Classics Books

Bringing together a memorable cast of characters, Chedsy Place is a warm and witty novel, filled with the humour, piercing observation and remarkable characterization that makes Richmal Crompton one of the world's best-loved writers.When Richard Beaton inherits Chedsy Place, he feels nostalgic as he returns to his beloved family home. For him it is locked in the past – a place of warm childhood memories – and he cannot afford to keep it. But for his wife, Celia, walking round the grand house sparks the kernel of an idea: to restore it to its former glory by opening its doors once more for Christmas – only this time, to paying guests.Horrified by the idea, Robert watches as the guests arrive from far and wide: the domineering Judith Kimball with her shy secretary Sidney Lattimer, and the chauffeur, who takes a shine to Sidney; the Paynter family with their excitable twin daughters, Cicely and Angela; Miss Nettleton, who travels indomitably about the British Isles seeing the sights; Mrs Stephenson-Pollitt, who retires 'into the silence' each afternoon to seek communion with the spirits, and her nephew, Brian, who is destined for the clergy but must battle with his conscience when he meets Angela. As the guests settle in for Christmas, Robert knows that Chedsy Place will never be the same again . . .

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Book SynopsisSummer has arrived and the Cotteril children are looking forward to the Holiday. For Thea, Susan, Peter and Jane it's always a special time of year, as they escape their lives in the suburbs and visit the delights of the countryside with their mother and father.All sorts of exciting adventures await them as they explore unfamiliar surroundings and meet a collection of fascinating new neighbours. For Peter and Jane the magic of the Holiday is as alive as ever and they delight in discovery: exploring inside gardens, visiting a new sweet shop and finding plenty of places to play hide and seek.But for Thea and Susan, the two eldest, their experience of the Holiday starts to change. As they begin to move into the dizzyingly complicated sphere of the Grown-Ups, Richmal Crompton's The Holiday becomes a journey of discovery into what it is to be an adult . . .Trade ReviewThe interplay of character and the momentary revelation of other people's lives, accompanied by the young fluting of the children and their natural and amusing adventures, makes this novel the pleasantest possible light volume for holiday reading * The Times *Her sympathies have a most exceptional sensitiveness and integrity . . . it contains much of charm and interest . . . compel the reader's admiration and affection -- Gerald Gould * Observer *

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Book SynopsisAged just seventeen Hermione is passed from the hands of an inattentive mother into an engagement with a young man she barely knows. Glad to have her pretty daughter married and celebrated by their social circle, Hermione's mother gives little thought to the fitness of the match. Hermione now finds she must grow up, and grow into a life with a man who is not her natural partner. Following Hermione and her family from the late eighteen hundreds through the First World War and the changing society of the post-war era, in Marriage of Hermione Richmal Crompton explores the strains and joys of an imperfect marriage with a warm and humorous eye.Richmal Crompton's adult novels are an absolute delight and every bit as charming as her beloved Just William series. A nostalgic treat for fans of the gentler brand of interwar fiction, this is the perfect heritage read for fans of 1930s fiction at its best.Trade ReviewMiss Crompton writes, as always, with distinction and humour. Her story of Hermione's married life can be heartily recommended as an individual novel about ordinary people. * Spectator *It seems to me to have been done exceedingly well . . . You come to know and like these Derehams, and appreciate the intimacy with which they are presented -- Ralph Straus * The Sunday Times *Ironical, humorous, and brilliantly understanding * Everyman *It is continuously interesting. Miss Crompton is amazingly sympathetic, amazingly shrewd, and Hermione and her family come to life under her pen * Saturday Review *You will find each boy and girl so vivid, and the sustaining thread of Hermione's slow fulfilment so convincing, that the story will enchant you * Evening News *

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Book SynopsisI don't think that people are people to her any longer. They're just mirrors. If she can see the right picture of herself in them, she likes them. If she can't, she dislikes them.Stella Markham is the apple of her aunt's eye: gentle, kind, beautiful and accomplished – the model of a perfect child. Her guardians love her and her playmates worship her. Sensitive and thoughtful, she is the very image of nineteenth century loveliness – that is, until things don't go her way. From Richmal Crompton, the bestselling author of the Just William stories, Narcissa follows Stella from childhood through courtship and motherhood, detailing the triumphs and tragedies of a woman who is willing to do anything to maintain the image of her own perfection, sacrificing those she loves to her own vanity.

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Book SynopsisRichmal Crompton's adult novels are an absolute delight and every bit as charming as her beloved Just William series. The Old Man's Birthday is both a nostalgic treat for fans of the gentler brand of interwar fiction, and a dry satire of British village life. Matthew Rowston is turning ninety-five. A lovable rogue approaching his dotage, he has very little time for the high moral standards and rigid ideas of propriety espoused by his spinster daughter. Things get interesting when he invites his estranged son, the bright and lively Stephen, and his beautiful partner to his celebratory dinner. Over the course of the day, Matthew walks around the village, introducing the pair to his large and varied clan, from the aging Jolly-hockey sticks granddaughter who is considering a torrid affair of her own, to his elderly bookish bachelor son and the lovely great-granddaughter struggling to find her place in the world, doomed to work as a clerk in her dull and dismal father's firm. Teeming beneath the calm surface of village and family life, lies a whole world of secrets and desires, hopes and dreams. Mrs Dalloway with a dash of dry humour, Mapp and Lucia with a slightly melancholy tone, this is the perfect heritage read for fans of 1930s fiction at its best.Trade ReviewOne of her most skilful and delightful stories, plotted and carried out with astonishing precision * The Times *Miss Crompton's management of her novels excites one's admiration. Of Chedsy Place, for instance, we remarked on its excellence of construction, difficulties never being evaded, and here in The Old Man's Birthday this is even more apparent . . . It is all well and wittily, sometimes touchingly, done. * Morning Post *

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Book SynopsisHappily married for thirty years with three children that have long since grown up, Christopher Mainwaring finds himself at a total loss following the death of his beloved wife, Susan. Yet the joyful marriage he remembers may not have been all it seemed, for no one in the family knows of the troubling words his wife uttered to him from her death bed . . . Alluding to a possible affair that took place many years ago with a close family friend, the grieving widower is haunted by visions of Susan's infidelity and seeks to find out the truth. In his quest to unearth his wife's potential duplicity, Christopher finds himself looking to his children's complex lives for answers: Joy who is now married with children and concerns of her own, the professionally inept but kind-hearted Frank and his neurotic wife Rachel, and Derek, whose delusions of grandeur with his struggling business causes much distress for his long-suffering wife, Olivia.Portrait of a Family by Richmal Crompton provides universal reflections and intimate insights into the dynamics of family life with a startling clarity that will stay with the reader long after the final page has been turned.Trade ReviewI imagine that Portrait of a Family will make many friends. It is interesting, it reads like the truth . . . It is good humoured and cheery, and even has its boisterous moments. It is, indeed, a delightful little study of 'ordinary' people who, of course, are not ordinary at all. -- Ralph Straus * The Sunday Times *A fine novel. . . genuinely moving and the writing is excellent * Sunday Chronicle *The book is interesting, and written with even more than the author's usual ability * Morning Post *

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Book SynopsisHappily married for thirty years with three children that have long since grown up, Christopher Mainwaring finds himself at a total loss following the death of his beloved wife, Susan. Yet the joyful marriage he remembers may not have been all it seemed, for no one in the family knows of the troubling words his wife uttered to him from her death bed. . . Alluding to a possible affair that took place many years ago with a close family friend, the grieving widower is haunted by visions of Susan's infidelity and seeks to find out the truth. In his quest to unearth his wife's potential duplicity, Christopher finds himself looking to his children's complex lives for answers: Joy who is now married with children and concerns of her own, the professionally inept but kind-hearted Frank and his neurotic wife Rachel, and Derek, whose delusions of grandeur with his struggling business causes much distress for his long-suffering wife, Olivia.Portrait of a Family by Richmal Crompton provides universal reflections and intimate insights into the dynamics of family life with a startling clarity that will stay with the reader long after the final page has been turned.Trade ReviewI imagine that Portrait of a Family will make many friends. It is interesting, it reads like the truth . . . It is good humoured and cheery, and even has its boisterous moments. It is, indeed, a delightful little study of 'ordinary' people who, of course, are not ordinary at all. -- Ralph Straus * The Sunday Times *A fine novel. . . genuinely moving and the writing is excellent * Sunday Chronicle *The book is interesting, and written with even more than the author's usual ability * Morning Post *

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Book SynopsisIn The Pickwick Papers we are introduced not just to one of the greatest writers in the English language, but to some of fiction's most endearing and memorable characters, starting with the 'illustrious, immortal and colossal-minded' Samuel Pickwick himself. It is a rollicking tour de force through an England on the brink of the Victorian era. Reform of government, justice and commercial life are imminent, as are rail travel, social convulsion and the death of deference, but Pickwick sails through on a tide of delirious adventure, fortifying us for the future - whatever it might throw at us. This Macmillan Collector's Library edition is illustrated by H. K. Browne ('Phiz'), with an afterword by Ned Halley.Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

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Book SynopsisThe Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a magical tale of transformation that has enchanted both children and adults since its publication in 1911. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold-foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This beautiful edition of The Secret Garden features an afterword by publisher Anna South.When Mary Lennox is orphaned she is sent from her home in India to live with her uncle at Misselthwaite Manor on the Yorkshire Moors. She arrives as a sour-faced, sickly and ill-tempered little girl, bewildered by her surroundings and desperately lonely. One day she discovers a way in to a secret abandoned garden and, with the help of local lad Dickon and her poorly cousin Colin, they set about restoring the garden.

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