting person you've never met . . . Every detox ward, dingy Laundromat, and sunbaked Mexican palapa spills across the page in sentences so bright and fierce and full of wild color that you'll want to turn each one over just to see how she does it. And then go back and read them all again. * Entertainment Weekly *[Lucia Berlin] may just be the best writer you've never heard of . . . Imagine a less urban Grace Paley, with a similar talent for turning the net of resentments and affections among family members into stories that carry more weight than their casual, conversational tone might initially suggest . . . Berlin's offbeat humor, get-on-with-it realism, and ability to layer details that echo across stories and decades give her book a tremendous staying power . . . [A Manual for Cleaning Women] goes a long way toward putting Berlin, who died in 2004, back in the public eye. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *Lucia Berlin has long been overlooked as one of America's best short story writers, and it only takes readers the first couple of pages to recognize that . . . Reminiscent of Raymond Carver with a dash of survivor's humor, which makes even the bleakest tales thoroughly enjoyable. * Nylon *A major talent . . . A testament to a writer whose explorations of society's rougher corners deserve wider attention. * Kirkus (Starred Review) *Berlin's posthumous, highly semiautobiographical collection will catapult her into a household name. * Marie Claire *How a writer with this much appeal slipped under the radar is unfathomable . . . Anyone who loves the stories of Grace Paley and Lorrie Moore will find another master of the form here . . . Just go get the book and start reading them for yourself. * Newsday *Berlin's ability to gaze into a person's soul is reflected in her writing it is incisive, and the boldness of the prose jumps off the page . . . Poignant, comic and beautifully observed. * The Lady *[The stories] reel you in with their warmth, humour and a cast of ordinary women leading very real, very messy lives. * Red *This was a brilliant woman. [Berlin's] work transcends funny and shows us the absurd. She doesn't let her characters hide behind artifice or sensationalism or substances, as much as they might like to. Reading these stories, you get the sense that this is what she wanted for herself: to let go of the bullshit. As a result, the transformation she provides is visceral and startling. -- Kelly Luce * Electric Lit *Begin reading a Berlin short story and you know immediately that you are in the presence of a unique and searing literary force . . . This revelatory volume now brings her forward to stand beside her peers. * Booklist *

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Book SynopsisHere are thirteen short stories from the new frontiers of Chinese science fiction, selected and translated by Hugo, Nebula, Locus and World Fantasy Award-winner Ken Liu. Hao Jingfang's Hugo Award-winning 'Folding Beijing' takes place in a near-future dystopia where the title city's buildings fold into and out of the earth, allowing three different strata of society to spend part of the day above ground. Xia Jia's 'Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse' describes a post-apocalyptic world where machines have outlived the humans who engineered them. In 'Taking Care of God' by Liu Cixin – author of The Three-Body Problem, the first translated novel to win the Hugo Award – a race of white-haired, white-robed beings arrive on Earth, claiming they are God, creators of everything who now want to spend their retirement years with us... Including an introduction by Ken Liu and three essays exploring Chinese science fiction, this is a phenomenal collection of strange worlds, hypnotic landscapes and unbridled imagination.Trade ReviewKen Liu is a genius -- Elizabeth BearA phenomenal anthology of short speculative fiction * Kirkus Reviews *Whether or not Chinese SF really is a creature all to itself, on this evidence it's certainly worth reading * Interzone *An excellent introduction to Chinese Science Fiction and the subtleties of woven symbology and allegory as intellectual discourse. To characterise some this content as stories of protest would deny them their detail, layers and intelligence * Concatenation *Even what doesn't happen is epic * London Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisElizabeth Gaskell''s chilling Gothic tales blend the real and the supernatural to eerie, compelling effect. ''Disappearances'', inspired by local legends of mysterious vanishings, mixes gossip and fact; ''Lois the Witch'', a novella based on an account of the Salem witch hunts, shows how sexual desire and jealousy lead to hysteria; while in ''The Old Nurse''s Story'' a mysterious child roams the freezing Northumberland moors. Whether darkly surreal, such as ''The Poor Clare'', where an evil doppelgänger is formed by a woman''s bitter curse, or mischievous like ''Curious, if True'', a playful reworking of fairy tales, all the stories in this volume form a stark contrast to the social realism of Gaskell''s novels, revealing a darker and more unsettling style of writing.Table of ContentsEdited by Laura KranzlerChronologyIntroductionFurther ReadingNote on the TextsDisappearancesThe Old Nurse's StoryThe Squire's StoryThe Poor ClareThe Doom of the GriffithsLois the WitchThe Crooked BranchCurious, if TrueThe Grey WomanAppendixNotes

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Book SynopsisNikolai Semyonovich Leskov was born in 1831 in Gorokhovo, Oryol Province and was orphaned early. In 1860 he became a journalist and moved to Petersburg where he published his first story. He subsequently wrote a number of folk legends and Christmas tales, along with a few anti-nihilistic novels which resulted in isolation from the literary circles of his day. He died in 1895.David McDuff is a translator of Russian and Nordic literature. His translations of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian prose classics (including works by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Bely and Babel) are published by Penguin.

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Book SynopsisRyünosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is one of Japan''s foremost stylists - a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly original imagery, cynicism, beauty and wild humour. ''Rashömon'' and ''In a Bamboo Grove'' inspired Kurosawa''s magnificent film and depict a past in which morality is turned upside down, while tales such as ''The Nose'', ''O-Gin'' and ''Loyalty'' paint a rich and imaginative picture of a medieval Japan peopled by Shoguns and priests, vagrants and peasants. And in later works such as ''Death Register'', ''The Life of a Stupid Man'' and ''Spinning Gears'', Akutagawa drew from his own life to devastating effect, revealing his intense melancholy and terror of madness in exquisitely moving impressionistic stories.

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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. Between his second and third tours of duty, a soldier returns home.To his former home, that is, using an old key while the new tenant is at work. Is he re-entering his old life or borrowing someone else's? Where is the line he will not cross? Each day is the same: he exists in a state of suspension, barely knowing how he passes the time until someone else intrudes on the intruder.Adrian Tomine, graphic master of alienation and regret, expertly expands the form to express the unsaid and the unbearable in this unforgettable evocation of a post-traumatic life.Bringing together past, present and future in our ninetieth year, Faber Stories is a celebratory compendium of collectable work.

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Book SynopsisAn airline stewardess is entrusted with a list of names which could threaten the lives of her 700 passengers... A young woman is tortured by terrifying nightmares, until she finds a gramophone record that unlocks the door concealing a dark memory... Lottery-winner turned amateur detective, Alvirah Meehan returns from a trip to England to find the body of a Broadway starlet in their wardrobe... Peopled by a colourful cast of characters and brimming over with bizarre twists and turns, this collection is further proof of Mary Higgins Clark''s ingenious touch and superlative skill. Start reading - and you won''t be able to stop.

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Book SynopsisThis is an all new version of the popular PARALLEL TEXT series, containing eight pieces of contemporary fiction in the original French and in English translation. Including stories by Bolanger, Cotnoir, Le Clezio and Germain, this volume gives afascinating insight into French culture and literature as well as providing an invaluable educational tool.Table of ContentsIntroductionLearning How to Live / Frederic Fajardie (1947– )All Lights Off / Frederic Fajardie (1947– )David / Jean-Marie-Gustave Le Clezio (1940– )The Occupation of the Ground / Jean Echenoz (1947– )The Third-rate Film / Sylvie Massicotte (1959– )The Objet d'Art / Jean-Paul Daoust (1946– )The Hunters' Cafe / Daniel Boulanger (1922– )Accursed Notebooks (an extract from La Deconvenue) / Louise Cotnoir (1948– )Heloise / Sylvie Germain (1954– )The Character / Gloria Escomel (1941– )Self-destruction / Rene Belletto (1945– )You Never Die / Alain Gerber (1950– )Notes on French TextsAcknowledgements

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Book SynopsisLord Peter Wimsey, wealthy, charming and charismatic, is one of the most famous amateur detectives of the golden age of crime. This Macmillan Collector's Library edition of Lord Peter Wimsey Investigates is introduced and edited by crime writer David Stuart Davies.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. The fifteen short stories in this lively and witty collection, Dorothy L. Sayers’s very best, celebrate the breadth of Peter Wimsey’s career as London’s most celebrated amateur sleuth. From the foppish man about town of 'In the Teeth of the Evidence', to the happily married man in 'The Haunted Policeman', to the father of three in 'Talboys', Wimsey kept that twinkle in his eye and the brilliance of mind that helped him spot a clue a mile off.Trade ReviewBe warned . . . once you make friends with Wimsey you'll want to get better acquainted -- Christopher FowlerPart of the Golden Age of mystery writers working between the wars, Sayers is often credited as the most intelligent of them all. Certainly her plots are ingenious and intricate, and she relishes technical detail and literary quotation * Guardian *After 60-odd years still compulsively readable * Independent *The books chronicling Wimsey’s adventures remain models of their kind -- Barry ForshawIn time of dire and immediate trouble, one might well call upon a Sherlock Holmes for a quick solution to one’s trials. But for the balm that reassures one about surviving the vicissitudes of life, one could do no better than to anchor onto a Lord Peter Wimsey -- Elizabeth GeorgeTable of ContentsIntroduction - i: Introduction by David Stuart Davies Chapter - 1: The Necklace of Pearls Chapter - 2: The Queen’s Square Chapter - 3: The Image in the Mirror Chapter - 4: In the Teeth of the Evidence Chapter - 5: The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question Chapter - 6: Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey Chapter - 7: The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager’s Will Chapter - 8: The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker Chapter - 9: The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention Chapter - 10: The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face Chapter - 11: The Vindictive Story of the Footsteps that Ran Chapter - 12: Absolutely Elsewhere Chapter - 13: Striding Folly Chapter - 14: The Haunted Policeman Chapter - 15: Talboys

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Book SynopsisThe No. 1 bestselling author Stephen King's novella The Sun Dog, published in his award-winning 1990 story collection Four Past Midnight, is now available as a standalone publication.It's mine - that was what he had thought when his finger had pushed the shutter-button for the first time. Now he found himself wondering if maybe he hadn't gotten that backward. Kevin Delevan wants only one thing for his fifteenth birthday: a Polaroid Sun 660. There's something wrong with his gift, though. No matter where Kevin aims the camera, it produces a photograph of an enormous, vicious dog. In each successive picture, the menacing creature draws nearer to the flat surface of the Polaroid film as if it intends to break through. When old Pop Merrill, Castle Rock's sharpest trader, gets wind of this phenomenon, he devises a way to profit from it. But the Sun Dog, a beast that shouldn't exist at all, turns out to be a very dangerous investment.Trade ReviewThe Sun Dog works beautifully as another addition to those metaphorical stories about King's own personal fears * GUARDIAN *A fabulous teller of stories who can create an entire new world and make the reader live in it * EXPRESS *Without doubt one of the world's greatest storytellers, King has an uncanny knack of finding horror in the midst of the commonplace * DAILY MAIL *

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Book SynopsisSeventy years after the adoption of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UK is guilty of undermining the very principles of asylum, inhumanely detaining those seeking protection and ushering in sweeping changes that threaten to punish refugees at every turn. But the UK’s immigration system is not alone in committing such breaches of human rights. The fourth volume of Refugee Tales explores our present international environment, combining author re-tellings with first-hand accounts of individuals who have been detained across the world. As the coronavirus pandemic defies borders – leaving those who are detained even more vulnerable – this collection shares stories spanning Canada, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the UK, and calls for international insistence on a future without detention. Featuring a prologue by Baroness Shami Chakrabarti. The fourth volume in the Refugee Tales series, proceeds from the sales of which go to two refugee charities.

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Book SynopsisA woman who carries her fate and that of her community in her hair is beguiled by the deceptive designs of Europeans out to colonise her most prized possession. A man finds happiness in the reincarnation of a lost love. A young woman risks her life for freedom through the cultural practice of a human loan scheme. Tales of sacrifice, love, freedom, self-discovery and loss fill the pages of this larger-than-life tapestry of stories from across Africa and its diaspora. Forged in a diversity of tempers and forms, these stories range from the epistolary to the experimental, from mysteries, noirs and political thrillers to speculative fiction and futurism, and much more. In prose that moves from visual and lyrical to gritty and visceral, these writers explore fate, memory, the fragility of love and the duplicitous nature of human interactions Stories by: Doreen Baingana, Meron Hadero, Rémy Ngamije Troy Onyango, Iryn Tushabe Joshua Chizoma Nana-Ama Danquah, Hannah Giorgis , Idza Luhumyo Billie McTernan, Elizabeth Johnson, Audrey Obuobisa-Darko, Sally Sadie Singhateh, Victor Forna, Onengiye Nwachukwu, Kofi Konadu Berko, Akua Serwaa Amankwah, Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, Andrew Aidoo, Rafeeat Aliyu and TJ Benson.Table of ContentsForeword Editor’s Preface 2021 Shortlisted Stories 1. Lucky by Doreen Baingana (Uganda) 2. The Street Sweep by Meron Hadero (Ethiopia) 3. The Giver of Nicknames by Rémy Ngamije (Namibia) 4. This Little Light of Mine by Troy Onyango (Kenya) 5. A Separation by Iryn Tushabe (Uganda) 2022 Shortlisted Stories 1. Collector of Memories by Joshua Chizoma (Nigeria) 2. When a Man Loves a Woman by Nana-Ama Danquah (Ghana) 3. A Double-Edged Inheritance by Hannah Giorgis (Ethiopia) 4. Five Years Next Sunday by Idza Luhumyo (Kenya) 5. The Labadi Sunshine Bar by Billie McTernan (Ghana) Caine Prize Workshop Stories 1. A Mind to Silence by Elizabeth Johnson 2. Nnome by Audrey Obuobisa-Darko 3. The Loan by Sally Sadie Singhateh 4. They Will Fly with Blooded Wings by Victor Forna 5. Trial By Fire by Onengiye Nwachukwu 6. A Girl Becomes a Vessel by Kofi Konadu Berko 7. Sugar’s Daughters by Akua Serwaa Amankwah 8. Homecoming by Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo 9. A Spruced up Young Man by Andrew Aidoo 10. Land of Prophetic Women by Rafeeat Aliyu 11. Please, Please by TJ Benson Biographies

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Book Synopsis'Powered by immense, perverse energy out of the Limerick idiom, the collection generates a singular music that is memorable, unsettling and humane' Guardian'Eerie, dark and twisted . . . Blindboy's passion for Irish nature, mythology and folklore lends a spiritual profundity' BuzzYou don't fully appreciate how large a donkey's head is until it's beside you in a Fiat Punto. The view in my mirror was furry and violent. I was driving blind.Driving with a donkey stuffed in the back seat; jackdaws pecking brains out through the roof of a confessional box; cat piss and astronauts. This is the world not as you see it, but as it is, twisted from the maverick mind of Blindboyboatclub.These are stories of the strange unsettlings in the souls of men caught in between the past and the possible; stories of heart-blinding rage and disquieting compassion.Taking its title from a twelfth-century English manuscript of the same name, which dehumanised the people and culture of Ireland to facilitate domination, Topographia Hibernica is a collection that unravels the knotted threads of humanity, nature and colonisation from a contemporary Irish perspective.Called 'one of the most gifted writers of his generation' by the Irish Times, Blindboyboatclub is the essential voice for the Irish condition in the twenty-first century. Topographia Hibernica is his unmissable new short-story collection.Trade ReviewPowered by immense, perverse energy out of the Limerick idiom, the collection generates a singular music that is memorable, unsettling and humane. Moments of beauty dazzle amid the profanity, as pathos and comedy are braided together * Guardian *Eerie, dark and twisted . . . Blindboy's passion for Irish nature, mythology and folklore lends a spiritual profundity * Buzz *One of the most gifted writers of his generation * Michael Harding - Irish Times *A bestseller in the bag * Irish Independent *A cultural phenomenon...Earnest and intellectual, but also funny and down-to-earth....Talking to him can feel like skittering around a galaxy of Wikipedia wormholes (in a good way) * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisPreviously titled Pistols for Two, this collection includes three of Heyer’s earliest short stories, published together in book form for the very first time. A treat for all fans of Georgette Heyer, and for those who love stories full of romance and intrigue.Affairs of honour between bucks and blades, rakes and rascals; affairs of the heart between heirs and orphans, beauties and bachelors; romance, intrigue, escapades and duels at dawn. All the gallantry, villainy and elegance of the age that Georgette Heyer has so triumphantly made her own are exquisitely revived in these wonderfully romantic stories of the Regency period.'Wonderful characters, elegant, witty writing, perfect period detail and rapturously romantic. Georgette Heyer achieves what the rest of us aspire to.' Katie Fforde'My favourite historical novelist – stylish, romantic, sharp and witty. Her sense of period is superb, her heroines enterprising and her heroes are dashing. I owe her many happy hours.' Margaret Drabble'Georgette Heyer is unbeatable.' India KnightTrade ReviewPreviously titled Pistols for Two, this collection includes three of Heyer’s earliest short stories, published together in book form for the very first time. A treat for all fans of Georgette Heyer, and for those who love stories full of romance and intrigue. * from the publisher's description *Georgette Heyer is second to none in her ability to make detective stories entertaining * Sunday Times *Georgette Heyer is unbeatable * Sunday Telegraph *A writer of great wit and style...I've read her books to shreds * Daily Telegraph *Wonderful characters, elegant, witty writing, perfect period detail and rapturously romantic. Georgette Heyer achieves what the rest of us aspire to. -- Katie FfordeTable of Contents I.: Introduction by Jennifer Kloester II.: STORIES 1.: Snowdrift 2.: Full Moon 3.: Pistols for Two 4.: A Clandestine Affair 5.: Bath Miss 6.: Pink Domino 7.: A Husband for Fanny 8.: To Have the Honour 9.: Night at the Inn 10.: The Duel 11.: Hazard III.: NEW STORIES 1.: Pursuit 2.: Runaway Match 3.: Incident on the Bath Road

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Book SynopsisImagine a world in which you could take back the stupid thing you just said, unspill the coffee, avoid the accident, roll life back thirty seconds and do it over again - this time the right way. In Etgar Keret's universe, all things are possible. A man can take a yoga class that genuinely transforms his life. A son has the chance to redo a fateful exchange with his father. An alien can offer a guided tour of the destroyed earth. And an angry squirrel can wreck a wedding. Ranging from sci-fi scenarios to fictional thought-experiments and short vignettes, the stories here all deliver the irreverence, surprises, existential unease, hope and humanity we have come to expect from Etgar Keret - one of the most original and entertaining storytellers at work today.

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Book SynopsisA major new collection of Japanese short stories, many appearing in English for the first time, with an introduction by Haruki Murakami, author of Killing CommendatoreA Penguin Classics HardcoverThis fantastically varied and exciting collection celebrates the art of the Japanese short story, from its origins in the nineteenth century to the remarkable practitioners writing today. Edited by acclaimed translator Jay Rubin, who has himself freshly translated some of the stories, and with an introduction by Haruki Murakami, this book is a revelation.Stories by writers already well known to English-language readers are included--like Tanizaki, Akutagawa, Murakami, Mishima, Kawabata, and Yoshimoto--as well as many surprising new finds. From Yuko Tsushima's "Flames" to Yuten Sawanishi's "Filling Up with Sugar" to Shin'ichi Hoshi's "Shoulder-Top Secretary" to Banana Yoshimoto's "Bee Honey," The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories is filled with fTrade ReviewBrilliant, startling, a goldmine ... unfolds like an idiosyncratic mixtape, compiled with expert zeal by veteran translator Jay Rubin ... incredibly varied. Horror and mythology jostle with character comedies, domestic dramas and Proustian reveries ... it challenges notions of what translated literature should be -- Alex Dudok de Wit * Daily Telegraph *A feast of literature, a smorgasbord of over 30 widely varied modern Japanese writers ... Each lodges itself in memory ... Penguin's new anthology is a literature lover's dream, page after page of memorable writing, stories that leave a lasting impression yet can be fully absorbed in one sitting -- Kris Kosaka * Japan Times *An exhilarating glimpse into Japanese literature -- Patti Smith

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Book SynopsisA man at his desk is interrupted by the appearance of a woodland elf in his room; the piano maestro Bachmann ends his career; a barber shaves the face of a man who once tortured him; a shy dreamer makes a deal with the Devil. In these sixty-five stories of magic and melancholy, Nabokov displays an astonishing range of inventiveness, with dazzling sleight of hand, fantastical fairy tales, intellectual games and enchanting glimpses into lives of ambiguity and loss.The collection displays Nabokov''s astonishing range of technical and formal inventiveness: the dazzling sleight of hand, fanciful fairy tales, ingenious puzzles, enchanting vignettes and haunting melancholic narratives full of disturbing ambiguities.

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Book SynopsisAn exclusive, never-before-collected selection of sparkling stories by Angela Thirkell that will charm, delight and entertain.Trade ReviewLaugh-out-loud funny and filled with memorable and realistically flawed characters * Stylist *Charming, very funny indeed. Angela Thirkell is perhaps the most Pym-like of any twentieth-century author, after Pym herself -- Alexander McCall SmithTo be so witty and charming yet also so brilliantly brusque and practical as Laura Morland is my new year's resolution -- Pippa Wright, author of The Foster HusbandHours of laugh-out-loud entertainment for all ages * The Lady *Charming, very funny indeed. Angela Thirkell is perhaps the most Pym-like of any twentieth-century author, after Pym herself -- Alexander McCall SmithThese stories are a seasonal delight ... they will provide hours of laugh-out-loud enjoyment for all ages * The Lady *To be so witty and charming yet also so brilliantly brusque and practical as Laura Morland is my new year's resolution -- Pippa Wright, author of The Foster Husband

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Book SynopsisIn these stories, the author renders the bizarre normal and the absurd hilarious, from the eerily "real", almost holographic evocations of historical figures, to overtelevised game-show hosts and late-night comedians. In the title story, punk nihilism meets Young Republicanism.Trade ReviewThis collection of ten tales provides ample proof of his virtuosity for the uninitiated... This is not a writer for the squeamish... but his satirical mastery of speech patterns and his eye for the grotesque can astonish. DAILY TELEGRAPH Puncturing the veneer of power lies at the crux of this collection, and attention to detail illuminates the banal. Wallace's control of different voices is superb, given the individual style of each tale. THE TIMES It is his prose that really sets him apart; sometimes eerily banal, at others so densely observed you're scared to blink, and making ordinary situations seem strangely disconnnected from reality. Cleverness and verbosity are additional key ingredients, and the effect is often brilliant. SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY A collection of stories as varied in length and theme as they are imaginative, and as downright bizarre as any collection by one author has a right to be. Truly funny surreal humour. San Francisco Chronicle

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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.''The taboo-breaking, the fabulous prose there''s no one like Edna.'' Anne Enright ''Surprising and beautiful and courageous .. A beacon.'' Megan Nolan ''Brilliant and brave.'' Ann Patchett ''Glittering energy.'' Colm Tóibín An unnamed protagonist is on holiday with her new, much-married lover, in the company of the monstrously rich.How long would she last? It would be uppermost in all their minds.'Each day, while the others are out at sea, she is taught to swim. Eventually, she will be expected to perform. The pressure mounts; it is only a matter of time before she snaps.Edna O'Brien crafts a quietly horrifying scene of eroticism and insecurity, and makes one woman's near-fatal discomfort stand for society's larger trap.Bringing together past, present and future in our ninetieth year, Faber Stories is a celebratory compendium of collectable work.

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Book Synopsis**A NEW YORK TIMES CRITICS' TOP BOOK OF 2018**The Largesse of the Sea Maiden is the long-awaited new story collection from Denis Johnson, author of the groundbreaking, highly acclaimed Jesus’ Son. Written in the same luminous prose, this collection finds Johnson in new territory, contemplating mortality, the ghosts of the past, and the elusive and unexpected ways the mysteries of the universe assert themselves. Finished shortly before Johnson’s death, this collection is the last word from a writer whose work will live on for many years to come.Trade ReviewIn his lifetime Denis Johnson was far more highly regarded in America than in Britain… This stunning book – bleak, funny tender, despairing and ecstatic (sometimes all at the same time) – decisively proves that the Americans were right. -- James Walton * Daily Telegraph *This posthumously published book of short stories is the long-awaited follow-up to Johnson’s Jesus’ Son (1992), perhaps the most influential and beloved volume of American short stories of the past three decades... One can say about this book what one narrator says about a collection of poems he loves: “They were the real thing, line after line of the real thing.” -- Dwight Garner * New York Times, Critics' Top Books of 2018 *[W]ith his untimely death, Johnson’s canonisation as an American seer seems inevitable... The five longish pieces comprising this posthumous collection are all, to my mind, quite wonderful. -- James Lasdun * Guardian *Now Johnson is dead... we should be sorry to have lost such a wise and compassionate guide to life's darkness, but thankful to have his magnificent books. Here is another of them. -- Chris Power * New Statesman *The prose remains as deliriously alive as ever. In one story there is a rueful, lyrical, lovely paragraph that I hope is more than fictionally true because it suggests that Johnson enjoyed himself producing some of the greatest literary works of our age. -- Adam Foulds * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisA collection of absurdist yet plausible short stories

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Book SynopsisA Financial Times Book of the Year From the author of The Three-Body Problem, a collection of award-winning short stories – a breath-taking selection of diamond-hard science fiction. In Hold Up the Sky, Cixin Liu takes us across time and space, from a rural mountain community where elementary students must use physics to prevent an alien invasion; to coal mines in northern China where new technology will either save lives of unleash a fire that will burn for centuries; to a time very much like our own, when superstring computers predict our every move; to 10,000 years in the future, when humanity is finally able to begin anew; to the very collapse of the universe itself. Written between 1999 and 2017 and never before published in English, these stories came into being during decades of major change in China and will take you across time and space through the eyes of one of science fiction's most visionary writers. Experience the limitless and pure joy of Cixin Liu's writing and imagination in this stunning collection. Praise for Cixin Liu: 'Cixin's trilogy is SF in the grand style, a galaxy-spanning, ideas-rich narrative of invasion and war' GUARDIAN 'Wildly imaginative, really interesting... The scope of it was immense' BARACK OBAMA, 44th President of the United States 'A unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation, politics and history, conspiracy theory and cosmology' GEORGE R.R. MARTIN 'China's answer to Arthur C. Clarke' NEW YORKERTrade ReviewMixes deep questions of physics and philosophy with realistic characters and touching relationships. Quirky bits of humour glimmer here and there and an overall sense of optimism prevails. It's another fine collection that I'm grateful to be able to now read in English * SF Crowsnest *A perfect example of a theme that continues throughout the collection and Liu's writing as a whole: the relationship between the smallest moments of everyday life and the unimaginably vast and cosmic... [Liu's] work perfectly marries the magic and the mundanity of existence' * SFX *Cixin Liu's first story collection in English continues to provide the same pleasures found in his award-winning novels: the simultaneous honoring and detournement of classic SF tropes, as filtered through a distinctly non-Western worldview and a quirky set of personal sensibilities. He is at once a radical and a conservative, an optimist and a pessimist, a member of the Old Guard and of the New Wave simultaneously. It's a bracing mélange * Locus Magazine *Liu clings determinedly to the idea that the genre can say something useful about the present day. So there is much refreshment to be had in these tales that place ordinary, unaccommodated people up against the genre's favourite concepts: galactic empires! Faustian physics! Timescales long enough to warp the heavens! Most daunting of all the possibility of personal immortality! * The Times *The science may be high-flown and sometimes hard to grasp, but with the cosmic grounded in the commonplace these tales never fail to engage * Financial Times *It affirms Liu as the nerdish, physic-, cosmology- and engineering- obsessed writer who has won many fans among those fond of the 'hard SF' genre * ArtReview *The esteemed Chinese author's second short-story collection grounds high-flying SF speculation in mundane settings and warmly parochial characters. The ideas are big (time travel, first contact with aliens, the end of the universe) but the focus is always on the human element * Financial Times *These are stories of imagination, stories that take you to places you would not have thought of, stories of true science fiction.They are stories worth reading * Concatenation *Table of Contents1. The Village Teacher. 2. The Time Migration. 3. 2018-04-01. 4. Fire in the Earth. 5. Contraction. 6. Mirror. 7. Ode to Joy. 8. Full Spectrum Barrage Jamming. 9. Sea of Dreams. 10. Cloud of Poems. 11. The Thinker.

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Book SynopsisThe classic folk tales of Scotland were passed down from storyteller to storyteller, and from the first sentence they held the attention of the listeners and readers as though a spell had been cast over them, transporting them to a magical realm where mermaids and men, selkies and sailors, ogres and princesses all mingle and are miraculously transformed. First published in 1956, the Montgomeries, distinguished folklorists, gathered these captivating stories from all parts of Scotland. This collection became a classic of the storytelling tradition retold in a simple, dramatic style, appealing to adult and child alike. Now published by Birlinn Limited in a handsome gift edition and illustrated with Norah Montgomerie's own original drawings, it is a book to be treasured for years as the key to an enchanted, timeless world.Trade Review'Norah and William Montgomerie had performed a magical transformation of their own by draping fairy tales in tartan... the new version of this old classic looks good and reads even better' * The Herald *'With charming illustrations by Norah Montgomerie, this book makes a welcome change from the Brothers Grimm' * Dumfries & Galloway Standard *'Buy it for all the children in your life - and the adults too! Well done Birlinn for making it available again' * Facts & Fiction Storytelling Magazine *

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Book SynopsisThese wise and witty writings home in on Shakespeare, tree stumps, ecological disasters, bodies (male and female), and theology, amongst other matters. We hear Gertrude's version of what really happened in Hamlet; an ugly sister and a wicked stepmother put in a good word for themselves,and a reincarnated bat explains how Bram Stoker got Dracula hopelessly wrong. Good Bones is pure distilled Atwood - deliciously strong and bittersweet. 'A marvellous miniature sample case of Atwood's sensuous and sardonic talents' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENTTrade ReviewA marvellous miniature sample case of Atwood's sensuous and sardonic talents TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT Savagely hilarous THE LIST Her wit and humour are perfectly complemented by a penetrating eye for the false and absurd THE SUNDAY TIMES Full of fun and invention, with an edge that cuts through preconceptions...an entertaining sampler of Atwood's cleverness and imagination NICOLETTE JONES, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

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Book SynopsisRanging from one-page fantasies to novella-length studies of everyday existence, The Walk reveals the irresistible genius of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. Under-appreciated even in his own lifetime, Robert Walser has nonetheless been recognised by such writers as W.G. Sebald, Susan Sontag, Franz Kafka, Herman Hesse and J.M. Coetzee. Like Kafka and Sebald, Walser wrote about the solitude and unease of human existence. Honest, wry and idiosyncratic, his stories are snapshots of the lives great artists, poor young men, beautiful women and talking animals alike. Ranging from the realist to the allegorical, the short fiction collected in this volume demonstrates Walser's uncanny ability to capture both life's strangeness and its small joys.Trade ReviewA clairvoyant of the small...Walser has been my constant companion -- W. G. SebaldIf he had hundred thousand readers, the world would be a better place -- Hermann Hesse, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature"Kleist in Thun" and "Helbling's Story" show him at his dazzling best -- J.M. Coetzee, winner of the Nobel Prize in LiteratureA truly wonderful, heartbreaking writer -- Susan SontagAn essential writer of our time -- Elias Canetti, winner of the Nobel Prize in LiteratureThe future will see Walser as a true literary representative of our age -- Max BrodA major twentieth-century prose artist...he sounds like nobody else -- Benjamin Kunkel * New Yorker *A writer of considerable wit, talent and originality * New York Times *His perception extended past sensory limits. He elevated the significance of the everyday * Bookslut *One of the greatest German-language writers of the twentieth century -- Juan José SaerWalser was one of those individuals who stand at a slight angle to the world: first impressions suggest words like quirky, or surreal. But, if anything, his art was a beautifully sane challenge to the systematic assault on the subjective and quotidian that was already grinding away when he entered the madhouse. In an age that found it possible to diagnose the inner life as a sticky mass of tics and neuroses, Walser became a polite but stubborn champion of an everyday life in which psyche may play a central role, but pathology is not necessarily a given. -- John BurnsideThe stories of a man in love with the world, but unable to take part in it * Economist Intelligent Life *A kind of grown-up fairy tale. His style is both direct and colloquial yet also poetic in its simplicity. -- Lesley McDowell * Sunday Herald *Walser is an original. The book's centrepiece, "Kleist in Thun" is at once a deft literary portrait, a vivid piece of nature writing, and an autobiographical insight into Robert Walser's own mental fragility. All in all, it is as beautiful and moving a story as I have ever read. * Independent on Sunday *Walser left a curiously brilliant and utterly original corpus of work, whose wry surrealism is reminiscent of Kafka, Beckett and indeed John Lennon ... a masterpiece -- Alfred Hickling * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisInnovative, startlingly perceptive and aglow with colour, these fifteen stories were written towards the end of Katherine Mansfield's tragically short life. Many are set in the author's native New Zealand, others in England and the French Riviera. All are revelations of the unspoken, half-understood emotions that make up everyday experience - from the blackly comic 'The Daughters of the Late Colonel', and the short, sharp sketch 'Miss Brill', in which a lonely woman's precarious sense of self is brutally destroyed, to the vivid impressionistic evocation of family life in 'At the Bay'. 'All that I write,' Mansfield said, 'all that I am - is on the borders of the sea. It is a kind of playing.'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 serie

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Book Synopsis''She decided she would teach him to speak and he was very soon able to say, ''Pretty boy!'', ''Your servant, sir!'' and ''Hail Mary!''''With pathos and humour, Flaubert imagines the unexamined life of a servant girl.Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin''s 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880). Flaubert''s works available in Penguin Classics are Madame Bovary, Sentimental Education, Three Tales and Salammbo.

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Book SynopsisHugo award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N. K. Jemisin sharply examines modern society in her first short story collection.''The most celebrated science fiction and fantasy writer of her generation... Jemisin seems able to do just about everything''NEW YORK TIMES''Smart, sharp and very, very timely''I NEWSPAPER ''An important collection by a rising star'' GUARDIAN''Jemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold''ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY ''The most critically acclaimed author in contemporary science fiction and fantasy''GQ''One line from [Jemisin''s introduction] has tattooed itself on my mind, a sort of manifesto for her ongoing work and all the fiction I love: ''Now I am bolder, and angrier, and more joyful.'' I felt, after reading these stories, that I was too''NPR BOOKS''N. K. Jemisin iTrade ReviewSmart, sharp and very, very timely -- i newspaperAn important collection by a rising star -- GuardianThe most celebrated science fiction and fantasy writer of her generation... Jemisin seems able to do just about everything -- NEW YORK TIMESJemisin is now a pillar of speculative fiction, breathtakingly imaginative and narratively bold -- ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLYJemisin's phenomenal success has been something like an earthquake ripping through the traditional order of fantasy itself -- NEW YORK/VULTUREThe most critically acclaimed author in contemporary science fiction and fantasY -- GQMarvelous and wide-ranging -- LOS ANGELES TIMESOne line from [Jemisin's introduction] has tattooed itself on my mind, a sort of manifesto for her ongoing work and all the fiction I love: 'Now I am bolder, and angrier, and more joyful.' I felt, after reading these stories, that I was too -- NPR BOOKSN. K. Jemisin is a powerhouse of speculative fiction. So, obviously, you need to read this new short story collection -- BUSTLERead her books-they're probably better than whatever else you were going to read nexT -- LITERARY HUB

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Book SynopsisJohn Jackson Miller is the New York Times bestselling author of the Scribe Award-winning Star Wars: Kenobi as well as Star Wars: A New Dawn, Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith, Star Wars: Knight Errant, and the Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic graphic novel collections from Marvel. He has written novels and comics for other franchises including Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Halo, Iron Man, Mass Effect, Planet of the Apes, and The Simpsons. A comics industry historian, he lives in Wisconsin with his family, assorted wildlife, and far too many comic books.

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Book SynopsisThe Steppe and Other Stories 1887-91 is a collection that reveals Anton Chekhov''s evolution from a novice writer to a master of short narrative form. This Penguin Classics edition is translated by Ronald Wilks with an introduction by Donald Rayfield.This collection of Chekhov''s finest early writing is headlined by ''The Steppe'', which established his reputation, telling the unforgettable tale of a boy''s journey to a new school in Kiev, travelling through majestic landscapes towards an unknown destiny. ''Gusev'' depicts an ocean voyage, where the sea takes on a terrifying, primeval power; ''The Kiss'' portrays a shy soldier''s failed romantic encounter; and in ''The Duel'' two men''s enmity ends in farce. Haunting and highly atmospheric, all the stories in this volume show a writer emerging from the shadow of his masters - great Russian writers such as Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev and Nikolai Gogol - and discovering his own voice. They also illustrate Chekhov''s geni

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Book SynopsisEileen Chang is one of the great writers of twentieth-century China, where she enjoys a passionate following both on the mainland and in Taiwan. At the heart of Chang''s achievement is her short fictiontales of love, longing, and the shifting and endlessly treacherous shoals of family life. Written when she was still in her twenties, these extraordinary stories combine an unsettled, probing, utterly contemporary sensibility, keenly alert to sexual politics and psychological ambiguity, with an intense lyricism that echoes the classics of Chinese literature. Love in a Fallen City, the first collection in English of this dazzling body of work, introduces readers to the stark and glamorous vision of a modern master.

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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 SynopsisIntroducing a beautifully designed collection of twenty-one short stories from some of the best American writers over two hundred years of history.''American literature and the short story might be said to have come of age at about the same time, and this, along with something in the bustling and energetic American temperament, might go some way towards explaining why the two go together as well as they do.'' Twenty-one short stories from some of the best American writers over the last two hundred years provide a mesmerizing, multi-faceted portrait of a country, a people and the unique literature produced by this most exuberant of nations.Featuring short stories from classic American authors including Mark Twain, Katherine Anne Porter, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and many more.

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Book SynopsisAt midnight inthe Blackpool model village, the faery folk and their friends awake. Once night falls and midnightstrikes, the village comes to life. The fairies leave their glen, thewoodcutter gets to work, the train driver attends the engines and the Stag'sHead is full of music, drink and good humour.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisBringing together all Charles Dickens' ghost stories – twenty in all – including several longer tales. Here are chilling histories of coincidence, insanity and revenge. To paraphrase Joe in The Pickwick Papers: Charles Dickens 'wants to make your flesh creep'.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. Ghost Stories is illustrated by various artists, with an afterword by David Stuart Davies.Throughout his illustrious writing career, Dickens often turned his hand to fashioning short pieces of ghostly fiction. Even in his first successful work, The Pickwick Papers, you will find five ghost stories, all of which are included in this collection. Dickens began the tradition of 'the ghost story at Christmas', and many of his tales in this genre are presented here, including the brilliant novella 'The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain', which deserves to be as well-known as A Christmas Carol. While all his supernatural tales aim to send a shiver down the spine, they are not without the usual traits of Dickens' flamboyant style: his subtle wit, biting irony, humorous incidents and moral observations. It is a mixture that makes these stories fascinating and entertaining as well as unsettling.

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Book Synopsis‘Moved me, inspired me, thrilled me. It filled up every chamber of my heart’ – Ann Patchett‘Masterful, surprising, and satisfying’ – Madeline MillerThe stunning short story collection from the bestselling author of Writers & Lovers and EuphoriaA reclusive bookseller begins to feel the discomfort of love again. A widow whisks her daughter away for a holiday she can barely afford, desperate to help the two of them grieve. A neglected teenage boy finds much-needed nurturing from an unlikely pair of college students. A proud man rages helplessly at his granddaughter’s hospital bedside. A writer receives a visit from all of the men who have tried to suppress her voice.The romantic but brutally raw stories in Five Tuesdays in Winter explore desire, heartache, moments of shocking cruelty and the inexorable tug toward love at all costs. This profoundly tender collection confirms Lily King as one of our most beloved chroniclers of the human heart.‘Vivid, moving, immersive’ – Marian Keyes‘Intimate and revealing, unflinchingly honest and insightful’ – The Observer‘Exquisite’ – Financial TimesTrade ReviewFive Tuesdays in Winter moved me, inspired me, thrilled me. It filled up every chamber of my heart. I loved this book -- Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch HouseLily King is one of my long-time literary heroes . . . masterful, surprising, and satisfying -- Madeline Miller, author of CirceEach masterful story reminds us that King is one of our finest cartographers of the human heart * Esquire *These are stories of outsiders finding their people, of new perspectives, and they place King . . . as one of our great short-story writers * Vogue *Intimate and revealing, this is an honest and insightful collection * Observer *Vivid! Moving! Immersive! -- Marian Keyes, author of Again, RachelFive Tuesdays In Winter perfectly captures those intense, defining moments in people’s lives without ever veering into melodrama or mawkishness. * Red Magazine *King dives into the emotional worlds of her characters whole-hog, her wry humour ensuring that tenderness never veers into sentimentality . . . it is the exquisite attention with which King articulates all that roils inside us that secures her place in the contemporary canon * Financial Times *Superb . . . Ten raw and insightful stories of the heart from the acclaimed novelist, from a babysitter’s loss of innocence to a nonagenarian at his granddaughter’s hospital bedside * i *Endearing, vulnerable characters . . . clever, charming short stories * Daily Mail *Love in all its forms is placed under the microscope in this typically forensic collection of short stories from the fabulously sharp, uncompromising American novelist Lily King * Metro *

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Book SynopsisAs read on Radio 4, seven linked stories set in the Christmas holidays - all as funny, joyous, poignant and memorable as Christmas should be:A Faraway Smell of Lemon: The School Term has ended. It is almost Christmas but Binny, out last-minute shopping couldn't feel less like wishing glad tidings to all men. Ducking out of the rain she finds herself in the sort of shop she would never normally visit.The Marriage Manual: Christmas Eve. Two parents endeavour to construct their son’s Christmas present from a DIY kit and in the process find themselves deconstructing their marriage.Christmas at the Airport: A glitch in the system, travellers stranded and all sorts of lives colliding in the face of a sudden birth...The Boxing Day Ball: Maureen has never been out with the local girls before. Who knew that a disco in the Village Hall could be life-changing?A Snow Garden: Two little boys, dumped with their divorced father for his share of the Christmas holidays and none of them with a clue how to enjoy it. I'll Be Home for Christmas The most famous boy in the world comes home hoping to escape the madness with a normal family Christmas.Trees: As if Christmas wasn't wearing enough, now his elderly parent is asking for a hole in the ground … Father and son break old habits and plant a tree to mark the start of the new year.Trade ReviewFull of bittersweet Christmas moments. A real gem. * Good Housekeeping *These stories are heartwarming. -- Imogen Lycett Green * Daily Mail *Joyce is warm and very funny, and she has a merciless eye for those nightmare moments when weaknesses are exposed and everything is called into question. -- Kate Saunders * The Times *The perfect tonic for tinsel-itis, [A Snow Garden] is laced with quietly devastating observations on love and marriage. -- Hephzibah Anderson * Observer *As sparkling and Christmassy as a selection box. * Sunday Mirror *

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Book SynopsisAs the winter nights draw in and you settle in front of a cosy fire, it's the perfect time for a dash of the supernatural...embrace the gloom with spine-chillers from Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells, Edith Wharton and many moreDo you believe in ghosts? Ghosts, spirits, spectres or spooks, we have always felt the presence of someone - or something - hovering in the darkest corners of our imaginations.The great writers of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, from Elizabeth Gaskell to Rudyard Kipling, also produced some of the most influential ghost stories ever written, defining the genre for generations of writers to follow.Gathered in this thrilling collection are some of the most iconic Victorian ghost stories, from Charles Dickens's 'The Signalman' to M.R. James's 'A Warning to the Curious', alongside more unexpected contributions from masters of the form such as J.S. Le Fanu and H.G. Wells. You may think you don't believe in ghosts, but these stories will haunt you nonetheless.

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