From Austen to Zola, from medieval to the modern day - all genres are catered for between the covers of these coveted classics.
Classics Books
Persephone Books Ltd Cheerful Weather for the Wedding
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£13.00
Arena Verlag GmbH Mein erstes Marchenbuch
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£13.06
Adarsh Books Animal Farm
Book SynopsisHelp new readers wave goodbye to their misconceptions of great literature being dry tales by introducing our vivid and witty covers and bright illustrations accompanying the lively and accessible retold text.
£5.02
Pan Macmillan Round About the Christmas Tree: A Miscellany of
Book SynopsisRound About the Christmas Tree is the perfect Christmas gift for booklovers, as all facets of the festive season are represented here in one gorgeous volume. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. This edition is introduced by Ned Halley and features the classic, charming illustrations of Alice Ercle Hunt.This anthology reveals the inspiration Christmas gives so many writers, whether as a time for celebration, for family, or as a chance to remember those in hardship. There are heart-warming stories from Charles Dickens and E. Nesbit, comic fun from G. K. Chesterton and Saki, touching whimsy from Hans Christian Andersen, and even crimes to solve from Arthur Conan Doyle.Table of ContentsChapter - 1: Round About the Christmas Tree by W. M. Thackeray Chapter - 2: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle Chapter - 3: The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson Chapter - 4: Christmas Eve by Washington Irving Chapter - 5: Christmas at Thompson Hall by Anthony Trollope Chapter - 6: Christmas Inspiration by L. M. Montgomery Chapter - 7: The Flying Stars by G. K. Chesterton Chapter - 8: A Christmas Dinner by Charles Dickens Chapter - 9: The Fir-Tree by Hans Christian Andersen Chapter - 10: The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry Chapter - 11: A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum Chapter - 12: The Ghost of Christmas Eve by J. M. Barrie Chapter - 13: A Country Christmas by Louisa May Alcott Chapter - 14: The Conscience Pudding by E. Nesbit Chapter - 15: The Thieves Who Couldn't Help Sneezing by Thomas Hardy Chapter - 16: Christmas Every Day by William Dean Howells Chapter - 17: A Christmas Tree by Charles Dickens Chapter - 18: Bertie’s Christmas Eve by Saki Chapter - 19: Christmas; Or, The Good Fairy by Harriet Beecher Stowe Chapter - 20: The Snow-Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne Chapter - 21: A Christmas Tree and a Wedding by Fyodor Dostoevsky [trans. Garnett] Chapter - 22: Christmas at Red Butte by L. M. Montgomery
£10.44
Orion Publishing Co Time And The Gods: An Omnibus
Book SynopsisThe definitive collection work by the forefather of modern fantasyOf all the weavers of magic, there is none like Lord Dunsany. During his long lifetime - he died at the age of eighty - he wrote more than sixty books: novels like The King of Elfland's Daughter, plays, poetry collections, memoirs, essays and, most memorably, innumerable exotic and fantastical short stories.In this definitive new collection are the very best of Dunsany's extraordinarily evocative and joyous tales of Faerie, of dreamworlds and of magic: some of the loveliest fantasies in the English language, including the complete contents of Time and the Gods, The Book of Wonder, The Sword of Welleran and The Last Book of Wonder.
£12.34
Little, Brown Book Group 84 Charing Cross Road
Book SynopsisA TRUE STORY THAT HAS TOUCHED THE HEARTS OF THOUSANDS'Unmitigated delight from cover to cover' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'A real-life love story . . . A timeless period piece. Do read it' WALL STREET JOURNAL 'Beguile an hour of your time and put you in tune with mankind' NEW YORK TIMES This charming classic, first published in 1970, brings together twenty years of correspondence between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in New York City, and a used-book dealer in London. Through the years, though never meeting and separated both geographically and culturally, they share a winsome, sentimental friendship based on their common love for books. Their relationship, captured so acutely in these letters, is one that will grab your heart and not let go.Trade ReviewA lovely new edition of this classic title * Good Book Guide *A must for anyone who reads - the correspondence between book lover Helen Hanff and Messers Marks & Cross of Charing Cross Road has been reissued * Daily Express *A real-life love story . . . A timeless period piece. Do read it * Wall Street Journal *Unmitigated delight from cover to cover * Daily Telegraph *Those who have read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a novel comprised of only letters between the characters, will see how much that bestseller owes 84, Charing Cross Road * Medium.com *[84, Charing Cross Road] will beguile an hour of your time and put you in tune with mankind . . . will provide an emollient for the spirit and a sheath for the exposed nerve * New York Times *A unique, throat-lumping, side-splitting treasure * San Francisco Examiner *A lovely new edition of this classic title * Good Book Guide *A must for anyone who reads - the correspondence between book lover Helen Hanff and Messers Marks & Cross of Charing Cross Road has been reissued. * Daily Express *Unmitigated delight from cover to cover * DAILY TELEGRAPH *A real-life love story . . . A timeless period piece. Do read it * WALL STREET JOURNAL *
£8.99
Dedalus Ltd Zero Train
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£6.99
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Return of the Native
Book SynopsisWith an Introduction and Notes by Claire Seymour, University of Kent at Canterbury. The Return of the Native is widely recognised as the most representative of Hardy's Wessex novels. He evokes the dismal presence and menacing beauty of Egdon Heath - reaching out to touch the lives and fate of all who dwell on it. The central figure is Clym Yeobright, the returning ‘native’ and the story tells of his love for the beautiful but capricious Eustacia Vye. As the narrative unfolds and character after character is driven to self-destruction the presence of the Heath becomes all-embracing, while Clym becomes a travelling preacher in an attempt to assuage his guilt.
£5.35
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Moll Flanders
Book SynopsisWith an Introduction and Notes by R.T.Jones, Honorary Fellow of the University of York. The novel follows the life of its eponymous heroine, Moll Flanders, through its many vicissitudes, which include her early seduction, careers in crime and prostitution, conviction for theft and transportation to the plantations of Virginia, and her ultimate redemption and prosperity in the New World. Moll Flanders was one of the first social novels to be published in English and draws heavily on Defoe’s experience of the topography and social conditions prevailing in the London of the late 17th century.
£5.35
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Diary of a Nobody
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.
£5.62
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Daniel Deronda
Book SynopsisWith an Introduction and Notes by Dr Carole Jones, freelance writer and researcher. George Eliot's final novel, Daniel Deronda (1876), follows the intertwining lives of the beautiful but spoiled and selfish Gwendolene Harleth and the selfless yet alienated Daniel Deronda, as they search for personal and vocational fulfilment and sympathetic relationship. Set largely in the degenerate English aristocratic society of the 1860s, Daniel Deronda charts their search for meaningful lives against a background of imperialism, the oppression of women, and racial and religious prejudice. Gwendolen's attempts to escape a sadistic relationship and atone for past actions catalyse her friendship with Deronda, while his search for origins leads him, via Judaism, to a quest for moral growth. Eliot's radical dual narrative constantly challenges all solutions and ensures that the novel is as controversial now, as when it first appeared.
£5.35
Everyman The Trial
Book SynopsisThe story of the mysterious indictment, trial and reckoning forced upon Kafka’s Joseph K. is one of the twentieth century’s master parables which has influenced almost every major writer since. By rendering the absurd and the terrifying with scrupulous factual accuracy and evenness of tone, Kafka presents the world we recognize in a gripping narrative which is also a revelation of its hidden significance.
£13.49
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Lord Jim
Book SynopsisIntroduction and Notes by Susan Jones, St Hilda's College, Oxford. First published in 1900, Lord Jim established Conrad as one of the great storytellers of the twentieth century. Set in the Malay Archipelago, the novel not only provides a gripping account of maritime adventure and romance, but also an exotic tale of the East. Its themes also challenge the conventions of nineteenth-century adventure fiction, confirming Conrad's place in literature as one of the first 'modernists' of English letters. Lord Jim explores the dilemmas of conscience, of moral isolation, of loyalty and betrayal confronting a sensitive individual whose romantic quest for an honourable ideal are tested to the limit. In this novel, Conrad draws on his background as Polish emigré, as well as his first-hand experience as a seaman, to experiment radically with the presentation of human frailty and doubt in the modern world.
£5.35
Pan Macmillan Northanger Abbey
Book SynopsisJane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is a comedic and brilliantly postmodern lampoon of gothic romance novels.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. Gorgeously illustrated by the celebrated Hugh Thomson, this edition also includes an afterword by David Pinching.Catherine Morland is a naive young woman whose perceptions of the world around her are greatly influenced by the romantic gothic novels to which she is addicted. When she moves to Bath she sees mystery and intrigue all around her – not least of all in Northanger Abbey itself, the home of General Tilney and his handsome son Henry, where Catherine suspects a sinister crime has occurred . . .Trade ReviewThe work of a great writer flexing her creative muscles . . . As well as being a deft comedy of manners, Northanger Abbey also fools entertainingly with the slippery relationship of fact and fiction. -- Robert McCrum * Guardian *Austen’s Northanger Abbey was in part a playful response to what she considered ‘unnatural’ in the novels of her day: Instead of perfect heroes, heroines and villains, she offers flawed, rounded characters who behave naturally and not just according to the demands of the plot. -- Jo Baker * New York Times *
£10.44
Dedalus Ltd Late Mattia Pascal
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£9.49
Classical Comics Dracula The Graphic Novel: Original Text
Book SynopsisThis is the classic novel brought to life in full colour! Bram Stoker's gothic masterpiece was first published in 1897, and has spawned so many classic films, all based on the character he invented when Queen Victoria was on the throne. Like "Frankenstein", the films have pushed the characters into the very fabric of our society, so it is with great pride that we bring you a visual treatment that is true to the original - made even more exciting by the wonderous talent that is Staz Johnson!
£10.79
HarperCollins Publishers Seating Arrangements From the Booker Prize 2021
Book SynopsisThe New York Times bestselling author of Great CircleJoyously good' DAILY MAILA ferociously clever comedy of manners' GUARDIANA wise, sophisticated and funny novel about family, fidelity, class and crisis' MARIE CLAIREA well-observed, hilarious, yet moving novel' WOMAN & HOMENew York Times bestseller and winner of the 2012 Dylan Thomas Prize and 2012 L.A. Times First Novel PrizeThe Van Meters have gathered at their family retreat on the New England island of Waskeke to celebrate the marriage of daughter Daphne to an impeccably appropriate young man. The weekend is full of lobster and champagne, salt air and practiced bonhomie, but long-buried discontent and simmering lust seep through the cracks in the revelry.Winn Van Meter, father-of-the-bride, has spent his life following the rules of the east coast upper crust, but now, just shy of his sixtieth birthday, he must finally confront his failings, his desires, and his own humanityMaggie Shipstead is a hugely talented young writer definTrade Review‘Joyously good’ Daily Mail ‘A ferociously clever comedy of manners’ Guardian ‘Shipstead’s sophisticated and summery debut more than lives up to the hype’ Independent ‘Distinctive and dazzling … The world has found a remarkable, humane new voice to explain us to ourselves’ Allison Pearson, Telegraph ‘A wise, sophisticated and funny novel about family, fidelity, class and crisis’ Marie Claire
£9.49
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Complete Mapp & Lucia: Volume One
Book SynopsisLucia is one of the great comic characters in English literature. Outrageously pretentious, hypocritical and snobbish, Queen Lucia, ‘as by right divine’ rules over the toy kingdom of ‘Riseholme’ based on the Cotswold village of Broadway. Her long-suffering husband Pepino is ‘her prince-consort’, the outrageously camp Georgie is her ‘gentleman-in-waiting’, the village green is her ‘parliament’, and her subjects, such as Daisy Quantock, are hapless would-be ‘Bolsheviks’. In Lucia in London, the prudish, manically ambitious Lucia launches herself into the louche world of London society. Her earnest determination to learn all about ‘modern movements’ makes her the perfect comic vehicle for Benson’s free-wheeling satire of salon society, and of the dominant fads and movements of the 1920s, including vegetarianism, yoga, palmistry, Freudianism, séances, Post-Impressionist art and Christian Science. Meanwhile in Tilling, clearly modelled on Benson’s home town of Rye, Miss Mapp consumed by ‘chronic rage and curiosity’ sits at her window, armed with her light-opera glasses keeping baleful watch on her neighbours. ‘Anger and the gravest suspicions about everybody had kept her young and on the boil’: and Benson transmutes her boiling into a series of small humiliations in his witty, malicious comedy. In his insightful Introduction Keith Carabine shows that these books are excruciatingly funny because Benson, like Jane Austen, invites the reader to view the world through the self-deluded fabrications and day-dreams of Lucia and the self-deluded chronic anger and jaundiced suspicions of Elisabeth. Carabine also concentrates on the novels’ disturbing, bitchy, ‘camp’ humour whenever ‘that horrid thing which Freud calls sex’ is raised.Table of ContentsQueen Lucia (1920) Miss Mapp (1922) Lucia in London (1927)
£9.41
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Dead Souls
Book SynopsisWith an Introduction by Anthony Briggs. Translated by Isabel F. Hapgood. Russia in the 1840s. There is a stranger in town, and he is behaving oddly. The unctuous Pavel Chichikov goes around the local estates buying up 'dead souls'. These are the papers relating to serfs who have died since the last census, but who remain on the record and still attract a tax demand. Chichikov is willing to relieve their owners of the tax burden by buying the titles for a song. What he does not say is that he then proposes to take out a huge mortgage against these fictitious citizens and buy himself a nice estate in Eastern Russia. Will he get away with it? Who will rumble him? Does this narrative contain a deeper message about Russia itself or the spiritual health of humanity? There is much interest and some suspense in considering these issues, but the real pleasure of this story lies elsewhere. It is an enjoyable comic romp through a retarded part of a backward country, a picaresque series of grotesque portraits, situations and conversations described with Gogolian humour based mainly on hyperbole. This is, quite simply, the funniest book in the Russian language before the twentieth century.
£5.62
Penguin Books Ltd The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki Penguin Classics
Book SynopsisComposed in medieval Iceland, Hrolf's Saga is one of the greatest of all mythic-legendary sagas, relating half-fantastical events that were said to have occurred in fifth-century Denmark. It tells of the exploits of King Hrolf and of his famous champions, including Bodvar Bjarki, the 'bear-warrior': a powerful figure whose might and bear-like nature are inspired by the same legendary heritage as Beowulf. Depicting a world of wizards, sorceresses and 'berserker' fighters - originally members of a cult of Odin - this is a compelling tale of ancient magic. A work of timeless power and beauty, it offers both a treasury of Icelandic prose and a masterful gathering of epic, cultic memory, traditional folk tale and myths from the Viking age and far earlier.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throuTable of ContentsTranslated with an Introduction by Jesse L. ByockIntroductionThe Sagas of Ancient Times and Heroic LaysSkjold and the Skjoldung Dynasty: The Legendary PastArchaeology and the Legendary HleidargardThe Saga of King Hrolf Kraki and BeowulfBeowulf and Bodvar Bjarki: The Bear WarriorsBerserkersMyth in the SagaChristian InfluenceMap: The World of The Saga of King Hrolf KrakiNote on the TranslationThe Saga1. King Frodi Kills His Brother King Halfdan2. The Search3. The Boys Helgi and Hroar Revealed4. The Death of King Frodi5. King Helgi Rules Denmark and King Hroar Marries6. King Helgi Attempts to Marry Queen Olof7. King Helgi's Vengeance: The Girl Yrsa; The Ring8. Jarl Hrok Claims King Hroar's Ring9. Vengeance and King Hroar's Son Agnar10. King Helgi and Queen Yrsa11. The Elfin Woman and the Birth of Skuld12. King Adils and King Helgi Meet13. King Adils' Pride and Queen Yrsa's Displeasure14. Svipdag and the Berserkers15. Svipdag and His Brothers Join King Hrolf's Men16. King Hrolf Tricks King Hjorvard17. King Hring of Norway Marries Hvit18. The Love of Bera and Bjorn19. Bjorn Rejects Queen Hvit's Advances: The Curse20. Bjorn's Transformation into a Bear and the Birth of Bodvar21. Thorir Becomes King of the Gauts22. Bodvar's Vengeance23. Bodvar and His Brothers24. King Hrolf's Champions25. Bodvar Encourages King Hrolf to Recover His Inheritance26. Three Strange Nights with Hrani27. King Adils' Deceitful Welcome28. King Adils Attempts to Defeat King Hrolf29. Queen Yrsa Gives King Hrolf His Inheritance and More30. King Adils is Conquered by Gold and King Hrolf Angers Hrani31. Queen Skuld Incites King Hjorvard32. Queen Skuld Attacks King Hrolf at Yule33. The Great Battle34. The Death of King Hrolf KrakiNotesGenealogical Tables: The Family of King Hrolf Kraki; The Family of Bodvar Bjarki; The Family of SvipdagEquivalent Characters in Old Norse, Old English and Latin Accounts of King Hrolf KrakiGlossary of Proper Names
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Cats Cradle
Book SynopsisWith his trademark dry wit, Kurt Vonnegut''s Cat''s Cradle is an inventive science fiction satire that preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon - and, worse still, surviving it. This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Benjamin Kunkel.Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding ''fathers'' of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy to humanity. For he is the inventor of ice-nine, a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet. Writer Jonah''s search for his whereabouts leads him to Hoenikker''s three eccentric children, to an island republic in the Caribbean where the absurd religion of Bokononism is practised, to love and to insanity. Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut''s cult tale of global destruction is a frightening and funny satire on the end of the world and the madness of mankind.Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) was born in Indianapolis. During the Second World War he was a prisoner in Germany and present at the bombing of Dresden, an experience he recounted in his famous novel Slaughterhouse Five (1969). His first novel, Player Piano, was published in 1951 and since then he has written many novels, including The Sirens of Titan, Jailbird, Deadeye Dick, Galapagos and Hocus Pocus. If you enjoyed Cat''s Cradle, you might like Philip K. Dick''s The Man in the High Castle, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.''One of the warmest, wisest, funniest voices to be found anywhere in fiction''Sam Leith, Daily Telegraph''A free-wheeling vehicle ... An unforgettable ride!''The New York Times''Vonnegut looked the world straight in the eye and never flinched''J.G. Ballard
£8.54
Nonsuch Publishing Wood Leighton: Nonsuch Classics
Book SynopsisWood Leighton is written by one of Victorian literature's most prolific authors, the writer and poet Mary Howitt.
£4.50
HarperCollins Publishers On Off
Book SynopsisThe captivating new novel from the international bestselling author of The Thorn Birds'.Innocence is no protectionIn Holloman, Connecticut, someone is preying on the innocent. At a prestigious research centre fondly known by its staff as the ''Hug'', parts of a mutilated body are found. Lieutenant Carmine Delmonico of the Holloman Police learns that a string of horrifying murders each with the same modus operandi as the one at the Hug have been commited throughout the state. When another body is found, the medical staff become prime suspects.With the powers that be in turmoil and every member of staff hiding something, Delmonico must delve into the lives of each and every Hug employee. This is the case of his career and he is determined to solve it. But how, when he is hunting a monster who leaves no clues and is always two steps ahead?Trade ReviewPraise for Colleen McCullough: 'Compelling, passionate and gritty.' She ‘Fast-moving and immensely readable…this book is a page turner from start to finish.’ Maeve Binchy 'Probes the depths of the human heart in a haunting, multi-layered novel.' Good Book Guide 'McCullough piles on the drama.' Daily Mail 'Sizzling family drama stuffed with passion, tragedy, love and sex.' More 'Absorbing.’ Sunday Telegraph 'Deliciously addictive…a classic tale of wealth and power–an engrossing read.' Sainsbury's magazine
£12.34
Penguin Books Ltd Daisy Miller and Other Tales
Book SynopsisA wonderful new collection of tales exploring Henry James''s favourite ''international theme'': the experiences of Americans in Europe, and the meeting of the old world and new. Daisy Miller is one of Henry James''s great heroines - a young, independent American travelling in Europe, whose flouting of social conventions has the potential to lead to disaster. Her story is here accompanied by six more set among English castles, Swiss hotels and French ports, and all riffing on a classic Jamesian theme: the clash between the old world and new, Europe and America.The tales included in this volume are ''Travelling Companions'', ''Madame de Mauves'', ''Four Meetings'', ''Daisy Miller'', ''An International Episode'', ''Europe'' and ''Fordham Castle'', and the collection has been edited by renowned scholar of Anglo-American literature, Stephen Fender, under the general editorship of Philip Horne. This is one of three new volumes of James''s greatest tales in Penguin C
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The SaintFiacre Affair Inspector Maigret 13
Book Synopsis“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The GuardianMaigret’s past comes to life in this evocative novel, set in the Inspector’s hometown“Maigret savoured the sensations of his youth again: the cold, stinging eyes, frozen fingertips, an aftertaste of coffee. Then, stepping inside the church, a blast of heat, soft light; the smell of candles and incense.”The last time Maigret went home to the village of his birth was for his father’s funeral. Now, an anonymous note predicting a crime during All Souls’ Day mass draws him back there, where troubling memories resurface and hidden vices are revealed.Trade ReviewPraise for Georges Simenon:“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian “These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post “Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People “I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner “The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide “A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —The Independent (London) “Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London) “Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray “A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark “A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.”lle —Peter Ackroyd “Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville"Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor" ― Times (London)"Strangely comforting . . . so many lovely bistros from the Paris of mid-20th C. The corpses are incidental, it's the food that counts." ― Margaret Atwood"One of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere." ― Financial Times"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn."-- Stig Abell ― The Sunday Times (London)
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers Everyone Worth Knowing
Book SynopsisDripping with New York glamour, this bestseller will capture the hearts of all those who loved The Devil Wears PradaBette gets paid to party And she can hardly believe her luck. Gaining VIP access to Manhattan''s hottest spots and meeting ''everyone worth knowing'' is a million miles away from her old job. Overnight, New York has become her sexy late-night playground.But quicker than you can say Chanel, Bette turns up in the gossip columns as girlfriend to a notorious British playboy. It''s news that delights her new boss but her friends want to know what's happened to the girl they love, who always had time for nights filled with 80s music, junk food, trashy rom-coms and her mates.Can Bette say goodbye to the parties and the Prada and step back into the real world and find a prince who''s got a heart to match his charm?Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA: ‘This little gem mixes Sex and the City charm with dry New York wit.’ REAL ‘Sassy, insightful and sooo Sex and The City, you'll be rushing to the bookshop for your copy like it's a half price Prada sale.’ COMPANY ‘The most fun we've had in ages.’ HEAT ‘Delicious…a great insight into the world of magazines and fashion.’ RED
£8.54
Little, Brown Book Group The Mask of Apollo: A Virago Modern Classic
Book SynopsisSet in fourth-century B.C. Greece, The Mask of Apollo is narrated by Nikeratos, a tragic actor who takes with him on all his travels a gold mask of Apollo, a relic of the theatre's golden age, which is now past. At first his mascot, the mask gradually becomes his conscience, and he refers to it his gravest decisions, when he finds himself at the centre of a political crisis in which the philosopher Plato is also involved. Much of the action is set in Syracuse, where Plato's friend Dion is trying to persuade the young tyrant Dionysios the Younger to accept the rule of law. Through Nikeratos' eyes, the reader watches as the clash between the two unleashes all the pent-up violence in the city.Trade ReviewMary Renault is a shining light to both historical novelists and their readers. She does not pretend the past is like the present, or that the people of ancient Greece were just like us. She shows us their strangeness; discerning, sure-footed, challenging our values, piquing our curiosity, she leads us through an alien landscape that moves and delights us. -- Hilary Mantel I never learned Latin or Greek; I wasn't raised on the classics, even in translation. So all my sense of the ancient world - its values, its style, the scent of its wars and passions - comes from Mary Renault. I turned to writing historical fiction because of something I learned from Renault: that it lets you shake off the mental shackles of your own era, all the categories and labels, and write freely about what really matters to you -- Emma Donoghue Mary Renault's portraits of the ancient world are fierce, complex and eloquent, infused at every turn with her life-long passion for the Classics. Her characters live vividly both in their own time, and in ours -- Madeline Miller There's much to say about her interweaving of myth and history and, just as interestingly, there's much to wonder at in the way she fills in the large dark spaces where we know next to nothing about the times she describes ... an important and wonderful writer ... she set a course into serious-minded, psychologically intense historical fiction that today seems more important than ever' -- Sam Jordison The Guardian
£9.49
Alma Books Ltd Rudin: New Translation
Book SynopsisDmitry Rudin, a high-minded gentleman of reduced means, arrives at the estate of Darya Mikhailovna, where his intelligence, eloquence and conviction immediately make a powerful impression. As he stys on longer than intended, Rudin exerts a strong influence on the younger generation, and Darya's daughter, Natalya, falls in love with him. But circumstances soon will show whether Rudin has the courage to act on his beliefs, and whether he can live ip to the image he has created for himself.Trade ReviewThese two translations of Ivan Turgenev's earliest long fiction [Faust and Rudin] are a welcome sign of renewed interest in Russia's least-appreciated great nineteenth century novelist. * TLS *Rudin enters the familiar Turgenevan landscape of rustic tranquillity and well-bred, private contumely like a thunderbolt. * TLS *Turgenev’s little-known first novel Rudin, written in 1856, centres on an excessively self-indulgent man and his doomed relationship with the daughter of his aristocratic hostess. It’s an impressive debut, with complex psychology and subtle characterisation. * The Telegraph *Turgenev to me is the greatest writer there ever was. -- Ernest Hemingway
£8.54
Alma Books Ltd Exercises in Style
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
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd Dark Avenues
Considered one of the most influential authors of twentieth century Russian Literature, Ivan Bunin's "Dark Avenues" is the culmination of a life's work which unrelentingly questioned of the political doxa whilst taking his poetic mastery of language to dark new heights. Written between 1938 and 1944 and set in the context of a disintegrating Russian culture, this collection of short fiction centres around dark, erotic liaisons told with a rich, elegaic poetics which probes the artistic limits of depicting desire.A prolific writer and fierce political activist, Bunin became the first Russian to win the Nobel prize for Literature in 1933 and was highly influential on his contemporary Russian emigres, Checkov and Nabokov. The "Dark Avenues" is the zenith of his work and one of the most important Russian texts to come out of the twentieth century.
£9.49
Alma Books Ltd The Woman in White: Annotated Edition (Alma
Book Synopsis"She looked so irresistibly beautiful as she said those brave words that no man alive could have steeled his heart against her." In love with the beautiful heiress Laura Fairlie, the impoverished art teacher Walter Hartright finds his romantic desires thwarted by her previous engagement to Sir Percival Glyde. But all is not as it seems with Sir Percival, as becomes clear when he arrives with his eccentric friend Count Fosco. The mystery and intrigue are further deepened by the ghostly appearances of a woman in white, apparently harbouring a secret that concerns Sir Percival’s past. A tale of love, madness, deceit and redemption, boasting sublime Gothic settings and pulse-quickening suspense, The Woman in White was the first best-selling Victorian sensation novel, sparking off a huge trend in the fiction of the time with its compulsive, fascinating narrative.Trade ReviewFor sheer plotting genius, Collins had no rival. If you’ve never read this, I can promise you one of the most gripping stories of all time. -- Philip Pullman
£6.99
Alma Books Ltd The Picture of Dorian Gray
Book SynopsisDorian Gray is having his picture painted by Basil Hallward, who is charmed by his looks. But when Sir Henry Wotton visits and seduces Dorian into the worship of youthful beauty with an intoxicating speech, Dorian makes a wish he will live to regret: that all the marks of age will now be reflected in the portrait rather than on Dorian's own face. The stage is now set for a masterful tale about appearance, reality, art, life, truth, fiction and the burden of conscience. Oscar Wilde's only full-length novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a lasting gem of sophisticated wit and playfulness, which brings together all the best elements of his talent in a reinterpretation of the Faustian myth.Trade ReviewReading and rereading Wilde throughout the years, I noticed something that his panegyrists had not, it seems, suspected: namely the verifiable, elementary fact that Wilde was virtually always right. -- Jorge Luis Borges Wilde stood for art. He stood for nothing less all his life... He is still enormously underestimated as an artist and thinker... Wilde was a great writer and a great man. -- Stephen Fry Every line that Wilde ever wrote affected me so enormously. -- Morrissey I think The Picture of Dorian Gray stands as high as it ever has. -- Will Self A heady late-Victorian tale of double-living, in which Dorian's fatal, corruptive influence over women and men alike is left suggestively indistinct. -- Sarah Waters
£7.44
Alma Books Ltd Northanger Abbey
Book SynopsisWhile enjoying a six weeks' stay in fashionable Bath, the young and callow Catherine Morland is introduced to the delights of high society. Thanks to a new literary diet of the sensational and the macabre, Catherine travels to Northanger Abbey fully expecting to become embroiled in a Gothic adventure of intrigue and suspense - and, once there, soon begins to form the most gruesome and improbable theories about the exploits of its occupants. An early work, but published posthumously, Northanger Abbey is a parody of the Gothic genre typified by the novels of Ann Radcliffe, as well as a witty comedy of manners in the style of Jane Austen's later novels and, ultimately, an enchanting love story.Trade ReviewAs a creative realist, giving to her characters the very body and pressure of actual life, no writer, living or dead, has surpassed her. -- John Cowper Powys
£6.99
Alma Books Ltd Smoke: New Translation
Book SynopsisOn his way back to Russia after some years spent in the West, Grigory Mikhailovich Litvinov, the son of a retired official of merchant stock, stops over in Baden-Baden to meet his fiancee Tatyana. However, a chance encounter with his old flame, the manipulative Irina - now married to a general and a prominent figure in aristocratic expatriate circles - unearths feelings buried deep inside the young man's heart, derailing his plans for the future and throwing his life into turmoil.Trade ReviewTurgenev to me is the greatest writer there ever was. -- Ernest Hemingway
£8.54
Canongate Books A Scots Quair: Sunset Song: Cloud Howe: Grey
Book SynopsisChris Guthrie, torn between her love of the land and her desire to escape the narrow horizons of a peasant culture, is the thread that links these three works. In them, Gibbon interweaves the personal joys and sorrows of Chris' life with the greater historical and political events of the time.Sunset Song, the first and most celebrated book of the trilogy, covers the early years of the twentieth century, including the First World War. Chris survives, with her son Ewan, but the tragedy has struck and her wild spirit is subdued. In Cloud Howe, as the minister's wife, Chris learns to love again, and we witness the cruel gossip and high comedy of small village life until, once again, Chris suffers a terrible loss. Grey Granite focuses on her son Ewan and his passionate involvement with justice for the common man. For Chris, with her intuitive strength, nothing lasts - only the land endures.Trade ReviewThis book may be read with delight the world over. * * New York Times * *It would be impossible to overestimate Lewis Grassic Gibbon's importance . . . A Scots Quair is a landmark work; it permeates the Scottish literary consciousness and colours all subsequent writing of its kind. -- David Kerr CameronA Scots Quair is a lyrical achievement still unparalleled in British writing. -- Ali SmithGibbon's style is one of the great achievements of the trilogy and should be seen . . . in the context of mordernist innovators such as James Joyce, Gerturde Stein and William Faulkner. -- Tom Crawford
£9.99
Oxford University Press The SketchBook of Geoffrey Crayon Gent.
Book SynopsisIn The Sketch-Book Washington Irving explores the uneasy relationship of an American writer to English literary traditions. He sketches a series of encounters with the cultural shrines of the parent nation, and in two brilliant experiments with tales transplanted from Europe creates the first classic American short stories, `Rip Van Winkle' and `The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow'.
£9.49
Oxford University Press The Invisible Man
Book SynopsisOne night in the depths of winter, a bizarre and sinister stranger wrapped in bandages and eccentric clothing arrives in a remote English village. In this pioneering novella, Wells combines comedy, both farcical and satirical, and tragedy - to superbly unsettling effect.Trade Review[An] informative introduction... reading these OWC editions has enhanced my pleasure hugely; the introductions are always well written and give just the right amount of information to inform without overloading the reader with lots of irrelevant detail or academic jargon. * Leah Galbraith, FictionFan *Very smart-looking new editions of SF classics. * David V Barrett, Fortean Times *The ideas that Wells explores are as relevant as ever * Desperate Reader *
£6.99
Canterbury Classics Around the World in Eighty Days
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£10.44
Pan Macmillan The Riddle of the Sands
Book SynopsisOne of the first great spy novels, The Riddle of the Sands is set during the long, suspicious years leading up to the First World War. In spite of good prospects in the Foreign Office, sardonic civil servant Carruthers is finding it hard to endure the boredom of his life in London. He accepts an invitation from a college friend, Davies, a shyly intrepid yachtsman, and joins him on a sailing holiday in the Baltic, and there, amidst the sunshine and bright blue seas, they discover a German plot to invade England . . . Like much contemporary British spy fiction, The Riddle of the Sands reflects the Anglo-German rivalry of the early twentieth century, and the intricacy of the book’s conception and its lucid detail make it a classic of its genre. This Macmillan Collector’s Library edition of Erskine Childers' The Riddle of the Sands features maps drawn from Childers’ originals and an afterword by writer and journalist Ned Halley. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.
£10.79
Broadview Press Ltd Bleak House
Book SynopsisThe labyrinthine, ingenious plot of Bleak House focuses on the seemingly endless lawsuit Jarndyce and Jarndyce, an inheritance dispute that has been moving through the courts for years. Dozens of characters, including the innocent young narrator Esther Summerson, her friends Richard Carstone and Ada Clare, and the jaded aristocrats Sir Leicester and Lady Honoria Dedlock, are directly or indirectly caught up in the case. Written in bold and inventive language, Bleak House is Dickens’s epic vision of Victorian society.The critical introduction and extensive appendices to this edition focus on the novel’s social context and reception, Dickens’s treatment of his women characters and the working class, and the inequalities of the Victorian legal system.Trade Review“Patricia Ingham’s edition of Bleak House is a model of clear thinking, scrupulous editing, and critical acumen. The contextual documents have been selected with a keen eye for what modern readers need to know if they are to appreciate this wonderful novel in all its complexity. The edition will be an invaluable resource for those studying or teaching Dickens, but in addition will stimulate new thinking even among established Dickens scholars. It is an excellent addition to the Broadview list.” - Penny Boumelha, Victoria University of Wellington“In this splendid new edition of Charles Dickens's Bleak House, Patricia Ingham brings her fine critical intelligence to bear on a novel that treats the city of London as a historical reality and as a haunting metaphor. Professor Ingham's wide-ranging erudition—her expertise as a linguist, social historian, editor, and literary theorist—allows her to provide a framework that does full justice to Dickens's multi-layered narrative. Her introduction contextualizes the novel in pertinent ways, the notes are helpful, and rich appendices provide a wide array of nineteenth-century documents necessary to grasp how the novel is both representative and highly original.” - Linda M. Shires, Yeshiva UniversityTable of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Charles Dickens: A Brief Chronology A Note on the Text Bleak House Appendix A: Dickens’s Working Notes for Bleak House Appendix B: The Reception of Bleak House Appendix C: The Role and Status of Women Appendix D: The Court of Chancery Appendix E: Attitudes to Religious and Other Proselytizing Appendix F: Contemporary Attitudes to Class Inequality Appendix G: Conditions of the Working Class Select Bibliography
£18.95
Graphic Arts Books The Lustful Turk
Book SynopsisThe Lustful Turk (1828) is an anonymously written pornographic novel. Published by infamous London pornographers John Benjamin Brookes and William Dugdale, The Lustful Turk was adapted into a 1968 film by David Friedman. Notable for its blend of popular literary styles, including the epistolary narrative, the novel of sensibility, and Gothic romance, The Lustful Turk influenced countless authors of erotica from the Victorian era onward. In a series of letters to her friend Sylvia, Emily Barlow recounts her fateful voyage to India. Captured by pirates on the high seas, Emily is taken to the harem of Ali, a regent of Algiers. Held against her will, she is tortured and subjected to sexual acts previously unknown to her. When one of her letters is discovered by Ali, he organizes Sylvia’s abduction and reunites the friends in his harem. As the story unfolds, graphic sex gives way to a plot to violently overthrow Ali and free his many captives. The Lustful Turk is a controversial story that meets time-honored taboos head on, depicting graphic scenes of lust, castration, and rape. Condemned upon publication for obscenity, the novel is recognized today as an important work of Victorian erotica and as a harmful example of orientalist tropes. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Lustful Turk is a classic of pornographic literature reimagined for modern readers.
£6.37
Lanternfish Press The King in Yellow
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£12.34
Alma Books Ltd The Adolescent: New Translation
Book SynopsisAmong Dostoevsky’s later novels, The Adolescent occupies a very special place: published three years after The Devils and five years before his final masterpiece, The Karamazov Brothers, the novel charts the story of nineteen-year-old Arkady – the illegitimate son of the landowner Versilov and the maid Sofia Andreyevna – as he struggles to find his place in society and “become a Rothschild” against the background of 1870s Russia, a nation still tethered to its old systems and values but shaken up by the new ideological currents of socialism and nihilism. Both a Bildungsroman and a novel of ideas, dealing with themes such as the relationship between fathers and sons and the role of money in modern society, The Adolescent – here presented in a brand-new translation by Dora O’Brien – shows Dostoevsky at his finest as a social commentator and observer of the workings of a young man’s mind.Trade ReviewThe Adolescent really is an unjustly neglected book. As a study of the coming of age of a confused young man, it couldn’t be bettered for capturing his mindset; and as the saga of a truly dysfunctional Russian family it can’t be faulted. * Shiny New Books *
£8.54
Carcanet Press Ltd The Vampyre and Other Writings
Book Synopsis'June 18. Began my ghost story after tea. Twelve o' clock, really began to talk ghostly. [Lord Byron] repeated some verses of Coleridge's Christabel, of the witch's breast; when silence ensued, and Shelley, suddenly shrieking and putting his hands to his head, ran out of the room with a candle.' (from the Diary of Dr John William Polidori, 1816). So John William Polidori (1795-1821) records one of the most famous storytelling evenings in English literature, the stormy night at the Villa Diodati that was the source of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and his own tale "The Vampyre", as well as his Gothic novel "Ernestus Berchtold". Polidori's still compelling works, included here in full, created figures of seductive evil that continue to exert a powerful hold over literature and popular culture. In addition, this collection makes available some of Polidori's fascinating lesser-known works such as his medical thesis on nightmares, his pamphlet on the death penalty, his poetry and diary. Many of these have not been republished since the nineteenth century. Now Polidori emerges from the shadows, an impetuous, sensitive writer with a sometimes fierce talent.His encounters with Byron, Shelley and their circle contributed to his fame and notoriety, and to his neglect, since they outshone him. Here he can be read by his own mysterious taper. Franklin Bishop's introduction describes the context in which The Vampyre was written and deepens our understanding of Romanticism and the Gothic.Table of ContentsIntroduction Further Reading The Vampyre:A Tale from A Medical Inaugural Dissertation which deals with the disease called Oneirodynia,for the degree of Medical Doctor, Edinburgh 1815 from On the Punishment of Death from An Essay Upon the Source of Positive Pleasure Ernestus Berchtold; or,The Modern Oedipus: A Tale from Ximenes,The Wreath and Other Poems from The Fall of the Angels:A Sacred Poem from The Diary of Dr John William Polidori from Letters of John Polidori Appendix:Four Letters about Polidori
£14.24
Houghton Mifflin The Lord of the Rings
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£26.60
Oxford University Press Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas
Book SynopsisVerne's classic tale of Captain Nemo and the submarine the Nautilus has left a profound mark on the twentieth century. Its themes are universal, its style humorous and grandiose, its construction masterly.Trade ReviewThis truly is the edition that serious SF readers will want. Indeed, given its rigour is at the academic level (such is the quantity and detail of ancillary information provided), it is surprising that this book is priced at the level of an average fiction paperback: it is extremely good value. * Jonathan Cowie, Concatenation.org *Review from previous edition 'stands head and shoulders above the other English translations of Verne I have seen.' * Nineteenth-Century French Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsList of AbbreviationsIntroductionNote on the Text and TranslationSelect BibliographyChronologyTWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEASAppendix: Sources of ideas on submarine navigationExplanatory notes
£9.49
Gallery Books Contact
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£15.19
Debolsillo La guerra del fin del mundo / The War of the End
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£16.16
