From Austen to Zola, from medieval to the modern day - all genres are catered for between the covers of these coveted classics.
Classics Books
Little, Brown Book Group 84 Charing Cross Road
Book SynopsisThis book is the very simple story of the love affair between Miss Helene Hanff of New York and Messrs Marks and Co, sellers of rare and secondhand books, at 84 Charing Cross Road, London''. DAILY TELEGRAPHTold in a series of letters in 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD and then in diary form in the second part THE DUCHESS OF BLOOMSBURY STREET, this true story has touched the hearts of thousands.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
HarperCollins Publishers The Hobbit
Book SynopsisThe definitive edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's most beloved book, sporting a facsimile of his original cover design and complete with colour plates of his own paintings, brand new reproductions of all his drawings, and colour versions of both maps.Bilbo Baggins enjoys a quiet and contented life, with no desire to travel far from the comforts of home; then one day the wizard Gandalf and a band of dwarves arrive unexpectedly and enlist his services as a burglar on a dangerous expedition to raid the treasure-hoard of Smaug the dragon. Bilbo's life is never to be the same again.Seldom has any book been so widely read and loved as JRR Tolkien's classic tale, The Hobbit. Since its first publication in 1937 it has remained in print to delight each new generation of readers all over the world, and its hero, Bilbo Baggins, has taken his place among the ranks of the immortals: Alice, Pooh, ToadTrade 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
£18.70
Alma Books Ltd The Master and Margarita: New Translation
Book SynopsisRussia’s literary world is shaken to its foundations when a mysterious gentleman – a professor of black magic – arrives in Moscow, accompanied by a bizarre retinue of servants. It soon becomes clear that he is the Devil himself, come to wreak havoc among the cultural elite of a disbelieving capital. But the Devil’s mission quickly becomes entangled with the fate of the Master – a man who has turned his back on his former life and taken refuge in a lunatic asylum – and his past lover, Margarita. Both a satirical romp and a daring analysis of the nature of good and evil, innocence and guilt, The Master and Margarita is the crowning achievement of one of the greatest Russian writers of the twentieth century.Trade ReviewA wild surrealistic romp … Brilliantly flamboyant and outrageous. -- Joyce Carol OatesBulgakov’s The Master and Margarita is a soaring, dazzling novel; an extraordinary fusion of wildly disparate elements. It is a concerto played simultaneously on the organ, the bagpipes and a pennywhistle, while someone sets off fireworks between the players’ feet. * The New York Times *A lasting fable about the human need for truth and the mysterious power of love. -- Elaine FeinsteinIt's rare that you read something so compelling and exciting. For me, The Master and Margarita is the most exciting work of imagination that I've ever read. -- Daniel RadcliffeOne of the great writers of the twentieth century. -- A.S. ByattOne of the greatest modern Russian novels. * The Independent *What I find most extraordinary about The Master and Margarita is its scale, its daring, its sheer imaginative reach. Part satire, part love story, part mystical experience, it refuses to be pigeonholed. It’s a book that makes other books look safe. -- Rupert ThomsonA gloriously ironic gothic masterpiece. -- Patrick McGrath
£6.99
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The House of the Dead / The Gambler
Book SynopsisTranslated by Constance Garnett with an introduction by Anthony Briggs. Dostoevsky's fascination for mental breakdown and violence (20 murders in his four main novels) was based on his own life, and these two unmistakably autobiographical works bear this out. The House of the Dead is fiction, but based on his four years in a Siberian prison. An educated upper-class man is condemned to live among criminals and brutal guards, with arbitrary punishments, lousy food, disgusting living conditions, hard toil and many floggings. Somehow he avoids bitterness and recrimination; faith in humanity survives. With its breadth of characterisation, acute sense of detail and strong narrative interest, this work can still shock, entertain and inspire. In The Gambler we see the Russian community in a German spa town. Drawn to the casino, Alexey becomes obsessed with roulette. In a gripping story, full of psychological interest, his growing mania eclipses even his interest in Polina, a heroine of demonic and vibrant sexuality. Dostoevsky himself was rescued from a similar gambling obsession by the young stenographer who took down this work at his dictation and married him soon afterwards.
£6.23
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Dubliners
Book SynopsisIntroduction and Notes by Laurence Davies, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. Living overseas but writing, always, about his native city, Joyce made Dublin unforgettable. The stories in Dubliners show us truants, seducers, gossips, rally-drivers, generous hostesses, corrupt politicians, failing priests, amateur theologians, struggling musicians, moony adolescents, victims of domestic brutishness, sentimental aunts and poets, patriots earnest or cynical, and people striving to get by. In every sense an international figure, Joyce was faithful to his own country by seeing it unflinchingly and challenging every precedent and piety in Irish literature.
£6.23
Prakash Books A Midsummer Night's Dream
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£6.50
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Northanger Abbey
Book SynopsisIntroduction and Notes by David Blair, University of Kent. Northanger 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. In this, her first full-length novel, Austen also fixes her sharp, ironic gaze on other kinds of contemporary novel, especially the Gothic school made famous by Ann Radcliffe. Catherine's reading becomes intertwined with her social and romantic adventures, adding to the uncertainties and embarrassments she must undergo before finding happiness.
£6.23
Chiltern Publishing The Picture of Dorian Gray
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£17.00
Penguin Books Ltd How Much Land Does A Man Need
Book SynopsisOffers a pair of short stories about greed, charity, life and death from one of Russia's most influential writers and thinkers.
£5.63
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Karamazov Brothers
Book SynopsisTranslated by Constance Garnett, with an Introduction by A. D. P. Briggs. As Fyodor Karamazov awaits an amorous encounter, he is violently done to death. The three sons of the old debauchee are forced to confront their own guilt or complicity. Who will own to parricide? The reckless and passionate Dmitri? The corrosive intellectual Ivan? Surely not the chaste novice monk Alyosha? The search reveals the divisions which rack the brothers, yet paradoxically unite them. Around the writhings of this one dysfunctional family Dostoevsky weaves a dense network of social, psychological and philosophical relationships. At the same time he shows - from the opening 'scandal' scene in the monastery to a personal appearance by an eccentric Devil - that his dramatic skills have lost nothing of their edge. The Karamazov Brothers, completed a few months before Dostoevsky's death in 1881, remains for many the high point of his genius as novelist and chronicler of the modern malaise. It cast a long shadow over D. H. Lawrence, Thomas Mann, Albert Camus, and other giants of twentieth-century European literature.
£6.23
HarperCollins Publishers Five Little Pigs
Book SynopsisAgatha Christie’s ingenious murder mystery, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers.Trade Review“Despite only five suspects, Mrs Christie as usual puts a ring through the reader’s nose and leads him to one of her smashing last-minute showdowns.” Observer “The answer to the riddle is brilliant.” Times Literary Supplement “A brilliant piece of detective fiction, in which character plays an important part.” Daily Telegraph “Straightforward bamboozling from start to finish.” New Statesman “As usual, Mrs Christie hoaxes us with a double twist at the denouement, and provides excellent entertainment.” Punch “Agatha Christie never fails us, and her Five Little Pigs presents a very pretty problem for the ingenious reader.” Manchester Guardian
£9.49
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Mrs Dalloway
Book SynopsisWith an Introduction and Notes by Merry M. Pawlowski, Professor and Chair, Department of English, California State University,Bakersfield. Virginia Woolf's singular technique in Mrs Dalloway heralds a break with the traditional novel form and reflects a genuine humanity and a concern with the experiences that both enrich and stultify existence. Society hostess, Clarissa Dalloway is giving a party. Her thoughts and sensations on that one day, and the interior monologues of others whose lives are interwoven with hers gradually reveal the characters of the central protagonists. Clarissa's life is touched by tragedy as the events in her day run parallel to those of Septimus Warren Smith, whose madness escalates as his life draws toward inevitable suicide.
£5.96
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Devils
Book SynopsisTranslated by Constance Garnett with an Introduction by A.D.P. Briggs. In 1869 a young Russian was strangled, shot through the head and thrown into a pond. His crime? A wish to leave a small group of violent revolutionaries, from which he had become alienated. Dostoevsky takes this real-life catastrophe as the subject and culmination of Devils, a title that refers the young radicals themselves and also to the materialistic ideas that possessed the minds of many thinking people Russian society at the time. The satirical portraits of the revolutionaries, with their naivety, ludicrous single-mindedness and readiness for murder and destruction, might seem exaggerated - until we consider their all-too-recognisable descendants in the real world ever since. The key figure in the novel, however, is beyond politics. Nikolay Stavrogin, another product of rationalism run wild, exercises his charisma with ruthless authority and total amorality. His unhappiness is accounted for when he confesses to a ghastly sexual crime - in a chapter long suppressed by the censor. This prophetic account of modern morals and politics, with its fifty-odd characters, amazing events and challenging ideas, is seen by some critics as Dostoevsky's masterpiece.
£6.23
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Great Expectations
Book SynopsisConsidered by many to be Dickens' finest novel, Great Expectations traces the growth of the book's narrator, Philip Pirrip (Pip), from a boy of shallow dreams to a man with depth of character. From its famous dramatic opening on the bleak Kentish marshes, the story abounds with some of Dickens' most memorable characters. Among them are the kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery, the mysterious convict Abel Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Haversham and her beautiful ward Estella, Pip's good-hearted room-mate Herbert Pocket and the pompous Pumblechook. As Pip unravels the truth behind his own 'great expectations' in his quest to become a gentleman, the mysteries of the past and the convolutions of fate through a series of thrilling adventures serve to steer him towards maturity and his most important discovery of all - the truth about himself.
£5.96
Chiltern Publishing The Little Prince
Book SynopsisChiltern Publishing creates the most beautiful editions of the World's finest literature. Your favourite classic titles in a way you have never seen them before; the tactile embossed layers, golden edges, fine details and beautiful colours of these remarkable covers make them feel extra special and will look striking on any shelf.
£17.00
HarperCollins Publishers The Lord of the Rings 13
Book SynopsisContinuing the story begun in The Hobbit, all three parts of the epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, in one paperback. Features the definitive edition of the text, fold-out flaps with the original two-colour maps, and a revised and expanded index.Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring the ring that rules them all which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins.In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as the Ring is entrusted to his care. He must leave his home and make a perilous journey across the realms of Middle-earth to the Crack of Doom, deep inside the territories of the Dark Lord. There he must destroy the Ring forever and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.Since it was first published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivalled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy has touched the hearts of young and old alike.This single-volume paperback edition is the definitive text, fully restored with almost 400 corrections with the full co-operation of Christopher Tolkien and features a striking new cover.Trade Review‘The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them.’ Sunday Times ‘A story magnificently told, with every kind of colour and movement and greatness.’ New Statesman ‘Masterpiece? Oh yes, I’ve no doubt about that.’ Evening Standard
£21.25
Vintage Publishing Wuthering Heights (Vintage Classics Bronte Series)
Rediscover Emily Brontë's powerful tale of love, violence and obsession. 'May you not rest, as long as I am living. You said I killed you - haunt me, then' Wuthering Heights is the tale of two families both joined and riven by love and hate. Cathy is a beautiful and wilful young woman torn between her soft-hearted husband and Heathcliff, the passionate and resentful man who has loved her since childhood. The power of their bond creates a maelstrom of cruelty and violence which will leave one of them dead and cast a shadow over the lives of their children. Emily Brontë's novel remains a stunningly original and shocking exploration of obsessive passion. 'A dark and passionate tale of tortured but enduring love... Mesmerising' Guardian VINTAGE CLASSICS BRONTE SERIES - beautiful editions, three iconic stories, three extraordinary women.
£8.54
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Don Quixote
Book SynopsisTranslated by P. A. Motteux With an Introduction and Notes by Stephen Boyd, University College, Cork Cervantes’ tale of the deranged gentleman who turns knight-errant, tilts at windmills and battles with sheep in the service of the lady of his dreams, Dulcinea del Toboso, has fascinated generations of readers, and inspired other creative artists such as Flaubert, Picasso and Richard Strauss. The tall, thin knight and his short, fat squire, Sancho Panza, have found their way into films, cartoons and even computer games. Supposedly intended as a parody of the most popular escapist fiction of the day, the ‘books of chivalry’, this precursor of the modern novel broadened and deepened into a sophisticated, comic account of the contradictions of human nature. On his ‘heroic’ journey Don Quixote meets characters of every class and condition, from the prostitute Maritornes, who is commended for her Christian charity, to the Knight of the Green Coat, who seems to embody some of the constraints of virtue. Cervantes’ greatest work can be enjoyed on many levels, all suffused with a subtle irony that reaches out to encompass the reader, and does not leave the author outside its circle. Peter Motteux’s fine eighteenth-century translation, acknowledged as one of the best, brilliantly succeeds in communicating the spirit of the original Spanish.
£6.23
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Agnes Grey
Book SynopsisAgnes Grey is a trenchant exposé of the frequently isolated, intellectually stagnant and emotionally starved conditions under which many governesses worked in the mid-nineteenth century. This is a deeply personal novel written from the author’s own experience and as such Agnes Grey has a power and poignancy which mark it out as a landmark work of literature dealing with the social and moral evolution of English society during the last century.
£6.23
Chiltern Publishing Dracula
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£17.00
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Best of Sherlock Holmes
Book SynopsisSelected, Edited and Introduced by David Stuart Davies. The Best of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twenty of the very best tales from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fifty-six short stories featuring the arch sleuth. Basing his selection around the author's own twelve personal favourites, David Stuart Davies has added a further eight sparkling stories to Conan Doyle's ‘Baker Street Dozen’, creating a unique volume which distils the pure essence of the world's most famous detective. Within these pages the reader will encounter the greatest collection of villains and the weirdest and most puzzling mysteries ever seen in print. And there at the centre, in a London swathed in eddies of fog and illuminated by gaslight, is to be found the remarkable character of Sherlock Holmes and his staunch companion, Doctor John H. Watson. Few will be able to resist this invitation to step aboard the waiting hansom cab and rattle off along cobbled streets into unimagined dangers and intrigues.
£6.23
Penguin Books Ltd The Haunting of Hill House
Book SynopsisFour seekers have arrived at the rambling old pile known as Hill House: Dr Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of psychic phenomena; Theodora, his lovely assistant; Luke, the future inheritor of the estate; and Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman with a dark past.Trade ReviewThe scariest book I’ve ever read ... I read it one night next to my sleeping wife and found myself unable to move, unable to go to bed, unable to do anything except keep reading and praying the shadows around me didn’t move -- Carmen Maria Machado * The New York Times *the haunted house novel. All others stand in its shadow -- Paul Tremblay * author of A Head Full of Ghosts *Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” beats them all: a maleficent house, real human protagonists, everything half-seen or happening in the dark. It scared me as a teenager and it haunts me still, as does Eleanor, the girl who comes to stay -- Neil Gaiman * The New York Times *The Haunting of Hill House rewrote horror’s rules -- Alison Flood * Guardian *Stepping into Hill House is like stepping into the mind of a madman; it isn't long before you weird yourself out * Stephen King *An amazing writer ... If you haven't read We Have Always Lived in the Castle or The Haunting of Hill House or any of her short stories you have missed out on something marvellous -- Neil GaimanThe world of Shirley Jackson is eerie and unforgettable ... She is a true master -- A. M. HomesOne of the twentieth century's most luminous and strange American writers -- Jonathan LethemHer books penetrate keenly to the terrible truths which sometimes hide behind comfortable fictions, to the treachery beneath cheery neighborhood faces and the plain manners of country folk -- Donna TarttShe is the finest master...of the cryptic, haunted tale * The New York Times Book Review *A novel which at one stroke puts her unquestionably among the great masters of the genre . . . as spine-chilling . . . as anything Edgar Allan Poe dreamed up. -- Peter Green * Daily Telegraph *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Handmaid's Tale: the book that inspired the
Book Synopsis** THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER ****A BBC BETWEEN COVERS BIG JUBILEE READ**Go back to where it all began with the dystopian novel behind the award-winning TV series.'As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it' GuardianI believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather, no shadow unless there is also light.Offred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead, a religious totalitarian state in what was formerly known as the United States. She is placed in the household of The Commander, Fred Waterford - her assigned name, Offred, means 'of Fred'. She has only one function: to breed. If Offred refuses to enter into sexual servitude to repopulate a devastated world, she will be hanged. Yet even a repressive state cannot eradicate hope and desire. As she recalls her pre-revolution life in flashbacks, Offred must navigate through the terrifying landscape of torture and persecution in the present day, and between two men upon which her future hangs.Masterfully conceived and executed, this haunting vision of the future places Margaret Atwood at the forefront of dystopian fiction.'A fantastic, chilling story. And so powerfully feminist', Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other.Trade ReviewA fantastic, chilling story. And so powerfully feminist -- Bernadine EvaristoCompulsively readable * Daily Telegraph *The mother of all feminist dystopian novels * Red *The novel satirises the strain of evangelical puritanism in American culture and the objectification and control of women's bodies. It is more broadly a contemporary myth of despotic power, and how such power deforms those who are subjected to it * Observer *The Handmaid's Tale is both a superlative exercise in science fiction and a profoundly felt moral story -- Angela CarterOut of a narrative shadowed by terror, gleam sharp perceptions, brilliant intense images and sardonic wit -- Peter Kemp * Independent *Margaret Atwood is a wry and perceptive observer of society as well as an original storyteller * Psychologist *The images of brilliant emptiness are one of the most striking aspects of this novel about totalitarian blindness...the effect is chilling -- Linda Taylor * Sunday Times *Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood’s devastating irony, wit and astute perception * Essence *It's hard to believe it is 25 years since it was first published, but its freshness, its anger and its disciplined, taut prose have grown more admirable in the intervening years... Atwood's novel was an ingenious enterprise that showed, with out hysteria, the real dangers to women of closing their eyes to patriarchal -- Lesley McDowell * Independent on Sunday *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Animal Farm
Book SynopsisThe first ever graphic novel version of Animal Farm - a Times Book of the YearAnimal Farm is the story of what happens when the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master, and how their revolution goes horribly wrong. Now George Orwell''s dark, timeless fable has been turned into a graphic novel for the very first time, illustrated in full colour by the renowned Brazilian artist Odyr to bring us a whole new work of art.''This brightly coloured homage to Orwell''s timely allegory is heartbreaking and elegant. Odyr''s images of animals casting off their bonds and then living with the results of their revolution are painterly and evocative, both loose and illuminating'' The New York TimesTrade ReviewThis brightly coloured homage to George Orwell's timely allegory is heartbreaking and elegant. Odyr's images of animals casting off their bonds and then living with the results of their revolution are painterly and evocative, both loose and illuminating. * The New York Times *Odyr's rich brushstrokes do much to enhance the experience of Orwell's brand of satire * New York Journal of Books *Odyr's expressive watercolour palette strikes a visceral note that matches the intensity of Orwell's original text ... He skillfully evokes the mood of the countryside and the plot's shocking violence; the atmosphere and emotions are spot-on * Publisher's Weekly *
£15.29
Prakash Books The Complete Novels of Sherlock Holmes
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£17.99
HarperCollins Publishers The Devil Wears Prada
Book SynopsisThe classic bestseller over a million copies sold worldwide!*Soon to be a major musical, written by Elton John and starring Vanessa Williams*High fashion, low cunning and the boss from hell When Andrea first sets foot in the plush Manhattan offices of Runway, she knows nothing. She''s never heard of the world''s most fashionable magazine, or its feared and fawned-over editor, Miranda Priestly her new boss.A year later, she knows altogether too much. She knows that it''s a sacking offence to wear anything lower than a three-inch heel to work, that you can charge cars, manicures, anything at all to the Runway account, but you must never, ever, leave your desk, or let Miranda''s coffee get cold. And she knows that at 3 a.m. on a Sunday, when your boyfriend''s dumping you because you''re always at work, if Miranda phones, you jump.But this is Andrea's big break it''s going to be worth it in the end.Isn''t it??????The Devil Wears Prada is everyone''s favourite book ?????''Watched the moTrade 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
£9.49
Prakash Books The Importance of Being Earnest
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£6.50
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Moonfleet
When fifteen-year-old orphan John Trenchard is banished by his Aunt Jane, he goes to live at the local inn with the mysterious Elzevir Block, whose son has been killed by Customs Officers. Unofficially adopted by Block, John comes to learn the reasons for the noises in the graveyard at night, of 'Blackbeard' Mohune's lost treasure and Elzevir Block's secret. This dashing tale of eighteenth-century Dorset smugglers will be enjoyed by all who love stories of derring-do written in the tradition of Treasure Island.
£4.99
HarperCollins Publishers Tolkien J Children of Hurin
Book SynopsisPainstakingly restored from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of The Children of Húrin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, eagles and Orcs, and the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien.There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but which were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World.In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Túrin and his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves.Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Húrin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Túrin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled.The earliest versions of this story by J.R.R. Tolkien go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed; but long afterwards, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he wrote it anew and greatly enlarged it in complexities of motive and character: it became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. In this book Christopher Tolkien has constructed, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention.Trade Review‘I hope that its universality and power will grant it a place in English mythology’Independent on Sunday ‘The darkest of all Tolkien’s tales. Alan Lee’s illustrations complement the writing splendidly’Times Literary Supplement
£22.50
Chiltern Publishing The Phantom of the Opera
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£17.00
Alma Books Ltd The Prophet
Book SynopsisHaving lived in the city of Orphalese for twelve years, the revered Prophet is about to board a ship taking him back to the isle of his birth. Before he departs, a group of people gather round and ask him to share his wisdom. Written as a collection of poetic essays, and detailing such diverse and sprawling topics as love, death, pleasure and prayer, The Prophet was an immediate success on its initial publication in 1923, and has since been translated into more than a hundred languages. This edition contains the original illustrations by the author himself.Trade ReviewKahlil Gibran speaks about fundamental things – those which are, or should be, a part of every human life. * The New York Times *
£7.44
HarperCollins Publishers The Body in the Library
Book SynopsisA young woman found murdered A scandal in the makingTrade Review‘Without a doubt, the greatest mystery writer of all time’ – Ragnar Jonasson ‘A hundred years after her first novel, and we are all still standing in her shadow’ – Andrew Taylor ‘She gives us an insight into human nature that few, if any, have surpassed’ – Susan Lewis ‘Dame Agatha has sold more books than all besides Shakespeare and the Bible’ – David Baldacci ‘All crime fiction writers around the globe owe Agatha Christie a massive debt’ – Peter James ‘Reading a perfectly plotted Agatha Christie is like crunching into a perfect apple: that pure, crisp, absolute satisfaction.’ – Tana French
£9.49
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Middlemarch
Book SynopsisIntroduction and Notes by Doreen Roberts, Rutherford College, University of Kent at Canterbury. Middlemarch is a complex tale of idealism, disillusion, profligacy, loyalty and frustrated love. This penetrating analysis of the life of an English provincial town during the time of social unrest prior to the Reform Bill of 1832 is told through the lives of Dorothea Brooke and Dr Tertius Lydgate and includes a host of other paradigm characters who illuminate the condition of English life in the mid-nineteenth century. Henry James described Middlemarch as a ‘treasurehouse of detail’ while Virginia Woolf famously endorsed George Eliot’s masterpiece as ‘one of the few English novels written for grown-up people.
£6.23
Penguin Books Ltd In Cold Blood A True Account of a Multiple Murder
Book SynopsisConsidered by many to be the first work of the true crime genre, this ground-breaking book reconstructs the murder of the Clutter family from information provided by newspaper articles and interviews. ''Dick became convinced that Perry was that rarity, a natural killer - absolutely sane, but conscienceless, and capable of dealing, with or without motive, the coldest-blooded deathblows''On 15 November 1959, the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, a wealthy farmer, his wife and their two young children were found brutally murdered. Blood all over the walls, the telephone lines cut, and only a few dollars stolen. Heading up the investigation is Agent Al Dewey, but all he has are two footprints, four bodies, and a whole lot of questions. Truman Capote''s detailed reconstruction of the events and consequences of that fateful night, In Cold Blood is a chilling, gripping mix of journalistic skill and imaginative power. ''The American dream turning into the American nightmare. A remarkable book'' Spectator''One of the most stupendous books of the decade'' Sunday ExpressTrade ReviewOne of the stupendous books of the decade * Sunday Express *The American dream turning into the American nightmare . . . a remarkable book * Spectator *
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co The Dispossessed
Book SynopsisOne of the very best must-read novels of all time - with a new introduction by Roddy Doyle''A well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again'' THE TIMES''The book I wish I had written ... It''s so far away from my own imagination, I''d love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin'' Roddy Doyle''Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power'' OBSERVER''There was a wall. It did not look important - even a child could climb it. But the idea was real. Like all walls it was ambiguous, two-faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon which side of it you were on...''Shevek is brilliant scientist who is attempting to find a new theory of time - but there are those who are jealous of his work, and will do anything to block him. So he leaves his homeland, hoping to find a place of more liberty and tolerance. Initially feted, Shevek soon finds himseTrade ReviewThe book I wish I had written ... It's so far away from my own imagination, I'd love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin -- Roddy Doyle * THE TIMES *An extraordinary work ... [Le Guin] created a working society in exquisite detail ... a fully realised hypothetical culture [as well as] living breathing characters who are inevitable products of that culture -- Baird SearlesA well told tale signifying a good deal; one to be read again and again * THE TIMES *A deeply imagined work of art * Encyclopedia of Science Fiction *Le Guin's book ... is so persuasive that it ought to put a stop to the writing of prescriptive Utopias for at least 10 years * NEW YORK TIMES *[Le Guin had] the heart of a poet who knew all too well the difference between miracle and eureka, revelation and revolution * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *Le Guin's storytelling is sharp, magisterial, funny, thought-provoking and exciting, exhibiting all that science fiction can be * Empire *Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power * OBSERVER *
£999.99
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Three Musketeers
Book SynopsisWith an Introduction and Notes by Keith Wren. University of Kent at Canterbury. One of the most celebrated and popular historical romances ever written, The Three Musketeers tells the story of the early adventures of the young Gascon gentleman, D'Artagnan and his three friends from the regiment of the King's Musketeers - Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Under the watchful eye of their patron M. de Treville, the four defend the honour of the regiment against the guards of Cardinal Richelieu, and the honour of the queen against the machinations of the Cardinal himself as the power struggles of seventeenth century France are vividly played out in the background. But their most dangerous encounter is with the Cardinal's spy, Milady, one of literature's most memorable female villains, and Alexandre Dumas employs all his fast-paced narrative skills to bring this enthralling novel to a breathtakingly gripping and dramatic conclusion. Our edition uses the William Barrow translation first published by Bruce and Wylde (London,1846)
£6.23
HarperCollins Publishers The Lord of the Rings
Book SynopsisThis special 50th anniversary hardback edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic masterpiece includes the complete revised and reset text, two-fold out maps printed in red and black and, unique to this edition, a full-colour fold-out reproduction of Tolkien’s own facsimile pages from the Book of Mazarbul that the Fellowship discover in Moria.Trade Review‘Masterpiece? Oh yes, I’ve no doubt about that.’Evening Standard ‘Among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the 20th century.’Sunday Telegraph ‘The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them’Sunday Times ‘A story magnificently told, with every kind of colour and movement and greatness’New Statesman
£32.00
HarperCollins Publishers Beren and Luthien
Book SynopsisPainstakingly restored from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for the first time as a continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of Beren and Lúthien will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, Dwarves and Orcs and the rich landscape and creatures unique to Tolkien's Middle-earth.The tale of Beren and Lúthien was, or became, an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of the First Age of the World conceived by J.R.R. Tolkien. Returning from France and the battle of the Somme at the end of 1916, he wrote the tale in the following year.Essential to the story, and never changed, is the fate that shadowed the love of Beren and Lúthien: for Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal Elf. Her father, a great Elvish lord, in deep opposition to Beren, imposed on him an impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien. This is the kernel of the legend; and it leads to the supremely heroic attemTrade ReviewPraise for The Children of Húrin:‘I hope that its universality and power will grant it a place in English mythology’Independent on Sunday ‘The darkest of all Tolkien’s tales. Alan Lee’s illustrations complement the writing splendidly’Times Literary Supplement
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Brave New World: Special 3D Edition
Book SynopsisWITH INTRODUCTIONS BY MARGARET ATWOOD AND DAVID BRADSHAWFar in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone harbouring an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress...Huxley's ingenious fantasy of the future sheds a blazing light on the present and is considered to be his most enduring masterpiece.**One of the BBC’s 100 Novels That Shaped Our World**Trade ReviewA fantastical look at the world in the future which made me look differently at the present * Observer *A brilliant tour de force, Brave New World may be read as a grave warning of the pitfalls that await uncontrolled scientific advance. Full of barbed wit and malice-spiked frankness. Provoking, stimulating, shocking and dazzling * Observer *Such ingenious wit, derisive logic and swiftness of expression, Huxley's resources of sardonic invention have never been more brilliantly displayed * The Times *A decade ago we smug inhabitants of the information technology age thought Huxley's socio-biological satire had called history wrong. Then along came stem-cells * James Hawes *Not a work for people with tender minds and weak stomachs * J.B. Priestly *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Another Country Penguin Modern Classics
Book Synopsis''A masterwork... an almost unbearable, tumultuous, blood-pounding experience'' Washinton PostWhen Another Country appeared in 1962, it caused a literary sensation. James Baldwin''s masterly story of desire, hatred and violence opens with the unforgettable character of Rufus Scott, a scavenging Harlem jazz musician adrift in New York. Self-destructive, bad and brilliant, he draws us into a Bohemian underworld pulsing with heat, music and sex, where desperate and dangerous characters betray, love and test each other to the limit.''In Another Country, Baldwin created the essential American drama of the century'' Colm TóibínTrade ReviewA masterwork... an almost unbearable, tumultuous, blood-pounding experience * Washington Post *Baldwin is one of the few genuinely indispensable American writers * Saturday Review *A delicate and fine-tuned talent... The book reveals Baldwin's immense will and professionalism * The New Yorker *Let our novelists read Mr Baldwin and tremble. There is a whirlwind loose in the land * Sunday Times *In Another Country, Baldwin created the essential American drama of the century -- Colm Tóibín
£9.99
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Moby Dick
Book SynopsisMoby Dick is the story of Captain Ahab’s quest to avenge the whale that ‘reaped’ his leg. The quest is an obsession and the novel is a diabolical study of how a man becomes a fanatic. But it is also a hymn to democracy. Bent as the crew is on Ahab’s appalling crusade, it is equally the image of a co-operative community at work: all hands dependent on all hands, each individual responsible for the security of each. Among the crew is Ishmael, the novel’s narrator, ordinary sailor, and extraordinary reader. Digressive, allusive, vulgar, transcendent, the story Ishmael tells is above all an education: in the practice of whaling, in the art of writing. Expanding to equal his ‘mighty theme’ – not only the whale but all things sublime – Melville breathes in the world’s great literature. Moby Dick is the greatest novel ever written by an American.
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
£5.62
Little, Brown Book Group Rebecca
Book SynopsisLast night I dreamt I went to Manderley again... Working as a lady's companion, the orphaned heroine of Rebecca learns her place. Life begins to look very bleak until, on a trip to the South of France, she meets Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. Whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to his brooding estate, Manderley, on the Cornish Coast, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is forever kept alive by the forbidding Mrs Danvers... Not since Jane Eyre has a heroine faced such difficulty with the Other Woman. An international bestseller that has never been out of print, Rebecca is the haunting story of a young woman consumed by love and the struggle to find her identity.Trade ReviewFrom the opening sentence - "Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again" - to the final - "And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea" - I was hooked ... Rebecca is one of the underrated classics of the 20th century ... Rebecca is a masterpiece in which du Maurier pulls off several spectacular high-wire acts that many great writers wouldn't attempt * Guardian *One of the most influential novels of the twentieth century, Rebecca has woven its way into the fabric of our culture with all the troubling power of myth or dream. A stunning bookWith one of the most evocative first lines ever, Daphne du Maurier's fifth novel has everything a reader could ask for . . . Psychologically astute and disturbingly romantic, Rebecca was an immediate bestseller on publication in 1938 and has cast a sinister spell ever since * Marie Claire *Her masterpiece . . . Seldom has a dead woman exercised such power beyond the grave. Rebecca will live for ever because du Maurier touches a fearful nerve, buried deep in the unconscious * The Times *It's the perfect winter book, brooding, dangerous and engrossing -- Kit de Waal * Sainsbury's Magazine *Addictive and breathtaking. Its blending of melodrama and subtlety is ingenious. The Cornish setting never quite leaves the imagination * Independent *A brilliantly constructed novel - the ultimate in psychological suspense, instantly gripping and haunting, Rebecca will stay with you for ever. * Psychologies *A mesmerising novel which reveals more on each readingIt is the greatest psychological thriller of all time. I see du Maurier as a forerunner to Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell, Gillian Flynn: she is the giant whose magnificent shoulders the rest of us stand uponWhat she did was build emotional landscapes that can be entered at will, in which difficult and untamable desires were given free rein. Maybe because of her relationship with gender, she was able to make worlds in which people and even houses are mysterious and mutable, not as they seem; haunted rooms in which disembodied spirits sometimes dance at absolute liberty * Guardian *I read this book more than twenty years ago, and must have read it a dozen times since. The characters are incredibly vivid, and the twists superb. It's the book every writer wishes they'd written -- Clare MackintoshThis 1930s gothic thriller is suspenseful and so well crafted. Its young, nameless heroine marries rich widower Maxim de Winter and returns with him to his mansion, Manderley, only to find the ghost of his first wife, Rebecca, still lingers * Good Housekeeping *I am reminded of how profoundly du Maurier changed the way I felt about myself, how she engaged and excited me with her writing. * Julie Myerson *The DAILY TELEGRAPH * ‘As a new generation of readers are introduced to the wicked housekeeper Mrs Danvers and learn Maxim de Winter’s terrible secret, this chilling, suspenseful tale is as fresh and readable as it was when it was first written, more than 60 years ago.’ *Excellent entertainment . . . du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings. * Stephen King *
£15.29
Chiltern Publishing The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
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, fine details and beautiful colours of these remarkable covers make these titles feel extra special and will look striking on any shelf.
£17.00
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Ulysses
Book SynopsisWith a new Introduction by Cedric Watts, Research Professor of English, University of Sussex. James Joyce's astonishing masterpiece, Ulysses, tells of the diverse events which befall Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus in Dublin on 16 June 1904, during which Bloom's voluptuous wife, Molly, commits adultery. Initially deemed obscene in England and the USA, this richly-allusive novel, revolutionary in its Modernistic experimentalism, was hailed as a work of genius by W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot and Ernest Hemingway. Scandalously frank, wittily erudite, mercurially eloquent, resourcefully comic and generously humane, Ulysses offers the reader a life-changing experience.
£6.23
HarperCollins Publishers The Cat that Walked by Himself and Other Cat
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.Cats have long been considered creatures of mystery and magic. Worshipped as deities in some cultures, feared as harbingers of bad fortune in others, it''s little surprise that their enigmatic charm continues to capture our imaginations today.This classic collection of the most beloved cat tales includes Saki''s Tobermory', in which a straight-talking cat leaves dinner guests aghast yet entranced; a Norse fairy tale involving a spectacular feline rescue; The Dragon Tamers' by E. Nesbit; and H. P. Lovecraft''s strange story The Cats of Ulthar'; amongst many others to enjoy for years to come.
£5.62
Prakash Books Crime and Punishment
Book Synopsis
£15.90
Wordsworth Editions Ltd North and South
Book SynopsisWith an Introduction and Notes by Dr Patsy Stoneman, University of Hull. Set in the mid-19th century, and written from the author's first-hand experience, North and South follows the story of the heroine's movement from the tranquil but moribund ways of southern England to the vital but turbulent north. Elizabeth Gaskell's skilful narrative uses an unusual love story to show how personal and public lives were woven together in a newly industrial society. This is a tale of hard-won triumphs - of rational thought over prejudice and of humane care over blind deference to the market. Readers in the twenty-first century will find themselves absorbed as this Victorian novel traces the origins of problems and possibilities which are still challenging a hundred and fifty years later: the complex relationships, public and private, between men and women of different classes.
£6.23
