From Austen to Zola, from medieval to the modern day - all genres are catered for between the covers of these coveted classics.
Classics Books
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Emma
Book SynopsisJane Austen teased readers with the idea of a 'heroine whom no one but myself will much like', but Emma is irresistible. 'Handsome, clever, and rich', Emma is also an 'imaginist', 'on fire with speculation and foresight'. She sees the signs of romance all around her, but thinks she will never be married.
£8.54
Alma Books Ltd Pride and Prejudice
Book SynopsisThe pride of high-ranking Mr Darcy and the prejudice of middle-class Elizabeth Bennet conduct an absorbing dance through the rigid social hierarchies of early-nineteenth-century England, with the passion of the two unlikely lovers growing as their union seems ever more improbable. One of the most cherished love stories in English literature, Jane Austen's 1813 masterpiece has a lasting effect on everyone who reads it.Trade ReviewThis is the flowering of the English novel. It is witty and wise; there is not a single flaw in this book, or a single moment that you do not relish. -- Colm Toibin I read all of Jane Austen's novels very early on and learnt to love her economy of style and precision. She still seems to me the finest writer in the English language. Pride and Prejudice always bears another reading, and I think in many ways it is a perfect rendition of the novel form. -- Philippa Gregory Jane Austen is one of my favourite writers... very acute, very perceptive, and writing in close and honest detail about the tiny preoccupations of women's lives - preoccupations which speak of much larger social and human issues. -- Helen Fielding
£6.99
Penguin Books Ltd The Hound of the Baskervilles Another Adventure
Book SynopsisSir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles gripped readers when it was first serialised and has continued to hold its place in the popular imagination to this day. Could the sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville have been caused by the gigantic ghostly hound that is said to have haunted his family for generations? Arch-rationalist Sherlock Holmes characteristically dismisses the theory as nonsense. And, immersed in another case, he sends Dr Watson to Devon to protect the Baskerville heir and observe the suspects at close hand. With its atmospheric setting on the ancient, wild moorland and its savage apparition, The Hound of the Baskervilles is one of the greatest crime novels ever written. Rationalism is pitted against the supernatural and good against evil as Sherlock Holmes sets out to defeat a foe almost his equal. This edition contains a full chronology of Arthur Conan Doyle's life and works, an introduction by renowned horror scholar Professor Trade Review“The whole Sherlock Holmes saga is a triumphant illustration of art’s supremacy over life.” —Christopher Morley
£8.65
Penguin Books Ltd The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Book SynopsisTrade Review“For the past decade, Penguin has been producing handsome hardcover versions of their classics (…) both elegant and quirky in shocks of bright color” –The New York Times
£15.29
Alma Books Ltd 1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four: New Annotated Edition
Book SynopsisRavaged by years of war and civil conflict, Britain has changed its name to Airstrip One and become part of Oceania – one of the three totalitarian blocks dominating the world – ruled by a mysterious leader called Big Brother who keeps the population in thrall through strict surveillance and brutal police repression. In a society where the individual is suppressed and turned into an “unperson” for not conforming, and where not only personal thought, but also historical record and language itself are constantly being manipulated by the ruling regime, Ministry of Truth worker Winston Smith tries to make sense of the rebellious thoughts and passions that are stirring inside him, and finds himself impotent against the inexorable machine that surrounds him and threatens to crush him at any time. Arguably the greatest dystopian novel of all time and the most influential post-war work of fiction – which enriched the English language with words such as “Newspeak”, “doublethink” and “thoughtcrime” – Nineteen Eighty-Four is a riveting read and a groundbreaking exploration of mass surveillance, censorship and mind control, which has a deep resonance with the world we live in.
£7.44
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Frankenstein
Book SynopsisFrankenstein is the classic gothic horror novel which has thrilled and engrossed readers for two centuries. Written by Mary Shelley, it is a story which she intended would ‘curdle the blood and quicken the beatings of the heart.’ The tale is a superb blend of science fiction, mystery and thriller. Victor Frankenstein driven by the mad dream of creating his own creature, experiments with alchemy and science to build a monster stitched together from dead remains. Once the creature becomes a living breathing articulate entity, it turns on its maker and the novel darkens into tragedy. The reader is very quickly swept along by the force of the elegant prose, the grotesque, surreal imagery, and the multi-layered themes in the novel. Although first published in 1818, Shelley’s masterpiece still maintains a strong grip on the imagination and has been the inspiration for numerous horror movies, television and stage adaptations.
£5.96
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Agnes Grey
Book SynopsisAgnes Grey is a trenchant exposé of the frequently isolated, intellectually stagnant and emotionally starved conditions under which many governesses worked in the mid-nineteenth century. This is a deeply personal novel written from the author’s own experience and as such Agnes Grey has a power and poignancy which mark it out as a landmark work of literature dealing with the social and moral evolution of English society during the last century.
£6.23
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Wuthering Heights
Book SynopsisIntroduction and Notes by John S. Whitley, University of Sussex. Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries. The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature.
£5.96
HarperCollins Publishers Tender is the Night
Book SynopsisFrom Collins Classics and the author of The Great Gatsby' a marriage unravels in this autobiographical tale.Sometimes it is harder to deprive oneself of a pain than of a pleasure.'Set on the French Riviera in the 1920s, American Dick Diver and his wife Nicole are the epitome of chic, living a glamorous lifestyle and entertaining friends at their villa. Young film star Rosemary Hoyt arrives in France and becomes entranced by the couple. It is not long before she is attracted to the enigmatic Dick, but he and his wife hold dark secrets and as their marriage becomes more fractured, Fitzgerald laments the failure of idealism and the carefully constructed trappings of high society in the Roaring Twenties.
£5.62
Penguin Books Ltd The Call of the Wild
Book Synopsis''The facts of life took on a fiercer aspect and, while he faced that aspect uncowed, he faced it with all the latent cunning of his nature aroused.''The biting cold and the aching silence of the far North become an unforgettable backdrop for Jack London''s vivid, rousing, superbly realistic wilderness adventure stories featuring the author''s unique knowledge of the Yukon and the behavior of humans and animals facing nature at its cruelest.The Penguin English Library - collectable general readers'' editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War.
£7.99
Vintage Publishing The Waves (Vintage Classics Woolf Series)
Book SynopsisVirginia Woolf wanted to write about the vast unknown uncertain continent that is the world and us in it' Jeanette Winterson, from her introduction to The Waves The Waves is an astonishingly beautiful and poetic novel. It begins with six children playing in a garden by the sea and follows their lives as they grow up and experience friendship, love and grief at the death of their beloved friend Percival. Weaving together soliloquies from the novel's six characters, Woolf delicately and expertly explores universal concepts such as individuality, the self, and community. A novel still as poignant today as it was when written. Regarded by many as her greatest work, The Waves is also seen as Virginia Woolf's response to the loss of her brother Thoby, who died when he was twenty-six.Trade ReviewClear, bright, burnished, at once marvellously accurate and subtly connotative. The pure, delicate sensibility found in this language and the moods that it expresses are a true kind of poetry * New York Times *As a reader, as a writer, I constantly return, for the lyricism of it, the melancholy, the humanity * Independent *It is so different from any other novel I have read that description is pointless. Suffice to say that it creates an entirely new way of writing about what goes on in the human mind and how those minds interact with one another -- Mark Haddon * New Statesman *
£8.54
Vintage Publishing To Kill a Mockingbird
Book Synopsis'Shoot all the Bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a Mockingbird.' Atticus Finch gives this advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this classic novel - a black man charged with attacking a white girl. Through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Lee explores the issues of race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s with compassion and humour. She also creates one of the great heroes of literature in their father, whose lone struggle for justice pricks the conscience of a town steeped in prejudice and hypocrisy.This edition of one of the world’s best-loved books features the original text. **One of the BBC’s 100 Novels That Shaped Our World**Trade ReviewHarper Lee announced she would be releasing a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird this summer – 55 years after her debut. Go Set a Watchman, completed in the mid-50s but lost for more than half a century, was written before To Kill A Mockingbird and features Scout as an adult * Guardian *No one ever forgets this book * Independent *Someone rare has written this very fine novel, a writer with the liveliest sense of life and the warmest, most authentic humour. A touching book; and so funny, so likeable * Truman Capote *There is humour as well as tragedy in this book, besides its faint note of hope for human nature; and it is delightfully written * Sunday Times *A hundred pounds of sermons on tolerance, or an equal measure of invective deploring the lack of it, will weigh far less in the scale of enlightenment than a mere eighteen ounces of new fiction bearing the title To Kill a Mockingbird * The Washington Post, 1961 *
£8.54
Vintage Publishing The Sailor Who Fell from Grace With the Sea
Book Synopsis'Mishima's greatest novel, and one of the greatest of the past century' The TimesA band of savage thirteen-year-old boys reject the adult world as illusory, hypocritical, and sentimental, and train themselves in a brutal callousness they call 'objectivity'. When the mother of one of them begins an affair with a ship's officer, he and his friends idealise the man at first; but it is not long before they conclude that he is in fact soft and romantic. They regard this disillusionment as an act of betrayal on his part - and the retribution is deliberate and horrifying. VINTAGE JAPANESE CLASSICS - five masterpieces of Japanese fiction in gorgeous new gift editions.Trade ReviewMishima's greatest novel, and one of the greatest of the past century * The Times *Explores the viciousness that lies beneath what we imagine to be innocence * Independent *Told with Mishima's fierce attention to naturalistic detail, the grisly tale becomes painfully convincing and yields a richness of psychological and mythic truth * Sunday Times *Coolly exact with his characters and their honourable motives. His aim is to make the destruction of the sailor by his love seem as inevitable as the ocean * Guardian *
£10.99
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Short Stories from the Nineteenth Century
Book SynopsisSelected and Introduced by David Stuart Davies. Short Stories from the Nineteenth Century is a wonderful collection of classic stories specially selected and introduced by David Stuart Davies. These are tales from the golden age of the great storytellers presenting evocative snapshots from that bygone era while at the same time providing engaging entertainment and stimulation for the modern reader. All emotions are catered for in the offerings by Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, H.G.Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Mrs Gaskell, O Henry, Anthony Trollope, Thomas Hardy, Wilkie Collins, Guy de Maupassant, Anton Chekhov, Charlotte Perkins Gillman and Charles Lamb. Through their words the rich pageant of yesterday springs to vibrant life. Each story has its own introduction and there is a set of informative notes. This volume is ideal reading for the student as well as those who relish a good tale well told.
£6.23
Alma Books Ltd Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other
Book SynopsisOne of Stevenson's most famous and enduringly popular works, the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde describes the mysterious relationship between a respectable and affable doctor and his brutal associate. Set in the grimy streets of Victorian London, this tale of murder, split personality and obscure science, with its chilling final revelation, became an instant horror classic when it was first published in 1886, and has enthralled and terrified generations of readers ever since. This volume also contains seven other Gothic stories by Stevenson - such as 'The Body Snatchers', 'Markheim' and 'Olalla' - showcasing the author's mastery of the horror genre and his interest in both the otherworldly and the strange ways the human brain can distort reality.
£6.99
HarperCollins Publishers The Body in the Library
Book SynopsisA young woman found murdered A scandal in the makingTrade 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 ‘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
£9.49
Pan Macmillan A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas
Book SynopsisComplete and unabridged.When A Christmas Carol was first published in 1843 it was an overnight success. A celebration of Christmas, a tale of redemption, and a critique on Victorian society, Charles Dickens' atmospheric novella follows the miserly, penny-pinching Ebenezer Scrooge who views Christmas as 'humbug'. 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. Featuring original illustrations by John Leech, with an afterword by Anna South.It is only through a series of eerie, life-changing visits from the ghost of his deceased business partner Marley and the spirits of Christmas past, present and future that Scrooge begins to see the error of his ways. With heart-rending characters, rich imagery and evocative language, the hopeful message of A Christmas Carol remains as significant today as when it was first published.
£10.44
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Faust: A Tragedy In Two Parts with The Urfaust
Book SynopsisTranslated, with an Introduction and Notes by John R. Williams. Goethe's Faust is a classic of European literature. Based on the fable of the man who traded his soul for superhuman powers and knowledge, it became the life's work of Germany's greatest poet. Beginning with an intriguing wager between God and Satan, it charts the life of a deeply flawed individual and his struggle against the nihilism of his diabolical companion Mephistopheles. Part One presents Faust's pact with the Devil and the harrowing tragedy of his love affair with the young Gretchen. Part Two shows Faust's experience in the world of public affairs, including his encounter with Helen of Troy, the emblem of classical beauty and culture. The whole is a symbolic and panoramic commentary on the human condition and on modern European history and civilisation. This new translation of both parts of Faust preserves the poetic character of the original, its tragic pathos and hilarious comedy. In addition, John Williams has translated the Urfaust, a fascinating glimpse into the young Goethe's imagination, and a selection from the draft scenarios for the Walpurgis Night witches' sabbath - material so ribald and blasphemous that Goethe did not dare publish it.
£6.83
Wordsworth Editions Ltd A Room of One's Own & The Voyage Out
Book SynopsisA Room of One’s Own (1929) has become a classic feminist essay and perhaps Virginia Woolf’s best known work; The Voyage Out (1915) is highly significant as her first novel. Both focus on the place of women within the power structures of modern society. The essay lays bare the woman artist’s struggle for a voice, since throughout history she has been denied the social and economic independence assumed by men. Woolf’s prescription is clear: if a woman is to find creative expression equal to a man’s, she must have an independent income, and a room of her own. This is both an acute analysis and a spirited rallying cry; it remains surprisingly resonant and relevant in the 21st century. The novel explores these issues more personally, through the character of Rachel Vinrace, a young woman whose ‘voyage out’ to South America opens up powerful encounters with her fellow-travellers, men and women. As she begins to understand her place in the world, she finds the happiness of love, but also sees its brute power. Woolf has a sharp eye for the comedy of English manners in a foreign milieu; but the final undertow of the novel is tragic as, in some of her finest writing, she calls up the essential isolation of the human spirit.
£6.23
Little, Brown Book Group Frenchman's Creek
Book SynopsisA tale of love and adventure from the internationally bestselling author of Rebecca. 'She wrote exciting plots . . . a writer of fearless originality' GUARDIAN 'One of the last century's most original literary talents' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'A pure, exhilarating adventure story - a swashbuckling tale of exquisite danger and tangled love' JULIE MYERSON Lady Dona St Columb seems to revel in scandal: she is involved in every intrigue of the Restoration Court. But secretly, the shallowness of Court life disgusts her, and in her heart she longs for freedom and honest love. Retreating to Navron, her husband's Cornish estate, she seeks peace and solitude away from London. But Navron is being used as the base for a French pirate, an outlaw hunted all over Cornwall.Instead of feeling fear, Dona's thirst for adventure has never been more aroused; in Jean-Benoit Aubéry she finds a sensitive man who would, like her, gamble his life for a moment's joy. Together they embark upon a quest rife with danger and glory, one which will force Dona to make the ultimate choice: will she sacrifice her lover to certain death, or risk her own life to save him?Trade ReviewShe wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense, and she was, too, a writer of fearless originality * Guardian *Du Maurier is a storyteller whose sole aim is to bewitch and beguile * New York Times *A pure, exhilarating adventure story - a swashbuckling tale of exquisite danger and tangled love . . . a tale of emotional and sexual awakening, of loss and risk . . . sophisticated in its exploration of the human heartOne of the last century's most original literary talents * Daily Telegraph *A storyteller of cunning and geniusA heroine who is bound to make thousands of friends * Sunday Times *A heroine who is bound to make thousands of friends * Sunday Times *One of the last century's most original literary talents * Daily Telegraph *
£9.49
Atlantic Books The White Tiger
Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2008Balram Halwai is the White Tiger - the smartest boy in his village. His family is too poor for him to afford for him to finish school and he has to work in a teashop, breaking coals and wiping tables. But Balram gets his break when a rich man hires him as a chauffeur, and takes him to live in Delhi. The city is a revelation. As he drives his master to shopping malls and call centres, Balram becomes increasingly aware of immense wealth and opportunity all around him, while knowing that he will never be able to gain access to that world. As Balram broods over his situation, he realizes that there is only one way he can become part of this glamorous new India - by murdering his master. The White Tiger presents a raw and unromanticised India, both thrilling and shocking - from the desperate, almost lawless villages along the Ganges, to the booming Wild South of Bangalore and its technology and outsourcing centres. The first-person confession of a murderer, The White Tiger is as compelling for its subject matter as for the voice of its narrator - amoral, cynical, unrepentant, yet deeply endearing.Trade ReviewBlazingly savage and brilliant * Sunday Telegraph *A masterpiece * The Times *Dazzling... With The White Tiger, Adiga sets out to show us a part of [India] that we hear about infrequently: its underbelly... [Balram's voice is] brimming with idiosyncrasy, sarcastic, cunning. * Independent on Sunday *Adiga's portrait of the Indian capital is very funny but unmistakably angry... Keeps you guessing to the final page and beyond. * Financial Times *
£9.49
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Scarlet Letter
Book SynopsisIntroduction and Notes by Henry Claridge, Senior Lecturer, School of English, University of Kent at Canterbury. This is a troubling story of crime, sin, guilt, punishment and expiation, set in the rigid moral climate of 17th-century New England. The young mother of an illegitimate child confronts her Puritan judges. However, it is not so much her harsh sentence, but the cruelties of slowly exposed guilt as her lover is revealed, that hold the reader enthralled all the way to the book's poignant climax.
£6.23
Alma Books Ltd The Hound of the Baskervilles
Book SynopsisWhen the corpse of Sir Charles Baskerville is found on the grounds of his Dartmoor estate next to a mysterious animal footprint, thoughts turn to a fabled family curse: that of a hellhound set out to avenge a crime committed by one of Sir Charles's ancestors. As the only surviving heir of the Baskervilles is terrified for his safety, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are called in to investigate. The most famous novel in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes cycle, The Hound of the Baskervilles is a masterpiece of terror, suspense and mystery which has enthralled readers young and old since it was first published in 1902.Trade ReviewSherlock Holmes's best remains a classic. The Times"
£6.99
HarperCollins Publishers Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Book SynopsisThis cult classic of working class life in post-war Nottingham follows the exploits of rebellious factory worker Arthur Seaton and is introduced by Richard Bradford.Working all day at a lathe leaves Arthur Seaton with energy to spare in the evenings. A hard-drinking, hard-fighting hooligan, he knows what he wants, and he''s sharp enough to get it.Before long, his carryings-on with a couple of married women become the stuff of local gossip. But then one evening he meets a young girl and life begins to look less simpleFirst published in 1958, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' achieved instant critical acclaim and helped to establish Alan Sillitoe as one of the greatest British writers of his generation. The film of the novel, starring Albert Finney, transformed British cinema and was much imitated.Trade Review‘That rarest of all finds: a genuine no-punches-pulled, unromanticised working class novel. Mr Sillitoe is a born writer, who knows his milieu and describes it with vivid, loving precision.’ Daily Telegraph ‘His writing has real experience in it and an instinctive accuracy that never loses its touch. His book has a glow about it as though he had plugged it into some basic source of the working-class spirit.’ Guardian ‘Miles nearer the real thing than D.H.Lawrence's mystic, brooding working-men ever came.’ Sunday Express ‘Outspoken and vivid.’ Sunday Times ‘A refreshing originality.’ Times Literary Supplement
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Seating Arrangements From the Booker Prize 2021
Book SynopsisThe New York Times bestselling author of Great CircleJoyously good' DAILY MAILA ferociously clever comedy of manners' GUARDIANA wise, sophisticated and funny novel about family, fidelity, class and crisis' MARIE CLAIREA well-observed, hilarious, yet moving novel' WOMAN & HOMENew York Times bestseller and winner of the 2012 Dylan Thomas Prize and 2012 L.A. Times First Novel PrizeThe Van Meters have gathered at their family retreat on the New England island of Waskeke to celebrate the marriage of daughter Daphne to an impeccably appropriate young man. The weekend is full of lobster and champagne, salt air and practiced bonhomie, but long-buried discontent and simmering lust seep through the cracks in the revelry.Winn Van Meter, father-of-the-bride, has spent his life following the rules of the east coast upper crust, but now, just shy of his sixtieth birthday, he must finally confront his failings, his desires, and his own humanityMaggie Shipstead is a hugely talented young writer definTrade Review‘Joyously good’ Daily Mail ‘A ferociously clever comedy of manners’ Guardian ‘Shipstead’s sophisticated and summery debut more than lives up to the hype’ Independent ‘Distinctive and dazzling … The world has found a remarkable, humane new voice to explain us to ourselves’ Allison Pearson, Telegraph ‘A wise, sophisticated and funny novel about family, fidelity, class and crisis’ Marie Claire
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Reader I Married Him stories inspired by Jane
Book SynopsisThis collection is stormy, romantic, strong the Full Brontë' The TimesA collection of short stories celebrating Charlotte Brontë, published in the year of her bicentenary and stemming from the now immortal words from her great work Jane Eyre.The twenty-one stories in Reader, I Married Him one of the most celebrated lines in fiction are inspired by Jane Eyre and shaped by its perennially fascinating themes of love, compromise and self-determination.A bohemian wedding party takes an unexpected turn for the bride and her daughter; a family trip to a Texan waterpark prompts a life-changing decision; Grace Poole defends Bertha Mason and calls the general opinion of Jane Eyre into question. Mr Rochester reveals a long-kept secret in Reader, She Married Me, and The Mirror boldly imagines Jane's married life after the novel ends. A new mother encounters an old lover after her daily swim and inexplicably lies to him, and a fitness instructor teaches teenage boys how to handle a pit bull terrTrade Review‘Dazzling’ DAILY MAIL ‘The success of this book owes much to [Chevalier’s] enthusiasm … it’s quite amazing to see the quality of work on show’ EVENING STANDARD ‘These stories will enrich and complicate future readings of Jane Eyre, as the best fan fiction should … If Brontë was going to drop in on any of the celebrations for her bicentenary, I can’t help but think she would get a kick out of this collection’ GUARDIAN ‘A terrific set of stories by some of our leading novelists, each of whom engages with a chosen aspect of Jane Eyre’ THE NEW STATESMAN ‘This collection is stormy, romantic, strong – the Full Brontë’ The Times ‘A clever idea well-executed; a treat for fans of short fiction and for Brontë's many ardent fans’ KIRKUS REVIEWS ‘Exemplary…written by some of today's best female writers’ THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE ‘Absorbing and entertaining, READER, I MARRIED HIM is an inventive and a satisfying tribute to a great novel’ Book Reporter ‘These pieces create a beguiling picture of women and men and desire, in which everyone is searching, like Jane, for happiness and wondering whether marriage is really an answer. The book acts as a prism spreading all kinds of literary and historical refractions, and it’s a reminder that Charlotte Brontë, too, has many sides’ GLOBE AND MAIL
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows A hilarious and
Book SynopsisReese Witherspoon's March Book Club Pick!Big-hearted, earthy and funny A rattlingly good story' Deborah Moggach, The Best Exotic Marigold HotelEvery woman has a secret lifeWhen Nikki takes a creative writing job at her local temple, with visions of emancipating the women of the community she left behind as a self-important teenager, she's shocked to discover a group of barely literate women who have no interest in her ideals.Yet to her surprise, the white dupatta of the widow hides more than just their modesty these are women who have spent their lives in the shadows of fathers, brothers and husbands; being dutiful, raising children and going to temple, but whose inner lives are as rich and fruitful as their untold stories. But as they begin to open up to each other about womanhood, sexuality, and the dark secrets within the community, Nikki realises that the illicit nature of the class may place them all in danger.East meets west and tradition clashes with modernity in a thought-provTrade Review‘Big-hearted, earthy and funny: turns so many preconceptions upside down. A rattlingly good story’ Deborah Moggach, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ‘Warm and hilariously funny’ Good Housekeeping ‘Charming, hilarious and thoughtful’ The Pool ‘Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows balances darkness and light, social commentary and ecstatic escapism… funny and moving tale of desire and its discontents’ The Economist ‘Sensual, authentic and hilarious, I will never look at an aubergine in the same way again – 5 stars’ The Sun ‘Enlightening and entertaining’ Woman & Home ‘A dark comedy… about empowerment and friendship’ Tatler ‘A page turner… Tackles serious themes with a light and funny touch’ Glamour ‘Funny yet serious, this is a fab book about women, culture and secrets’ Prima ‘By turns erotic, romantic, and mysterious, this tale of women defying patriarchal strictures enchants’ Kirkus Reviews ‘Compulsive, funny and wonderfully original – this novel glows with witty sensuality. I love it ’ Helen Lederer, Losing It ‘Poignant, intelligent yet wickedly funny – a delightful read that reignites one's belief in the power of sisterhood’ June Sarpong
£9.49
Vintage Publishing In Search of Lost Time Vol 6
Book SynopsisTHE ACCLAIMED FULLY REVISED EDITION OF THE SCOTT MONCRIEFF AND KILMARTIN TRANSLATIONTime Regained begins in the bleak and uncertain years of World War I. Years later, after the war''s end, Proust''s narrator returns to Paris and reflects on time, reality, jealousy, artistic creation, and the raw material of literature - his past life. This edition includes the indispensable A Guide to Proust, compiled by Terence Kilmartin and revised by Joanna Kilmartin.Trade ReviewAs close to being a definitive version of the great novel as we are likely to get * Scotsman *Sublime... In Proust's interweaving of romantic delusions, the glory of the descriptions, as the narrator strives to recapture the past, redeems everyone -- John UpdikeThe way he replicates the workings of the mind changed the art of novel-writing forever...his style is extraordinary, enveloping, captivating * Guardian *Proust isn't just the most profound of novelists, but the most entertaining, too. No reader ever forgets his most killingly funny scenes... Proust sinks deepest in readers because the book is so exhaustively analytical, so ceaselessly truthful. Not the least of it is the book's heavenly length, so that it inevitably takes over your life for a long stretch... the experience of reading it becomes, in itself, an unforgettable thing * Independent *Surely the greatest novelist of the 20th century * Sunday Telegraph *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained
Book SynopsisSatan is out for revenge. His rebellion has failed, he has been cast out from heaven and is doomed to spend eternity in hell. Somehow he must find a way to prove his power and wound his enemies. He fixes upon God''s beloved new creations, Adam and Eve, as the vehicles of his vengeance. In this dramatic and influential epic, Milton tells the story of the serpent and the apple, the fall of man and the exile from paradise in stunningly vivid and powerful verse.Trade ReviewOffers an intensely filmic description of the events that countless artists have sought to visualise * The Times *Milton represents the English imagination at its most organised, disciplined and sublime -- Tom Paulin * Guardian *Never was a work of literature so imbued with the visual. He creates a universe that never existed, and paints it so you see it and are overwhelmed by its immensity, its magnificent splendour at the top end, the great dark plains and huge rocky mountains, the fires and storms at the other - and the horror of the void between -- Julian Rathbone * Independent *I read Paradise Lost when I was 11, and it made me suddenly realise that the Devil was sexy, which was quite muddling at that age and had disastrous consequences in that I then lusted after unsuitable men for the rest of my life -- Jilly Cooper * Daily Mail *When the blind John Milton came to retell the story of Genesis in book seven of Paradise Lost he dwelt with understandable poignancy on the sheer visual loveliness of the newly created world. Anyone who thinks Milton is a pedantic old bore should peruse the lines that celebrate the wonder and beauty of birds' flight, migration and song * Financial Times *
£9.99
Penguin Books Ltd Pietr the Latvian
Book SynopsisInevitably Maigret was a hostile presence in the Majestic. He constituted a kind of foreign body that the hotel's atmosphere could not assimilate. Not that he looked like a cartoon policeman. He didn't have a moustache and he didn't wear heavy boots. His clothes were well cut and made of fairly light worsted.Trade ReviewGem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor * Times *Strangely comforting . . . so many lovely bistros from the Paris of mid-20th C. The corpses are incidental, it's the food that counts. * Margaret Atwood *One of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere. * Financial Times *Simenon's supreme virtue as a novelist, to burrow beneath the surface of his characters' behaviour; to empathise . . . it is this unfailing humanity that makes the Maigret books truly worth reading. * Guardian *Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn -- Stig Abell * The Sunday Times *
£8.99
Penguin Books Ltd The ThirtyNine Steps
Book SynopsisFamous as the basis for several films, including the brilliant 1935 version directed by Alfred Hitchcock, The Thirty-Nine Steps is a classic of early twentieth-century popular literatureRichard Hannay has just returned to England after years in South Africa and is thoroughly bored with his life in London. But then a murder is committed in his flat, just days after a chance encounter with an American who had told him about an assassination plot that could have dire international consequences. An obvious suspect for the police and an easy target for the killers, Hannay goes on the run in his native Scotland where he will need all his courage and ingenuity to stay one step ahead of his pursuers.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 dis
£7.59
Penguin Books Ltd Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales from Burns to
Book SynopsisMystery and excitement abound in this lively collection of fairy tales, folklore and legends, which celebrate Scotland''s enormously rich oral tradition and offers a carefully chosen combination of old favourites such as Tam Lin, Thomas Rymer and Adam Bell, as well as more modern stories by master story-tellers like Andrew Lang, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and John Buchan.
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Jason and the Argonauts Penguin Classics
Book SynopsisThe first new Penguin Classics translation of the Argonautica since the 1950sNow in a riveting new verse translation, Jason and the Argonauts (also known as the Argonautica) is the only surviving full account of Jason’s voyage on the Argo in quest of the Golden Fleece aided by the sorceress princess Medea. Written in the third century B.C., this epic story of one of the most beloved heroes of Greek mythology, with its combination of the fantastical and the real, its engagement with traditions of science, astronomy and medicine, winged heroes, and a magical vessel that speaks, is truly without parallel in classical or contemporary Greek literature and is now available in an accessible and engaging translation.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 thTrade Review"Consistently fascinating, an amalgam of the mythic and the modern with an occasion dash of Baron Munchausen or Marvel Comics.” —Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World “An accessible, nimble, and often beautiful edition of Apollonios Rhodios’s epic.” —Tor.com "At every turn, Poochigian...improves on every English-language translation of the Argonautica that’s come before him. —Open Letters Monthly"Aaron Poochigian’s new translation of Apollonius of Rhodes’ Jason & the Argonauts demands to be read aloud—lines of perfect, unforced iambic pentameter make it as lyrical as Shelley or Frost." —Smartish Pace
£9.49
Oxford University Press Sybil
Book SynopsisSybil, or The Two Nations is one of the finest novels to depict the social problems of class-ridden Victorian England. The book''s publication in 1845 created a sensation, for its immediacy and readability brought the plight of the working classes sharply to the attention of the reading public. The ''two nations'' of the alternative title are the rich and poor, so disparate in their opportunities and living conditions, and so hostile to each other. that they seem almost to belong to different countries. The gulf between them is given a poignant focus by the central romantic plot concerning the love of Charles Egremont, a member of the landlord class, for Sybil, the poor daughter of a militant Chartist leader.Trade Reviewperfect timing for this new edition ... with a brilliant introduction that throws fresh light on Disraeli's views, explains the novel's culutural roots and defends its place as an accomplished work of fiction in its own right * The Lady *Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text Select Bibliography Chronology SYBIL Explanatory Notes
£11.39
Oxford University Press The Story of an African Farm Oxford Worlds
Book SynopsisLyndall, Schreiner''s articulate young feminist, marks the entry of the controversial New Woman into nineteenth-century fiction. Raised as an orphan amid a makeshift family, she witnesses an intolerable world of colonial exploitation. Desiring a formal education, she leaves the isolated farm for boarding school in her early teens, only to return four years later from an unhappy relationship. Unable to meet the demands of her mysterious lover, Lyndall retires to a house in Bloemfontein, where, delirious with exhaustion, she is unknowingly tended by an English farmer disguised as her female nurse. This is the devoted Gregory Rose, Schreiner''s daring embodiment of the sensitive New Man. A cause célèbre when it appeared in London, The Story of an African Farm transformed the shape and course of the late-Victorian novel. From the haunting plains of South Africa''s high Karoo, Schreiner boldly addresses her society''s greatest fears - the loss of faith, the dissolution of marriage, and women''s social and political independence. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
£9.49
Oxford University Press The SketchBook of Geoffrey Crayon Gent.
Book SynopsisIn The Sketch-Book Washington Irving explores the uneasy relationship of an American writer to English literary traditions. He sketches a series of encounters with the cultural shrines of the parent nation, and in two brilliant experiments with tales transplanted from Europe creates the first classic American short stories, `Rip Van Winkle' and `The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow'.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Maigret and the Loner
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewOne of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories * Guardian *A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness * Independent *The most addictive of writers . . . a unique teller of tales * Observer *
£8.99
Penguin Books Ltd Promise at Dawn
Book Synopsis''You will be a great hero, a general, Gabriele d''Annunzio, Ambassador of France!''For his whole life, Romain Gary''s fierce, eccentric motherhad only one aim: to make her son a great man. And she did. This, his thrilling, wildly romantic autobiography, is the story of his journey from poverty in Eastern Europe to the sensual world of the Côte d''Azur and on to wartime pilot, resistance hero, diplomat, filmmaker, star and one of the most famed French writers of his age.Trade ReviewPerhaps the only memorial by a son that raises the rare literary pleasure of laughter in the reader as a measure of appreciation. * The New Yorker *A celebrated and infinitely seductive portrait of his early life, which is still often described as an unprecedented innovation in the writing of autobiography in France -- David BellosWhat a gold mine! -- Jean Paul SartreWhat talent, most certainly, how many ideas and passions too. You seize us and shake us. Ah! -- Charles de Gaulle
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories
Book Synopsis
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd Passing
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.Clare Kendry, elegant, fair-skinned and ambitious, is married to a white man who is unaware of her African-American heritage. When she reunites with childhood friend Irene, who has not hidden her origins, both women are forced to confront the secret fears they have buried within themselves. A taut exploration of race and gender, Passing is one of the Harlem Renaissance''s greatest works.''A tragic story rooted in inescapable facts of American life'' The New York Times
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Game Without Rules
Book SynopsisDiscover the new Penguin Crime and Espionage seriesFor two secret agents, there''s no such thing as a quiet life in the countryside...In a peaceful Kent village, Mr Behrens lives with his aunt at the Old Rectory, where he plays chess and keeps bees. His friend Mr Calder lives nearby with Rasselas, a golden deerhound of unnatural intelligence. No one would suspect that they are in fact working for British Intelligence, carrying out the jobs that are too dangerous for anyone else to handle - whether it''s wiping out traitors, Soviet spies or old Nazis - in these gloriously entertaining stories.
£9.49
Penguin Random House Children's UK The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
Book SynopsisNo book ever ends when it's full of your friends.'This beautiful edition of The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, part of The Roald Dahl Classic Collection, features official archive material from the Roald Dahl Museum and is perfect for Dahl fans old and new.So, enter a world where invention and mischief can be found on every page and where magic might be at the very tips of your fingers . . .The Roald Dahl Classic Collection reinstates the versions of Dahl's books that were published before the 2022 Puffin editions, aimed at newly independent young readers.
£7.99
Scholastic African and Caribbean Folktales Myths and Legends
Book SynopsisFrom the trickster tale of Anansi the spider, to the story of howthe leopard got his spots; from the tale of the king who wantedto the moon, to Aunt Misery's magical starfruit tree. This book includestraditional favourites and classic folktales and mythology.
£7.59
Vintage Publishing Titus Groan
Book Synopsis''Gormenghast is, to my mind and to my taste, a perfect creation'' Neil GaimanWelcome to the world of Gormenghast, the classic fantasy series from the imagination of Mervyn Peake As the first novel opens, Titus, heir to Lord Sepulchrave, has just been born: he stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that stand for Gormenghast Castle. Inside, all events are predetermined by a complex ritual, lost in history, understood only by Sourdust, Lord of the Library. There are tears and strange laughter; fierce births and deaths beneath umbrageous ceilings; dreams and violence and disenchantment contained within a labyrinth of stone.''A gorgeous volcanic eruption... A work of extraordinary imagination'' New YorkerTrade ReviewMr Peake's first novel holds one with its glittering eye - It has a genuine plot in the strictest sense, and it persuades you to read on simply in order to know what will happen - its gallery of characters is wonderful * Nation *A gorgeous volcanic eruption... A work of extraordinary imagination * New Yorker *The Gormenghast Trilogy is one of the most important works of the imagination to come out of [this] age * Spectator *[An] extraordinary story bursting with grotesque characters, madness and mayhem. Fantasy writers of today owe his wild imagination a massive debt * Mail on Sunday *
£13.49
Pan Macmillan Dubliners
Book SynopsisFirst published in 1914, Dubliners depicts middle-class Catholic life in Dublin at the start of the twentieth century. Themes within the stories include the disappointments of childhood, the frustrations of adolescence, and the importance of sexual awakening. James Joyce was twenty-five years old when he wrote this collection of short stories, among which 'The Dead' is probably the most famous. Considered at the time as a literary experiment, Dubliners contains moments of joy, fear, grief, love and loss, which combine to form one of the most complete depictions of a city ever written, and the stories remain as refreshingly original and surprising in this century as they did in the last.This Macmillan Collector's Library edition of Dubliners features an afterword by dramatist Peter Harness.Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.
£10.44
Andrews McMeel Publishing Sense and Sensibility: Illustrations by Marjolein
Book SynopsisGems of literature in a luxurious and unique design by Marjolein Bastin.The Marjolein Bastin Classics Series is a chance to rediscover classic literature in collectible, luxuriously illustrated volumes. For the first time ever, the internationally celebrated artwork of Marjolein Bastin graces the pages of a timeless classic, Sense and Sensibility, the story of the Dashwood sisters. Beyond bringing these stories to life, Bastin’s series adds elaborately designed ephemera, such as four-color maps, letters, family trees, and sheet music. Discover anew the dramatic world of Sense and Sensibility. The happy and carefree childhood of sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood comes to an abrupt end with the death of their father. The family is suddenly penniless and pushed out of their home, leaving the two young ladies with one sole hope: a good marriage. After moving into the cottage of a remote relative, the spirited Marianne falls in love much too quickly. In the meantime, the more intellectual Elinor sees her chances for a happy marriage fade when she discovers the man for whom she’s fallen is already engaged. Sense and Sensibility is the story of two dissimilar sisters fighting for their happiness in the face of the strict social conventions of early eighteenth-century England.
£28.00
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Mrs Harris Goes to Paris & Mrs Harris Goes to New
Book Synopsis***A BOOK CLUB PICK FROM THE QUEEN CONSORT'S READING ROOM*** Now a major film, starring Leslie Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Jason Isaacs and Lucas Bravo 'Mrs Harris is one of the great creations of fiction - so real that you feel you know her, yet truly magical as well. I can never have enough of her' Justine Picardie 'It is almost impossible not to succumb to Gallico's spell' Times Literary Supplement Mrs Harris is a salt-of-the-earth London charlady who cheerfully cleans the houses of the rich. One day, when tidying Lady Dant's wardrobe, she comes across the most beautiful thing she has ever seen in her life - a Dior dress. In all the years of her drab and humble existence, she's never seen anything as magical as the dress before her and she's never wanted anything as much before. Determined to make her dream come true, Mrs Harris scrimps, saves and slaves away until one day, after three long, uncomplaining years, she finally has enough money to go to Paris. When she arrives at the House of Dior, Mrs Harris has little idea of how her life is about to be turned upside down and how many other lives she will transform forever. Always kind, always cheery and always winsome, the indomitable Mrs Harris takes Paris by storm and learns one of life's greatest lessons along the way.Trade ReviewMrs Harris is one of the great creations of fiction - so real that you feel you know her, yet truly magical as well. I can never have enough of her -- JUSTINE PICARDIEIt is almost impossible not to succumb to Gallico's spell * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *'Wherever she goes Mrs. Harris seems to sprinkle fairy dust over those she meets. YET she's very realistically drawn and the book is fraught with painful setbacks ... In the end Mrs. Harris' yearning for the dress is secondary. The friendships that are made because of her quest are what change her life forever. This book was a delight from start to finish' * Worthwhilebooks.blogspot *‘A heartwarming, engaging novelette' * Bookmark *
£8.54
Pan Macmillan Classic Cat Stories
Book SynopsisCats, be they much loved pets or inscrutable creatures, lend themselves to stories and literary invention. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning pocket size classics. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited by anthologist, editor and literary agent Becky Brown.Classic Cat Stories is a beautiful anthology that includes fairy tales and fables from the likes of Rudyard Kipling and Charles Perrault as well as comic tales from Saki and E. F. Benson. Cats, of course, have always had a dark and mysterious side which is explored to chilling effect by the likes of Edgar Allan Poe in The Black Cat and H. P. Lovecraft in The Cats of Ulthar. But above all, we love them and you’ll find here stories about all kinds of cats that tug at the heartstrings and which celebrate their curious ways.
£10.44
