From Austen to Zola, from medieval to the modern day - all genres are catered for between the covers of these coveted classics.
Classics Books
Penguin Publishing Group Hope Leslie or Early Times in the Massachusetts Penguin Classics
Book SynopsisSet in seventeenth-century New England in the aftermath of the Pequod War, Hope Leslie not only chronicles the role of women in building the republic but also refocuses the emergent national literature on the lives, domestic mores, and values of American women.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
£15.25
Penguin Books Ltd Tales from the Thousand and One Nights Arabian
Book SynopsisThe tales told by Scheherazade over a thousand and one nights to delay her execution by the vengeful King Shahryar have become among the most popular in both Eastern and Western literature. From the epic adventures of 'Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp' to the farcical 'Young Woman and her Five Lovers' and the social criticism of 'The Tale of the Hunchback', the stories depict a fabulous world of all-powerful sorcerers, jinns imprisoned in bottles and enchanting princesses. But despite their imaginative extravagance, the Tales are also anchored to everyday life by their bawdiness and realism, providing a full and intimate record of medieval Eastern world. Offering unexpurgated translations of the best-loved tales, including such classics as 'Sindbad the Sailor', Tales from the Thousand and One Nights - sometimes known as the Arabian Nights - is translated with an introduction by N.J. Dawood in Penguin Classics. In this selection, Dawood presents the reader wiTable of ContentsTales from the Thousand and One NightsIntroductionInvocationPrologueThe Tale of King Shahriyar and his Brother ShahzamanThe Fable of the Donkey, the Ox, and the FarmerThe Tale of the HunchbackThe Tailor's TaleThe Tale of the Lame Young Man and the Barber of BaghdadThe Barber's TaleThe Tale of Bakbook, the Barber's First BrotherThe Tale of Al-Haddar, the Barber's Second BrotherThe Tale of Bakbak, the Barber's Third BrotherThe Tale of Al-Kuz, the Barber's Fourth BrotherThe Tale of Shakashik, the Barber's Sixth BrotherThe DonkeyThe Fisherman and the JinneeThe Tale of King Yunan and Duban the DoctorThe Tale of King Sindbad and the FalconThe Tale of the Enchanted KingThe Young Woman and Her Five Lovers Sindbad the Sailor and Sindbad the PorterThe First Voyage of Sindbad the SailorThe Second Voyage of Sindbad the SailorThe Third Voyage of Sindbad the SailorThe Fourth Voyage of Sindbad the SailorThe Fifth Voyage of Sindbad the SailorThe Sixth Voyage of Sindbad the SailorThe Last Voyage of Sindbad the SailorThe Historic Fart Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp The Tale of Kafur the Black EunuchThe Porter and the Three Girls of BaghdadThe Tale of the First DervishThe Tale of the Second DervishThe Tale of the Third DervishThe Tale of the First GirlThe Tale of the Second GirlThe Tale of Khalifah the Fisherman The DreamThe Tale of Judar and His BrothersThe Tale of Ma'Aruf the Cobbler Epilogue
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Selected Tales
Book SynopsisSelected Tales contains some of the most timeless and enchanting folk and fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm, translated with an introduction by David Luke These folktales collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are among the most memorable stories in European culture - conjuring up a world of spells and bewitchment, outwitted villains and cruel stepmothers, animal bridegrooms and enchanted princesses. Tales such as 'Hansel and Gretel', 'Little Red Cape' and 'The Robber Bridegroom' depict the dangers lurking in dark forests, and others, including 'Briar-Rose' and 'Snow White' show young beauties punished by unforgiving sorceresses. Other tales include 'Thickasathumb', which portrays a childless young couple whose wish for a baby is granted in an unexpected way, while 'The Frog King' tells of a rash promise made by a haughty princess to share her bed with a frog, and a fortune is won in 'The Blue Lamp', when a soldier gains a kingdom with the help of a magic Table of ContentsTranslated with an Introduction and Notes by David LukeIntroduction1. The Fisher an His Gweedwife2. Rumplestiltskin3. Hansel and Gretel4. Little Redcape5. Rapunzel6. Briar Rose7. Snowwhite8. The Jeniper Tree9. Little Brother and Little Sister10. The Three Little Men in the Forest11. Mother Snowbed12. The Three Birdies13. The Twelve Brothers14. The Seven Ravens15. The Six Swans16. The Two Brothers17. The Master Huntsman18. The Water of Life19. The Golden Bird20. The Dwarfie21. Jack the Strong Man22. The Six Who Went Far in the World23. The Six Servants24. The Sea-Rabbit25. The Worn-out Dancing-shoes26. The Devil's Three Golden Hairs27. The Griffin28. The Three Snake-leaves29. Faithful John30. One-eye, Two-eyes and Three-eyes31. Ashiepattle32. Manypelts33. The Rightful Bride34. The Iron Stove35. The Twa Royal Bairnies36. The Goosegirl37. Jack of Iron38. The Frog King, or Iron Harry39. The Young Donkey40. Jack My Hedgehog41. The Magic Table, the Gold-donkey, and the Cudgel in the Sack42. The Knapsack, the Hat and the Horn43. The Blue Lamp44. The Salad-donkey45. The Three Brothers46. The Four Skilful Brothers47. The Young Giant48. Thickasathumb49. Bearskin50. The Devil and His Grandmother51. The King of the Golden Mountain52. The Prince Afraid of Nothing53. The Crystal Ball54. Auld Rinkie55. Jorinda and Joringle56. The Nixie in the Pond57. Fetcher's Fowl58. The Robber Bridegroom59. The Bremen Town Band60. Clever Elsie61. Lazy Harry62. The Three Army-surgeons63. The Clever Little Tailor64. Bumpkin65. Owld PeadairNotesGlossary of Scots Words
£12.99
Penguin Books Ltd Seven Viking Romances Penguin Classics
Book SynopsisCombining traditional myth, oral history and re-worked European legend to depict an ancient realm of heroism and wonder, the seven tales collected here are among the most fantastical of all the Norse romances. Powerfully inspired works of Icelandic imagination, they relate intriguing, often comical tales of famous kings, difficult gods and women of great beauty, goodness or cunning. The tales plunder a wide range of earlier literature from Homer to the French romances—as in the tale of the wandering hero Arrow-Odd, which combines several older legends, or Egil and Asmund, where the story of Odysseus and the Cyclops is skilfully adapted into a traditional Norse legend. These are among the most outrageous, delightful and exhilarating tales in all Icelandic literature.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 bTable of ContentsTranslated by Hermann Pálsson and Paul EdwardsIntroductionMaps: Europe of the Viking RomancesNote on the Texts and TranslationsBibliographySeven Viking RomancesArrow-OddKing GautrekHalfdan EysteinssonBosi and HerraudEgil and AsmundThorstein Mansion-MightHelgi ThorissonAppendix: Sources and parallels of Arrow-OddList of Proper Names
£12.34
Penguin Books Ltd The Saga of the Volsungs
Book SynopsisThe epic Viking Age stories that inspired J. R. R. Tolkien and Wagner''s Ring cycleWritten in thirteenth-century Iceland but based on ancient Norse poetry cycles, The Saga of the Volsungs combines mythology, legend and sheer human drama. It tells of the cursed treasure of the Rhine, a sword reforged and a magic ring of power, and at its heart are the heroic deeds of Sigurd the dragon slayer, who acquires magical knowledge from one of Odin''s Valkyries. One of the great books of world literature, the saga is an unforgettable tale of princely jealousy, unrequited love, greed, vengeance and the downfall of a dynasty. Translated with an Introduction by Jesse L. Byock
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Saga of the People of Laxardal and Bolli
Book SynopsisThe Penguin Classics list of medieval sagas grows ever more impressive with these two thrilling Norse sagasOne of the best-loved works of Icelandic literature, this stirring tale of war and romance follows three generations of strong women, wise leaders, and hotheaded warriors. The only saga rumored to have been written by a woman, it tells of the centuries predating 1245, when magic rites and sorcery clashed with the spread of Christianity throughout a rapidly changing Viking world. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning tra
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Fairy Tales
Book SynopsisContaining an enchanting mix of familiar favourites and hidden gems, the Penguin Classics edition of Hans Christian Andersen''s Fairy Tales is translated by Tiina Nunnally and edited with an introduction by Jackie Wullschlager.The first writer to create timeless, universal fairy tales from his own imagination, Hans Christian Andersen conjured up a world of icy queens, match girls and tin soldiers, rewarded virtue and unfulfilled desire. Rich with popular tales such as ''The Emperor''s New Clothes'' and ''The Ugly Duckling'', this revelatory new collection contains many later, darker and rarely collected stories, such as ''Auntie Toothache'' and ''The Shadow'', in which a man''s shadow slyly takes over his life.This sparkling new translation captures the eccentric charm of Andersen''s original, colloquial Danish style as never before. The introduction vividly describes his changing style and there are notes on every tale.''Truly scrumptious, a proper treasury ... Read on with eyes as big as teacups''Guardian''This translation gives me, for the first time, a real sense of the range and variety of Andersen''s style''A.S. Byatt''There have been some capable versions in English, but Tiina Nunnally''s seems to me the best. Jackie Wullschlager''s introduction will be of enormous value''Harold Bloom
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Real Story of AhQ and Other Tales of China
Book SynopsisLu Xun (Lu Hsun) is arguably the greatest writer of modern China, and is considered by many to be the founder of modern Chinese literature. Lu Xun''s stories both indict outdated Chinese traditions and embrace China''s cultural richness and individuality. This volume presents brand-new translations by Julia Lovell of all of Lu Xun''s stories, including ''The Real Story of Ah-Q'', ''Diary of a Madman'', ''A Comedy of Ducks'', ''The Divorce'' and ''A Public Example'', among others. With an afterword by Yiyun Li.Trade ReviewThe book could be considered the most significant Penguin Classic ever published...Lu Xun is critically regarded as the most accomplished modern writer of the most populous nation on earth, and a grasp of his work is thus extremely useful in forming an understanding of much of humanity...Julia Lovell's are arguably the most accessible translations yet * Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Time magazine *
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd The Great Gatsby
Book SynopsisFrancis Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and educated at Princeton. Stationed in Alabama, he met and later married Zelda Sayre. His first novel, This Side of Paradise, published in 1920. was a tremendous critical and commercial success. Fitzgerald followed with The Beautiful and the Damned in 1922, The Great Gatsby in 1925, Tender is the Night (1934), and was working on The Last Tycoon (1941) when he died, in Hollywood, in 1940.
£7.59
Penguin Books Ltd In Cold Blood
Book SynopsisControversial and compelling, In Cold Blood reconstructs the murder in 1959 of a Kansas farmer, his wife and children. Truman Capote''s comprehensive study of the killings and subsequent investigation explores the circumstances surrounding this terrible crime and the effect it had on those involved. At the centre of his study are the amoral young killers Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock, who, vividly drawn by Capote, are shown to be reprehensible, yet entirely and frighteningly human. The book that made Capote''s name, In Cold Blood is a seminal work of modern prose, a remarkable synthesis of journalistic skill and powerfully evocative narrative.Trade Review'The American dream turning into the American nightmare ... a remarkable book' Spectator
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Gunnars Daughter
Book SynopsisThe first historical novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author of Kristin LavransdatterA Penguin ClassicMore than a decade before writing Kristin Lavransdatter, the trilogy about fourteenth-century Norway that won her the Nobel Prize, Sigrid Undset published Gunnar’s Daughter, a brief, swiftly moving tale about a more violent period of her country’s history, the Saga Age. Set in Norway and Iceland at the beginning of the eleventh century, Gunnar's Daughter is the story of the beautiful, spoiled Vigdis Gunnarsdatter, who is raped by the man she had wanted to love. A woman of courage and intelligence, Vigdis is toughened by adversity. Alone she raises the child conceived in violence, repeatedly defending her autonomy in a world governed by men. Alone she rebuilds her life and restores her family's honor—until an unremitting social code propels her to take the action that again destroys her happiness. First published in 1909, Gunnar's Daughter was in part a response to the rise of nationalism and Norway's search for a national identity in its Viking past. But unlike most of the Viking-inspired art of its period, Gunnar's Daughter is not a historical romance. It is a skillful conversation between two historical moments about questions as troublesome in Undset's own time—and in ours—as they were in the Saga Age: rape and revenge, civil and domestic violence, troubled marriages, and children made victims of their parents' problems.Trade ReviewBy the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature“A better told story of its kind would be difficult to imagine, for Sigrid Undset has retained the directness and concise power of the old Norse and Icelandic sagas. . . . Beautifully told; already so early in her career [Undset] had learned the true meaning of form and proportion, pace and suspense.” —The New York Times
£13.60
Penguin Putnam Inc Hunger
Book SynopsisA modernist masterpiece: the Nobel Prize winner’s first and most important novelA Penguin Classic First published in Norway in 1890, Hunger probes the depths of consciousness with frightening and gripping power. Contemptuous of novels of his time and what he saw as their stereotypical plots and empty characters, Knut Hamsun embarked on “an attempt to describe the strange, peculiar life of the mind, the mysteries of the nerves in a starving body.” Like the works of Dostoyevsky, it marks an extraordinary break with Western literary and humanistic traditions.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
£14.45
Penguin Putnam Inc Kristin Lavransdatter II The Wife
Book Synopsis“[Sigrid Undset] should be the next Elena Ferrante.” —SlateA Penguin ClassicKristin Lavransdatter interweaves political, social, and religious history with the daily aspects of family life to create a colorful, richly detailed tapestry of Norway during the fourteenth-century. The trilogy, however, is more than a journey into the past. Undset's own life—her familiarity with Norse sagas and folklore and with a wide range of medieval literature, her experiences as a daughter, wife, and mother, and her deep religious faith—profoundly influenced her writing. Her grasp of the connections between past and present and of human nature itself, combined with the extraordinary quality of her writing, sets her works far above the genre of historical novels. This new translation by Tina Nunnally—the first English version since Charles Archer's translation in the 1920s—captures Undset's str
£16.15
Penguin Publishing Group Kristin Lavransdatter III The Cross
Book Synopsis
£13.60
Penguin Books Ltd In Cold Blood
Book SynopsisThe chilling true crime ''non-fiction novel'' that made Truman Capote''s name, In Cold Blood is a seminal work of modern prose, a remarkable synthesis of journalistic skill and powerfully evocative narrative published in Penguin Modern Classics.Controversial and compelling, In Cold Blood reconstructs the murder in 1959 of a Kansas farmer, his wife and both their children. Truman Capote''s comprehensive study of the killings and subsequent investigation explores the circumstances surrounding this terrible crime and the effect it had on those involved. At the centre of his study are the amoral young killers Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock, who, vividly drawn by Capote, are shown to be reprehensible yet entirely and frighteningly human. Truman Capote (1924-84) was born in New Orleans. He left school when he was fifteen and subsequently worked for The New Yorker, which provided his first - and last - regular job. He wrote both fiction and non-fiction - short stories, novels and novellas, travel writing, profiles, reportage, memoirs, plays and films; his other works include In Cold Blood (1965), Music for Chameleons (1980) and Answered Prayers (1986), all of which are published in Penguin Modern Classics.If you enjoyed In Cold Blood, you might like Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs'' And the Hippos were Boiled in their Tanks, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.''It is the American dream turning into the American nightmare ... By juxtaposing and dovetailing the lives and values of the Clutters and those of the killers, Capote produces a stark image of the deep doubleness of American life ... a remarkable book''Spectator
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Fictions
Book SynopsisThe most popular anthology of Jorge Luis Borges''s short stories, Fictions is a wildly original and influential collection of fantastic tales, translated from the Spanish with an afterword by Andrew Hurley in Penguin Modern Classics.Jorge Luis Borges''s Fictions introduced an entirely new voice into world literature. It is here that we find the astonishing accounts of ''Funes the Memorious'', the man who can forget nothing; ''Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote'', who recreates Miguel de Cervantes''s epic word-for-word; a society run on the basis of an all-encompassing game of chance in ''The Lottery in Babylon''; the mysterious world of ''Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius'' which seems to be supplanting our own ; and the ''Library of Babel'', which contains every possible book in the whole universe. Here too are the philosophical detective stories and the haunting tales of Irish revolutionaries, gaucho knife fights and dreams within dreams which proved
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd If Not Now When Penguin Modern Classics
Book SynopsisPrimo Levi was among the greatest witnesses to twentieth-century atrocity. In this gripping novel, based on a true story, he reveals the extraordinary lives of the Russian, Polish and Jewish partisans trapped behind enemy lines during the Second World War. Wracked by fear, hunger and fierce rivalries, they link up, fall apart, struggle to stay alive and to sabotage the efforts of the all-powerful German army. A compelling tale of action, resistance and epic adventure, it also reveals Levi''s characteristic compassion and deep insight into the moral dilemmas of total war. It ranks alongside THE PERIOD TABLE and IF THIS IS A MAN as one of the rare authentic masterpieces of our times.
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Book SynopsisAn ancient bridge collapses over a gorge in Peru, hurling five people into the abyss. It seems a meaningless human tragedy. But one witness, a Franciscan monk, believes the deaths might not be as random as they appear. Convinced that the disaster is a punishment sent from Heaven, the monk sets out to discover all he can about the travellers. The five strangers were connected in some way, he thinks. There must be a purpose behind their deaths. But are their lost lives the result of sin? ... Or of love?Trade ReviewA glorious thing -- David Mitchell
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd Pale Fire
Book SynopsisThe American poet John Shade is dead; murdered. His last poem, Pale Fire, is put into a book, together with a preface, a lengthy commentary and notes by Shade''s editor, Charles Kinbote. Known on campus as the ''Great Beaver'', Kinbote is haughty, inquisitive, intolerant, but is he also mad, bad - and even dangerous? As his wildly eccentric annotations slide into the personal and the fantastical, Kinbote reveals perhaps more than he should. Nabokov''s darkly witty, richly inventive masterwork is a suspenseful whodunit, a story of one-upmanship and dubious penmanship, and a glorious literary conundrum.Trade ReviewThis centaur work, half-poem, half-prose . . . is a creation of perfect beauty, symmetry, strangeness, originality and moral truth. Pretending to be a curio, it cannot disguise the fact that it is one of the great works of art of this century -- Mary McCarthy
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Reprieve
Book SynopsisPhilosopher, novelist, playwright and polemicist, Jean-Paul Sartre is thought to have been the central figure in post-war European culture and political thinking. His most well-known works, all of which are published by Penguin, include THE AGE OF REASON, NAUSEA and IRON IN THE SOUL.
£13.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Pastures of Heaven Penguin Modern Classics
Book SynopsisEach of these delightful interconnected tales is devoted to a family living in a fertile valley on the outskirts of Monterey, California, and the effects that one particular family has on them all. Steinbeck tackles two important literary traditions here; American naturalism, with its focus on the conflict between natural instincts and the demand to conform to society''s norms, and the short story cycle. Set in the heart of ''Steinbeck land'', the lush Californian valleys.
£11.99
Penguin Books Ltd The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights
Book SynopsisSteinbeck''s first posthumously published work, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights is a reinterpretation of tales from Malory''s Morte d''Arthur. In this highly successful attempt to render Malory into Modern English, Steinbeck recreated the rhythm and tone of the original Middle English.
£13.49
Penguin Books Ltd Another Country Penguin Modern Classics
Book Synopsis''A masterwork... an almost unbearable, tumultuous, blood-pounding experience'' Washinton PostWhen Another Country appeared in 1962, it caused a literary sensation. James Baldwin''s masterly story of desire, hatred and violence opens with the unforgettable character of Rufus Scott, a scavenging Harlem jazz musician adrift in New York. Self-destructive, bad and brilliant, he draws us into a Bohemian underworld pulsing with heat, music and sex, where desperate and dangerous characters betray, love and test each other to the limit.''In Another Country, Baldwin created the essential American drama of the century'' Colm TóibínTrade ReviewA masterwork... an almost unbearable, tumultuous, blood-pounding experience * Washington Post *Baldwin is one of the few genuinely indispensable American writers * Saturday Review *A delicate and fine-tuned talent... The book reveals Baldwin's immense will and professionalism * The New Yorker *Let our novelists read Mr Baldwin and tremble. There is a whirlwind loose in the land * Sunday Times *In Another Country, Baldwin created the essential American drama of the century -- Colm Tóibín
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Garden of the FinziContinis
Book SynopsisThis is a haunting, elegiac novel which captures the mood and atmosphere of Italy (and in particular Ferrara) in the last summers of the thirties, focusing on an aristocratic Jewish family moving imperceptibly towards its doom. Vittorio De Sica turned the book into a film in 1970, winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1974.Trade ReviewPowerful new translations . . . Bassani began as a poet, and McKendrick's redelivery of this taut uncompromising fiction reveals resonance and generosity -- Ali Smith
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd I Claudius
Book Synopsis''Still an acknowledged masterpiece and a model for historical fiction ... sympathetic and intensely involving: a great feat of imagination'' Hilary Mantel Bringing to life the intrigue of ancient Rome, Robert Graves''s I, Claudius is one of the most celebrated, gripping historical novels ever writtenDespised for his weakness and regarded by his family as little more than a stammering fool, the nobleman Claudius quietly survives the bloody purges and mounting cruelty of the imperial Roman dynasties. In I, Claudius he watches from the sidelines to record the reigns of its emperors: from the wise Augustus and his villainous wife Livia to the sadistic Tiberius and the insane excesses of Caligula. Written in the form of Claudius'' autobiography, this is the first part of Robert Graves''s brilliant account of the madness and debauchery of ancient Rome.With an introduction by Barry Unsworth''An imaginative and hugely readable account of the early decades of the Roman Empire ... racy, inventive, often comic'' Daily TelegraphTrade ReviewI, CLAUDIUS and CLAUDIUS THE GOD are an imaginative and hugely readable account of the early decades of the Roman Empire ... racy, inventive, often comic * Daily Telegraph *One of the really remarkable books of our day, a novel of learning and imagination, fortunately conceived and brilliantly executed * New York Times *Still an acknowledged masterpiece and a model for historical fiction ... sympathetic and intensely involving: a great feat of imagination -- Hilary Mantel
£9.99
Penguin Books Ltd Collected Stories Bellow Saul Penguin Modern
Book SynopsisThis is the definitive collection of short stories by Saul Bellow. Abundant, precise, various, rich and exuberant, the stories display the stylistic and emotional brilliance which characterizes this master of prose. Some stories recount the events of a single day, some are contained in a wider frame; each story is a characteristic combination of observation and a celebration of humanity.
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd Alone in Berlin Penguin Modern Classics
Book SynopsisTHE ACCLAIMED INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER''One of the most extraordinary and compelling novels written about World War II. Ever'' Alan Furst Inspired by a true story, Hans Fallada''s Alone in Berlin is a gripping wartime thriller following one ordinary man''s determination to defy the tyranny of Nazi rule Berlin, 1940, and the city is filled with fear. At the house on 55 Jablonski Strasse, its various occupants try to live under Nazi rule in their different ways: the bullying Hitler loyalists the Persickes, the retired judge Fromm and the unassuming couple Otto and Anna Quangel. Then the Quangels receive the news that their beloved son has been killed fighting in France. Shocked out of their quiet existence, they begin a silent campaign of defiance, and a deadly game of cat and mouse develops between the Quangels and the ambitious Gestapo inspector Escherich. When petty criminals Kluge and Borkhausen also become involved, deception, betrayal and muTrade ReviewOne of the most extraordinary and compelling novels written about World War II. Ever. -- Alan FurstTerrific ... a fast-moving, important and astutely deadpan thriller. * Irish Times *A classic study of a paranoid society. Fallada's scope is extraordinary. Alone in Berlin is ... as morally powerful as anything I've ever read. -- Charlotte Moore * Telegraph *The greatest book ever written about the German resistance to the Nazis. -- Primo LeviFallada assembles a cast of vivid low-life characters, stoolies, thieves and whores -- James Buchan * Guardian *Visceral, chilling ... has the suspense of a Le Carré novel * New Yorker *A classic study of a paranoid society. Fallada's scope is extraordinary. Alone in Berlin is ... as morally powerful as anything I've ever read -- Charlotte Moore * Telegraph *First published in Germany in 1947 and evoking the horror of life in Germany in the Second World War. A rediscovered masterpiece that makes you want to seek out more works by this great chronicler of events in my own lifetime. * Barry Humphries, Books of the Year, Sunday Telegraph *The other fictional high point of 2009 was Alone in Berlin ... Hans Fallada's 1947 portrait of an ordinary German couple stung into a life of protest by the death of their soldier son is harrowing and masterly. -- David Robson * Books of the Year, Sunday Telegraph *[This novel] suggests that resistance to evil is rarely straightforward, mostly futile, and generally doomed. Yet to the novel's aching, unanswered question: 'Does it matter?' there is in this strange and compelling story to be found a reply in the affirmative. Primo Levi had it right: This is the great novel of German resistance. -- Richard Flanagan'What Irène Némirovsky's "Suite Française" did for wartime France after six decades in obscurity, Fallada does for wartime Berlin.' * Roger Cohen, New York Times *'[Alone in Berlin] has something of the horror of Conrad, the madness of Dostoyevsky and the chilling menace of Capote's "In Cold Blood"'. * Roger Cohen, New York Times *'Fallada's great novel, beautifully translated by the poet Michael Hofmann, evokes the daily horror of life under the Third Reich, where the venom of Nazism seeped into the very pores of society, poisoning every aspect of existence. It is a story of resistance, sly humour and hope' -- Ben Macintyre * The Times *'an extraordinary novel' * Daily Express *A marvellous book, almost a masterpiece. The tension he maintains despite a fogegone conclusion is miraculous. This is the truest, most vivid I-was-there novel of the epoch. * Norman Lebrecht *The stand-out book this year for me was Alone in Berlin (Penguin Classics £9.99) ... It's a page-turning moral thriller, based on fact, of a working-class German couple and their small-scale attempts to resist Nazi rule in Berlin. Bleak, chilling, utterly compelling and unforgettable. -- Pugh * Books of the Year, Daily Mail *Penguin's reissue of Hans Fallada's Alone in Berlin, brilliantly translated by Michael Hofmann, makes available one of the great novels of the past century. An almost unbearably intense challenge to its readers. -- George Steiner * Books of the Year, TLS *What makes Alone in Berlin such a cracking read is that it pushes us into the midst of that grim reality and yet allows us to put it down - only at the very end - with a feeling of warm humanity. -- Peter Millar * The Times *Hans Fallada wrote Alone in Berlin between September and November 1946, in postwar East Germany. He told his family that he had written "a great novel". He would die a few months later. .... Fallada was correct: he had written a great book, in circumstances and a space of time which make the achievement almost miraculous. But it's the double miracle of translation which gives us Fallada's novel in English as Alone in Berlin. Michael Hoffman is a fine poet, whose acute ear and eloquent understanding of the transition-points between the two languages make the text as powerful as it is down-to-earth. -- Helen Dunmore * Guardian *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Johnny Got His Gun
Book SynopsisIt was the war to end all wars, the global struggle that would finally make the world safe for democracy - at any cost. But one American soldier has paid a price beyond measure. And within the disfigured flesh that was once a vision of youth lives a spirit that cannot accept what the world has become. An immediate bestseller upon its first publication in 1939, Trumbo''s stark, profoundly troubling masterpiece about the horrors of the First World War brilliantly crystallized the uncompromising brutality of war and became the most influential protest novel of the Vietnam era. As timely as ever.Trade Review'Powerful ... an eye-opener' - Michael Moore 'A book that can never be forgotten by anyone who reads it' Saturday Review
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Fantastic Tales
Book SynopsisFrom fabulous enchantments and supernatural horrors to subtler, more psychological terrors, the best of nineteenth-century fantastic literature is collected here by Italo Calvino. These mysterious and macabre tales include Hoffmann''s nightmarish ''The Sandman'', Poe''s terrifying ''The Tell-Tale Heart'' and Dickens''s chilling ghost story ''The Signal-Man'', and relatively unknown works from celebrated writers including Honoré de Balzac, Henry James, Sir Walter Scott, Guy de Maupassant and Robert Louis Stevenson, alongside lesser-known contributors. Each story comes with a fascinating introduction by Calvino.Trade Review'Describes imaginary worlds with the most extraordinary precision and beauty' - Gore Vidal 'One of the most playful, intelligent and inventive minds in the whole of European fiction' - Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Journey into Fear
Book SynopsisIt is 1940 and Mr Graham, a quietly-spoken engineer and arms expert, has just finished high-level talks with the Turkish government. And now somebody wants him dead. The previous night three shots were fired at him as he stepped into his hotel room, so, terrified, he escapes in secret on a passenger steamer from Istanbul. As he journeys home - alongside, among others, an entrancing French dancer, an unkempt trader, a mysterious German doctor and a small, brutal man in a crumpled suit - he enters a nightmarish world where friend and foe are indistinguishable. Graham can try to run, but he may not be able to hide for much longer ...Trade Review'Holds one up as effectively as a gun barrel' Evening Standard 'If you want to experience the feel of the Continent in the 1930s, you will find few better guides' - Robert Harris
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Haunting of Hill House
Book SynopsisFour seekers have arrived at the rambling old pile known as Hill House: Dr Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of psychic phenomena; Theodora, his lovely assistant; Luke, the future inheritor of the estate; and Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman with a dark past.Trade ReviewThe scariest book I’ve ever read ... I read it one night next to my sleeping wife and found myself unable to move, unable to go to bed, unable to do anything except keep reading and praying the shadows around me didn’t move -- Carmen Maria Machado * The New York Times *the haunted house novel. All others stand in its shadow -- Paul Tremblay * author of A Head Full of Ghosts *Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” beats them all: a maleficent house, real human protagonists, everything half-seen or happening in the dark. It scared me as a teenager and it haunts me still, as does Eleanor, the girl who comes to stay -- Neil Gaiman * The New York Times *The Haunting of Hill House rewrote horror’s rules -- Alison Flood * Guardian *Stepping into Hill House is like stepping into the mind of a madman; it isn't long before you weird yourself out * Stephen King *An amazing writer ... If you haven't read We Have Always Lived in the Castle or The Haunting of Hill House or any of her short stories you have missed out on something marvellous -- Neil GaimanThe world of Shirley Jackson is eerie and unforgettable ... She is a true master -- A. M. HomesOne of the twentieth century's most luminous and strange American writers -- Jonathan LethemHer books penetrate keenly to the terrible truths which sometimes hide behind comfortable fictions, to the treachery beneath cheery neighborhood faces and the plain manners of country folk -- Donna TarttShe is the finest master...of the cryptic, haunted tale * The New York Times Book Review *A novel which at one stroke puts her unquestionably among the great masters of the genre . . . as spine-chilling . . . as anything Edgar Allan Poe dreamed up. -- Peter Green * Daily Telegraph *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Hound of the Baskervilles Another Adventure
Book SynopsisPart of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. The terrible spectacle of the beast, the fog of the moor, the discovery of a body, this classic horror story pits detective against dog. When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on the wild Devon moorland with the footprints of a giant hound nearby, the blame is placed on a family curse. It is left to Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson to solve the mystery of the legend of the phantom hound before Sir Charles' heir comes to an equally gruesome end.Trade Review“The whole Sherlock Holmes saga is a triumphant illustration of art’s supremacy over life.” —Christopher Morley
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd The Complete Short Stories Penguin Modern
Book SynopsisIn this unique collection of short stories composed between 1910-62, Evelyn Waugh''s early juvenilia are brought together with later pieces, some of which became the inspirations for his novels. ''Mr Loveday''s Little Outing'' is a blackly comic tale of a mental asylum and its favourite resident; ''Cruise'' sees a hilarious series of letters from a naïve young woman as she travels with her family; ''A House of Gentlefolks'' observes a group of elderly eccentric aristocrats and their young heir; and in ''The Sympathetic Passenger'' a radio-loathing retiree picks up exactly the wrong hitchhiker. These witty and immaculately crafted stories display the finest writing of a master of satire and comic twists.
£13.49
Penguin Books Ltd Pale Horse Pale Rider The Selected Stories of
Book SynopsisKatherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) lived a long life which fluctuated between glamour and loneliness. Porter experienced firsthand many of the most iconic events of the twentieth century and wrote about most of them. Growing up on a farm in Texas at the end of the nineteenth century, she was a lifelong advocate of liberal social politics, and worked as a journalist on the American home-front during the First World War; she barely survived the influenza epidemic of 1918; moved to Greenwich village during its heyday as a center of radical politics and bohemian artists; lived in Mexico during and after its failed revolution; was in Europe during the rise of Nazism; and returned to the US during the Cold War and rabid McCarthyism.Trade ReviewKatherine Anne Porter's short stories are unsurpassed in modern fiction -- Robert PennPorter writes English of a purity and precision almost unique in contemporary fiction -- Edmund WilsonShe solves the essential problem: how to satisfy exhaustively in writing briefly -- V.S. PritchettPorter's stories take accurate and deadly aim... dazzling * The New York Times *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Looking Glass War
Book SynopsisA Cold War thriller from the master of spy fiction, John le Carré''s The Looking Glass War is a gripping novel of double-crosses, audacious bluffs and the ever-present threat of nuclear war, published in Penguin Modern Classics.When the Department - faded since the war and busy only with bureaucratic battles - hears rumour of a missile base near the West German border, it seems like the perfect opportunity to regain some political standing in the Intelligence market place. The Cold War is at its height and the Department is dying for a piece of the action.Swiftly becoming carried away by fear and pride, the Department and her officers send deactivated agent Fred Leiser back into East Germany, armed only with some schoolboy training and his memories of the war. In the land of eloquent silence that is Communist East Germany, Leiser''s fate becomes inseparable from the Department''s.If you enjoyed The Looking Glass War, you might like le Carré''s The Secret Pilgrim, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.''A devastating and tragic record of human, not glamour, spies'' New York Herald Tribune''A book of rare and great power'' Financial TimesTrade ReviewA book of rare and great power * Financial Times *A devastating and tragic record of human, not glamour, spies * New York Herald Tribune *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Dracula
Book SynopsisPart of Penguin''s beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the designWhen Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the ''Master'' and his imminent arrival. In Dracula, Bram Stoker created one of the great masterpieces of the horror genre, brilliantly evoking a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and also illuminating the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.Trade Review[Coralie Bickford-Smith's] recent work for Penguin Classics is...nothing short of glorious * Anna Cole Co. *One of the most powerful horror tales ever written -- Malcolm Bradbury
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd Mrs Bridge Penguin Modern Classics
Book SynopsisEvan S. Connell''s Mrs Bridge is an extraordinary tragicomic portrayal of suburban life and one of the classic American novels of the twentieth century.Mrs Bridge, an unremarkable and conservative housewife in Kansas City, has three children and a kindly lawyer husband. She spends her time shopping, going to bridge parties and bringing up her children to be pleasant, clean and have nice manners. And yet she finds modern life increasingly baffling, her children aren''t growing up into the people she expected, and sometimes she has the vague disquieting sensation that all is not well in her life. In a series of comic, telling vignettes, Evan S. Connell illuminates the narrow morality, confusion, futility and even terror at the heart of a life of plenty.The companion novel Mr Bridge, telling the story from the other side of the marriage, is also available in Penguin Modern Classics.''A perfect novel ... Its tone - knowing, droll, plaintive, shuttliTrade ReviewIf you have already read it, that's wonderful, for chances are you love it too, and know how brilliant it is. And if you haven't read it, or perhaps have never even heard of it, well, that's wonderful too, because you are still lucky enough to be able to read it for the first time ... A perfect novel ... What writing! Economical, piquant, beautiful, true .... Mrs Bridge is one of those books that can suffuse a room with happiness when someone brings it up -- Meg Wolitzter * The New York Times *This is the first time that I have finished reading something and then immediately returned to the beginning to read it again. It's incredible. It's one of the best books I've ever read -- Ross Raisin, author of 'God's Own Country' and 'Waterline'How it is done I only wish I knew -- Dorothy Parker * Esquire *It is very, very funny, often moving and sad, and written with an uncompromising realism that one rarely comes across. To me the Bridges were a revelation: I cannot recommend them too highly * Daily Telegraph *Written from a kind of tilted, ironic angle, it's often very funny... and if this were all Mrs Bridge was, it would still be one of the sharper novels about mid-20th-century domestic life. But Mrs Bridge is so much more than that...It's a book that is smart and knowing and makes its reader feel as if they're in on a joke, while at the same time gradually coaxing them to feel more and more empathy for its vaguely absurd main character, and ultimately playing them like an emotional Stradivarius * Guardian *Intimate ... affecting ... very funny ... Mrs Bridge is a reflection of you and me, an exemplar of our shared humanity -- Joshua Ferris, author of 'Then We Came to the End' and 'The Unnamed'Connell never mocks or condescends, but wrings every drop of comedy and pathos from his hidebound heroine's predicament * Sunday Telegraph *Evan S. Connell's portrayal of the decline and fall of a 1950s Kansas City housewife charts perfectly the tragedy of the unexamined life * Observer *An exquisite mixture of sympathy and ironic detachment ... Connell's writing has a terse, hard-bitten flavour, but the chapters tend to resolve themselves into resonant, Austen-like aphorisms: "While marriage might be an equitable affair, love itself was not" * Independent *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Mr Bridge
Book SynopsisThe companion novel to Mrs Bridge, this is a pitch-perfect portrayal of marriage and family life and a poignant dissection of the unexamined life.Walter Bridge, husband to India and father to three, is a successful lawyer in a Kansas suburb. The daily dramas of his life only serve to illuminate his narrow prejudices and complacent outlook, yet he is also troubled by existential doubts, dark undercurrents of desire and a yearning for something forever out of his reach. In Mr Bridge, Evan S. Connell gives us a moving, satirical and poetic portrayal of a man who cannot escape his limitations and of a couple growing old together but unable, ultimately, to connect.The companion novel, Mrs Bridge, telling the story from the other side of the marriage, is published in Penguin Modern Classics.''With a delicate and subtle irony, Mr Connell shows us, first from her, then from his point of view, the little daily dramas of this ordinary family. ITrade ReviewAn exquisite tragedy in miniature -- Lionel ShriverMr Bridge is a tour-de-force of contemporary American realism, a beautiful work of fiction * Life *With a delicate and subtle irony, Mr Connell shows us, first from her, then from his point of view, the little daily dramas of this ordinary family. It is very, very funny, often moving and sad, and written with an uncompromising realism that one rarely comes across. To me the Bridges were a revelation: I cannot recommend them too highly * Daily Telegraph *Mr. and Mrs. Bridge are forever human, forever vulnerable, forever pitiable. In spare, whimsical, ironic prose, Connell exposes each and every one of their wrinkles and then, in the end, offers them to us as human beings to be cherished -- Jonathan Yardley
£9.49
Penguin Publishing Group The Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories
Book SynopsisA chilling new collection of Henry James's short stories exploring the uncanny, including The Turn of the Screw, the basis for the new Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor In The Turn of the Screw, one of the most famous ghost stories of all time, a governess becomes obsessed with the belief that malevolent forces are stalking the children in her care. It is accompanied here by several more of the very best of Henry James's short stories, all exploring ghosts and the uncanny. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best w
£9.49
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 Carter of La Providence
Book Synopsis''Compelling, remorseless, brilliant'' John Gray What was the woman doing here? In a stable, wearing pearl earrings, her stylish bracelet and white buckskin shoes! She must have been alive when she got there because the crime had been committed after ten in the evening.But how? And why? And no one had heard a thing! She had not screamed. The two carters had not woken up.Inspector Maigret is standing in the pouring rain by a canal. A well-dressed woman, Mary Lampson, has been found strangled in a stable nearby. Why did her glamorous, hedonistic life come to such a brutal end here? Surely her taciturn husband Sir Walter knows - or maybe the answers lie with the crew of the barge La Providence.This novel has been published in previous translations as Lock 14 and Maigret Meets a Milord.''One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century'' GuardianTrade ReviewPraise for Georges Simenon:“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian “These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post “Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People “I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner “The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide “A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —The Independent (London) “Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London) “Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray “A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark “A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.”lle —Peter Ackroyd “Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville"Gem-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 (London)"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"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn."-- Stig Abell ― The Sunday Times (London)
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd The Yellow Dog Inspector Maigret 5
Book Synopsis“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The GuardianA gripping mystery from Georges Simenon in which Inspector Maigret must go up against small town suspicion—and revengeIn a small, seaside town in the northwest of France, the local wine dealer is wounded by a gunshot while retuning home drunk from a hotel bar. Maigret, who is heading up a mobile squad of the Paris police force, is called in by the mayor to solve the crime. But upon settling down in the hotel, Maigret quickly discovers a curious cast of characters awaits him there—and they all have something to hide.In the course of this strange case, a customs official is shot, a retired journalist is lost and found, and a vagrant is attested, but through it all Maigret has his sights setTrade ReviewPraise for Georges Simenon:“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian “These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post “Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People “I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner “The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide “A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —The Independent (London) “Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London) “Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray “A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark “A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.”lle —Peter Ackroyd “Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville"Gem-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 (London)"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"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn."-- Stig Abell ― The Sunday Times (London)
£8.99
Penguin Books Ltd A Mans Head
Book Synopsis''The father of contemporary European detective fiction'' Ann Cleeves ''Let''s be clear that it''s not your professionalism which I question. If you understand nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, it''s because from the very start you''ve been working with facts which had been falsified.''Maigret sets out to prove the innocence of a man condemned to death for a brutal murder. As his audacious plan to uncover the truth unfolds, he encounters rich American expatriates, some truly dangerous characters and their hidden motives.This novel has been published in previous translations as Maigret''s War of Nerves and A Battle of Nerves.''Maigret emerges as a master of intuition and imagination, who moves in a world rendered intensely real in Simenon''s incomparable prose'' Christopher Hirst, IndependentTrade ReviewPraise for Georges Simenon:“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian “These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post “Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People “I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner “The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide “A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —The Independent (London) “Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London) “Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray “A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark “A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.”lle —Peter Ackroyd “Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville"Gem-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 (London)"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"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn."-- Stig Abell ― The Sunday Times (London)
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd The Saga of the Volsungs
Book SynopsisPart of a new series Legends from the Ancient North, The Saga of the Volsungs is one of the classic books that influenced JRR Tolkien''s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings''They summoned their friends, readiedtheir horses, and prepared their helmets,shields, swords, coats of mail'' J.R.R. Tolkien spent much of his life studying, translating and teaching the great epic stories of northern Europe, filled with heroes, dragons, trolls, dwarves and magic. He was hugely influential for his advocacy of Beowulf as a great work of literature and, even if he had never written The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, would be recognised today as a significant figure in the rediscovery of these extraordinary tales.Legends from the Ancient North brings together from Penguin Classics five of the key works behind Tolkien''s fiction.They are startling, brutal, strange pieces of writing, with an elemental power brilliantly preserved in these translations.They plunge the reader into a world of treachery, quests, chivalry, trials of strength.They are the most ancient narratives that exist from northern Europe and bring us as near as we will ever get to the origins of the magical landscape of Middle-earth (Midgard) which Tolkien remade in the 20th century.
£7.59
Penguin Books Ltd The 120 Days of Sodom
Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE 2017 SCOTT MONCRIEFF PRIZE A new translation of Sade''s most notorious, shocking and influential novel.This disturbing but hugely important text has influenced countless individuals throughout history: Flaubert and Baudelaire both read Sade; the surrealists were obsessed with him; film-makers like Pasolini saw parallels with twentieth-century history in his writings; and feminists such as Andrea Dworkin and Angela Carter clashed over him. This new translation brings Sade''s provocative novel into Penguin Classics for the first time, and will reignite the debate around this most controversial of writers.Trade ReviewWithout in any way giving in to hyperbole, I would say that this translation is a 21st century monument, changing not only the way in which we view the French 18th century, but providing a guide to the present and future -- Andrew Hussey, Scott Moncrieff Prize judgeThe great merit of this edition is the thoroughly excellent translation by Will McMorran and Thomas Wynn. It has none of the phoney archaism of earlier English translations. Instead it is like a window, allowing us to have as clear of view as possible of Sade's mind and world ... In their scholarly and wise introduction, the translators are careful to emphasise the historical context ... Sade's novel feels as grimly relevant to the terrors of our age as to those of his own. * The Economist *An excellent translation * The Times Literary Supplement *A blistering new translation ... This new version of the 120 Days is well overdue [and] these two dons have done a sterling job ... This new, accessible 120 Days also forces us to confront ourselves * Erotic Review *We thought this translation was quite exceptional in its capacity to capture the true voice of this strange and difficult eighteenth-century text, the textual and editorial scholarship of the translators, their wonderful handling of the terminology and the diction of the original, along with the fluency of their translation, and the ways in which it creates for the first time for Anglophone readers a properly accurate version of Sade's text -- Ian Patterson, Scott Moncrieff Prize judge
£12.34
Penguin Books Ltd The Flemish House Inspector Maigret 14
Book Synopsis“The matchless French crime novelist” -- Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The GuardianA chilling Inspector Maigret mystery set on the Belgian border“She wasn't an ordinary supplicant. She didn't lower her eyes. There was nothing humble about her bearing. She spoke frankly, looking straight ahead, as if to claim what was rightfully hers. ‘If you don't agree to look at our case, my parents and I will be lost, and it will be the most hateful legal error...’”Maigret is asked to the windswept, rainy border town of Givet by a young woman desperate to clear her family of murder. But their well-kept shop, the sleepy community and its raging river all hide their own mysteTrade ReviewPraise for Georges Simenon:“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian “These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post “Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People “I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner “The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide “A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —The Independent (London) “Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London) “Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray “A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark “A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.”lle —Peter Ackroyd “Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville"Gem-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 (London)"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"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn."-- Stig Abell ― The Sunday Times (London)
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd The Misty Harbour Inspector Maigret 16
Book Synopsis“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The GuardianAn Inspector Maigret mystery and a gripping tale of lost identity“A man picked up for wandering in obvious distress among the cars and buses on the Grands Boulevards. Questioned in French, he remains mute . . . A madman? In Maigret's office, he is searched. His suit is new, his underwear is new, his shoes are new. All identifying labels have been removed. No identification papers. No wallet. Five crisp thousand-franc bills have been slipped into one of his pockets.”A distressed man is found wandering the streets of Paris, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. The answers lead Maigret to a small harbour town, whose quiet citizens conceal a poisonous malice.Trade ReviewPraise for Georges Simenon:“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian “These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post “Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People “I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner “The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide “A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —The Independent (London) “Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London) “Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray “A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark “A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.”lle —Peter Ackroyd “Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville"Gem-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 (London)"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"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn."-- Stig Abell ― The Sunday Times (London)
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd The Sign of Four. Penguin English Library Edition
Book SynopsisThe Penguin English Library editionA dense yellow miasma swirls in the streets of London as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson accompany a beautiful young woman to a sinister assignation. For Mary Marston has received several large pearls - one a year for the last six years - and now a mystery letter telling her she is a wronged woman. If she would seek justice she is to meet her unknown benefactor, bringing with her two companions. But unbeknownst to them all, others stalk London''s fog-enshrouded streets: a one-legged ruffian with revenge on his mind - and his companion, who places no value on human life . . .
£7.99
