From Austen to Zola, from medieval to the modern day - all genres are catered for between the covers of these coveted classics.
Classics Books
Brilliant Publications Jane Eyre: Graphic Revision Guides for GCSE
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£14.44
Vintage Publishing The Power of the Dog: NOW AN OSCAR AND BAFTA
Book Synopsis**NOW THE WINNER OF THE 2022 BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR AND TWO 2022 BAFTA AWARDS**Discover Thomas Savage's dark poetic tale of a small town in early 20th century America.Phil and George are brothers and joint owners of the biggest ranch in their Montana valley.Phil is the bright one, George the plodder. Phil is tall and angular; George is stocky and silent. Phil is a brilliant chess player, a voracious reader, an eloquent storyteller; George learns slowly, and devotes himself to the business. They sleep in the room they shared as boys, and so it has been for forty years.When George unexpectedly marries a young widow and brings her to live at the ranch, Phil begins a relentless campaign to destroy his brother's new wife. But he reckons without an unlikely protector.From its visceral first paragraph to its devastating twist of an ending, The Power of the Dog will hold you in its grip.WITH AN AFTERWORD BY ANNIE PROULX'With its echoes of East of Eden and Brokeback Mountain, this satisfyingly complex story deserves another shot at rounding up public admiration' GuardianTrade ReviewOptimistically billed as the next Stoner, this 1967 reissue is in fact the better novel...a rich and challenging psychodrama, based on brilliant characterisation... With its echoes of East of Eden and Brokeback Mountain, this satisfyingly complex story deserves another shot at rounding up public admiration * Guardian *[Savage’s] prose is vivid and direct… [his] descriptions of nature have real power… a slow-burn psychological western. * The Times *An exhilarating drama between two brothers set in Twenties Montana, and better even than Stoner * Daily Telegraph *Something aching and lonely and terrible of the west is caught forever on Savage's pages, and the most compelling and painful of [his] books is The Power of the Dog, a work of literary artThe shocking turn of the book’s final pages keeps the story bright as a blade to the end...This is the perfect example of a book that never quite made it to the rank of classic...but is more than worthy of resurrection now * New Statesman *
£999.99
Vintage Publishing A Different Sea
Book SynopsisAn illuminating portrait of a world in ferment after the First world War, and a man seeking an authentic life.Early this century Enrico, a young intellectual, leaves the city of Gorizia with its abundant population and culture, to spend several years living on the Patagonian pampas, alone with his ancient Greek texts, his flocks and, every now and then, a woman. He has been taught by his closest friend, Carlo, a philosopher/poet who commits suicide in his early twenties, to search for an authentic life, free of social falsehoods. But in his search for this unattainable goal, Enrico destroys every chance he has of a normal existence. This is portrait of a world in ferment, a decaying empire shaken by war and revolution, and a life-long search for meaning.Trade ReviewClaudio Magris can now be numbered among the great Europeans of the late twentieth century, a writer whose books illuminate not just the history, literature and philosophy of the continent but the human condition itself * Guardian *Quietly devastating and...bitterly funny study of the dangers of philosophy...a very human book * Independent *This shrewd and deeply intelligent novelist...deserves to be read again and again * Daily Telegraph *
£8.54
Vintage Publishing Injustice: Vintage Minis
Book SynopsisVINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.How to go on in a world where everything is set against you? With hope? In fear? Or, in violent struggle? In this gripping and disturbing book, Richard Wright weaves his own childhood recollections with those of Bigger Thomas - a young black man trapped in a life of poverty in the slums of Chicago, and unwittingly involved in a wealthy woman's death - to paint a portrait of insurmountable oppression. Through the strange pride Bigger takes in his crime, Wright brings us to confront the systems of justice we blindly assume are always on our side. Selected from the books Black Boy and Native Son by Richard Wright
£5.99
Vintage Publishing To The Lighthouse: (Vintage Voyages)
Book SynopsisWoolf’s textured prose invites us into each of the characters’ minds as we follow them on a winding, decade-long journey to the lighthouse.Mr and Mrs Ramsay and their eight children have always holidayed at their summer house in Skye, surrounded by family friends. But as time passes, bringing with it war and death, the summer home stands empty until one day, many years later, the family return to make the long-postponed visit to the lighthouse.VINTAGE VOYAGES: A world of journeys, from the tallest mountains to the depths of the mindTrade ReviewTo The Lighthouse is one of the greatest elegies in the English language, a book which transcends time -- Margaret DrabbleIt is an elegy for lost times and family life * The Week *Thrillingly introspective -- Katy Guest * The Independent *A little master piece... a brilliant evocation of consciousness, perception, loss and our relation to time -- Helen Edmundson * Week *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Blacker the Berry
Book SynopsisVINTAGE CLASSICS' HARLEM RENAISSANCE SERIES Celebrating the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance, one of the most important Black arts movements in modern history.'Why not? She's just as a good as the rest, and you know what they say, "the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice"'Growing up, Emma Lou Morgan stuck out - her skin was the darkest in every room, even within her own home. With the encouragement of her uncle, Emma flees smalltown Idaho firstly to study in Los Angeles before travelling to Harlem. Though she enjoys the glamour of attending the theatre and the buzz of cabaret, every excursion is tinged with the fear of discrimination. Even in big cities, Emma cannot escape the bigotry of colourism, but can she change how it makes her feel about herself?The Blacker the Berry is an arrestingly vivid portrayal of how very deeply every facet of prejudice runs.'Thurman's novel presents some of the most layered portrayals of New York City life...from seedy employment agency waiting rooms to swank Harlem hot spots' NPRTrade Review'Thurman's novel presents some of the most layered portrayals of New York City life...from seedy employment agency waiting rooms to swank Harlem hot spots' * NPR *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Man Who Lived Underground: The ‘gripping’ New
Book Synopsis***AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4's OPEN BOOK***The 'propulsive, haunting' and 'gripping' (Oprah) rediscovered classic that exposes the dark heart of America for an inncocent Black man on the run from the policeFred Daniels, a black man, is randomly picked up by the police after a brutal murder in a Chicago suburb. Taken to the local precinct, he is tortured -- until he confesses to a crime he didn't commit.But when he sees his chance, Fred Daniels, makes a run for it. With the world now against him, there is only one place left to hide: Underground. Taking residence in the sewers below the streets of Chicago, Fred's new vantage point takes him on a journey through America's unjust, and inhumane underbelly.PRAISE FOR THE MAN WHO LIVED UNDERGROUND'Propulsive, haunting...gripping' Oprah Daily'A tale for today' New York Times'Absolutely not to be missed' BookRiot'A masterpiece' Time 'Wright's most brilliantly crafted, and ominously foretelling, book.' Kiese LaymonThe Man Who Lived Underground was a New York Times Bestseller on 24/04/2022Trade ReviewThe Man Who Lived Underground is a masterpiece * Time Magazine *Moves continuously forward with its masterful blend of action and reflection, a kind of philosophy on the run... Whether or not The Man Who Lived Underground is Wright's single finest work, it must be counted among his most significant * Wall Street Journal *Not just Wright's masterwork, but also a milestone in African American literature... The Man Who Lived Underground is one of those indispensable works that reminds all its readers that, whether we are in the flow of life or somehow separated from it, above- or belowground, we are all human * CNN *Propulsive, haunting... The graphic, gripping book ends with a revealing companion essay that further explains the themes of this searing novel * Oprah Daily *The Man Who Lived Underground reminds us that any 'greatest writers of the 20th century' list that doesn't start and end with Richard Wright is laughable. It might very well be Wright's most brilliantly crafted, and ominously foretelling, book -- Kiese LaymonA tale for today... [Wright's] restored novel feels wearily descriptive of far too many moments in contemporary America * New York Times *This is a significant work of literary fiction from a legendary author that's absolutely not to be missed * Book Riot *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Wild Places: Selected Stories
Book SynopsisA beautiful new hardback edition of Katherine Mansfield's most vivid and distinctive stories.Katherine Mansfield was the only writer Virginia Woolf envied. Mansfield transformed the short story genre with her work, creating stories miraculous in their intensity yet seemingly so simple. The shift of a heart, the beat of a moment, the changing of the light: in these stories emotional universes are contained within glimpses.Mansfield only lived to the age of 34 but in that time wrote stories true to her indomitable spirit. A hundred years on from her death, Mansfield's biographer, Claire Harman, has created this new selection to show us the master of the short story form in full flight.WITH A FOREWORD BY HELEN SIMPSON AND INTRODUCTION BY CLAIRE HARMAN'There is something rapturous about her work...she has the power to distil the apparently inconsequential into frozen moments laden with significance' Guardian'Would you not like to try all sorts of lives - one is so very small - but that is the satisfaction of writing - one can impersonate so many people' Katherine MansfieldTrade ReviewPredating Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse, Mansfield's late stories...transformed the short story genre by casting a fleeting, impressionist glance at the ordinary details of domestic existence * Paris Review *Her economy, the boldness of her comic gift, her speed, her dramatic changes of the point of interest, her power to dissolve and reassemble a character and situation by a few lines -- V S Pritchett, 1946 * New Statesman *'The Daughters of the Late Colonel'...perhaps her greatest achievement, describes two spinsters whose overbearing father has just died. It flickers between comedy, menace, outlandish interludes and engulfing sorrow with consummate skill * Guardian *She was not a kind or gentle writer. ['The Doll's House'] could be sentimental in the hands of a lesser writer, but she knew better than that. She spares nobody -- Margaret Drabble * Guardian *There is something rapturous about her work: through her acute eye and cool, appraising descriptions, she has the power to distil the apparently inconsequential into frozen moments laden with significance * Guardian *
£13.49
Vintage Publishing The Snow Ghost and Other Tales: Classic Japanese
Book SynopsisEnter the haunted world of Ancient Japan in this spine-tingling collection of ghostly tales told and retold across the centuries. From Goblin infested caves and haunted Tombs, to vengeful spirits and strange, sinister happenings, Ancient Japan was a country and culture that lived with between realms: the world of everyday and the world of supernatural.It was a time and place where men could be brought down by karmic forces or lured into deadly danger by ghostly apparitions, and where the land held sorrowful secrets or stories that long-awaited an opportunity to reveal them and seek reparation.The Snow Ghost and Other Tales brings together some of the best and scariest tales that endured across centuries of folk lore in one new beautiful hardback collection. Finally commited to writing during the turn of the twenieth cenutry by a unique set of folklorists, the ghost stories presented in this new anthology will transport readers to a time of magic and mystery, and let them relish in the spine-tingling traditions of Japanese culture largely lost now to modernity.For readers of Haruki Murakami, David Mitchell and Shirley Jackson
£15.29
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC My Son, My Son
Book SynopsisWhat a place it was, that dark little house that was two rooms up and two down... I don't remember to this day where we all slept, though there was a funeral now and then to thin us out. This is the powerful story of two hard-driven men – one a celebrated English novelist, the other a successful Irish entrepreneur – and of their sons, in whom are invested all their fathers' hopes and ambitions. Oliver Essex and Rory O'Riorden grow up as friends, but in the years after the Great War their fathers' lofty plans have unexpected consequences.Trade ReviewA vigorous novel of frustrated lives. A story that is remorseless in its insistence on futility; pitiless as life itself * Times Literary Supplement *Mesmerising... 600 pages of astute observation about social division, loveless marriage, the Troubles, the errors of over-indulgent fatherhood and the upheavals of World War I make for a hugely irresistible and satisfying read' * Daily Mail *
£9.50
Arcturus Publishing Ltd The Iliad
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£999.99
Arcturus Publishing Ltd The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
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£6.99
Cornerstone The Nutcracker
Book SynopsisHoffmann's classic Christmas fairy tale, immortalised by Tchaikovsky's ballet, is brought to life by the gorgeous contemporary artwork of Finnish illustrator, Sanna Annuka. On Christmas Eve, Fritz and Marie excitedly await the arrival of Godfather Drosselmeier and the marvellous gifts he brings for them every year. When Marie discovers a curious nutcracker doll among the presents, she suddenly finds herself caught up in an age-old battle before being transported to a magical world of sugar-frosted castles, chocolate kings, and true love. Sanna Annukka is familiar to many from her collaborations with Marimekko and her artwork for Keane's album, Under the Iron Sea. The Nutcracker is her third book project. This cloth-bound edition combines the charm of Hoffmann's original nineteenth-century tale with the freshness of Sanna Annuka's gorgeous illustrations. A beautiful gift to give and receive.
£11.69
Legend Press Ltd Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus (Legend
Book SynopsisPart of the Legend Classics series The young scientist Victor Frankenstein experiments with alchemy to fulfil his greatest ambition: to create life. Once he succeeds and his creature takes its first breath, he realises he has made a monster and abandons it. The creature, shunned by the world and filled with rage, decides to follow its master. One of the most famous horror novels of all time and considered by many to be the first science-fiction novel, Shelley?s masterpiece has entertained and horrified its readers for 200 years.
£8.54
Cornerstone Goodbye to All Cats: (Wodehouse Pick-Me-Up)
Book Synopsis'Wodehouse is a tonic' - New Yorker. A Wodehouse pick-me-up that'll lift your spirits, whatever your mood.Cheaper and more effective than Valium’.*Offers ‘relief from anxiety, raginess or an afternoon-long tendency towards the sour’.*‘Read when you’re well and when you’re poorly; when you’re travelling, and when you’re not; when you’re feeling clever, and when you’re feeling utterly dim.’*Whatever your mood, P. G. Wodehouse, widely acknowledged to be ‘the best English comic novelist of the century’*, is guaranteed to lift your spirits. Why? Because ‘Mr Wodehouse’s idyllic world can never stale. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in.’*How? ‘You don’t analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour.’**Olivia Williams *Caitlin Moran *Lynne Truss *Sebastian Faulks *Evelyn Waugh *Stephen FryEver on the lookout for a quick buck, a solid gold fortune, or at least a plausible little scrounge, the irrepressible Ukridge gives con men a bad name. Looking like an animated blob of mustard in his bright yellow raincoat, he invests time, passion and energy (but seldom actual cash) in a series of increasingly bizarre money-making schemes. Shares in an accident syndicate? Easily arranged. Finance for a dog college? It's yours. And if you throw in some cats, flying unexpectedly from windows, and a young man trying ever-more-desperately to impress the family of his latest love, you get a medley of Wodehouse delights in which lunacy and comic exuberance reign supreme.Contents:- Goodbye to All Cats- Ukridge's Dog College- Ukridge's Accident Syndicate
£8.65
Flame Tree Publishing Emma
Book SynopsisThe FLAME TREE COLLECTABLE CLASSICS are chosen to create a delightful and timeless home library. Each stunning edition features deluxe cover treatments, ribbon markers, luxury endpapers and gilded edges. The unabridged text is accompanied by a Glossary of Victorian and Literary terms produced for the modern reader. Jane Austen has great fun with this novel, teasing at the social mores of her time, where the hunting of a suitable partner is an all-consuming game. Emma Woodhouse is a confident, elitist young woman, whose self-belief leads to a series of romantic misunderstandings as she makes and breaks engagements for her companion Harriet Smith. Emma assumes that Elton desires to marry Harriet, but actually Elton really wants Emma. Frank Churchill too tries to win her, but Emma falls for Mr. Knightley, whom everyone thinks is in love Jane Fairfax. In the end, everything all is mended, as Emma and Mr. Knightley finally get engaged, and Harriet and Robert Martin are brought back together again.
£9.49
Flame Tree Publishing Moby Dick
Book SynopsisLittle treasures, the FLAME TREE COLLECTABLE CLASSICS are chosen to create a delightful and timeless home library. Each stunning, gift edition features deluxe cover treatments, ribbon markers, luxury endpapers and gilded edges. The unabridged text is accompanied by a Glossary of Victorian and Literary terms produced for the modern reader. American writer Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick in 1851 but it took decades before it was finally regarded as a great American novel, and worthy of its place among the greatest texts of humankind. A tale of imagination and adventure, it recounts the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of a whaling ship seeking vengeance on Moby Dick, the white whale that had bitten off his leg on a previous voyage.
£10.44
Duckworth Books Mr Finchley Goes to Paris
Book SynopsisAn ebullient Mr Finchley is about to propose marriage to a lady he had rescued from mishap, when he is sent to Paris by his firm. There he manages to upset a boat, adopt a stray orphan and get himself kidnapped. The fine tangle he gets into takes some unravelling! Only when eventually back in London does he complete the proposal of marriage that was interrupted at the start. This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today. It has been dramatized twice for BBC Radio, with the 1990 series regularly repeated.Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR THE CLASSIC CANNING SERIES ‘Quite delightful, with an atmosphere of quiet contentment and humour that cannot fail to charm… The longer we travel with Mr Finchley, the better we come to love him. He makes us share his bread and cheese, and beer and pipe. His delight at the beauties of the countryside and his mild astonishment at the strange ways of men are infectious’ Daily Telegraph‘His gift of story-telling is obviously innate. Rarely does one come on so satisfying an amalgam of plot, characterisation and good writing’ Punch‘A paean to the beauties of the English countryside and the lovable oddities of the English character… [Mr Finchley] runs into one astonishing situation after another, sticking gamely to his resolve that he must take things as they come and accept them’ New York Times‘What counts for most in the story, as it did for Mr Finchley, is his mounting pleasure in vagabondage and the English scene’ The Times‘There is such a gentle humour in the book … Mr Finchley is the ideal Englishman’ Daily Sketch
£8.54
Duckworth Books Chloe Marr
Book SynopsisChloe Marr is young, beautiful and so irresistible that countless people fall in love with her, and friends are hypnotized by her charm and warmth. Her origins are a mystery and, in London society, such mystique carries both allure and suspicion. But when an untimely exodus pulls Chloe from the people around her, they soon realise nobody really knows the truth about anybody else… A. A. Milne’s ability to portray interwar society is second to none, and this classic novel of an elusive Mayfair delivers his signature humour and lightness of touch.Trade Review'He is sensitive. He can write charmingly… and his prose is at once facile and precise' * New York Post *'There is an astringent realism about Milne’s mind and work… and an unassuming sureness of balance lightened with so serene and deft a wit' * New York Times *
£9.49
Arcturus Publishing Ltd Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet & The Sign of
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£6.99
Legend Press Ltd Oliver Twist (Legend Classics)
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£8.54
Flame Tree Publishing Moby Dick
Book SynopsisAmerican writer Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick in 1851 but it took decades before finally it was regarded as a great American novel, and worthy of its place amongst the greatest texts of humankind. It recounts the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of a whaling ship seeking vengeance on Moby Dick, the white whale that had bitten off Ahab's leg on a previous voyage. Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.
£17.00
Renard Press Ltd Love and Freindship
Book SynopsisJane Austen, one of the nation’s most beloved authors, whose face adorns our currency, surely needs no introduction, but while many are familiar with her groundbreaking novels, and despite lending its name to a film adaptation of Lady Susan in 2016, her burlesque Love and Freindship is an unjustly neglected gem of satirical comedy. Written when she was still in her teens, Love and Freindship is a fascinating, light-hearted epistolary work that shows Austen’s wit developing into the satirical prowess she is remembered for, and casts the novels with which her name is so associated in a new light.Trade Review'Praise the Lord for making her, and her for all she made!' (Rudyard Kipling); 'The finest writer in the English language.' (Philippa Gregory)
£6.79
Pushkin Press The Spectre of Alexander Wolf
Book Synopsis'A tantalising mystery... a mesmerising work of literature' Antony Beevor 'Truly troubling, a weird meditation on death, war and sex' Paris Review A superb early postmodern classic by one of Nabokov's fellow émigré writers, rediscovered after more than half a century A man comes across a short story which recounts in minute detail his killing of a soldier, long ago - from the victim's point of view. It's a story that should not exist, and whose author can only be a dead man. So begins the strange quest for its elusive writer: 'Alexander Wolf'. A singular classic, The Spectre of Alexander Wolf is a psychological thriller and existential inquiry into guilt and redemption, coincidence and fate, love and death. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe Translated by Bryan Karetnyk Gaito Gazdanov (1903-1971) joined the White Army aged just sixteen and fought in the Russian Civil War. Exiled in Paris from the 1920s onwards, he eventually became a nocturnal taxi-driver and quickly gained prominence on the literary scene as a novelist, essayist, critic and short-story writer, and was greatly acclaimed by Maxim Gorky, among others.Trade Review"Like Nabokov at his best, Gazdanov teases his reader to trace the sometimes parallel yet often intersecting narrative layers, reminding us again that to read literature means, in many ways, to lose one’s mind." - Andrew Marzoni, Rain Taxi Review of Books"Gaito Gazdanov’s elegantly crafted Proustian novel delves into the eternal ideas of life, death, and identity." - World Literature Today"A masterpiece of modern literature... I haven't read such a humanely fine and moving novel about the great twentieth century Ice Age of the Soul in a long time." - Iris Radisch, Die Zeit"Gaito Gazdanov's compelling, clear, extremely civilised language breaks the resistance of even the most reluctant reader and most obstinate iPhone-addict. ... We decadent Westerners, who are finally allowed to read Gazdanov ... love his contemporary narratory style - because it's now action, now reflection, and at the end there is always a perfect, but uncontrived, solution as in an HBO-series. ... Gazdanov teaches us - with each line of his beautiful, sad, ambivalent prose that always drifts into the essayistic - to love our beautiful, broken, neurotic lives." - Maxim Biller, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung"Fantastic, clever, precise and so thrilling, and at the same time modern in a cool way ... The Spectre of Alexander Wolf is a novel which can change your life. If you're prepared for the trip." - Georg Diez, Kultur SPIEGEL"A stroke of luck for the reader ... a novel which, on few pages, in scenes which one cannot quickly forget, deals with forlornness, enjoyment, distraction, with love, death and coincidence - all that, which makes the human life beautiful and unbearable ... A vase flies, shots ring out: and there we stand, in our hands the book of an author whose name we didn't know until now. Already it's a favourite book." - Jens Bisky, Süddeutsche Zeitung"How each of us forms his memories is the theme of this novel. Rarely has one read about it as elegantly, as deeply and despite everything so comfortingly as here." - Tilman Spreckelsen, Frankfurter Allgemeine"The Spectre of Alexander Wolf becomes a study of the soul in the zone of death, written with a fine criminological sense, churning us up, gripping, exciting.', Andreas Puff-Trojan, Die Welt'Of course, you sense yourself that you are very talented. And I want to add that you are talented in your own, very special way. I can say this with some justification, because I have read not only An Evening with Claire, but also some of your short stories." - Maxim Gorky"What saved Gazdanov as a person was Gazdanov the writer, who in his art transformed the unbearable reality of his life, his time and the society in which he lived - not into a falsified, tacky image or into a philistine dream of a wonderful life, but into a metaphysical scream, which, because of its intensity and its sincerity, sounds into the deepest reaches of the human soul and moves and satisfies us through the power of its expression. In this sense Gazdanov's artistic style grants the 'wonderful life' the shape of reality, of life, as it should be and as it only exists in art." - Laszlo Dienes"If Proust had been a Russian taxi driver in Paris in the 1930s..." - L’Express"A work of great potency ... it punches very much above its weight, and I have a hunch that what's in it will stay with you for the rest of your life." - Nicholas Lezard, Guardian"A mystery ... multilayered ... this is an original at work." - George Szirtes, The Times"Quick-paced, taut prose ... rendered beautifully in Karetnyk's accomplished new translation." - Ivan Juritz, Independent on Sunday"Elegantly eerie ... devastatingly atmospheric ... cool, wonderfully fraught." - Eileen Battersby, The Irish Times"A mesmerising work of literature." - Antony Beevor"It's as if the roman policier has been filtered through Dostoevsky... a finely wrought novel, tense and enigmatic, just waiting to be discovered by a filmmaker ... The narrator relates his tale in gorgeously cadenced long sentences ... like those of Proust ... Gazdanov owes a debt from the grave to his translator Bryan Karetnyk." - Lesley Chamberlain, TLS"Coincidence, fate, guilt, redemption, love, death and melodrama are thrillingly interwoven with irresistible style and elegance." - Val Hennessy, Daily Mail"Extraordinarily good." - Oliver Bullough, Literary Review"Truly troubling, a weird meditation on death, war, and sex... Bryan Karetnyk's new translation makes you believe in the power of the original." - Lorin Stein, Paris Review"A thrilling literary mystery... Gadzanov is a modernist master." - Mary O’Donoghue, Irish Times"Gazdanov's elegantly eerie 1940s novel about an emigre journalist's ongoing trauma is tightly constructed and fast-moving... wonderfully rich in "cosmic catastrophes." - Eileen Battersby, Irish Times"The Spectre of Alexander Wolf is a compulsive read, playful yet sinister, meandering yet impressively trim, old-world and modern. It is to Pushkin Press's great credit that this gorgeously restored relic, from an age when books could be spectral and slip elusively through your fingers, has been revived from untimely oblivion." - Daniel Levine, The Millions"Splendidly translated... a mini-masterpiece." - Star Tribune"Gazdanov's work is the perfect fusion of the Russian tradition and French innovation." - LRB
£9.49
Pushkin Press The Beauties: Essential Stories
Book SynopsisThe essential edition of the greatest stories by the Russian master of the form Chekhov was without doubt one of the greatest observers of human nature in all its untidy complexity. His short stories, written throughout his life and newly translated for this essential collection, are exquisite masterpieces in miniature. Here are tales offering a glimpse of beauty, the memory of a mistaken kiss, daydreams of adultery, a lifetime of marital neglect, the frailty of life, the inevitability of death, and the hilarious pomposity of ordinary men and women. They range from the lighthearted comic tales of his early years to some of the most achingly profound stories ever composed.Trade Review“This beautifully produced selection of the stories from Pushkin Press (in a new translation by Nicolas Pasternak Slater) is an ideal way to discover Chekhov.” —The Times (UK) “Mysterious and mesmerizing, these stories stay enshrined in the memory.” —The Daily Mail “Near-perfect fiction, newly translated.” —Evening Standard “The uncontestable father of the modern short story . . . his stories are some of the best that have ever been written.” —The Guardian “The language is subtle and lovely, full of a regretful tenderness.” —Sunday Express “Chekhov's genius lies in the way he manages to convey with such apparent effortlessness a profound sense of the mystery of beauty, and of the sadness of those who observe and think . . . a masterpiece of minimalism” —Phillip Pullman “The greatest short story writer who has ever lived” —Raymond Carver“In Chekhov literature seems to break its wand like Prospero, renouncing the magic of artifice, ceremony and idealization, and facing us, for the first time, with a reflection of ourselves in our unadorned ordinariness as well as our unfathomable strangeness.” —James Ladsun
£9.49
Pushkin Press The Damned Thing: Weird and Ghostly Tales
Book SynopsisA bone-chilling collection of uncanny tales from one of the great masters of the ghost story 'The genuineness and artistry of his dark imitations are always unmistakable, so that his greatness is in no danger of eclipse' H.P. LOVECRAFT '['An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' is] the greatest American short story... It is a flawless example of American genius' KURT VONNEGUT 'The most powerful American writer of horror fiction between Poe and Lovecraft' NEW YORK TIMES __________ A murder is relived from three startling perspectives; a hunter is driven out of his mind by an invisible, malevolent entity; a man meets a terrifying end in an abandoned house; a werepanther creeps through a window in the dead of night... Any lover of the dark and unsettling tale will be enthralled by the stories in this collection, all from the pen of the great Ambrose Bierce. Bierce is often seen as the link between Poe and Lovecraft in the American fantastical tradition, and this collection showcases his mastery of the macabre. Contains: The Damned Thing; The Moonlit Road; An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge; The Death of Halpin Frayser; The Suitable Surroundings; The Middle Toe of the Right Foot; Moxon's Master; An Adventure at Brownville; The Eyes of the Panther; The Spook House; An Inhabitant of CarcosaTrade Review"Arguably the most powerful American writer of horror fiction between Poe and Lovecraft."--The New York Times
£11.69
Flame Tree Publishing Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales: Classic
Book SynopsisThe author Hans Christian Andersen is regarded as a national treasure by his homeland Denmark, but his popularity extends far beyond his native shores. As one of the most translated authors in the world, there are hundreds of editions of his books in many languages. He is known predominantly for his remarkable series of fairy tales, many of which remain classics today, providing both inspiration for many film versions of his famous tales, as well as new collections of his stories. Evocative and poignant, their rich narratives are hugely compelling and tend to explore morality in an accessible and thought-provoking way. He was a great admirer of Dickens, and they conducted a literary friendship for many years. This latest collection celebrates Andersen’s unique literary output and gathers together a large selection of much-loved tales such as ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, ‘The Ugly Duckling’, ‘The Princess and the Pea’ and ‘The Snow Queen’.
£17.00
Flame Tree Publishing The Age of Innocence
Book SynopsisLittle treasures, the FLAME TREE COLLECTABLE CLASSICS are chosen to create a delightful and timeless home library. Each stunning, gift edition features deluxe cover treatments, ribbon markers, luxury endpapers and gilded edges. The unabridged text is accompanied by a Glossary of Victorian and Literary terms produced for the modern reader. The Age of Innocence (winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize), is a tale of desire and betrayal, set in the golden age of 1920s New York. It tells the story of Newland Archer, a rich lawyer from an aristocratic family, happily engaged to society beauty May Welland. The complex, social constructs of their lives are thrown into disarray, however, with the arrival of May’s cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska, into their gilded circle. Ellen, recently separated from her dissolute Polish count husband, is everything that May is not – carefree, unconventional, artistic, and Archer falls hopelessly in love with her. Caught between his passion for Ellen and his duty to May, Archer has to make a decision between the women that will determine the rest of their lives. The FLAME TREE COLLECTABLE CLASSICS are chosen to create a delightful and timeless home library.
£9.49
Flame Tree Publishing The Picture of Dorian Gray
Book SynopsisLittle treasures, the FLAME TREE COLLECTABLE CLASSICS are chosen to create a delightful and timeless home library. Each stunning, gift edition features deluxe cover treatments, ribbon markers, luxury endpapers and gilded edges. The unabridged text is accompanied by a Glossary of Victorian and Literary terms produced for the modern reader. The young, beautiful and highly susceptible Dorian Gray is pulled into the hedonistic haze of London’s high society, where he falls under the pernicious influence of Lord Henry Wotton. Oscar Wilde’s nightmarish tale gorges on pleasure and sin, corruption and vanity, as the story takes further dark twists and a Faustian deal threatens Gray’s very soul. He will go to any lengths to keep his fleeting beauty and youth, but his painted portrait reveals the truth of his dark and twisted nature, changing its appearance at every misdeed, until the monstrous horror of Dorian’s scarred soul is too much for him to bear.
£9.49
Flame Tree Publishing Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
Book SynopsisLittle treasures, the FLAME TREE COLLECTABLE CLASSICS are chosen to create a delightful and timeless home library. Each stunning, gift edition features deluxe cover treatments, ribbon markers, luxury endpapers and gilded edges. The unabridged text is accompanied by a Glossary of Victorian and Literary terms produced for the modern reader. The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen are renowned the world over, having inspired generations of children’s writers ever since their first translation into English. This classic collection includes some of his most famous stories, such as ‘The Ugly Duckling’, ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘The Emperor’s New Suit’, and ‘The Red Shoes’. Characteristic and captivating, Andersen’s tales offer up a world of enchantment, ingenuity and complex morality, and are a real treat for children and adults alike.
£10.44
Everyman Nothing Serious
Book SynopsisFurther stories of members of the Drones Club and several adventures related by the Oldest Member of the golf club. Many old friends reappear - Bingo Little and Mrs Bingo, Freddie Widgeon, Ambrose Gussett, Agnes Flack, Horace Bewstridge and many more. Including: The Shadow Passes. Bramley is so Bracing. Up From the Depths. Feet of Clay. Excelsior. Rodney Has a Relapse. Tangled Hearts. Birth of a Salesman. How's That, Umpire? Success Story.Trade ReviewIn these handsome volumes, with the pages that smell of real paper and those fine covers by Andrzej Klimowski, you find that the sparkle hasn't dimmed. They are a cause for regular celebration. -- James Naughtie * The Times *
£12.34
Everyman Burmese Days, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Coming
Book SynopsisGeorge Orwell was a novelist unlike any other, fiercely devoted to presenting the truth as he saw it. The three novels in this collection date from the 1930s, before his political satires Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four made him world-famous. Compelling works in their own right, they are all studies of men at odds with their surroundings. In Burmese Days, the darkest of the three, a frustrated expatriate finds himself trapped between the decadence of his own people and the corruption of the natives they claim to rule. Coming Up for Airdramatizes the frustration of every little man in his hopeless struggle against bourgeois respectability. Keep the Aspidistra Flying is a sort of comedy in which minor poet Gordon Comstock engages briefly with romantic dreams before realizing that salvation is to be found, not in escape from his life but engagement with it.
£15.19
Everyman Rebellion
Book SynopsisAt the end of the Great War, Andreas Pum has lost a leg but at least he has a medal and a barrel-organ which he plays on the streets of Vienna. At first the simple-minded veteran is satisfied with his lot, and he even finds an ample widow to marry. But then a public quarrel with a respectable citizen on a tram turns Andreas's life onto a rapid downward trajectory. As he loses first his beggar's permit, then his new wife, and even his freedom, he is finally provoked into rejecting his blind faith in the benevolence of both government and God.
£10.79
Everyman The King Must Die / The Bull from the Sea
Book SynopsisIn two remarkable historical novels, Mary Renault fashions from the myth of Theseus a convincingly flawed hero and weaves a thrillingly plausible account of the Labyrinth and the infamous Minotaur. The King Must Die follows the young Theseus as he discovers that his true father is the King of Athens, and volunteers to join the annual tribute of Athenian girls and youths sacrificed to a bull-worshipping cult on the island of Crete. Trapped in the labyrinthine palace of King Minos, Theseus enlists the help of high priestess Ariadne in a daring plan to free his people. The Bull From the Sea begins after Theseus's triumphal return to Athens. He is now king, but his confidence will be shaken by a life-changing encounter with the queen of the Amazons, the birth of a son who will insist on choosing his own path, and the tragic results of his wife's treachery. Renault's deep knowledge of the Greek world, her sure grasp of psychology and genius for inspired speculation bring the distant world of the legendary past enthrallingly to life.
£15.29
Everyman Orlando
Book SynopsisThe beautiful Everyman gift edition in hardback.The Lord Orlando's country seat has 365 rooms. An exquisitely beautiful youth, he is a favourite of the ageing Queen Elizabeth and enjoys all that Court and tavern have to offer. He falls passionately in love with the intriguing Sasha, an androgynous Russian princess, who jilts him. Stricken, he takes up Literature, penning huge quantities of poems and plays, 'all romantic, and all long'. A few decades later a still youthful Orlando is appointed ambassador to Constantinople by Charles II. Here he wakes up one day and finds he has the body of a woman. "Different sex, same person", she observes, unphased.In London, it is the eighteenth century, and she can hobnob with "men of genius" Pope and Swift, Johnson and Boswell. She has affairs with both women and men, but before long it is the nineteenth century, oppressively gloomy and moral and probably time to find a husband. Fortunately, in a Brontësque moment on a moor, the gender- nonconforming Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, newly back from Cape Horn, gallops past and scoops her up into bliss.Woolf's most unusual and joyous novel was inspired by her affair with the dashing author and aristocrat, Vita Sackville West.Trade ReviewOrlando has sometimes been dismissed as a romp. As a less important book than Mrs Dalloway or To the Lighthouse. This is to misread it. It was far ahead of its time in terms of gender politics and gender progress -- Jeanette Winterson
£13.49
Everyman Paris Stories
Book SynopsisIn the eighteenth century, Laurence Sterne explores the temptations of the French capital in a teasing study of foreign mores and Restif de la Bretonne provides an eye-witness account of the Revolution. From the 1800s, Hugo, Balzac, Flaubert, and Zola offer fascinating portraits of the city's teeming humanity; the Goncourt brothers chronicle the explosion of artistic talent; Huysmans describes an evening at the Folies Bergère. Colette chronicles the pitfalls for a young girl in the decadent city of the early twentieth century; F. Scott Fitzgerald revels in the city's glamour; Jean Rhys's lost heroines wander from café to café; James Baldwin celebrates its sexual freedoms; and Raymond Queneau gleefully reinvents the language of the street. In our time, Michel Tournier's North African immigrant walks a camel along the boulevards, while Nobel Laureate Patrick Modiano brilliantly maps the city's many arrondissements. The alluring power of Paris has never dimmed and it is richly captured in all its facets in these compelling and seductive tales.
£13.50
Everyman The Best of Archy and Mehitabel
Book SynopsisA poet in a former life, Archy has been reincarnated as a cockroach who types by diving headfirst onto a typewriter (and is famously unable to operate the shift key to produce capital letters); his side-kick Mehitabel is an alley cat who claims to have once been Cleopatra. Archy's poems irresistibly evoke Jazz Age New York - as seen from the alley; funny, wise, tender and tough, they represent the very best of American humour. Including George Herriman's whimsical illustrations and a classic introduction by novelist E.B. White, this Pocket Poet selection will make a beautiful volume, perfectly sized for its tiny hero.
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Nightingale Wood
Book Synopsis'Gibbons is superb on middle class life' SAM JORDISON, GUARDIAN 'A sharp-edged romantic comedy, we have a chance to see what we've been missing' DAILY MAIL 'What luxury to stumble upon this quirky book, and the fascinating modern woman who wrote it' SOPHIE DAHLLife is not quite a fairytale for poor Viola. Left penniless, the young widow is forced to live with her late husband's family in a joyless old house. There's Mr Wither, a tyrannical old miser, Mrs Wither, who thinks Viola is just a common shop girl and two unlovely sisters-in-law, one of whom is in love with the chauffeur. Only the prospect of the charity ball can raise Viola's spirits - especially as Victor Spring, the local prince charming will be there. But Victor's intentions towards our Cinderella are, in short, not quite honourable . . .Trade ReviewGibbons's heroines are plucky, determined and quietly hedonistic. But she can do melancholy with the best of them, too, not to mention melodrama * Guardian *What luxury to stumble upon this quirky book, and the fascinating modern woman who wrote it. It is a rare unadulterated pleasure and high time for its encore -- Sophie DahlNightingale Wood is very impressive . . . Gibbons is superb on middle class life in the years immediately before the second world war, on the erosions of class division and ongoing snobbery . . . relying on icicle wit and sharp observation to lambast conventional morality. Gibbons also displays a tender side. There is real sadness in some of her characters, instead of deliberately heightened rural dolour - and it winds up as a love story that would please Jane Austen . . . I've loved every minute -- Sam Jordison * Guardian *A sharp-edged romantic comedy, we have a chance to see what we've been missing * Daily Mail *Gibbons's heroines are plucky, determined and quietly hedonistic. But she can do melancholy with the best of them, too, not to mention melodrama * Guardian *What luxury to stumble upon this quirky book, and the fascinating modern woman who wrote it. It is a rare unadulterated pleasure and high time for its encoreNightingale Wood is very impressive . . . Gibbons is superb on middle class life in the years immediately before the second world war, on the erosions of class division and ongoing snobbery . . . relying on icicle wit and sharp observation to lambast conventional morality. Gibbons also displays a tender side. There is real sadness in some of her characters, instead of deliberately heightened rural dolour - and it winds up as a love story that would please Jane Austen . . . I've loved every minute * Guardian *NIGHTINGALE WOOD is in essence, a sprawling, delightful, eccentric fairy tale . . . There is romance galore, a transformative dress, and a ball, much dizzy kissing in hedgerows and beyond, spying, retribution and runaways, fights and a fire, poetry and heartbreak, a few weddings AND funerals, and a fairytale ending with a twist. What luxury to stumble upon this quirky book, and the fascinating modern woman who wrote it. It is a rare unadulterated pleasure and high time for its encore * Sophie Dahl *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group The Company She Keeps
Book SynopsisThese six brilliantly written episodes, brought together in Mary McCarthy's first novel, create a fascinating portrait of a 1930s New York social circle. Based loosely on the author's own life, the book follows a young bohemian woman, Margaret Sargent, through her experiences and lost loves in a time of coming war. On publication in 1942, its bold insight, sly wit and virtuoso style won Mary McCarthy immediate recogntion as one of the most accomplished, versatile and penetrating writers in America.Trade ReviewMary McCarthy's debut collection of short stories caused a sensation in 1942 and is no less vibrant today * Guardian *McCarthy may be best known for The Group but her debut novel made nearly as much of a splash when [first] published in 1942 . . . A jagged diamond of a book, the multifaceted parts giving a glimpse of a brilliant but fractured whole * Observer *McCarthy exposes the complex psychological workings of a brilliant, tortured and manipulative mind . . . Could have been written today. Timeless, brilliant and frighteningly insightful * Daily Mail *A consummate piece of work -- Norman MailerClever, witty, polished * New York Times *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Territorial Rights: A Virago Modern Classic
Book SynopsisRobert wants nothing more than to become a serious art historian. But his hopes for an academic life are put on hold when he's driven from London to Venice to escape one lover and seek out another: the enigmatic Bulgarian refugee Lina Pancev. In Venice, Robert encounters a grand carnival of lust, lies, blackmail, cocktail parties and regicide. As he chases Lina, his heart's desire, the city itself provides a priceless education in love, art and beauty.Trade ReviewBeautifully put together and effortlessly entertaining . . . a hilarious account of political and romantic intrigue in Venice -- Edmund White * New York Times *
£9.49
Nonsuch Publishing The Rise of Silas Lapham: Nonsuch Classics
Book SynopsisA tale of Boston society and manners, following the fortunes of a self-made man from rural Vermont as he tries to break into the city's sophisticated world of 'old' money.
£6.00
Alma Books Ltd The Village
Book SynopsisThe Village, Ivan Bunin's first full-length novel, is a bleak and uncompromising portrayal of rural life in south-west Russia. Set at the time of the 1905 Revolution and centring on episodes in the lives of a landowner and his self-educated peasant brother, the book follows characters sunk so far below the average of intelligence as to be scarcely human. A triumph of bitter realism, Bunin's cruel, lyrical prose reveals the pettiness, violence and ignorance of life on the land, foreshadowing the turbulences of Russia in the twentieth century.Trade ReviewLike Chekhov, Bunin matches the most elegant, economical prose to the coarsest and most profligate characters. * TLS * I do not know any other writer whose external world is so closely tied to another, whose sensations are more exact and indispensable, and whose world is more genuine and also more unexpected. -- Andre Gide
£8.54
Alma Books Ltd Pleasures and Days
Book SynopsisProust's only other work of fiction published in his lifetime apart from the monumental novel cycle 'In Search of Lost Time, Pleasures and Days' takes the reader on a journey through the high-society circles of fin-de-siecle Paris, presenting the lives, loves and attitudes of a host of unforgettable characters.Trade ReviewPleasure and Days yields the earliest blooms from [Proust's] emerging, lifelong fascination with the labyrinths of snobbery and sexuality in Parisian high society. * The Independent *
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd Monday or Tuesday
Book SynopsisOriginally hand-printed at her Hogarth Press in Richmond, Monday or Tuesday is the only collection of short stories that Virginia Woolf published during her lifetime, providing a fascinating insight into the early stages of development of themes that would blossom in her later masterpieces. From the impressionist description of four groups of people walking by a flowerbed in the botanic gardens at Kew to the soaring flight of a heron above the teeming life of towns and cities below and the reveries of a woman as she looks at a mark on the wall, the eight pieces included in this volume showcase Woolf's inimitable observational powers and her boldly modern style of writing.Trade ReviewShe was doing with language something like what Jimi Hendrix does with a guitar. -- Michael CunninghamTable of ContentsContains: A Haunted House, A Society, Monday or Tuesday, An Unwritten Novel, The String Quartet, Blue & Green, Kew Gardens, The Mark on the Wall
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd Childhood Memories and Other Stories: First
Book SynopsisGiuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the author of one of the most poignant and enduringly popular novels of the twentieth century, left only a few other pieces of fiction when he died prematurely at the age of sixty. Childhood Memories and Other Stories, here presented in a new translation by Stephen Parkin and including previously deleted passages and the unpublished fragment ‘Torretta’, collects all of Lampedusa’s extant shorter fiction and provides a revealing glimpse into the writer’s workshop and the background to the composition of his masterpiece. From the atmospheric recollections of the Palazzo Lampedusa and the Palazzo Filangeri Cutò at the turn of the twentieth century in ‘Childhood Memories’ to the delightful fable ‘The Siren’, from the gently humorous, bittersweet tones of ‘Joy and the Law’ to ‘The Blind Kittens’ – the first chapter of what was intended to be a sequel to The Leopard – this volume showcases Lampedusa’s unparalleled observational powers and narrative skills.Trade ReviewThis is a bundle of his short fiction and (the pearl) his memories of his childhood in a lost world of almost unimaginable privilege and beauty. * The Times *Handsome book... Parkin's translation does justice to Lampedusa's elegant, elaborate prose… The prose flows with the allegro and cadences of a Mozart piano composition. * TLS *[The Siren] is an enigmatic, tantalizing and haunting tale of rare beauty which glints like a finely cut diamond. * TLS *Lampedusa wrote two masterpieces and this, as bizarre as it sounds, is the other one. * The Telegraph *A man with the deep soul of an Old European, who was wise and witty. * The Lady *
£8.54
Alma Books Ltd The Kiss and Other Stories: New Translation
Book SynopsisWhile at a party organized by the local landowner for the officers of his brigade, the shy and awkward Ryabovich is suddenly kissed by an unknown woman in a dark room. This unexpected, electrifying encounter, which he relives in his mind day after day, marks a turning point for Ryabovich, showing him that everything in life – joy, sorrow, hope – is equally pointless and subject to chance. One of Chekhov’s most admired stories, ‘The Kiss’ is joined in this volume by six other celebrated tales in a new translation by Hugh Aplin: ‘The Lady with the Little Dog’, ‘Ward Six’, ‘The Black Monk’, ‘The House with a Mezzanine’, ‘The Bishop’ and ‘Peasants’ – making this an indispensable collection for those wanting to discover Chekhov at his creative best.Trade ReviewWhat writers influenced me as a young man? Chekhov! As a dramatist? Chekhov! As a story writer? Chekhov! -- Tennessee Williams The virtue of this story is its completeness, its summoning of human feelings perfectly matched to the events that produce them. * The Independent *Table of ContentsTHIS VOLUME INCLUDES: The Lady with the Little Dog The Kiss Ward Number Six The Black Monk The House with the Mezzanine The Peasants
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd Robinson Crusoe
Book SynopsisRobinson Crusoe, published in 1719, is considered by many to be the first novel in English, and its success was so enormous that by the end of the nineteenth century it had spawned more translations and versions than any other previous English book. An everyman character who has become part of our cultural heritage, Defoe's castaway - shipwrecked, imperilled and facing a host of elemental challenges - lives an archetypal life of survival, adventure and personal development. On one level a simple adventure story, while at the same time an allegory, a quest novel and a spiritual autoEdition Biography, Robinson Crusoe has captured the imagination of readers for nearly three centuries.
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd Moral Fables
Book SynopsisAlongside his monumental Zibaldone (Notebooks) and the poems collected in Canti, which make him one of Italy’s greatest and best-loved poets, Giacomo Leopardi penned a number of fictional pieces, mostly in the form of gently humorous dialogues, in which he dealt with philosophical ideas and many of the metaphysical questions that preoccupied his restless spirit. First published in 1827 and here presented in a new translation by J.G. Nichols along with Thoughts, Leopardi’s own selected pearls of wisdom and gems of social observation, Moral Fables will enchant both those who are familiar with and those who are new to the works of Italy’s last great polymath.
£9.49
