Classics Books

Book SynopsisChiltern Publishing creates the most beautiful editions of the World's finest literature. Your favourite classic titles in a way you have never seen them before; the tactile embossed layers, golden edges, fine details and beautiful colours of these remarkable covers make them feel extra special and will look striking on any shelf.

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Book SynopsisRead Thomas Mann's meditation on the power of literary representation and the tyranny of the writer's imagination. Mann's novel, written some 150 years after Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, follows Lotte Kestner, Goethe's real-life heroine, as she makes a pilgrimage to Weimar to meet the author who courted her forty years before. To her surprise, Lotte is greeted on her arrival as a celebrity and immediately taken up into Goethe's set. Time and place are brilliantly evoked in Mann's novel, but its genius lies in his masterful portrayal of Goethe himself, and of the astonishing influence he exerted on his contemporaries.'A masterpiece' Stefan ZweigTrade ReviewA masterpiece -- Stefan Zweig

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Book Synopsis'Extraordinary... one of her finest novels' Guardian"If everybody in the world didn't keep watching to see what everybody else did, we'd all go berserk."Jenny believes that sighting an owl is a portent of death. When she spots a stranger looking in through her window one night, she believes that he is an omen too. But fate doesn't work in the way that either of them expect.This novel of suspense and paranoia draws on Highsmith's own experience of being a stalker.Trade ReviewPatricia Highsmith has an extraordinary talent for the sinister, and this is well revealed in The Cry of the Owl, one of her finest novels -- Robert Nye * Guardian *Patricia Highsmith is a craftsman who has made the suspense novel her own domain * The Times *The basic nightmare situation - to be accused of a crime you did not commit and be unable to prove your innocence- is the subject of The Cry of the Owl... It's Kafka with a vengeance... compulsive * Spectator *A rare talent, a remarkable novelist... her books are written in elegant and lucid prose -- John Mortimer

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Book SynopsisAs complex as they are gripping, Pushkin's stories are some of the greatest and most influential ever written. Foundational to the development of Russian prose, they retain stunning freshness and clarity, more than ever in Anthony Briggs's finely nuanced translations. These are stories that upend expectations at every turn: in The Captain's Daughter, Pushkin's masterful novella of love and rebellion set during the reign of Catherine the Great, a mysterious encounter proves fatally significant during a brutal uprising, while in 'The Queen of Spades' a man obsessively pursues an elderly woman's secret for success at cards, with bizarre results.Trade Review'In any language, The Captain's Daughter would be a miniature masterpiece' - Daily Telegraph'The Captain's Daughter is one of the stories in which Pushkin created Russian prose... It is true poet's prose, absolutely clear, objective, unpretentious and penetrating' - Spectator

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Book SynopsisBold and inventive in style, City of Night is the groundbreaking 1960s novel about male prostitution. Rechy is unflinching in his portrayal of one hustling 'youngman' and his search for self-knowledge among the other denizens of his neon-lit world. As the narrator moves from Texas to Times Square and then on to the French Quarter of New Orleans, Rechy delivers a portrait of the edges of America that has lost none of its power. On his travels, the nameless narrator meets a collection of unforgettable characters, from vice cops to guilt-ridden married men eaten up by desire, to Lance O'Hara, once Hollywood's biggest star. Rechy describes this world with candour and understanding in a prose that is highly personal and vividly descriptive.Trade ReviewRechy's tone rings absolutely true, is absolutely his own, and he has the kind of discipline which allows him a rare and beautiful recklessness. tells the truth, and tells it with such passion that we are forced to share in the life he conveys. This is a most humbling and liberating achievement. -- James BaldwinOne of the major books to be published since World War II. * The Washington Post *City of Night is a remarkable book . . . Mr. Rechy writes in an authentic jive-like slang: the nightmare existence is explored with a clarity not often clouded by sentimentality and self-pity. The book therefore has the unmistakable ring of candor and truth. * The New York Times Book Review *A breathless, amphetamine-fuelled dash across America ... Rechy's descriptive energy is instead reserved for city life's twilight world and a colourful parade of characters... his descriptive energy surpasses any queer literature label. * New Statesman *John Rechy's groundbreaking novel City of Night lifted the lid on gay life in `60's America ... it broke new ground with its depiction of the gay sexual subculture in America's cities ... The author is ripe for rediscovery. * Time Out *In his first novel, City of Night, John Rechy achieved what most authors strive for their entire career. A book that will last ... Although it was long after the original publication, through City of Night Rechy taught me that my feelings of isolation could be released, that my experiences could be written. It was Rechy who showed me that no subject matter is taboo. -- Charles Casillo * LA Review of Books *Probably no first novel is so complete, so well held together, and so important as City of Night. * The Houston Post *

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Book SynopsisThe pampered daughter of a wealthy Georgian plantation owner of Irish descent, sixteen-year-old Scarlett O'Hara soon realizes that young men can't resist her charms, despite her forthright manners and her refusal to embrace her mother's ladylike ways. Her romantic intrigues lead her to an early marriage, but when the war between the Union and the Southern States breaks out and she is left a young widow, Scarlett's life is turned upside down, and she finds herself embroiled, together with the world surrounding her, in a long struggle for survival. Both a coming-of-age tale and a historical epic, Gone with the Wind is regarded as one of the great American novels, and is perhaps one of the most popular stories in the Western canon. Famously inspiring the iconic 1939 Oscar-winning film starring Vivien Leigh as Scarlett and Clark Gable as the rakish but cynical Rhett Butler, it is Margaret Mitchell's only published novel, and a living testament to the irrepressible resilience of the American spirit.

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Book SynopsisIt is 1941 and bombs have turned London into the front line of a world war. In the shadows of the Blitz, Hitler’s agents are running a blackmail operation to obtain documents that could bring the nation to instant defeat. Arthur Rowe, a man once convicted of a notorious mercy killing, stumbles onto a German spy operation in Bloomsbury and must be silenced. But even with his memory taken from him, he is still a very dangerous witness. A taut thriller and a haunting exploration of pity, love, and guilt, The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest of all spy novels. With an introduction by the biographer and editor Professor Richard Greene. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector’s Library is a series of beautifully bound gift editions of much loved classic titles.

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Book SynopsisThe Romance of a Shop is an early “New Woman” novel about four sisters, who decide to establish their own photography business and their own home in central London after their father’s death and their loss of financial security. In this novel, Amy Levy examines both the opportunities and dangers of urban experience for women in the late nineteenth century who pursue independent work rather than follow the established paths of domestic service. By outfitting her characters as photographers, Levy emphasizes the importance of the gendered gaze in this narrative of the modern city.This Broadview edition prints for the first time since the 1880s Levy’s essay on Christina Rossetti and a short story set in North London, both published in Oscar Wilde’s magazine The Woman’s World. Other appendices include poetry by Levy, Michael Field, Dollie Radford, and A. Mary F. Robinson, and essays on Victorian photography, literary realism, “the woman question” at the end of the nineteenth century, and the plight of women working in London.Trade Review“It is an unexpected pleasure to have Amy Levy’s fascinating 1888 novel, The Romance of a Shop, in a well-annotated modern edition. Levy, an Anglo-Jewish poet and novelist who was educated at Newnham College and frequented the London circles of Eleanor Marx and Olive Schreiner, has been the subject of increasing interest over the last ten years. Levy’s novel chronicles the romance of work and the trials of independent urban life for the ‘new woman’; Susan David Bernstein gives us a splendid edition, with appendices that include Levy’s essays and poems, reviews, and other invaluable contemporary materials.” — Deborah Nord, Princeton UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction Amy Levy: A Brief Chronology A Note on the TextThe Romance of a ShopAppendix A: Contemporary Reviews of The Romance of a Shop From “The Newest Books,” British Weekly (26 October 1888) “The Romance of a Shop,” The Jewish Chronicle (2 November 1888) “The Romance of a Shop,” The Spectator (3 November 1888) From George Saintsbury, “New Novels,” The Academy (10 November 1888) From H.C. Brewer, “New Novels,” The Graphic (24 November 1888) Oscar Wilde, “Amy Levy,” The Woman’s World (1890) Appendix B: Other Writing by Levy “The Poetry of Christina Rossetti,” The Woman’s World (February 1888) “Women and Club Life,” The Woman’s World (June 1888) “Readers at the British Museum,” Atalanta (April 1889) “Eldorado at Islington,” The Woman’s World (1889) Poetry Appendix C: Literary Contexts From John Ruskin, “Fiction—Fair and Foul,” The Nineteenth Century (October 1881) From Oscar Wilde, “The Decay of Lying,” The Nineteenth Century (January 1889) A. Mary F. Robinson, “Will,” Women’s Voices (1887) Michael Field, “The Moon Rose Full,” Long Ago (1889) Dollie Radford, “From Our Emancipated Aunt in Town,” Songs and Other Verses (1895) Appendix D: The Woman Question From Grant Allen, “The Girl of the Future,” The Universal Review (1890) From Clementina Black, “The Organization of Working Women,” The Fortnightly Review (November 1889) Appendix E: Victorian Photography From [Lady Elizabeth Eastlake], “Photography,” Quarterly Review (April 1857) Levy at Newnham College: Norwich House (1880) Appendix F: Map of Levy’s London from Bacon’s New Map of London (1885)Select Bibliography

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Book SynopsisA COMING-OF-AGE TALE OF ADVENTURE AND LOVE, FROM THE 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 'Amazingly vivid' SATURDAY REVIEW'The iron of the bridge felt hot under my hand. The sun had been upon it all day. Gripping hard with my hands I lifted myself on to the bar and gazed down steadily on the water passing under . . . I thought of places I would never see, and women I should never love.'As far as Richard's father, a famous poet is concerned, his son has no talent as a writer and will never amount to anything. In a moment of crisis, Richard decides to end his life, but is saved by Jake, a passing stranger. The two men, both at turning points in their lives, set out for adventure, jumping aboard a ship to Norway. Their travels take them through Europe and they form a passionate friendship. But in bohemian Paris, Richard meets Hesta, a music student who inspires him to follow his artistic dreams.Trade ReviewShe wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense, and she was, too, a writer of fearless originality * Guardian *One of the last century's most original literary talents * Daily Telegraph *No other popular writer has so triumphantly defied classification . . . She satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied the exacting requirements of "real literature", something very few novelists ever doDu Maurier's descriptions of riding in Norwegian mountains, of life before the mast and in foreign capitals ring as true as her transcription of a young man's thoughts and talk * Punch *Amazingly vivid * Saturday Review *Du Maurier's descriptions of riding in Norwegian mountains, of life before the mast and in foreign capitals ring as true as her transcription of a young man's thoughts and talk * PUNCH *Amazingly vivid * SATURDAY REVIEW *

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Book SynopsisIntroduction and Notes by Deborah Parsons, University of Birmingham. 'I am writing to a rhythm and not to a plot', Virginia Woolf stated of her eighth novel, The Waves. Widely regarded as one of her greatest and most original works, it conveys the rhythms of life in synchrony with the cycle of nature and the passage of time. Six children - Bernard, Susan, Rhoda, Neville, Jinny and Louis - meet in a garden close to the sea, their voices sounding over the constant echo of the waves that roll back and forth from the shore. The subsequent continuity of these six main characters, as they develop from childhood to maturity and follow different passions and ambitions, is interspersed with interludes from the timeless and unifying chorus of nature. In pure stream-of-consciousness style, Woolf presents a cross-section of multiple yet parallel lives, each marked by the disintegrating force of a mutual tragedy. The Waves is her searching exploration of individual and collective identity, and the observations and emotions of life, from the simplicity and surging optimism of youth to the vacancy and despair of middle-age.

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Book SynopsisCousin Rosamund unfolds the final chapters of the saga that began with The Fountain Overflows, Rebecca West''s acknowleged masterpiece, and continued with This Real Night.As the glitter of the 1920s gives way to the Depression, Rose and Mary find themselves feted and successful pianists. But their happiness is diminished by their cousin''s unfathomable marriage to a man they perceive as grotesque. Lacking her cousin Rosamund''s intuitive understanding, Rose looks to the surrogate wisdom of Mr Morpurgo, while quiet days with Aunt Lily and the Darcys at their pub on the Thames offer respite from the tensions of foreign concert tours. With approaching middle age Rose gains in perspective. Yet the most exciting development still awaits her: the discovery of and delight in her own sexuality...Trade ReviewA lastingly important English writer * Marghanita Laski *Rich, generous and consoling in spirit * Hilary Spurling, OBSERVER *Rebecca West highly intelligent, highly gifted, vital, original, combative, formidable and kind was a great woman * Victoria Glendinning *

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Book SynopsisHaving grown up in London and rural southern England, Margaret Hale moves with her father to the northern industrial city of Milton. She is shocked by the poverty she encounters and dismayed by the unsympathetic attitude of the textile-mill owner John Thornton, whose factory workers are engaged in an acrimonious strike. Against this backdrop of social unrest, the relationship between the two is tumultuous, and it takes further upheaval and tragedy for them to see each other in a different light. First serialized in Dickens's magazine Household Words in the same period as Hard Times, North and South shares its famous counterpart's concern with the inequality and hardship generated by the Industrial Revolution in northern England, while at the same time creating one of the nineteenth century's most memorable and engaging female protagonists in Margaret Hale.Trade ReviewA great story-teller... it seems as though the art of writing came to her as easily as an instinct. -- Virginia Woolf

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Book SynopsisOdessa was a uniquely Jewish city, and the stories of Isaac Babel - a Jewish man, writing in Russian, born in Odessa - uncover its tough underbelly. Gangsters, prostitutes, beggars, smugglers: no one escapes the pungent, sinewy force of Babel's pen. From the tales of the magnetic cruelty of Benya Krik - infamous mob boss, and one of the great anti-heroes of Russian literature - to the devastating semi-autobiographical account of a young Jewish boy caught up in a pogrom, this collection of stories is considered one of the great masterpieces of twentieth-century Russian literature. Translated with precision and sensitivity by Boris Dralyuk, whose rendering of the rich Odessan argot is pitch-perfect, Odessa Stories is the first ever stand-alone collection of all the stories Babel set in the city - and includes tales from the original collection as well as later ones.Trade Review“One of those ‘where have you been all my life?’ book . . . Fractured, jarring, beautiful, alive to humour . . . an excellent translation.” —Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian “These celebrated stories have never been rendered with the cutting flair Boris Dralyuk’s new English translations impart to them . . . Babel’s is an ebullient elegy, filled with violence, sex, and life.” —Los Angeles Review of Books “The salty speech of the city’s inhabitants is wonderfully rendered in a new translation by Boris Dralyuk, who preserves the characters’ Yiddishisms (‘He doesn't talk much, but when he talks, you want he should keep talking’) and imbues the dialogue with hard-boiled language reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett (‘Buzz off, coppers... or we’ll flatten you’). Although Babel mostly lets characters speak for themselves, the narrators’ descriptions can be as luxurious as the stolen jewels given to Benya’s sister on her wedding night, or as surprising as a slap in the face.” —Vice “Glorious stories by the incomparable Babel . . . This wonderful collection is a companion volume to Red Cavalry. Babel is required reading.” —Eileen Battersby, Irish Times (Best Books of 2016) “Electric, heroically wrought prose.” —John Updike “Aside from being a great writer, Babel stands as an emblem of the tragedy of 20th century totalitarianism . . . literary genius framed by 20th-century tragedy.” —New York Times “His is still an original, sparky voice sounding out of the great Russian literary pantheon.” —Paddy Kehoe, RTE Arena “Sparkling, wily and loose-tongued . . . Babel’s dialogue calls for a daring translator . . . Boris Dralyuk delivers brilliantly.” —Times Literary Supplement “It is impossible to look at the world the same way after reading Babel . . . one of the enduring jewels of 20th-century Russian literature.” —Financial Times

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Book SynopsisChess world champion Mirko Czentovic is travelling on an ocean liner to Buenos Aires. Dull-witted in all but chess, he entertains himself on board by allowing others to challenge him in the game, before beating each of them and taking their money. But there is another passenger with a passion for chess: Dr B, previously driven to insanity during Nazi imprisonment by the chess games in his imagination. But in agreeing to take on Czentovic, what price will Dr B ultimately pay? A moving portrait of one man's madness, The Royal Game: a chess story is a searing examination of the power of the mind and the evil it can do.Trade Review'Perhaps the best chess story ever written, perhaps the best about any game. Never mind that you may have never moved a pawn to King four; the story will grip you.' - Economist'The novella is one of Zweig's most horrifying investigations into monomania and at the same time a parable of the dangers inherent in engaging with Nazism.' - Ruth Franklin'A Chess Story by Stefan Zweig; the games our minds play.' - Candia McWilliam

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Book SynopsisThe Sun Also Rises is both a tragic love story and a searing group portrait of hapless American expatriates drinking, dancing, and chasing their illusions in post-World War I Europe. The man at its centre, world-weary journalist Jake Barnes, is burdened both by a wound acquired in the war and by his utterly hopeless love for the extravagantly decadent Lady Brett Ashley. When Jake, Brett and their friends leave Paris behind and converge in Pamplona for the annual festival of the running of the bulls, tensions among the various rivals for Brett's wayward affections build to a devastating climax. Hemingway, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, has exerted a lasting influence on fiction in English. His signature prose style, tersely powerful and concealing more than it reveals, arguably reached its apex in this modernist masterpiece.

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Book Synopsis‘Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.’ Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell’s magnificent historical epic is an unforgettable tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and a people forever changed. Above all, it is the story of beautiful, ruthless Scarlett O’Hara and the dashing soldier of fortune Rhett Butler. Widely considered the Great American Novel, and often remembered for its epic film version starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, Gone with the Wind is a superb piece of storytelling. It vividly depicts the drama of the Civil War and Reconstruction and is a sweeping story of tangled passion and courage.Since its first publication in 1936, Gone with the Wind has endured as one of the bestselling novels of all time, in spite of its problematic subject matter. This edition of the classic love story features an introductory essay offering a context to the novel, by critically acclaimed, Sunday Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory. Trade ReviewBeyond a doubt one of the most remarkable first novels produced by an American writer. It is also one of the best * New York Times *Not just a great love story, Gone with the Wind is one of the most powerful anti-war novels ever written. Told from the standpoint of the women left behind, author Margaret Mitchell brilliantly illustrates the heartbreaking and devastating effects of war on the land and its people -- Fannie FlaggThe best novel to have ever come out of the South . . . it is unsurpassed in the whole of American writing * Washington Post *Gone with the Wind is one of those rare books that we never forget. Gone with the Wind is an epic story. Anyone who has not read it has missed one of the greatest literary experiences a reader can have -- James Lee BurkeFascinating and unforgettable! A remarkable book, a spectacular book, a book that will not be forgotten! * Chicago Tribune *

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Book SynopsisLittle treasures, the FLAME TREE COLLECTABLE CLASSICS are chosen to create a delightful and timeless home library. Each stunning, gift edition features deluxe cover treatments, ribbon markers, luxury endpapers and gilded edges. The unabridged text is accompanied by a Glossary of Victorian and Literary terms produced for the modern reader. Phileas Fogg accepts the challenge to travel the globe in just eighty days. With his capable valet Passepartout, Fogg embarks on his journey from Dover encountering a series of adventures in many wonderful and dangerous places of the world in a fantastic race against time.

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Book SynopsisEdward Prendick is rescued from a damaged ship and brought to a small island where an infamous doctor performs a series of experiments on animals. Once exposed, Prendick becomes disturbed by his cruel and unethical methods. When Edward Prendick arrives on a mysterious island, he’s introduced to its leader, the elusive Dr. Moreau. He’s a disgraced vivisectionist who was forced to flee after his experiments were exposed. On the island he’s created a human-animal-hybrid race called Beast Folk. As Prendick encounters these creatures, he begins to fear for his life. He attempts to escape the horrors of the land but is haunted by its ugly truth. Initially, The Island of Doctor Moreau, was met with controversy due to its twisted take on evolution. Wells’ unflinching detail paints an unforgettable picture in the reader’s mind. It’s one of his most popular and adapted works, including three feature films from 1933, 1977 and 1996. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Island of Doctor Moreau is both modern and readable.

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Book SynopsisThe treasured fairy tales of Oscar Wilde in a stunning gift edition featuring exquisite illustrations by the celebrated artist Philippe Jullian with an afterword by Wilde’s son, Vyvyan Holland.

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Book SynopsisA ghost ship full of long-lost gold beckons, and Biggles gets an icy reception...Biggles, Algie, Bertie and Ginger are visited by Grimes, an old pal from the war, whose father, a Merchant Navy captain known as Jumbo, is in a spot of bother. He was recently tricked into skippering a crew of seal poachers to an islet off Antarctica. While there, they spotted an old ship – still rigged for sail – trapped in the pack ice. After an investigation of the ship, Jumbo overheard the words ‘starry’ and ‘crown’ from the jubilant crew.An avid fan of an unsolved mysteries, Biggles immediately recognises the importance of these words. Jumbo and his crew had stumbled upon the long-lost schooner Starry Crown, which went missing seventy years prior with a ton of Australian gold ingots aboard. There have been several sightings and ill-fated recovery expeditions since, but no one has ever retrieved the gold.Grimes reckons that they might be able to beat the poachers to the treasure if they were to go by air, and wonders if Biggles is interested in an adventure. After making a few enquiries, Biggles agrees to the expedition, but there is more than gold in the Starry Crown, and no help for miles across Antarctica’s vast silence…Wrap up warm for a classic Biggles adventure to the frozen continent of Antarctica.

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Book SynopsisThe case of the pirate U-boat!Air Commodore Raymond has a thrilling new case for Biggles, Ginger, Algy and Bertie, now the Scotland Yard Air Squad.Instead of surrendering at the end of the war, commander Von Schonbeck of submarine U-517 escaped to the south Indian ocean. From his base on an uncharted island, he has been waging his own personal war, very profitably. Among other booty, he is known to have acquired a sizeable quantity of gold.But there's very little to go on: the submarine sinks all the ships it preys upon, leaving no survivors. And Biggles & Co. have a hunting ground of a million square miles of air and ocean…Will they find the renegade submarine, or will it continue to prowl the depths?Has Biggles met his match in the hunt for the dastardly von Schonbeck?

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Book SynopsisFirst encountered in Lawrence’s novel The Rainbow, sisters Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen are now grown-up women living in the English Midlands at the time of the First World War. Each becomes involved in a love affair: Ursula with the misanthropic intellectual Rupert Birkin, and Gudrun with Gerald Crich, a successful industrialist. The contrast between the two relationships – the former happy and fulfilling, the latter tempestuous and violent – facilitates an examination of both the regenerative and destructive aspects of human passion, while the novel’s Alpine climax is revelatory of the intensity of close male friendship. Heavily revised by the author in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the controversy surrounding the publication of The Rainbow, which had been suppressed on grounds of obscenity, Women in Love appeared first in the US in 1920, with a British edition following the next year. Straddling the boundary between nineteenth-century realism and modernism, it was regarded by Lawrence as his most accomplished work, and is considered by many to be the author’s masterpiece.

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Book SynopsisMurder, political intrigue, theft, secret identities, and deception—this Agatha Christie mystery has it all!In this fast-paced mystery from Agatha Christie—one of the masters of detective fiction—Prince Michael, heir to the throne of Herzoslovakia, is found murdered at the English countryside manor known as Chimneys. A plot full of political scheming, the theft of the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond, and layers of deception unfolds as Superintendent Battle from Scotland Yard investigates. Each clue weaves a new thread into a web of intrigue that mystery thriller fans will be hard-pressed to untangle!

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Book SynopsisThis gripping story of Kyiv during the Second World War told by a young boy who saw it all.'Rightly hailed a masterpiece' Daily Mail'So here is my invitation: enter into my fate, imagine that you are twelve, that the world is at war and that nobody knows what is going to happen next...'When the German army rolled into Kyiv in 1941 the young Anatoli was just twelve years old. He began writing down what he saw in his journals.Within ten days of the invasion, the Nazis had begun their campaign of fear and murder in Ukraine. Babi Yar (Babyn Yar in Ukrainian) was the place where the executions of Jews and many others took place. It was one of the largest massacres in the history of the Holocaust. Anatoli could hear the machine guns from his house.Anatoli’s clear, compelling voice, honesty and determination guide us through the horrors of that time. Babi Yar has the compulsion and narration of fiction but everything recounted here is true.'Extraordinary' Orlando Figes, Guardian'A vivid first-hand account of life under one of the most savage of occupation regimes... A book which must be read and never forgotten' The TimesThis is the complete, uncensored version of Babi Yar - its history written into the text. Parts shown in bold are those cut by the Russian censors, parts in brackets show later additions.Trade ReviewRead it and weep... Nothing I have read about that barbaric time has been as affecting as this gripping, disturbing book - rightly hailed a masterpiece -- Tony Rennell * Daily Mail *Babi Yar is one of the classic accounts of life under Nazi rule in occupied Europe and a depiction of man's inhumanity to man... [a] masterpiece -- Henry Marsh * New Statesman *A masterpiece . . . Every bit the peer of the canonical works of witness [such as] Anne Frank's diary . . . Wiesel's Night . . . Solzhenityn's Gulag Archipelago -- George Packer * The Atlantic *Absolutely stunning. A raw, devastating account of one of the greatest tragedies of WW2. Babi Yar provides a painfully intimate look at life during the Nazi occupation in Ukraine through the eyes of one resilient young boy. Told in poetic yet unflinching prose, this compelling book should be necessary reading for anyone looking to not only understand Ukrainian history, but humanity -- Erin LittekenMoving and shaking in a way that links it with the works of Solzhenitsyn * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisMarley’s ghost, Bob Cratchit’s slide down icy Cornhill, Mr and Mrs Fezziwig’s dance, and of course Ebenezer Scrooge himself, are all exquisitely illustrated in this luxury collector’s edition of Charles Dickens’s perennial seasonal favourite. Arthur Rackham’s colour wash drawings and silhouettes, first published during the First World War, bring a threatening and haunting atmosphere to Scrooge’s story, which contrasts wonderfully with the gifts and games of Belle’s household. Rackham was a leading illustrator in the golden age of book illustration, when groundbreaking techniques for colour printing were developing fast. He illustrated over sixty books and specialized in children’s classics and fairy tales. This landmark edition helped to consolidate the idea of the Dickensian Christmas and the tradition of the Christmas gift book. It is a beautiful version of a classic story, which never ceases to be relevant to our times.

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Book SynopsisWith an Introduction by David Stuart Davies. The Hound of the Baskervilles is the classic detective chiller. It features the world's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes, in his most challenging case. The Baskerville family is haunted by a phantom beast "with blazing eyes and dripping jaws" which roams the mist-enshrouded moors around the isolated Baskerville Hall on Dartmoor. Now the hound seems to be stalking young Sir Henry, the new master of the Baskerville estate. Is this devilish spectre the manifestation of the family curse? Or is Sir Henry the victim of a vile and scheming murderer? Only Sherlock Holmes can solve this devilish affair. The Valley of Fear is a dark, powerful tale, which provides the great detective with a most perplexing case and opens with a vile murder: “Lying across his chest was a most curious weapon, a shotgun with the barrel sawn off in front of the triggers. It was clear that it had been fired at close range, and that he had received the whole charge in the face, blowing his head almost to pieces”. Sherlock Holmes' arch enemy, the criminal genius Professor Moriarty, is back! But the solution to the riddle, found after many surprising twists and high dramas, lies far away, half across the world in a location known as 'The Valley of Fear'. This is Conan Doyle's last Holmes novel and in the opinion of many of his fans, it is the best!

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Book SynopsisA new version of John Payne's Victorian translation, with an Introduction by Cormac O Cuilleanain. 1348. The Black Death is sweeping through Europe. In Florence, plague has carried off one hundred thousand people. In their Tuscan villas, seven young women and three young men tell tales to recreate the world they have lost, weaving a rich tapestry of comedy, tragedy, ribaldry and farce. Boccaccio's Decameron recasts the storytelling heritage of the ancient and medieval worlds into perennial forms that inspired writers from Chaucer and Shakespeare down to our own day. Boccaccio makes the incredible believable, with detail so sharp we can look straight into the lives of people who lived six hundred years ago. His Decameron hovers between the fading glories of an aristocratic past - the Crusades, the Angevins, the courts of France, the legendary East - and the colourful squalor of contemporary life, where wives deceive husbands, friars and monks pursue fleshly ends, and natural instincts fight for satisfaction. Here are love and jealousy, passion and pride - and a shrewd calculation of profit and loss which heralds the rise of a dynamic merchant class. These stories show us early capitalism during a moment of crisis and revelation.

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Book SynopsisMeet Elizabeth and discover there is no greater happiness to be found than when lost in a wilderness of a garden, with bird cherries, lilacs, hollyhocks and lilies crowding the vision. This is her sanctuary from a host of unreasonable demands, whether from the Man of Wrath (husband), babies, servants and (worst of all horrors) house guests. Plunge into her charming diaries and be warned: you won't be able to remain indoors.Trade ReviewAn extraordinary piece of work...it has a freshness, a freakish charm, an irrepressible energy -- Elizabeth Jane HowardA gem of a book: rare, simple, innocent and charming -- Susan HillUnusual in the way that the sympathetic female narrator either cheerfully disregarded or, more often than not, gently mocked her husband and family. The book was a wild success and by 1899 it had run through 21 editions. * Independent *A witty tale about marrying a richer, older man and finding liberation from a stifling world of elitism through gardening. It was a risky tale for its time, and still feels modern on both love and the garden. * Guardian *Delightful * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisHer mother's dying request obliges Mary Yellan to make a grim journey across bleak Cornish moorland to Jamaica Inn, the home of her Aunt Patience and her overbearing husband, Joss Merlyn. With the coachman's warning echoing in her mind and affected by the inn's brooding power, Mary is thwarted in her intention to help her aunt. She finds herself drawn unwillingly into the misdeeds of Joss and his accomplices, and even more disturbing are her feelings for a man she dare not trust ...Jamaica Inn is a dark and gripping gothic tale that will remind readers of two other great classics, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.

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Book SynopsisNOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING RACHEL WEISZ AND SAM CLAFIN 'Du Maurier is a storyteller whose sole aim is to bewitch and beguile' NEW YORK TIMES'Du Maurier has no equal' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH' One of her best novels, ingeniously contrived as to plot, successfully realized as to characters' KIRKUS REVIEWS 'I threw the piece of paper on the fire. She saw it burn . . . 'Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in making Philip his heir, knowing he will treasure his beautiful Cornish estate. But Philip's world is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries. Then he suddenly dies in suspicious circumstances. In almost no time at all, the new widow - Philip's cousin Rachel - turns up in England. Despite himself, Philip is drawn to this beautiful, sophisticated, mysterious woman like a moth to the flame. And yet . . . might she have had a hand in Ambrose's death?Trade ReviewShe wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense, and she was, too, a writer of fearless originality * Guardian *Du Maurier has no equal * Sunday Telegraph *This comes closer to Rebecca than anything Miss du Maurier has done and is, I think, one of her best novels, ingeniously contrived as to plot, successfully realized as to characters * Kirkus Reviews *From the first page . . . the reader is back in the moody, brooding atmosphere of Rebecca * New York Times Book Review *No other popular writer has so triumphantly defied classification . . . She satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied the exacting requirements of "real literature", something very few novelists ever doIn the same category as REBECCA, but an even more consummate piece of storytelling * GUARDIAN 'From the first page . . . the reader is back in the moody, brooding atmosphere of Rebecca’ *NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

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Book SynopsisA RIVETING STORY FROM ONE OF AFRICA'S MOST IMPORTANT WOMAN WRITERS 'When Rain Clouds Gather and Maru are fairy tales about the transformations that love can wreak. And they transform love into a force to be thankful for' HELEN OYEYEMIEscaping South Africa and his troubled past, Makehaya crosses the border to Botswana, in the hope of leading a peaceful and purposeful life. In the village of Golema Mmidi, he meets Gilbert, a charismatic Englishman who is trying to modernise farming methods to benefit the community. The two outsiders join forces, but their task is fraught with hazards: opposition from the corrupt chief, the pressures of tradition and the unrelenting climate ever threaten to bring tragedy. Maru: Margaret, an orphan from a despised tribe, has lived her life under the loving protection of a missionary's wife. She has only to open her mouth to cause confusion, for her education and English accent do not fit her looks. When she accepts her first teaching post, in a remote village, Margaret is befriended by Dikeledi, sister of Maru the chief-in-waiting. Despite making influential friends, Margaret faces prejudice even from the children she teaches, and her presence causes Maru and his best friend - also Dikeledi's lover - to become sworn enemies.Trade ReviewWhen Rain Clouds Gather and Maru are fairy tales about the transformations that love can wreak. And they transform love into a force to be thankful for -- Helen Oyeyemi

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Book Synopsis'And so, with great care, he planted his hundred acorns'While hiking through the wild lavender in a wind-swept, desolate valley in Provence, a man comes across a solitary shepherd called Elzéard Bouffier. Staying with him, he watches Elzéard sorting and then planting hundreds of acorns as he walks through the wilderness.Ten years later, after surviving the First World War, he visits the shepherd again. A young forest is slowly spreading over the valley - Elzéard has continued his work. Year after year the narrator returns to see the miracle being created: a verdant, green landscape that is testament to one man's creative instinct. miracle he is gradually creating: a verdant, green landscape that is a testament to one man's creative instinct.'I love the humanity of this story and how one man's efforts can change the future for so many' Michael Morpurgo, IndependentVINTAGE EARTH is a series of books that reveals our ever-changing relationship with the environment. These are stories old and young, set in worlds real or imagined, that allow us to explore our connection to the natural world. Transformative, wild, surprising and essential, these novels take on the most urgent story of our times.Trade Review • "One of the greatest writers of our generation." --Andre Mairaux • "Giono: he's a god. I rank him with Chateaubriand and Proust." --Jean d'Ormesson • "In Giono's work what every sensitive, full-blooded individual ought to be able to recognise at once is 'the song of the world." --Henry Miller

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Book SynopsisRose Aubrey is one of a family of four children. Their father, Piers, is the disgraced son of an Irish landowning family, a violent, noble and quite unscrupulous leader of popular causes. His Scottish wife, Clare, is an artist, a tower of strength, fanatically devoted to a musical future for her daughters. This is the story of their life in south London, a life threatened by Piers's streak of tragic folly which keeps them on the verge of financial ruin and social disgrace . . .'A book bursting with love and vitality' DAILY EXPRESSTrade Review* 'It is improbable that even the most scrupulous reader could name a more poignantly and lovingly told tale, a more beautiful piece of writing * NYTimes ** 'So vivid and lovable are her subjects, a crisis-ridden musical and literary family, that to finish the book is to suffer a bereavement. * Mail on Sunday. *

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Book Synopsis'All I had experienced, all the stories I had read or dreamed came to me the moment I, a stranger, turned the key in the lock of the unknown house.'In a sweltering basement in downtown Baltimore, Mavis Halleton, writer, ventriloquist and gossip, is struggling to write her novel when an unexpected invitation arrives. The Garretts, a couple Mavis has never heard of but who admire her work, are to spend time in Italy and offer the use of their airy home in the Berkeley hills.During her stay, an earthquake hits northern Italy and Mavis, to her surprise, inherits the house. But, surrounded by museum replicas and tasteful imitations, she finds reality itself is on shaky ground.In this highly inventive novel, reality, fiction and dreams are woven together as Janet Frame playfully explores the process of writing fiction.Trade ReviewQuirky, rich, eccentricPuts everything else that has come my way this year in the shadeProbably as near a masterpiece as we are likely to see this year . . . it is a novel full of riches * Daily Telegraph *A clever, high-spirited performance * New Yorker *She treats the book like one of those miniature glass balls which snows when you shake it. Playful, deft work, then, by a writer of eccentric strengths * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisFrom his Baker Street apartment, Sherlock Holmes wields his powers of deduction in pursuit of justice and truth, venturing out into foggy Victorian London accompanied by his faithful sidekick Dr Watson. This classic collection of Holmes tales includes many of the detective’s most-loved exploits: Holmes is confronted by a venomous snake in ‘The Adventure of the Speckled Band’, mystified by a missing thumb in ‘The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb’ and beguiled by a beautiful opera singer in ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’, never once losing his famous cool. First appearing separately in the Strand Magazine, these stories were published together in 1892 in a volume that rapidly became one of the most popular Sherlock Holmes collections. Showcasing Arthur Conan Doyle’s inimitable genius for mystery and storytelling, these tales are proof that the famous detective remains one of the greatest crime fighters ever created.Table of ContentsA Scandal in BohemiaThe Red-headed LeagueA Case of IdentityThe Boscombe Valley MysteryThe Five Orange PipsThe Man with the Twisted LipThe Adventure of the Blue CarbuncleThe Adventrure of the Speckled BandThe Adventure of the Engineer's ThumbThe Adventure of the Noble BachelorThe Adventure of the Beryl CoronetThe Adventure of the Copper Beeches

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Book SynopsisTurgenev’s final novel, Virgin Soil traces the destinies of several middle-class revolutionaries who seek to “go to the people” by working on the land and instilling democratic ideas in the countryside’s locals. They include the daydreaming impoverished young tutor Nezhdanov – employed by the liberal councillor Sipyagin and his vain and beautiful wife Valentina – the naive young radical Maryanna and the progressive factory manager Solomin. Their liaisons, intrigues and conspiracies, set against the backdrop of Tsarist Russia, form the matter of Turgenev’s most ambitious and elaborate work, which cemented the author’s place in the West as Russia’s foremost novelist while at the same time proving controversial at home – culminating in the arrest of fifty-two real-life revolutionaries barely a month after it was published.Trade ReviewTurgenev to me is the greatest writer there ever was. -- Ernest Hemingway

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Book SynopsisIn the Twilight, the third collection of short stories compiled by Anton Chekhov himself, was his first major success and won him the prestigious Pushkin Prize when it was published in 1888. This volume represents a clear milestone in the writer’s passage from the youthful Antosha Chekhonte, author of slight comic sketches, to the mature master of the short-story genre. This edition presents the sixteen tales of the original collection – ranging from well-known and acknowledged gems such as ‘Agafya’ and ‘On the Road’ to others which will be fresh even to many seasoned readers of Chekhov – in a brand-new translation by Hugh Aplin, providing an invaluable glimpse into a pivotal moment in the writer’s literary career.Trade ReviewWhat writers influenced me as a young man? Chekhov! As a dramatist? Chekhov! As a story writer? Chekhov! -- Tennessee WilliamsTable of ContentsContains: In the Twilight, Dreams, A Trivial Occurrence, A Bad Business, At Home, The Witch, Verochka, In Court, A Restless Guest, The Requiem, On the Road, Misfortune, An Event, Agafya, Enemies, A Nightmare, On Easter Eve

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Book SynopsisJane Austen seems to have been born with the comic precision and other-worldly insight she everywhere displays in Sense and Sensibility, her first published novel (1811), which, though revised later, was completed in 1797 at the age of twenty-two. This meticulously constructed story of two sisters with opposing temperaments and romantic inclinations exemplifies the distilled spirit of classicism in English literature.

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Book Synopsis*BY THE WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE*'Laxness at his best: a reminder of the mad hilarity of the Icelandic sensibility. An endearing and unforgettable voice' Nicholas ShakespeareAbandoned as a baby, Alfgrimur is content to spend his days as a fisherman living in the turf cottage outside Reykjavik with the elderly couple he calls grandmother and grandfather. There he shares the mid-loft with a motley bunch of eccentrics and philosophers who find refuge in the simple respect for their fellow men that is the ethos at the Brekkukot. But the narrow horizons of Alfgrimur's idyllic childhood are challenged when he starts school and meets Iceland's most famous singer, the mysterious Garoar Holm. Garoar encourages him to aim for the 'one true note', but how can he attain it without leaving behind the world that he loves?'It is a novel (a world) that transmits something of the wonder of life' Murray BailTrade ReviewLaxness is a poet who writes to the edge of the pages, a visionary who allows us a plot: he takes a Tolstoyan overview, he weaves in an Evelyn Waugh-like humour: it is not possible to be unimpressed * Daily Telegraph *This weird and wonderful novel, about the price you pay for 'the one true note', is Laxness at his best: a reminder of the mad hilarity of the Icelandic sensibility. An endearing and unforgettable voice * Nicholas Shakespeare *It is a novel (a world) that transmits something of the wonder of life, its strangeness, its goodness, ocassions for stubbornness, and the stoicism of people - people everywhere * Murray Bail *Laxness's view of a child's bounded universe has humour and a light touch * Guardian *

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