Classics Books

Book SynopsisIntroduction and Notes by Dinny Thorold, University of Westminster. Illustrated by F. Walker and Maurice Greiffenhagen. Unusually for Dickens, Hard Times is set, not in London, but in the imaginary mid-Victorian Northern industrial town of Coketown with its blackened factories, downtrodden workers and polluted environment. This is the soulless domain of the strict utilitarian Thomas Gradgrind and the heartless factory owner Josiah Bounderby. However human joy is not excluded thanks to 'Mr Sleary's Horse-Riding' circus, a gin-soaked and hilarious troupe of open-hearted and affectionate people who act as an antidote to all the drudgery and misery endured by the ordinary citizens of Coketown. Macaulay attacked Hard Times for its ‘sullen socialism’, but 20th-century critics such as George Bernard Shaw and F.R. Leavis have praised this book in the highest terms, while readers the world over have found inspiration and enjoyment from what is both Dickens’ shortest completed novel and also one of his important statements on Victorian society.

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Book SynopsisThis sumptuous gift set includes a replica of the very rare first edition of The Hobbit, the only edition where one can now read the original version of the story before Tolkien re-edited it to become the one enjoyed by readers since 1951.The Hobbit was published on 21 September 1937, with a print run of 1,500 copies. With a beautiful cover design, nearly a dozen black & white illustrations and two black & red maps by the author himself, the book proved to be popular and was reprinted shortly afterwards. History was already being made.The scarcity of the first edition has resulted in copies commanding huge prices, way beyond the reach of most Tolkien fans. In addition, subsequent changes to the text particularly those to chapter 5, when Tolkien decided in 1947 to revise the text to bring it better into accord with events as they were developing in its sequel', The Lord of the Rings mean that the opportunity to read the book in its original form and format has become quite difficult.This special commemorative gift set includes the first edition, so that readers of all ages not just children between the ages of 5 and 9', as Rayner Unwin famously declared in his report on the original submission can finally enjoy Tolkien's story as it originally appeared. It also includes an exclusive CD of archive recordings that capture Tolkien reading from The Hobbit, a special copy of Thror's map which reveals the secret moon-runes when held to the light, and an accompanying booklet that relates the history of The Hobbit, and includes connected writings by JRR Tolkien.Trade Review‘The Hobbit belongs to a very small class of books which have nothing in common save that each admits us to a world of its own. Its place is with Alice and The Wind in the Willows.’Times Literary Supplement ‘One of the best loved characters in English fiction… a marvellous fantasy adventure’Daily Mail ‘Finely written saga of dwarves and elves, fearsome goblins and trolls… an exciting epic of travel, magical adventure, working up to a devastating climax’The Observer

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Book SynopsisThe 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 SynopsisFanny Price is taken to live at Mansfield Park, the home of her wealthy uncle. She gradually falls in love with her cousin Edmund, but when the dazzling and sophisticated Crawfords arrive, and amateur theatricals unleash rivalry and sexual jealousy, Fanny has to fight to retain her independence. This new edition places Mansfield Park in its Regency context and elucidates the theatrical background that pervades the novel.

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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 SynopsisWith an Introduction and Notes by Michael Irwin, Professor of English Literature, University of Kent at Canterbury. The Diary of a Nobody is so unassuming a work that even its author, George Grossmith, seemed unaware that he had produced a masterpiece. For more than a century this wonderfully comic portrayal of suburban life and values has remained in print, a source of delight to generations of readers, and a major literary influence, much imitated but never equalled. If you don’t recognise yourself at some point in The Diary you are probably less than human. If you can read it without laughing aloud you have no sense of humour.

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Book SynopsisOn a crowded bus at midday, the narrator observes one man accusing another of jostling him deliberately. When a seat is vacated, the first man takes it. Later, in another part of town, the man is spotted again, while being advised by a friend to have another button sewn onto his overcoat. Exercises in Style retells this apparently unremarkable tale ninety-nine times, employing a variety of styles, ranging from sonnet to cockney to mathematical formula. Too funny to be merely a pedantic thesis, this virtuoso set of themes and variations is a linguistic rustremover, a guide to literary forms and a demonstration of imagery and inventiveness.Trade ReviewWitty, playful, ingenious, it manages to transcend its own sophistication by a sort of verbal slapstick which Miss Wright translated into pure Groucho Marxism. * The Guardian * Midway between Lewis Carroll and Jacques Derrida, in a deliriously witty dimension of its own, lies Queneau's Exercises in Style... Barbara Wright's dazzling translation matches this oddball classic step by step, pun by pun. * The Independent * A pointless anecdote told in 99 different ways, or a work of genius in a brilliant translation by Barbara Wright. In fact it's both. Endlessly fascinating and very funny. -- Philip Pullman I've loved Exercises in Style for years. This translation is impeccable, extraordinary. -- Philip Pullman

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Book SynopsisThis is the first paperback edition to bring out in one volume Kate Chopin's extraordinary novel The Awakening (1899), along with the complete text of her two collections of short stories, Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897), and twelve uncollected tales. The Awakening is a strikingly modern, evocative story of self-discovery and female emancipation, set in the sensuous environment of Southern Louisiana, where the young Edna Pontellier reclaims her own individuality, refusing to be defined by her roles of wife and mother. Chopin's stories are brilliantly observed, compassionate and often humorous, alert to the foibles, weaknesses and small triumphs of her characters. Overshadowed by the relatively recent fame of The Awakening, they contain some of the best work of this remarkably original author.

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Book SynopsisBy the time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had completed the twelve stories for The Strand Magazine that are gathered together in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, he was already growing tired of his most famous creation, but the financial incentive to continue was too great. So began the second series of stories, known as The Memoirs; these introduced such notable characters as Holmes' indolent brother, Mycroft, and Holmes' most dangerous adversary, Professor James Moriarty, the 'Napoleon of Crime'. The collection included such stories as 'The Adventure of the Resident Patient' and 'The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter', which Doyle would list later as amongst his favourites. It was to Moriarty that was delegated the task of ending the career of the world's finest consulting detective in a final, fatal encounter at The Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland in the concluding tale, 'The Final Problem'.

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Book SynopsisCharlotte Perkins Gilman’s progressive views on feminism and mental health are powerfully showcased in her two most famous stories. The Yellow Wallpaper skillfully charts one woman's struggle with depression whilst Herland is an entertaining imagining of an all female utopia.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by journalist and author Lucy Mangan.Confined to her attic bedroom and isolated from her newborn baby, the nameless narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper keeps a secret diary in which she records the sprawling and shifting patterns of the room’s lurid yellow wallpaper as she slowly sinks into madness. This chilling story is based on the author’s own experience of depression. In Herland, a trio of men set out to discover an all-female community rumoured to be hidden deep in the jungle. What they find surprises them all; they’re captured by women who, for two thousand years, have lived in a peaceful and prosperous utopia without men.Trade ReviewThe Yellow Wallpaper by the American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman created feminist fireworks the moment it appeared in the January 1892 edition of the New England Magazine -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *Gilman wrote her story about husbands, the medical profession and the patriarchy at large shaping and suppressing women’s lives and freedoms 126 years ago. It was only in 2015 that we got a name and a crime – coercive control – for most of what her heroine experiences * Stylist *

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Book SynopsisIn The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald captures the flamboyance, the carelessness and the cruelty of the wealthy during America's Jazz Age. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition features an afterword by David Stuart Davies.The Great Gatsby lives mysteriously in a luxurious Long Island mansion, playing lavish host to hundreds of people. And yet no one seems to know him or how he became so rich. He is rumoured to be everything from a German spy to a war hero. People clamour for invitations to his wild parties. But Jay Gatsby doesn't heed them. He cares for one person alone - Daisy Buchanan, the woman he has waited for all his life. Little does he know that his infatuation will lead to tragedy and end in murder.Trade ReviewFitzgerald's slim tale of the jazz age became the most celebrated and beloved novel in the American canon. It's more than an American classic; it's become a defining document of the national psyche, a creation myth, the Rosetta Stone of the American dream -- Jay McInerney * The Observer *Fitzgerald’s novel is a portal to the savage heart of the human spirit, affords a glimpse at our humanity and wonders at our enormous capacity to dream, to imagine, to hope and to persevere -- Anne O’Neill * The Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisNow a major motion picture starring Timothée Chalamet, Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson and Meryl Streep. Recognized as one of the best-loved classic children's stories of all time, Little Women is an utterly beguiling novel.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition includes the sequel, Good Wives, which picks up the girls' stories three years on, and features an afterword by publisher Anna South.Louisa May Alcott tells the story of the courageous and ingenious March sisters; Jo, the independent tomboy; Beth, who is delicate and loving; pretty and kind Meg; and beautiful, precocious Amy, the baby of the family. Their devoted mother Marmee, recently impoverished, must care for them alone whilst their father is away serving as a chaplain in the Civil War.Trade ReviewAlcott’s book has become the cast-iron foundation from which other writers and artists can build their own beliefs and desires. * Independent *One-hundred-and-fifty-year-old literature never felt so alive . . . There’s a reason why Little Women, in print continuously since its first volume was published in 1868, has been such an enduring phenomenon, and that is Jo March. * Guardian *During the 150 years since the novel’s publication, fans have worshipped Alcott’s story . . . a treasured American classic and peerless coming-of-age story for girls. * The Atlantic *

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

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Book Synopsis'Discovering Eva Ibbotson’s books is one of the nicest things that’s ever happened to me. The most beautiful, delicious, wry read' – Marian KeyesCurl up with a collection of romantic short stories taking you from nineteenth-century Vienna, over the wild moors of Northumberland to the snowy streets of pre-revolutionary St Petersberg. A collection of eighteen romantic short stories from the award-winning and much-loved Eva Ibbotson, A Glove Shop in Vienna will show you the great passions and astute observations of everyday life. Join Great-Uncle Max, torn between his grand and secret love for Susie, the enchanting glove shop assistant, and the devotion of his opera-singing wife. Meet Miss Bennett, drama mistress at the fading Markham Street Primary School, whose search for a baby Jesus for the nativity play yields unexpected and miraculous results. And agonise with Kira, a dancer in Russia's Imperial Ballet school, thrown out onto the streets of St. Petersburg, and found by Edwin, a lonely dreamer. A chocolate-box collection of deliciously romantic, atmospheric and witty stories to lose yourself in this Christmas.'Eva Ibbotson is such a good writer that her characters break the bonds of the romantic novel' Washington PostTrade ReviewEva Ibbotson is such a good writer that her characters break the bonds of the romantic novel. * Washington Post Book Review *Discovering Eva Ibbotson’s books is one of the nicest things that’s ever happened to me. The most beautiful, delicious, wry read -- Marian KeyesThis lovely collection of short stories are typical of Ibbotson’s novels. They’re full of giddy romance, soul-stirring description of Old Vienna, handsome and intriguing men and girls who have a lot of feelings. Absolute bliss in other words! -- Sarra Manning * Red online *The late Ibbotson's words live on in this atmospheric collection of wintery short stories. Lonely dreamers, ballerinas and a Christmas angel. * The i newspaper *Her books are utterly delightful * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisA gorgeous anthology to dip into and savour the rich literary heritage of Yorkshire, Britain’s largest county. Yorkshire is renowned for its landscapes: the magical wilderness of the moors and the dales, its cities built on industry and mining, and its varied coastline.All these places, as well as its people, have been portrayed and dramatized in literature through the centuries; by poets from Andrew Marvell to Simon Armitage, by novelists such as Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Bram Stoker, and of course the Brontës, all of whom are represented here. Then there are novelists such as David Storey and Barry Hines, who wrote about working-class lives in the mining towns in the 1950s and 60s. And finally some favourite characters to enjoy, such as James Herriot and the Yorkshire Shepherdess.Yorkshire: A Literary Landscape is edited by David Stuart Davies.Trade ReviewThe present selection of pieces has been ably curated by writer and film historian David Stuart Davies, who approaches his task with intelligence, wit and a proper commitment to research. -- Steve Whitaker * Yorkshire Times *Davies is perceptive on context and insightful as to the wider relevance or social value of his authorial choices’ literary achievements. -- Steve Whitaker * Yorkshire Times *

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Book SynopsisAnnabel Christopher is every inch the star: a glamorous actress with a devoted, handsome husband. To keep the paparazzi and her adoring public under her spell, her perfect image must be carefully cultivated, whatever the cost. Beneath the facade, though, her husband cannot bear her or their vapid existence. Envious of her success, he plots his revenge and stages a scandal even Annabel will find a challenge to recover from.

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Book SynopsisOne of Dickens's finest novels, Great Expectations chronicles the fortunes of its young protagonist Pip as he is unexpectedly endowed by a mysterious benefactor with the life of a gentleman, enabling him to escape to London from the prospect of a humble blacksmith's career in rural Kent. In the bustling, unforgiving capital he must learn for himself the pitfalls of love and wealth, and how to sort his friends from his enemies. Through the lives of its unforgettable and iconic characters - such as Magwitch, Miss Havisham and Estella - Great Expectations charts the course of an England undergoing rapid social and economic change, and tells a tale that is among the foremost classics of the English language.Trade ReviewAll his characters are my personal friends - I am constantly comparing them with living persons, and living persons with them. -- Leo Tolstoy Dickens's figures belong to poetry, like figures of Dante or Shakespeare, in that a single phrase, either by them or about them, may be enough to set them wholly before us. -- T.S. Eliot

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Book SynopsisDespite hailing from a comfortable family background, budding poet Gordon Comstock decides to declare war on money and all the middle-class trappings that wealth can buy. Working in a small bookshop and living in a bedsit in London, he dreams of completing an ambitious poem in rhyme royal and devoting his life to literature. But when poverty begins to damage his self-esteem and taint his worldview, and his romantic and professional lives start falling apart, will Gordon be able to uphold his anti-money principles, or will he succumb to the lure of lucre and everything he stands against? First published in 1936, Keep the Aspidistra Flying is the author’s third novel, and one of his most outspoken works of social criticism. Partly autobiographical, it sits alongside Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four as a reminder of Orwell’s lucid narrative style and his abilities as a politically and socially engaged writer.

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Book SynopsisPlease note this title can not be sold to customers in North America, due to copyright restrictions ‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’ ‘F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby was first published on April 10, 1925. Set on Long Island’s North Shore and in New York City during the summer of 1922, it is the story of an attractive young man, hopelessly in love, who, having worked so hard to improve himself so he can win back the woman he loves, finds himself in a world where money has replaced humility and despair has replaced hope.For me, the novel is a comment on the values and cynicism of east coast America almost a hundred years ago, a time when a section of society had suddenly become very wealthy and the American Dream was for most, nothing more than the mere pursuit of money.’Trade ReviewPeter Joucla's surprisingly clear-eyed adaptation cuts to the heart of Fitzgerald's text while preserving a very decent amount of it. * 4 stars - Evening Standard *Evoking all the glamour and atmosphere of the roaring twenties, Wilton's brings Gatsby to glorious, all-singing, all-dancing life (jazz hands optional). A must-see * welovethisbook.com *An unashamed nostalgia party for a world we never knew... This is a show that majors in fun; and it's no surprise to see it's a cult hit. * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisVictor Frankenstein driven by the mad dream of creating his own creature, experiments with alchemy and science to build a monster stitched together from dead remains. Once the creature becomes a living breathing articulate entity, it turns on its maker and the novel darkens into tragedy.Trade ReviewShelley’s speechifying, lonely, Miltonic monster remains one of the greatest characters in all of literature… The book may also be the greatest meditation on birth I have ever read. -- Siri Hustvedt * The Week *

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Book SynopsisA Victorian scientist and inventor creates a machine for propelling himself through time, and voyages to the year AD 802701, where he discovers a race of humanoids called the Eloi. Their gently indolent way of life, set in a decaying cityscape, leads the scientist to believe that they are the remnants of a once great civilization. He is forced to revise this assessment when he comes across the cave dwellings of threatening ape-like creatures known as Morlocks, whose dark underground world he must explore to discover the terrible secrets of this fractured society, and the means of getting back to his own time. A biting critique of class and social equality as well as an innovative and much imitated piece of science fiction which introduced the idea of time travel into the popular consciousness, The Time Machine is a profound and extraordinarily prescient novel.Trade ReviewI personally consider the greatest of English living writers [to be] H.G. Wells. -- Upton Sinclair

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Book SynopsisWith an Introduction and Notes by Esther Saxey The flaxen-haired beauty of the childlike Lady Audley would suggest that she has no secrets. But M.E. Braddon’s classic novel of sensation uncovers the truth about its heroine in a plot involving bigamy, arson and murder. It challenges assumptions about the nature of femininity and investigates the narrow divide between sanity and insanity, using as its focus one of the most fascinating of all Victorian heroines. Combining elements of the detective novel, the psychological thriller and the romance of upper class life, Lady Audley’s Secret was one of the most popular and successful novels of the nineteenth century and still exerts a powerful hold on readers.

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Book SynopsisDickens had already achieved renown with The Pickwick Papers. With Oliver Twist his reputation was enhanced and strengthened. The novel contains many classic Dickensian themes - grinding poverty, desperation, fear, temptation and the eventual triumph of good in the face of great adversity. Oliver Twist features some of the author's most enduring characters, such as Oliver himself (who dares to ask for more), the tyrannical Bumble, the diabolical Fagin, the menacing Bill Sikes, Nancy and 'the Artful Dodger'. For any reader wishing to delve into the works of the great Victorian literary colossus, Oliver Twist is, without doubt, an essential title.

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Book SynopsisA mysterious stranger named Chichikov arrives in a small provincial Russian town and proceeds to visit a succession of landowners, making each of them an unusual and somewhat macabre proposition. He offers to buy the rights to the dead serfs who are still registered on the landowner's estate, thus reducing their liability for taxes. It is not clear what Chichikov's intentions are with the dead serfs he is purchasing, and despite his attempts to ingratiate himself, his strange behaviour arouses the suspicions of everyone in the town.A biting satire of social pretensions and pomposity, Dead Souls has been revered since its original publication in 1842 as one of the funniest and most brilliant novels of nineteenth-century Russia. Its unflinching and remorseless depiction of venality in Russian society is a lasting tribute to Gogol's comic genius.Trade Review"Gogol was a strange creature, but then genius is always strange." - Vladimir Nabokov

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Book SynopsisWith an Introduction and Notes by Deborah Wynne, Chester College. Illustrated by Marcus Stone. Our Mutual Friend, Dickens' last complete novel, gives one of his most comprehensive and penetrating accounts of Victorian society. Its vision of a culture stifled by materialistic values emerges not just through its central narratives, but through its apparently incidental characters and scenes. The chief of its several plots centres on John Harmon who returns to England as his father's heir. He is believed drowned under suspicious circumstances - a situation convenient to his wish for anonymity until he can evaluate Bella Wilfer whom he must marry to secure his inheritance. The story is filled with colourful characters and incidents - the faded aristocrats and parvenus gathered at the Veneering's dinner table, Betty Higden and her terror of the workhouse and the greedy plottings of Silas Wegg.

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Book SynopsisA profound and absorbing saga from the Internationally Bestselling and Man Booker Prize shortlisted author''Amitav Ghosh is such a fascinating and seductive writer I cannot think of another contemporary writer with whom it would be this thrilling to go so far, so fast'' The TimesJanuary 2001: A small ship, led by wealthy Scotsman Daniel Hamilton, arrives in the Sundarbans, a vast archipelago of islands in the mythical river Ganges, a half-drowned land where the waters of the Himalayas merge with the incoming tides of the sea.In the Sundarbans the tides reach more than 100 miles inland, and every day thousands of hectares of forest disappear only to re-emerge hours later. Dense as the mangrove forests are, from Hamilton's point of view, it is only a little less barren than a desert.The eccentric Scotsman and the scientists on board the ship disembark to study this little-known environment, and to trace the journeys of the descendants of this society. Their goal? To create a utopian sociTrade Review'An exceptional writer.' Peter Matthieson ‘A novelist of dazzling ingenuity' San Francisco Chronicle 'A distinctive voice, polished and profound' Times Literary Supplement 'An absorbing story of a world in transition, brought to life through characters who love and suffer with equal intensity.' JM Coetzee 'Ghosh is one of the most sympathetic post-colonial voices to be heard today. He looks at love and loyalty, and examines the question of Empire and responsibility, of tradition and modernity.’ Ahdaf Souief 'Ghosh has established himself as one of the finest prose writers of his generation of Indians writing in English' Financial Times 'Amitav Ghosh is such a fascinating and seductive writer…a deeply serious writer, sure of his human and historical insights and confident in his ability to communicate them. I cannot think of another contemporary writer with whom it would be this thrilling to go so far, so fast' The Times

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Book SynopsisNorthanger Abbey tells the story of a young girl, Catherine Morland who leaves her sheltered, rural home to enter the busy, sophisticated world of Bath in the late 1790s. Austen observes with insight and humour the interaction between Catherine and the various characters whom she meets there, and tracks her growing understanding of the world about her.

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Book SynopsisIn one volume for the first time, this revised and updated examination of how J.R.R.Tolkien came to write his original masterpiece The Hobbit includes his complete unpublished draft version of the story, together with notes and illustrations by Tolkien himself.The Hobbit was first published on 21 September 1937. Like its sequel, The Lord of the Rings, it is a story that grew in the telling', and many characters and plot threads in the published text are quite different from the story J.R.R. Tolkien first wrote to read aloud to his young sons as one of their fireside reads'.Together in one volume, The History of the Hobbit presents the complete text of the unpublished manuscript of The Hobbit, accompanied by John Rateliff's lively and informative account of how the book came to be written and published. Recording the numerous changes made to the story both before and after publication, he examines chapter by chapter why those changes were made and how they reflect Tolkien's ever-growing concept of Middle-earth.As well as reproducing the original version of one of the world's most popular novels both on its own merits and as the foundation for The Lord of the Rings this book includes many little-known illustrations and draft maps for The Hobbit by Tolkien himself. Also featured are extensive commentaries on the dates of composition, how Tolkien's professional and early mythological writings influenced the story, the imaginary geography he created, and how Tolkien came to revise the book years after publication to accommodate events in The Lord of the Rings.Endorsed by Christopher Tolkien as a companion to his essential 12-volume The History of Middle-earth, this thoughtful and exhaustive examination of one of the most treasured stories in English literature offers fascinating new insights for those who have grown up with this enchanting tale, and will delight any who are about to enter Bilbo's round door for the first time.Trade ReviewPraise for The Hobbit:‘The Hobbit belongs to a very small class of books which have nothing in common save that each admits us to a world of its own. Its place is with Alice and The Wind in the Willows’Times Literary Supplement ‘One of the best loved characters in English fiction… a marvellous fantasy adventure’Daily Mail ‘Finely written saga of dwarves and elves, fearsome goblins and trolls… an exciting epic of travel, magical adventure, working up to a devastating climax’The Observer

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Book Synopsis''He contrasted the mortal world, in wonder, with the deep calm of his home, where the moment moved more slowly than the shadows of the houses here, and did not pass until all the content with which a moment is stored had been drawn from it by every creature in Elfland...''The poetic style and sweeping grandeur of The King of Elfland''s Daughter has made it one of the most beloved fantasy novels of our time, a masterpiece that influenced some of the greatest contemporary fantasists. The heartbreaking story of a marriage between a mortal man and an elf princess is a masterful tapestry of the fairy tale following the happily ever after.Trade ReviewA fine, strange, almost forgotten novel ... the writing is beautiful ... This is the real thing. It's a rich red wine, which may come as a shock if all one has had so far has been cola. So trust the book. Trust the poetry and the strangeness, and the magic of the ink, and drink it slowly -- Neil GaimanDunsany's masterpiece ... that may well be the same as saying it could be the very best fairy story ever written -- Graham WilsonIt's not simply the beauty of the language, the astute eye for character, the hint of humor, or even the spell of legendry and wonder, but Dunsany's unique combination of all of the above. Even read today, with all the fantasy novels I've read, his work remains fresh and exuberant * Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction *A delicate ear for speech rhythms and a brilliantly exact imagination -- Ursula K Le GuinOne of the greatest writers of the twentieth century -- Arthur C ClarkeThe poetic style and sweeping grandeur of The King of Elfland's Daughter has made it one of the most beloved fantasy novels of our time, a masterpiece that influenced some of the greatest contemporary fantasists. The heartbreaking story of a marriage between a mortal man and an elf princess is a masterful tapestry of the fairy tale following the "happily ever after" * GOODREADS *No amount of mere description can convey more than a fraction of Lord Dunsany's pervasive charm -- H.P. LovecraftA fantasy novel in a class with the Tolkien books -- L. Sprague de Camp

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Book SynopsisNine intriguing talesOne unequalled storytellerAn unknown wounded man in a church. A fatal riding accident. A corpse and a tape measure.Whether in St Mary Mead or further afield, there is always much wickedness lurking below the surface, should, like Jane Marple, you have the eyes to see it.Published posthumously, this collection of tales, seven of them featuring Agatha Christie's much loved Miss Marple, plus two stand-alone stories, is a treasure trove.Never underestimate Miss MarpleShe gives us an insight into human nature that few, if any, have surpassed.'Susan LewisThe acknowledged queen of detective fiction.'ObserverTrade Review‘Without a doubt, the greatest mystery writer of all time’ – Ragnar Jonasson ‘A hundred years after her first novel, and we are all still standing in her shadow’ – Andrew Taylor ‘She gives us an insight into human nature that few, if any, have surpassed’ – Susan Lewis ‘Dame Agatha has sold more books than all besides Shakespeare and the Bible’ – David Baldacci ‘All crime fiction writers around the globe owe Agatha Christie a massive debt’ – Peter James ‘Reading a perfectly plotted Agatha Christie is like crunching into a perfect apple: that pure, crisp, absolute satisfaction.’ – Tana French

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Book SynopsisOne of BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World. A wonderfully quirky coming-of-age story, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, author of The Hundred and One Dalmatians is an affectionately drawn portrait of one of the funniest families in literature.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is illustrated by Ruth Steed, and features an afterword by publisher Anna South.The eccentric Mortmain family have been rattling around in a vast, decrepit castle for years, gradually slipping into financial ruin. Mortmain is crippled by writer’s block, while his beautiful second wife Topaz struggles to be a dutiful stepmother to Rose, Cassandra and Thomas. Rose needs a husband, Thomas an education but Cassandra lives for her writing. Through her gloriously witty and shrewd diaries, she chronicles the trials of family life, the impact on their prospects of the arrival of a glamorous American family, and the agonies of falling in love for the first time.

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Book SynopsisBorn into a poor family, Fanny Price is raised amid the daunting splendour of Mansfield Park by her rich uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram. Treated as an inferior by most of the family, Fanny forms a close attachment to her cousin Edmund, the only person to show her kindness. With the departure of her uncle to the West Indies and the arrival from London of the fashionable Henry and Mary Crawford, flirtation and romantic intrigue abound. As Fanny becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the conduct of her companions, she finds herself isolated and forced to face the conflict between her sense of integrity and social expectation.

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Book SynopsisGormenghast is the vast, crumbling castle to which Titus Groan, is lord and heir. Titus is expected to rule this gothic labyrinth of turrets and dungeons, and his subjects, according to age-old rituals, but things are changing in the castle. He must contend with treachery, manipulation and murder and his longing for a life beyond the castle walls.Trade ReviewA master of the macabre and a traveller through the deeper and darker chasms of the imagination * The Times *Mervyn Peake is a finer poet than Edgar Allan Poe, and he is therefore able to maintain his world of fantasy brilliantly through three novels. It [The Gormenghast Trilogy] is a very, very great work...a classic of our age[Peake's books] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experienceThe Gormenghast Trilogy is one of the most important works to come out of the age that produced The Four Quartets, The Unquiet Grave, Brideshead Revisited, The Loved One, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisThis volume illustrates the variety of William Morris's prose, while focusing on one theme: the earthly paradise. The Nowhere of News from Nowhere (1890) is England in 2102, an ideal pastoral society born out of revolution. It is as compelling a dream of the future as the nightmares of Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Exhilaratingly, it reminds us that nothing is inevitable about the way we live—now or in 1890.Table of ContentsPart 1 Romance: the story of the unknown Church; a King's lesson; two extracts from "A Dream of John Ball"; "News from Nowhere". Part 2 Lectures: the lesser arts; some hints on pattern-designing; useful work versus useless toil; the hopes of civilization. Part 3 Occasional prose: "Looking Backward" - a review of "Looking Backward" by Edward Bellamy; under an elm-tree, or, thoughts in the countryside; preface in "The Nature of Gothic" by John Ruskin; foreword to "Utopia" by Sir Thomas More; how I became a socialist; a note by William Morris on his aims in founding the Kelmscott Press. Part 4 Letters: [the Eastern question]: letter to the "Daily News"; [anti-scrape]: letter to the "Athenaeum"; [St Mark's, Venice]: letter to the "Daily News".

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Book SynopsisIndiana (1831) is an absorbing and vivid romantic novel, set partly in provincial France, partly in Paris, and partly on a tropical island. It tells the story of a beautiful and innocent young woman, married at sixteen to a much older man.

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Book SynopsisIn this tender, impassioned fourth novel, James Baldwin created one of his most striking characters: a man struggling to become himself.''Everyone wishes to be loved, but in the event, nearly no one can bear it''At the height of his theatrical career, the actor Leo Proudhammer is nearly felled by a heart attack. As he hovers between life and death, we see the choices that have made him enviably famous and terrifyingly vulnerable. For between Leo''s childhood on the streets of Harlem and his arrival into the world of the theatre lies a wilderness of desire and loss, shame and rage. And everywhere there is the anguish of being black in a society that seems poised on the brink of racial war. In this tender, angry 1968 novel, James Baldwin created one of his most striking characters: a man struggling to become himself.''The emotion surrounding family attachment... is deeply felt and is one reasons he continues to be read with such intensity'' Colm TóibínTrade ReviewTruth-telling, witness bearing, soul stirring writing -- Cornel WestThe emotion surrounding family attachment... is deeply felt and is one of the reasons he continues to be read with such intensity -- Colm TóibínTimeless . . . a visionary writer * Guardian *A jazzlike reconfiguration of Baldwin's own life, with existing parts examined and rearranged and new parts added -- Clifford Thompson * LA Review of Books *One of the few essential novelists of our time * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisDiscover the lesser-known but brilliant novel by the hugely under-appreciated Anne Brontë.When Agnes’s father loses the family savings, young Agnes determines to make her own living – as a governess. Working for the Bloomfields, her enthusiasm is soon dampened by isolation and the cruelty of the children in her charge. Agnes hopes for better in her second job, but when the scheming elder daughter Rosalie makes designs on Agnes’s new friend, the kind curate Mr Weston, she feels herself silenced and sidelined. Becoming a governess is one thing, becoming invisible is quite another. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SAMANTHA ELLISTrade ReviewAgnes Grey is the most perfect prose narrative of English letters... Simple and beautiful... The only story in English literature in which style, characters, and subject are in perfect keeping -- George MooreFor too long [Anne] has been undervalued as the third-best Bronte. But her fiction, exploring the lamentably still current themes of addiction and domestic violence and the abuse of vulnerable women working away from home, has a vigour and bracing satirical intelligence which places her in the first rank of what is arguably the greatest ever generation of novelists in English -- Lucy Hughes-HallettBrontë depicts in detail the isolation inherent in a governess's life, as an educated – but by necessity not too educated – woman trapped in an awkward halfway world between the classes * Guardian *

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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. One of the finest examples of literature, written by an author at the height her powers, Pride and Prejudice is sharply observed, witty and acute. It is studied and enjoyed in still increasing numbers throughout the world today. Elizabeth Bennet and her four sisters are unmarried, much to their parents' great anxiety. In a rollercoaster of social etiquette, wilful misunderstanding and romantic intrigue Mr Charles Bingley and his friend Mr Darcy vie with Mr Collins and Mr Wickham for the attentions of the Bennet daughters. Rejection, scandal and distress eventually lead to marriage and true love in a series of classic happy endings resolving the conflicts between pride and prejudice in the sisters and their beaus.

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Book SynopsisGilbert Markham is fascinated by Helen Graham, the beautiful and enigmatic woman who has recently moved into Wildfell Hall. He is swift to befriend her and steadfastly refutes the local gossip calling her character and behaviour into question, yet he soon has cause to regret his infatuation, and grave doubts and misgivings begin to arise in his mind. It is only when Helen presents Gilbert with her diary and instructs him to read it that the shocking truth about her past life becomes clear. The first edition of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was so successful that it sold out in weeks, yet the novel was mired in controversy for its fierce defence of women's rights and what many contemporary critics viewed as its shocking and immoral subject matter.Trade ReviewAnne Bronte attacks her problem with a freedom and audacity before which her sisters' boldest enterprises seem cowardly and restrained. Her behaviour is revolutionary. -- May Sinclair

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Book SynopsisIntroduction and Notes by David Blair, University of Kent at Canterbury. Set in the reign of Richard I, Coeur de Lion, Ivanhoe is packed with memorable incidents - sieges, ambushes and combats - and equally memorable characters: Cedric of Rotherwood, the die-hard Saxon; his ward Rowena; the fierce Templar knight, Sir Brian de Bois-Gilbert; the Jew, Isaac of York, and his beautiful, spirited daughter Rebecca; Wamba and Gurth, jester and swineherd respectively. Scott explores the conflicts between the Crown and the powerful Barons, between the Norman overlords and the conquered Saxons, and between Richard and his scheming brother, Prince John. At the same time he brings into the novel the legendary Robin Hood and his band, and creates a brilliant, colourful account of the age of chivalry with all its elaborate rituals and costumes and its values of honour and personal glory.

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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, gold 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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