Biographical fiction / autobiographical fiction
HarperCollins Publishers The Silmarillion
Book SynopsisSpecial unjacketed hardback edition of the prelude to J.R.R. Tolkien's epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. This edition of The Silmarillion features the complete work with a unique cover design and black and red endpaper maps.The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien's World. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part.The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.This special collectors hardback' edition of the work includes a unique cover design that illustrates Telperion and Laurelin, the Two Trees of Valinor, and the three Silmarils.Trade Review‘How, given little over half a century of work, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people?’The Guardian ‘Demanding to be compared with English mythologies… at times rises to the greatness of true myth’Financial Times ‘A creation of singular beauty… magnificent in its best moments’Washington Post ‘A grim, tragic, brooding and beautiful book, shot through with heroism and hope… its power is almost that of mysticism’Toronto Globe & Mail
£15.29
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Alices Adventures in Wonderland MinaLima Edition
Book Synopsis
£22.50
Penguin Books Ltd East of Eden
Book SynopsisCalifornia''s fertile Salinas Valley is home to two families whose destinies are fruitfully, and fatally, intertwined. Over the generations, between the beginning of the twentieth century and the end of the First World War, the Trasks and the Hamiltons will helplessly replay the fall of Adam and Eve and the murderous rivalry of Cain and Abel.East of Eden was considered by Steinbeck to be his magnum opus, and its epic scope and memorable characters, exploring universal themes of love and identity, ensure it remains one of America''s most enduring novels. This edition features a stunning new cover by renowned artist Bijou Karman.Trade ReviewThe work of a great storyteller * Washington Post *A novel planned on the grandest possible scale...One of those occasions when a writer has aimed high and then summoned every ounce of energy, talent, seriousness, and passion of which he was capable...It is an entirely interesting and impressive book * New York Herald Tribune *When the book club ended a year ago, I said I would bring it back when I found the book that was moving...and this is a great one. I read it for myself for the first time and then I had some friends read it. And we think it might be the best novel we've ever read! -- Oprah WinfreyA strange and original work of art * New York Times Book Review *A moving, crying pageant with wilderness strengths -- Carl Sandburg
£9.49
Chronicle Books Pride and Prejudice
Book SynopsisThis special edition invites fans inside the world of Pride and Prejudice with the inclusion of gorgeous, removable replicas of 19 letters from the story. Step inside the world ofPride and Prejudice, one of the most beloved novels of all time. Jane Austen?s classic tale follows the ups and downs of the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, two unforgettable characters who come alive in their letters and other writings. Nothing captures Jane Austen''s vivid emotion and keen wit better than her characters'' correspondence. As you read this deluxe edition of the novel, you will find pockets throughout containing replicas of all 19 significant letters from the story, re-created with beautiful calligraphy and painstaking attention to historical detail. These powerful epistles include Lydia''s announcement of her elopement, Mr. Collins''s obsequious missives, and of course Darcy''s painfully honest letter to Elizabeth. Pull out each one, peruse its contents, and allow yourself to be transported straight to the drawing room at Netherfield or the breakfast table at Longbourn. For anyone who loves Jane Austen, and for anyone who still cherishes the joy of letter writing, this book illuminates a favorite story in a whole new way. BELOVED STORY: Pride and Prejudice has been passed down from generation to generation, and several beloved film adaptions over the years have welcomed new fans to the story. Revisit Austen''s original text and experience it in a unique way with physical ephemera that links you directly to the world of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. UNIQUE FORMAT: From the masterful calligraphy to the painstaking attention to historical detail, to the hand-folding of the letters, to the quality of the materials?each book is an object made by fans for fans. This edition offers an immersive experience of the story, stands apart on the shelf, and makes for a truly lovely gift and keepsake. Additional titles in Barbara Heller''s meticulously crafted series include Persuasion,Little Women, andAnne of Green Gables. NOSTALGIC APPEAL, TIMELESS STORY: Pride and Prejudice is one of the most celebrated novels in the English language, with fervent fans of all ages across many generations. This edition allows longtime fans to experience their beloved novel anew, while inviting first-time readers to lose themselves in the story completely.Perfect for: Diehard Jane Austen fans and Fans of the many Pride and Prejudice film adaptions Mother''s Day, birthday, or holiday gifts for moms, daughters, grandmothers, and girlfriends Book clubbers, letter writers, and collectors of vintage ephemera Adding to the shelf with books likeWhat Would Jane Do?: Quips and Wisdom from Jane Austen,Jane-a-Day: 5 Year Journal with 365 Witticisms by Jane Austen, andThe Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things
£24.00
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Beauty and the Beast The MinaLima Edition
Book SynopsisTrade Review"This unique gift edition takes readers on a captivating journey through a mystical land filled with enchanting inhabitants. MinaLima's imaginative artwork, exquisite detail, and engaging design recreate this timeless romantic adventure as never before." -- Tor.com "We got a chance to take a look inside, and trust us - you won't be disappointed ... Just the chapter illustrations alone are swoon-worthy." -- MuggleNet "Lavishly retold." -- Parade.com "Now, the classic fairy tale is brought to life in this spectacular illustrated edition as originally envisioned by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in 1740." -- Tor.com "What a glorious journey ... This collectible edition is filled with stunning illustrations of stories that continue to be cherished by readers of all ages. Forget the flowers, chuck the chocolates. The Beauty and the Beast is a scrumptious wonder." -- Entertainment Report
£22.50
HarperCollins Publishers The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings Boxed Set
Book Synopsis
£90.00
HarperCollins Publishers The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
£5.02
HarperCollins Publishers The Silmarillion
Book SynopsisIncluding brand-new paintings, this is a fully illustrated new edition of the forerunner to The Lord of the Rings, telling the earlier history of Middle-earth, recounting the events of the First and Second Ages, and introducing some of the key characters, such as Galadriel, Elrond, Elendil and the Dark Lord, Sauron.The Silmarillion is the core of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginative writing, a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth, through the Second Age and the rise of Sauron, to the end of the War of the Ring.They are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-earth, and the Elves made war upon him in his impenetrable fortress in Angband for the recovery of the Silmarils, three jewels containing the last remaining pure light of Valinor, seized by Morgoth and set in his iron crown.Accompanying these tales are several shorter works. The Ainulindalë is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of the gods is dTrade Review‘How, given little over half a century of work, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people?’The Guardian ‘Demanding to be compared with English mythologies… at times rises to the greatness of true myth’Financial Times ‘A creation of singular beauty… magnificent in its best moments’Washington Post ‘A grim, tragic, brooding and beautiful book, shot through with heroism and hope… its power is almost that of mysticism’Toronto Globe & Mail
£29.75
Faber & Faber Lord of the Flies
Book SynopsisWilliam Golding''s Lord of the Flies is a dystopian classic: ''exciting, relevant and thought-provoking'' (Stephen King). When a group of schoolboys are stranded on a desert island, what could go wrong?''One of my favorite books - I read it every couple of years.'' (Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games)A plane crashes on a desert island. The only survivors are a group of schoolboys. By day, they discover fantastic wildlife and dazzling beaches, learning to survive; at night, they are haunted by nightmares of a primitive beast. Orphaned by society, it isn''t long before their innocent childhood games devolve into a savage, murderous hunt ... ''Stands out mightily in my memory ... Such a strong statement about the human heart.'' (Patricia Cornwell)''Terrifying and haunting.'' (Kingsley Amis)''Beautifully written, tragic and provocative.'' (E. M. Forster)ONE OF THE BBC''S ICONIC ''NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD''What readers are saying:''Every real human being should read this ... This is what we are.''''It's brilliant, it's captivating, it's thought provoking and brutal and for some, its truly terrifying.''''It can be read and re-read many times, and every time something new will appear.''''There is a reason why this is studied at school ... Excellent read.''''This is one of the few books I''ve read that I keep on my Kindle to read again.''''I revisit this every few years and it''s always fresh and impressive ... One of the best books I''ve ever read.''
£9.49
Persephone Books Ltd Crooked Cross
Book Synopsis
£16.15
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Jungle Book MinaLima Edition Illustrated with
Book SynopsisTrade Review"With jungle maps and spinning dials, this edition has more than just the bare necessities." -- Shelf Awareness "The 256 pages are brimming with lavish and lush full-color illustrations and nine interactive elements...this must-have collectible is unlike any edition currently being sold and can be enjoyed by readers of all ages." -- Examiner.com
£22.50
HarperCollins Publishers The History of Middleearth Boxed Set 1
Book Synopsis
£80.00
HarperCollins Publishers Inc 1984
Book SynopsisA PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick With extraordinary relevance and renewed popularity, George Orwell’s 1984 takes on new life in this hardcover edition. “Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions.Trade ReviewOne of the BBC's 100 Novels that Shaped the World “Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”—The New Yorker “1984 is a profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book. It is a fantasy of the political future, and like any such fantasy, serves its author as a magnifying device for an examination of the present.”—Lionel Trilling —
£16.19
HarperCollins Publishers The Fall of Númenor
Book SynopsisJ.R.R. Tolkien’s writings on the Second Age of Middle-earth, collected for the first time in one volume.Trade Review‘Physically beautiful and sometimes overwhelming in its power, this book is a grand compendium of all Tolkien said about the period when the foundations of The Lord of the Rings are laid’John Garth, THE GUARDIAN ‘It brings a Biblical grandeur to Tolkien’s fictional history’WINTER IS COMING ‘A trove of source material about one of Middle-earth’s most intriguing and central back stories. The book is beautifully illustrated by Alan Lee and nimbly edited by Brian Sibley’WASHINGTON POST ‘For those wishing to expand their understanding of Middle-earth and the incredible legend crafted by Tolkien, this is an essential piece to complete that puzzle’BOOK REPORTER ‘With this most recent volume, The Fall of Númenor, Sibley has beautifully and brilliantly done for Tolkien’s Second Age what Christopher Tolkien did for the First Age’NATIONAL REVIEW
£22.50
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Complete Jane Austen Collection
Book Synopsis
£22.50
HarperCollins Publishers The Fall of Gondolin J. R. R. Tolkien and
Book SynopsisIn the Tale of The Fall of Gondolin are two of the greatest powers in the world. There is Morgoth of the uttermost evil, unseen in this story but ruling over a vast military power from his fortress of Angband. Deeply opposed to Morgoth is Ulmo, second in might only to Manwë, chief of the Valar.Central to this enmity of the gods is the city of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable. It was built and peopled by Noldorin Elves who, when they dwelt in Valinor, the land of the gods, rebelled against their rule and fled to Middle-earth. Turgon King of Gondolin is hated and feared above all his enemies by Morgoth, who seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city, while the gods in Valinor in heated debate largely refuse to intervene in support of Ulmo''s desires and designs. Into this world comes Tuor, cousin of Túrin, the instrument of Ulmo''s designs. Guided unseen by him Tuor sets out from the land of his birth on the fearful journey to Gondolin, and in one of the most arresting Trade Review‘Never did [Tolkien] write a more sustained account of battle. With dragons and fiery balrogs galore, the attack on Gondolin makes Peter Jackson’s souped-up cinema battles look like tabletop games.’The Times ‘The text is rife with references to characters and creatures that come to play a role in The Lord of the Rings… one passage in particular seems to set up one of the most famous scenes from the LOTR trilogy.’Time ‘It’s a load-bearing pillar in the grander narrative that eventually came to encompass better-known works. Tolkien explicitly expressed his wish later in life that the three Great Tales of Middle-earth’s early days — The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin — along with The Lord of the Rings and other writings, should be considered as “one long Saga of the Jewels and the Rings”.’Entertainment Weekly
£23.75
Penguin Books Ltd White Nights
Book Synopsis''My God! A whole minute of bliss! Is that really so little for the whole of a man''s life?''A poignant tale of love and loneliness from Russia''s foremost writer.One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics'' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.
£6.24
HarperCollins Publishers Frankenstein
Book SynopsisOne of the BBC''s ''100 Novels That Shaped Our World''HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.The rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open'Victor Frankenstein's monster is stitched together from the limbs of the dead, taken from the dissecting room and the slaughter-house'. The result is a grotesque being who, rejected by his maker and starved of human companionship, sets out on a journey to seek his revenge. In the most famous gothic horror story ever told, Shelley confronts the limitations of science, the nature of human cruelty and the pathway to forgiveness.Begun when Mary Shelley was only eighteen years old and published two years later, this chilling tale of a young scientist's desire to create life and the consequences of that creation still resonate today.
£5.68
Vintage Publishing Goodbye to Berlin
Book SynopsisDiscover the dark and decadent novella that inspired Cabaret. Set in the 1930s, Goodbye to Berlin evokes the glamour and sleaze, excess and repression of Berlin society. Isherwood shows the lives of people under threat from the rise of the Nazis: a wealthy Jewish heiress, Natalia Landauer, a gay couple, Peter and Otto, and an English upper-class waif, the divinely self-indulgent Sally Bowles. ''Brilliant sketches of a society in decay'' George Orwell ''Isherwood is a master of the emotionally cathartic moment, funny and perspicacious'' Evening StandardTrade ReviewA great talent * Guardian *Isherwood is a master of the emotionally cathartic moment, funny and perspicacious * Evening Standard *A masterpiece * The Economist *[A] reminder of a bygone era, powerfully capturing the energy and sleaze of Weimar-era Berlin * Independent *Reading this novel is much like overhearing anecdotes in a crowded bar while history knocks impatiently at the windows * Guardian, 1000 novels everyone must read *
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Heart of Darkness Collins Classics
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.The reaches opened before us and closed behind, as if the forest had stepped leisurely across the water to bar the way for our return. We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness.'At the peak of European Imperialism, steamboat captain Charles Marlow travels deep into the African Congo on his way to relieve the elusive Mr Kurtz, an ivory trader renowned for his fearsome reputation. On his journey into the unknown Marlow takes a terrifying trip into his own subconscious, overwhelmed by his menacing, perilous and horrifying surroundings.The landscape and the people he meets force him to reflect on human nature and society, and in turn Conrad writes revealingly about the dangers of imperialism.
£5.62
Vintage Publishing The Sound and the Fury
Book SynopsisBorn in 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi, William Faulkner was the son of a family proud of their prominent role in the history of the south. He grew up in Oxford, Mississippi, and left high school at fifteen to work in his grandfather's bank. Rejected by the US military in 1915, he joined the Canadian flyers with the RAF, but was still in training when the war ended. Returning home, he studied at the University of Mississippi and visited Europe briefly in 1925. His first poem was published in The New Republic in 1919. His first book of verse and early novels followed, but his major work began with the publication of The Sound and the Fury in 1929. As I Lay Dying (1930), Sanctuary (1931), Light in August (1932), Absalom, Absalom! (1936) and The Wild Palms (1939) are the key works of his great creative period leading up to Intruder in the Dust (1948). During the 1930s, he worked in Hollywood on film scripts, notably ThTrade ReviewOne of the most important works of American literature this century -- ObserverFaulkner has inexhaustible invention, powerful imagination, and he writes like an angel -- Arnold BennettFor range of effect, philosophical weight, originality of style, variety of characterisation, humour and tragic intensity [Faulkner's works] are without equal in our time and country -- Robert Penn WarrenIts unlike anything else in literature... The experience of reading it seemed closer to the experience of life than anything provided by a neatly contrived story line... After the war I read all I could of William Faulkner, and he continued to present some unique and, it seemed to me, valid way of looking at life -- Nicholas Mosley * Guardian *Not only was the book a kind of beginning for me, but that it endured still, it moved me deeply and remains "the damndest book I ever read" -- Niall Williams * Sunday Times *
£8.49
Vintage Publishing As I Lay Dying
Book SynopsisThis Norton Critical Edition is based on the 1985 corrected text and is accompanied by detailed...Trade ReviewA masterpiece of dark humour * Daily Express *The greatest American writers of the last century were William Faulkner and Saul Bellow...As I Lay Dying and The Adventures of Augie March: it's hard to think of two better novels written in this country in any century -- Philip Roth * Observer *One of America's greatest writers * The Times *A beautiful novel * Independent *By universal consent of critics and common readers, Faulkner is now recognised as the strongest American novelist of the century, clearly surpassing (Ernest) Hemingway and (Scott) Fitzgerald, and standing as an equal in the sequence that includes Hawthorne, Melville, Mark Twain and Henry James . . . As I Lay Dying may be the most original novel ever written by an American -- Harold Bloom
£8.49
Penguin Books Ltd Demian
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewHesse is not a traditional teller of tales but a novelist of ideas and a moralist of a high order...The autobiographical undercurrent gives Demian an Existentialist intensity and a depth of understanding that are rare in contemporary fiction. * Saturday Review *Beautifully written, it has a seriousness as compelling as as that of The Waste Land . . . the work of a major writer * Observer *One can neither date nor doubt the sincerity of the hero s search for satisfaction or the quality of the spirit that lies behind it -- Times Literary Supplement
£8.09
Penguin Putnam Inc Crime And Punishment
Book Synopsis
£8.29
HarperCollins Publishers The Yellow Wallpaper Herland
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.
£5.62
HarperCollins Publishers Servant of the Empire
Book SynopsisSecond in Feist & Wurts' wonderful epic trilogy one of the most successful fantasy collaborations of all timeTHE EMPIRE TRILOGY: BOOK IINobody knows how to play the Game of the Council better than Mara of the Acoma. But when you're surrounded by deadly rivals intent on toppling you at every turn, you need to be the best simply to surviveTrade Review‘A gripping tale’THE TIMES
£11.69
HarperCollins Publishers Leading the Way to Assessment for Learning A
Book SynopsisAgatha Christie's most famous murder mystery, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers.Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside.Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer in case he or she decides to strike again.Trade Review“Need it be said – the little grey cells solve once more the seemingly insoluble. Mrs Christie makes an improbable tale very real, and keeps her readers enthralled and guessing to the end.” Times Literary Supplement “A brilliantly ingenious story.” Dorothy L. Sayers, Daily Herald “Ingenuity at its height … the idea is utterly novel, the setting a model of realism, and the characters a versatile, attractive crew.” Woman’s Journal “A piece of classic workmanship .. exquisite and wholly satisfying.” News Chronicle
£6.99
HarperCollins Publishers Walden and Civil Disobedience Collins Classics
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. Henry David Thoreau, WaldenTrade Review‘Thoreau was a great writer, philosopher, poet, and withal a most practical man, that is, he taught nothing he was not prepared to practise in himself. … He went to gaol for the sake of his principles and suffering humanity. His essay has, therefore, been sanctified by suffering. Moreover, it is written for all time. Its incisive logic is unanswerable.’ Mohandas Gandhi ‘I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest.’ Martin Luther King, Jr
£5.62
HarperCollins Publishers Dracula
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things.'Earnest and naive solicitor Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to organise the estate of the infamous Count Dracula at his crumbling castle in the ominous Carpathian Mountains. Through notes and diary entries, Harker keeps track of the horrors and terrors that beset him at the castle, telling his fiancé Mina of the Count's supernatural powers and his own imprisonment. Although Harker eventually manages to escape and reunite with Mina, his experiences have led to a mental breakdown of sorts.Meanwhile in England, Mina's friend Lucy has been bitten and begins to turn into a vampire. With the help of Professor Van Helsing, a previous suitor of Lucy's, Seward, and Lucy's fiancé Holmwood attempt to thwart Count Dracula and his attempts on Lucy and consequently Mina's life.Arguably the most enduring Gothic novel of the 19th Century, Bram Stoker's Dracula is as chilling today in its depiction of the vampire world and its exploration of Victorian values as it was at its time of publication.
£5.62
HarperCollins Publishers Zen in the Art of Writing
Book SynopsisIn this exuberant book, the incomparable Ray Bradbury shares the wisdom, experience, and excitement of a lifetime of writing.The first thing a writer should be is excitedAuthor of the iconic FAHRENHEIT 451, THE ILLUSTRATED MAN and THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, Ray Bradbury is one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.Part memoir, part masterclass, ZEN IN THE ART OF WRITING offers a vivid and exuberant insight into the craft of writing. Bradbury reveals how writers can each find their own unique path to developing their voice and style.ZEN IN THE ART OF WRITING offers a celebration of the act of writing that will delight, impassion, and inspire.Trade Review‘No other writer uses language with greater originality and zest. he seems to be a American Dylan Thomas – with discipline’ Sunday Telegraph 'Let us now praise Ray Bradbury, the uncrowned poet laureate of science fiction.' The Times 'It is impossible not to admire the vigour of his prose, similes and metaphors constantly cascading from his imagination' Spectator ‘Bradbury is an authentic original’ Time Magazine
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Their Eyes Were Watching God A Novel Modern
Book Synopsis
£11.89
HarperCollins Publishers The Great Gatsby Collins Classics
Book SynopsisThe Great American Novel of love and betrayal in the Jazz Age.I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited they went there'.Considered one of the all-time great American works of fiction, Fitzgerald's glorious yet ultimately tragic social satire on the Jazz Age encapsulates the exuberance, energy and decadence of an era.After the war, the mysterious Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire pursues wealth, riches and the lady he lost to another man with stoic determination. He buys a mansion across from her house and throws lavish parties to try and entice her. When Gatsby finally does reunite with Daisy Buchanan, tragic events are set in motion.Told through the eyes of his detached and omnipresent neighbour and friend, Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald's succinct and powerful prose hints at the destruction and tragedy that awaits.
£5.62
Penguin Books Ltd Animal Farm
Book SynopsisThe first ever graphic novel version of Animal Farm - a Times Book of the YearAnimal Farm is the story of what happens when the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master, and how their revolution goes horribly wrong. Now George Orwell''s dark, timeless fable has been turned into a graphic novel for the very first time, illustrated in full colour by the renowned Brazilian artist Odyr to bring us a whole new work of art.''This brightly coloured homage to Orwell''s timely allegory is heartbreaking and elegant. Odyr''s images of animals casting off their bonds and then living with the results of their revolution are painterly and evocative, both loose and illuminating'' The New York TimesTrade ReviewThis brightly coloured homage to George Orwell's timely allegory is heartbreaking and elegant. Odyr's images of animals casting off their bonds and then living with the results of their revolution are painterly and evocative, both loose and illuminating. * The New York Times *Odyr's rich brushstrokes do much to enhance the experience of Orwell's brand of satire * New York Journal of Books *Odyr's expressive watercolour palette strikes a visceral note that matches the intensity of Orwell's original text ... He skillfully evokes the mood of the countryside and the plot's shocking violence; the atmosphere and emotions are spot-on * Publisher's Weekly *
£15.29
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Adventures of Pinocchio MinaLima Edition
Book Synopsis
£22.50
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Secret Garden
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA gorgeous, gold-foiled, debossed hardcover and filled with MinaLima’s distinctive artwork plus interactive elements. — MuggleNet Thus has the design team MinaLima transformed one of Frances Hodson Burnett’s great classics from a traditional story illustrated in a traditional style…to a dazzling tour de force in which no opportunity for adornment goes untaken.” — Wall Street Journal
£22.50
HarperCollins Publishers The Picture of Dorian Gray
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.''How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrid, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young If it was only the other way!''Wilde''s first and only published novel recounts the story of handsome Dorian Gray who upon having his portrait painted desires that it will age and grow ugly while he may remain eternally beautiful. The painting, which reflects each of Gray''s sins and transgressions in its hideousness, haunts him until it finally becomes unbearable. In this dark tale of duplicity and mortality, Wilde creates a world where art and reality collide.
£5.62
Oxford University Press War and Peace
Book SynopsisTolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. In this revised and updated version of the definitive and highly acclaimed Maude translation, Tolstoy's genius and the power of his prose are made newly available to the contemporary reader.
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd The Yellow WallPaper
Book Synopsis''The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing.''Written with barely controlled fury after she was confined to her room for ''nerves'' and forbidden to write, Gilman''s pioneering feminist horror story scandalized nineteenth-century readers with its portrayal of a woman who loses her mind because she has literally nothing to do.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.Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935). Gilman''s work is available in Penguin Classics in The Yellow Wall-Paper, Herland and Selected Writings.
£5.63
HarperCollins Publishers Wuthering Heights
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.
£5.62
HarperCollins Publishers The Silmarillion. Illustrated Edition
Book SynopsisFor the first time ever, a very special edition of the forerunner to The Lord of the Rings, illustrated throughout in colour by J.R.R. Tolkien himself and with the complete text printed in two colours.The Silmarilli were three perfect jewels, fashioned by Fëanor, most gifted of the Elves, and within them was imprisoned the last Light of the Two Trees of Valinor. But the first Dark Lord, Morgoth, stole the jewels and set them within his iron crown, guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth.The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Fëanor and his kindred against the gods, their exile from Valinor and return to Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all the heroism, against the great Enemy. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part.The book also includes several shorter works: the Ainulindalë, a myth of the Creation, and the Valaquenta, in which the nature and powers of each of the gods is described. The Akallabêth recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Númenor at the end of the Second Age, and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age, as narrated in The Lord of the Rings.Tolkien could not publish The Silmarillion in his lifetime, as it grew with him, so he would leave it to his son, Christopher Tolkien, to edit the work from many manuscripts and bring his father's great vision to publishable form, so completing the literary achievement of a lifetime. This special edition presents anew this seminal first step towards mapping out the posthumous publishing of Middle-earth, and the beginning of an illustrious forty years and more than twenty books celebrating his father's legacy.This definitive new edition includes, by way of an introduction, a letter written by Tolkien in 1951 which provides a brilliant exposition of the earlier Ages, and for the first time in its history is presented with J.R.R. Tolkien's own paintings and drawings, which reveal the breathtaking grandeur and beauty of his vision of the First Age of Middle-earth.Trade Review‘How, given little over half a century of work, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people?’The Guardian ‘Demanding to be compared with English mythologies… at times rises to the greatness of true myth’Financial Times ‘A creation of singular beauty… magnificent in its best moments’Washington Post ‘A grim, tragic, brooding and beautiful book, shot through with heroism and hope… its power is almost that of mysticism’Toronto Globe & Mail
£38.25
HarperCollins Publishers The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.''We said there warn''t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don''t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.''Huck Finn escapes from his alcoholic father by faking his own death and so begins his journey through the Deep South, seeking independence and freedom. On his travels, Huck meets an escaped slave, Jim, who is a wanted man, and together they journey down the Mississippi River. Raising the timeless and universal l issues of prejudice, bravery and hope, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was and still is considered the great American novel.
£5.05
HarperCollins Publishers A Room of Ones Own and Three Guineas
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind'Based on a lecture given at Cambridge and first published in 1929, A Room of One's Own' interweaves Woolf's personal experience as a female writer with themes ranging from Austen and Brontë to Shakespeare's gifted (and imaginary) sister. Three Guineas', Woolf's most impassioned polemic, came almost a decade later and broke new ground by challenging the very notions of war and masculinity.This volume combines two inspirational, witty and urbane essays from one of literature's pre-eminent voices; collectively they constitute a brilliant and lucid attack on sexual inequality.Trade Review‘Brilliant interweaving of personal experience, imaginative musing and political clarity’Kate Mosse ‘Achingly relevant’Natasha Walter, Guardian
£5.02
Vintage Publishing Picnic At Hanging Rock
Book Synopsis**A BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS BIG JUBILEE READ PICK**''A sinister tale'' GuardianThe classic, atmospheric Australian thriller about the mysterious disappearance of a group of young girls.A cloudless summer day in the year nineteen hundred...Everyone at Appleyard College for Young Ladies agreed it was just right for a picnic at Hanging Rock. After lunch, a group of three girls climbed into the blaze of the afternoon sun, pressing on through the scrub into the shadows of Hanging Rock. Further, higher, till at last they disappeared.They never returned.Is Picnic at Hanging Rock fact or fiction? Only you can truly decide.Trade ReviewThis deliciously horrific Australian thriller, set in 1900, could be seen as an anti-picnic cautionary tale. * Observer *Written in a beautifully haunting style that drew me in. -- Esther McKay * Sun Herald (Australia) *A sinister tale...laced with touches of other-worldliness * Guardian *
£8.49
The New York Review of Books, Inc Slow Days, Fast Company
Book Synopsis"There was a time when no one burned hotter than Eve Babitz. Possessing skin that radiated "its own kind of moral laws," spectacular teeth, and a figure that was the stuff of legend, she seduced seemingly everyone who was anyone in Los Angeles for a longstretch of the 1960s and ''70s. But there was one man who proved elusive, and so Babitz did what she did best, she wrote him a book. She also pulled off a remarkable sleight of hand: Slow Days, Fast Company far exceeds its mash-note premise. It is a full-fledged and full-bodied evocation of a bygone Southern California. In ten sun-baked, Santa Ana wind-swept sketches, Babitz re-creates a Los Angeles of movie stars distraught over their success; socialites on three-day drug binges, evading their East Coastbanking husbands; soap-opera actors worried that tomorrow''s script will kill them off; Italian femme fatales even more fatal than she is. And she even leaves L.A. sometimes, spending an afternoon at the house of flawless Orange County suburbanites, a dayamong the grape pickers of the Central Valley, a weekend in Palm Springs where her dreams of romance fizzle and her only solace is Virginia Woolf. In the end it doesn''t matter if Babitz ever gets the guy--she seduces us"--
£10.79
Little, Brown Book Group Rebecca
Book SynopsisDiscover the Dark Romance classics: Daphne du Maurier's timeless novels are now available with stunning, contemporary new covers for a new generation.
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers MIDSUMMER MYSTERIES Secrets and Suspense from the
Book SynopsisAn all-new collection of summer-themed mysteries from the master of the genre, just in time for the holiday season.Trade Review‘Without a doubt, the greatest mystery writer of all time’ – Ragnar Jonasson ‘A hundred years after her first novel, and we are all still standing in her shadow’ – Andrew Taylor ‘Agatha Christie is the gateway drug to crime fiction both for readers and for writers’ – Val McDermid ‘She gives us an insight into human nature that few, if any, have surpassed’ – Susan Lewis ‘Dame Agatha has sold more books than all besides Shakespeare and the Bible’ – David Baldacci ‘All crime fiction writers around the globe owe Agatha Christie a massive debt’ – Peter James ‘Reading a perfectly plotted Agatha Christie is like crunching into a perfect apple: that pure, crisp, absolute satisfaction.’ – Tana French
£13.49
HarperCollins Publishers Unfinished Tales Deluxe Slipcase Edition
Book SynopsisDeluxe collector's edition featuring the definitive edition text and containing a full-colour reproduction of Tolkien's painting of the dragon, Glórund. The book is quarterbound, stamped on the front board with a gold motif previously seen only on the first edition hardback, and is presented in a matching slipcase.Unfinished Tales is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring, and provides those who have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with a whole collection of background and new stories.The book concentrates on the realm of Middle-earth and comprises such elements as The Quest of Erebor, Gandalf's lively account of how it was that he came to send the Dwarves to the celebrated party at Bag-End; the emergence of the sea-god Ulmo before the eyes of Tuor on the coast of Beleriand; and an exact description of the military organization of the Riders of Rohan.Unfinished Tales also contains the only story about the long ages of Númenor before its downfall, and all that is known about such matters as the Five Wizards, the Palantíri and the legend of Amroth. The tales were edited by Christopher Tolkien, who provides a short commentary on each story, helping the reader to fill in the gaps and put each story into the context of the rest of his father's writings.This deluxe collector's edition includes a full-colour facsimile of Tolkien's painting, Glórund Sets Forth to Seek Túrin', which illustrates his narrative The Children of Húrin', his colour design of a Númenórean tile, and a fold-out reproduction of the definitive map of Middle-earth drawn by Christopher Tolkien. The book is foil stamped with a Númenórean helmet design by J.R.R. Tolkien that appeared on the first edition hardback and is housed in a matching slipcase.Trade Review‘Moments of mythic grandeur’Sunday Times ‘Another monument to the incredible imagination of Tolkien’Sunday Telegraph
£56.25
Canterbury Classics The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection
Book Synopsis
£19.80
