From Austen to Zola, from medieval to the modern day - all genres are catered for between the covers of these coveted classics.
Classics Books
Penguin Books Ltd The Figure in the Carpet
Book Synopsis''Did she know and if she knew would she speak?''The story of an unsolved literary mystery that explores what James referred to as troubled artistic consciousness Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin''s 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.Henry James (1843-1916). James''s works available in Penguin Classics are The Portrait of a Lady,The Europeans, What Maisie Knew, The Awkward Age, The Figure in the Carpet and Other Stories, The Turn of The Screw, The Aspern Papers and O
£5.06
Penguin Books Ltd Njals Saga
Book SynopsisWritten in the thirteenth century, Njal''s Saga is a story that explores perennial human problems-from failed marriages to divided loyalties, from the law''s inability to curb human passions to the terrible consequences when decent men and women are swept up in a tide of violence beyond their control. It is populated by memorable and complex characters like Gunnar of Hlidarendi, a powerful warrior with an aversion to killing, and the not-so-villainous Mord Valgardsson. Full of dreams, strange prophecies, violent power struggles, and fragile peace agreements, Njal''s Saga tells the compelling story of a fifty-year blood feud that, despite its distance from us in time and place, is driven by passions familiar to us all. This Penguin Classics edition includes an introduction, chronology, index of characters, plot summary, explanatory notes, maps, and suggestions for further reading.
£10.44
Birlinn General Witch Wood: Authorised Edition
Book SynopsisDavid Sempill is being torn apart. Young and idealistic, his loyalty to his King conflicts with his Covenanting sympathies, which are, in turn, tested by the brutality he witnesses towards Montrose's beaten army. When black magic is uncovered in the ancient Witch Wood, as a man of God he must fight it, but his love for the beautiful, pagan Katrine and the religious extremism of the time puts him at the centre of a deadly spiral. Buchan's favourite novel - and an inspiration for the young C.S. Lewis - is a terrifying portrait of a cruel and intolerant age. With an introduction by Allan Massie. This edition is authorised by the John Buchan Society.Trade Review'One of Scotland's most enduringly popular writers' * The Scotsman *'Buchan knew that you can't buck the consequences of your actions, and that your life is what you make of it. Perhaps his peculiarly Scottish combination of Romanticism and Calvinism - daring living and high thinking - is due to return to fashion' * The Independent Magazine *
£9.49
Everyman Oblomov
Book SynopsisGoncharov's gentle satire on the failings of 19th-century Russian gentry and bureaucracy turns into something deeper and richer than satire, as he probes the character of a protagonist whose constitutional lethargy becomes a symbol for the malaise of the human spirit in an alienating world.
£16.14
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Way We Live Now
Book SynopsisWith an Introduction and Notes by Peter Merchant. Canterbury Christ Church College. The tough-mindedness of the social satire in and its air of palpable integrity give this novel a special place in Anthony Trollope's Literary career. Trollope paints a picture as panoramic as his title promises, of the life of 1870s London, the loves of those drawn to and through the city, and the career of Augustus Melmotte. Melmotte is one of the Victorian novel's greatest and strangest creations, and is an achievement undimmed by the passage of time. Trollope's 'Now' might, in the twenty-first century, look like some distant disenchanted 'Then', but this is still the yesterday which we must understand in order to make proper sense of our today.
£5.35
Alma Books Ltd The Great Gatsby
Book SynopsisInvited to an extravagantly lavish party in a Long Island mansion, Nick Carraway, a young bachelor who has just settled in the neighbouring cottage, is intrigued by the mysterious host, Jay Gatsby, a flamboyant but reserved self-made man with murky business interests and a shadowy past. As the two men strike up an unlikely friendship, details of Gatsby's impossible love for a married woman emerge, until events spiral into tragedy. Regarded as Fitzgerald's masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of American literature, The Great Gatsby is a vivid chronicle of the excesses and decadence of the "Jazz Age", as well as a timeless cautionary critique of the American dream.Trade ReviewIt seems to me the first step that American fiction has taken since Henry James. -- TS Eliot He was better than he knew, for in fact and in the literary sense he invented a generation. * The New York Times *
£7.44
Little, Brown Book Group Frenchman's Creek
Book SynopsisA tale of love and adventure from the internationally bestselling author of Rebecca. 'She wrote exciting plots . . . a writer of fearless originality' GUARDIAN 'One of the last century's most original literary talents' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'A pure, exhilarating adventure story - a swashbuckling tale of exquisite danger and tangled love' JULIE MYERSON The Restoration Court knows Lady Dona St Columb to be ripe for any folly, any outrage that will alter the tedium of her days. But there is another, secret Dona who longs for a life of honest love - and sweetness, even if it is spiced with danger. It is this Dona who flees the stews of London for remote Navron, looking for peace of mind amid its solitary woods and hidden creeks. She finds there the passion her spirit craves - in the love of a daring pirate hunted by all Cornwall, a Frenchman who, like Dona, would gamble his life for a moment's joy.Trade ReviewShe wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense, and she was, too, a writer of fearless originality * Guardian *Du Maurier is a storyteller whose sole aim is to bewitch and beguile * New York Times *A pure, exhilarating adventure story - a swashbuckling tale of exquisite danger and tangled love . . . a tale of emotional and sexual awakening, of loss and risk . . . sophisticated in its exploration of the human heartOne of the last century's most original literary talents * Daily Telegraph *A storyteller of cunning and geniusA heroine who is bound to make thousands of friends * Sunday Times *
£14.24
Twisted Spoon Press The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch: A Grotesque
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£10.92
Hodder & Stoughton Pet Sematary
Book SynopsisSoon to be a major motion picture from Paramount Pictures starring John Lithgow, Jason Clarke, and Amy Seimetz! King''s iconic, beloved classic is ''so beautifully paced that you cannot help but be pulled in'' Guardian ''SOMETIMES...DEAD IS BETTER''The house looked right, felt right to Dr Louis Creed.Rambling, old, unsmart and comfortable. A place where the family could settle; the children grow and play and explore. The rolling hills and meadows of Maine seemed a world away from the fume-choked dangers of Chicago.Only the occasional big truck out on the two-lane highway, grinding up through the gears, hammering down the long gradients, growled out an intrusive threat.But behind the house and far away from the road: that was safe. Just a carefully cleared path up into the woods where generations of local children have processed with the solemn innocence of the young, taking with them their dear departed petsTrade ReviewKing can make the flesh creep half a world away * The Times *So beautifully paced that you cannot help but be pulled in * Guardian *The most frightening novel Stephen King has ever written * Publisher's Weekly *Wild, powerful, disturbing * Washington Post Book Review *King can make the flesh creep half a world away * The Times *
£10.44
Broadview Press Ltd Robinson Crusoe
Book SynopsisRobinson Crusoe is one of the most famous literary characters in history, and his story has spawned hundreds of retellings. Inspired by the life of Alexander Selkirk, a sailor who lived for several years on a Pacific island, the novel tells the story of Crusoe's survival after shipwreck on an island, interaction with the mainland's native inhabitants, and eventual rescue. Read variously as economic fable, religious allegory, or imperialist fantasy, Crusoe has never lost its appeal as one of the most compelling adventure stories of all time.In addition to an introduction and helpful notes, this Broadview Edition includes a wide range of appendices that situate Defoe's 1719 novel amidst castaway narratives, economic treatises, reports of cannibalism, explorations of solitude, and Defoe's own writings on slavery and the African trade. A final appendix presents images of Crusoe's rescue of Friday from a dozen of the most significant illustrated editions of the novel published between 1719 and 1920.Trade ReviewEvan Davis has done an excellent job of bringing together many of the strands of thought that Defoe put into The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe—his interests in travel, economics, religion, and the experience of solitude—and putting them into an attractive format. Professor Davis supplies examples of texts on related topics such as solitude, cannibalism, and castaway narratives, along with a group of wonderful illustrations, including a large number of Crusoe and Friday, showing everything from the sympathetic and helpful Crusoe to Crusoe the colonialist and exploiter. These are well chosen to make points about the ways in which Crusoe fits into the interests of post-colonial criticism. Professor Davis is also very good in his introduction on the ambiguity with which Crusoe treats Friday. Is he a friend, a servant, or a slave? Or all three? This will be a useful and indeed an exciting text for students at all levels." – Maximillian E. Novak, University of California at Los Angeles"This edition greatly enriches the reader's appreciation of Robinson Crusoe both as a classic that transcends its historical origins and as a text that reflects a specific historical context. In each role, the novel can be viewed from many perspectives, ranging from those embodied in other writings by Defoe and his contemporaries to later ideas about psychology, economics, religion, and post-colonialism, and the introduction and appendices give the reader access to an extraordinarily copious array of these perspectives. The introduction, moreover, goes well beyond compiling viewpoints: while elegantly marshaling information, Evan R. Davis also contests received opinion and offers fresh insights. This is an extremely useful edition for students, general readers, and even those already well-acquainted with Defoe." – Oscar Kenshur, Indiana University"Evan R. Davis's fine edition of Robinson Crusoe for Broadview joins an already well-populated field of classroom paperbacks of Defoe's first novel….The Broadview edition holds its own…and offers much to recommend itself. It provides everything one would want from a text for classroom use (or for reading outside the classroom, for that matter): a reliable text, annotations that are clear and sufficient without being obtrusive, and an intelligent and thoughtful editor’s introduction. Moreover, it provides a rich selection of supplementary materials, including a truly surprising number of illustrations, aimed at provoking classroom discussion or simply thoughtful reflection." - Benjamin F. Pauley, Eastern Connecticut State University, reviewed in Digital DefoeTable of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Daniel Defoe: A Brief Chronology A Note on the Text The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Appendix A: Daniel Defoe, Preface and Publisher’s Introduction to Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1720) Appendix B: From Charles Gildon, The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Mr. D—— De F— (1719) Appendix C: Castaway Narratives Appendix C: Castaway Narratives Appendix E: Economic Contexts Appendix F: Defoe on Slavery and the African Trade Appendix G: Cannibalism Appendix H: Illustrations of Friday’s Rescue Select Bibliography
£16.16
Pan Macmillan Grimms' Fairy Tales
Book SynopsisFor the past two centuries these delightful stories, gathered together and written down by brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, have entertained and frightened children and adults alike. The lives of Tom Thumb, Cinderella, Rumplestiltskin and the Frog Prince form part of our common heritage: they stimulate the imagination and the heart, and linger at the back of our minds for a lifetime. They are funny, disturbing, wise and compassionate. They speak of joy and terror, happiness and revenge, love and violence.Designed to appeal to the booklover, 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. This edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales is complete and unabridged, and features Arthur Rackham's masterly illustrations, all hand-coloured by Barbara Frith, one of Britain's leading colourists.
£10.79
Pan Macmillan Complete Ghost Stories
Book SynopsisThe art of telling a ghost story is a refined one, and Montague Rhodes James was a master of the genre. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. This edition features an afterword by author and playwright David Stuart Davies.M.R. James draws the reader into narratives which, seeming innocuous, become darker and darker in gentle turns – until confronting the reader with some of the most unforgettably frightening images in British literature. Complete Ghost Stories contains every timeless masterpiece from each of his four collections: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), A Thin Ghost and Others (1919), and A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925).
£9.89
Pan Macmillan Crime and Punishment
Book SynopsisComplete and unabridged.A towering classic of Russian literature, Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is a compelling story of a brutal double murder and its aftermath. An impoverished ex-student, Rodion Raskolnikov, kills a pawnbroker and her sister, apparently for financial gain. But as he encounters friends and family, strangers and adversaries, Raskolnikov is compelled to face the true forces that have led him to murder. His struggle with himself and those around him becomes a battle of the individual against society, radicalism against tradition, and ultimately the will of man against the mysteries of divine providence. A sensation in its day, Crime and Punishment has left an indelible stamp on the world of literature. This beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition of Crime and Punishment is translated from the Russian by Constance Garnett, with an afterword by Oliver Francis.Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.
£11.69
Faber & Faber Gender Swapped Greek Myths
Book Synopsis''Thought-provoking and charmingly rendered.'' GuardianImagine a world where seductive male sirens lure brave heroines to their death, where Icara and her mother fly too close to the sun, and where beautiful men are forced to wed underworld queens...For thousands of years, Greek myths have been told and retold. In these stories, brutality and bravery are reserved for men, while women are wicked witches or helpless maidens. Today, these myths continue to shape our ideas about justice, tragedy and what makes a hero''s journey. Karrie and Jonathan love these stories, and have found a way to breathe new life into them by making one crucial change...Following the incredible success of Gender Swapped Fairy Tales they have taken that same simple step. They haven't rewritten the stories in this book. They haven't reimagined the endings, or reinvented characters. What they have done is switch all the genders.You'll be enchanted by t
£18.00
Prometheus Books The Mysterious Stranger
Book SynopsisThe Mysterious Stranger, published posthumously in 1916 and belonging to Twain's "dark" period, belies the popular image of the affable American humorist. At the time this work was written, Twain had suffered a series of painful physical, economic, and emotional losses.In this antireligious tale, he denies the existence of a benign Providence, a soul, an afterlife, and even reality itself. As the Stranger in the story asserts, "nothing exists; all is a dream."
£8.54
Seven Stories Press,U.S. A Simple Passion
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£8.14
Oxford University Press Collected Ghost Stories
Book Synopsis''I was conscious of a most horrible smell of mould, and of a cold kind of face pressed against my own...''Considered by many to be the most terrifying writer in English, M. R. James was an eminent scholar who spent his entire adult life in the academic surroundings of Eton and Cambridge. His classic supernatural tales draw on the terrors of the everyday, in which documents and objects unleash terrible forces, often in closed rooms and night-time settings where imagination runs riot. Lonely country houses, remote inns, ancient churches or the manuscript collections of great libraries provide settings for unbearable menace, from creatures seeking retribution and harm. These stories have lost none of their power to unsettle and disturb.This edition presents all of James''s published ghost stories, including the unforgettable ''Oh, Whistle and I''ll Come to You, My Lad'' and ''Casting the Runes'', and an appendix of James''s writings on the ghost story. Darryl Jones''s introduction and notes provide a fascinating insight into James''s background and his mastery of the genre he made his own.Trade ReviewPleasant chills guaranteed. * John Connolly, Buzzfeed *A gorgeous volume. * Allen Stroud, Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation *This is simply a delight to behold, never mind delve into! ... this new volume doesn't just feature James' works there is also an invaluable insight into his life by editor Darryl Jones * On: Yorkshire Magazine *Table of ContentsIntroduction Select Bibliography Chronology of M. R. James Canon Alberic's Scrap-book Lost Hearts The Mezzotint The Ash-Tree Number 13 Count Magnus 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' The Treasure of Abbot Thomas A School Story The Rose Garden The Tractate Middoth Casting the Runes The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral Martin's Close Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance The Residence at Whitminster The Diary of Mr Poynter An Episode of Cathedral History The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance Two Doctors The Haunted Dolls' House The Uncommon Prayer-Book A Neighbour's Landmark A View from a Hill A Warning to the Curious An Evening's Entertainment There was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard Rats After Dark in the Playing Fields Wailing Well The Experiment The Malice of Inanimate Objects A Vignette Appendix: M. R. James on Ghost Stories Explanatory Notes
£16.14
Profile Books Ltd The Walk
Book SynopsisRanging from one-page fantasies to novella-length studies of everyday existence, The Walk reveals the irresistible genius of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. Under-appreciated even in his own lifetime, Robert Walser has nonetheless been recognised by such writers as W.G. Sebald, Susan Sontag, Franz Kafka, Herman Hesse and J.M. Coetzee. Like Kafka and Sebald, Walser wrote about the solitude and unease of human existence. Honest, wry and idiosyncratic, his stories are snapshots of the lives great artists, poor young men, beautiful women and talking animals alike. Ranging from the realist to the allegorical, the short fiction collected in this volume demonstrates Walser's uncanny ability to capture both life's strangeness and its small joys.Trade ReviewA clairvoyant of the small...Walser has been my constant companion -- W. G. SebaldIf he had hundred thousand readers, the world would be a better place -- Hermann Hesse, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature"Kleist in Thun" and "Helbling's Story" show him at his dazzling best -- J.M. Coetzee, winner of the Nobel Prize in LiteratureA truly wonderful, heartbreaking writer -- Susan SontagAn essential writer of our time -- Elias Canetti, winner of the Nobel Prize in LiteratureThe future will see Walser as a true literary representative of our age -- Max BrodA major twentieth-century prose artist...he sounds like nobody else -- Benjamin Kunkel * New Yorker *A writer of considerable wit, talent and originality * New York Times *His perception extended past sensory limits. He elevated the significance of the everyday * Bookslut *One of the greatest German-language writers of the twentieth century -- Juan José SaerWalser was one of those individuals who stand at a slight angle to the world: first impressions suggest words like quirky, or surreal. But, if anything, his art was a beautifully sane challenge to the systematic assault on the subjective and quotidian that was already grinding away when he entered the madhouse. In an age that found it possible to diagnose the inner life as a sticky mass of tics and neuroses, Walser became a polite but stubborn champion of an everyday life in which psyche may play a central role, but pathology is not necessarily a given. -- John BurnsideThe stories of a man in love with the world, but unable to take part in it * Economist Intelligent Life *A kind of grown-up fairy tale. His style is both direct and colloquial yet also poetic in its simplicity. -- Lesley McDowell * Sunday Herald *Walser is an original. The book's centrepiece, "Kleist in Thun" is at once a deft literary portrait, a vivid piece of nature writing, and an autobiographical insight into Robert Walser's own mental fragility. All in all, it is as beautiful and moving a story as I have ever read. * Independent on Sunday *Walser left a curiously brilliant and utterly original corpus of work, whose wry surrealism is reminiscent of Kafka, Beckett and indeed John Lennon ... a masterpiece -- Alfred Hickling * Guardian *
£9.89
Little, Brown Book Group The Last of the Wine: A Virago Modern Classic
Book SynopsisAthens and Sparta, the mighty city states of ancient Greece, locked together in a quarter century of conflict: the Peloponnesian War. Alexias the Athenian was born, passed through childhood and grew to manhood in those troubled years, that desperate and dangerous epoch when the golden age of Pericles was declining into uncertainty and fear for the future. Of good family, he and his friends are brought up and educated in the things of the intellect and in athletic and martial pursuits. They learn to hunt and to love, to wrestle and to question. And all the time his star of destiny is leading him towards the moment when he must stand alongside his greatest friend Lysis in the last great clash of arms between the cities.Trade ReviewThe most vivid and convincing reconstruction of ancient Greek life that I have ever seen. Sunday Times I never learned Latin or Greek; I wasn't raised on the classics, even in translation. So all my sense of the ancient world - its values, its style, the scent of its wars and passions - comes from Mary Renault. Her Theseus novels are perhaps the most exciting of her Greek fictions, and The Last of the Wine the most moving. I turned to writing historical fiction because of something I learned from Renault: that it lets you shake off the mental shackles of your own era, all the categories and labels, and write freely about what really matters to you. Emma Donoghue Not since Robert Graves' I, Claudius has there been such an exciting, living image of the ancient world on this grand scale. It is a glowing work of art New York Times Book Review Mary Renault is a shining light to both historical novelists and their readers. She does not pretend the past is like the present, or that the people of ancient Greece were just like us. She shows us their strangeness; discerning, sure-footed, challenging our values, piquing our curiosity, she leads us through an alien landscape that moves and delights us -- Hilary Mantel
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group High Rising: A Virago Modern Classic
Book SynopsisSuccessful lady novelist Laura Morland and her boisterous young son Tony set off to spend Christmas at her country home in the sleepy surrounds of High Rising. But Laura's wealthy friend and neighbour George Knox has taken on a scheming secretary whose designs on marriage to her employer threaten the delicate social fabric of the village. Can clever, practical Laura rescue George from Miss Grey's clutches and, what's more, help his daughter Miss Sibyl Knox to secure her longed-for engagement?Utterly charming and very funny, High Rising is irresistible comic entertainment.Trade ReviewCharming, very funny indeed. Angela Thirkell is perhaps the most Pym-like of any twentieth-century author, after Pym herself -- Alexander McCall SmithAppealing * Glasgow Sunday Herald *A smart new edition . . . A terrific holiday story * The Lady *A delightfully entertaining comedy of manners. Full of period charm and witty authorial comment * Good Book Guide *To be so witty and charming yet also so brilliantly brusque and practical as Laura Morland is my new year's resolution -- Pippa Wright, author of The Foster HusbandCharming, very funny indeed. Angela Thirkell is perhaps the most Pym-like of any twentieth-century author, after Pym herself. -- Alexander McCall SmithAppealing. * Glasgow Sunday Herald *A smart new edition . . . A terrific holiday story. * The Lady *A delightfully entertaining comedy of manners. Full of period charm and witty authorial comment. * Good Book Guide *To be so witty and charming yet also so brilliantly brusque and practical as Laura Morland is my new year's resolution -- Pippa Wright, author of The Foster Husband
£9.49
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Complete Richard Hannay Stories
Book SynopsisMajor General Sir Richard Hannay is the fictional secret agent created by writer and diplomat John Buchan, who was himself an Intelligence officer during the First World War. The strong and silent type, combining the dour temperament of the Scot with the stiff upper lip of the Englishman, Hannay is pre-eminent among early spy-thriller heroes. Caught up in the first of these five gripping adventures just before the outbreak of war in 1914, he manages to thwart the enemy's evil plan and solve the mystery of the 'thirty-nine steps'. In Greenmantle, he undertakes a vital mission to prevent jihad in the Islamic Near East. Mr Standfast, set in the decisive months of 1917-18, is the novel in which Hannay, after a life lived 'wholly among men', finally falls in love; later, in The Three Hostages, he finds himself unravelling a kidnapping mystery with his wife's help. In the last adventure, The Island of Sheep, he is called upon to honour an old oath. A shrewd judge of men, he never dehumanises his enemy, and despite sharing some of the racial prejudices of his day, Richard Hannay is a worthy prototype hero of espionage fiction.
£5.35
HarperCollins Publishers Bloodline
Book SynopsisOne of Sidney Sheldon's most popular and bestselling titles, repackaged and reissued for a new generation of fans.The daughter of a rich and powerful father, Elizabeth Roffe is young, beautiful and sole heir to a billion dollar fortune.Then tragedy strikes. Her father is killed in a freak accident and Elizabeth must take command of his mighty global empire, the pharmaceutical company Roffe and Sons. It makes Elizabeth the richest girl in the world. But someone, somewhere, is determined that she must die.From the backstreets of Istanbul to the upmarket offices of New York, Bloodline is a hypnotic tale of love and ambition, danger, intrigue and death.Trade Review'Absorbing and eminently well-crafted.' New York Times 'Contains the three basic Sheldon ingredients – glamour, intrigue and sex.' Daily Mail
£9.89
HarperCollins Publishers Tender is the Night
Book SynopsisFrom Collins Classics and the author of The Great Gatsby' a marriage unravels in this autobiographical tale.Sometimes it is harder to deprive oneself of a pain than of a pleasure.'Set on the French Riviera in the 1920s, American Dick Diver and his wife Nicole are the epitome of chic, living a glamorous lifestyle and entertaining friends at their villa. Young film star Rosemary Hoyt arrives in France and becomes entranced by the couple. It is not long before she is attracted to the enigmatic Dick, but he and his wife hold dark secrets and as their marriage becomes more fractured, Fitzgerald laments the failure of idealism and the carefully constructed trappings of high society in the Roaring Twenties.
£5.62
HarperCollins Publishers The Hobbit The Classic Bestselling Fantasy Novel
Book SynopsisSpecial collector's film tie-in hardback of the best-selling classic, featuring the complete story with a sumptuous cover design inspired by THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY and brand new reproductions of all the drawings and maps by J.R.R. Tolkien.Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End.But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey there and back again'. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragonThe prelude to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit has sold many millions of copies since its publication in 1937, establishing itself as one of the most beloved and influential books of the twentieth century.Trade Review‘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 ‘A flawless masterpiece’The Times
£15.29
HarperCollins Publishers Tales from the Perilous Realm
Book SynopsisAvailable for the first time in one volume, this is the definitive collection of Tolkien's five acclaimed modern classic 'fairie' tales in the vein of 'The Hobbit'.Trade ReviewRoverandom:‘An old-fashioned story, yet it still speaks freshly today… would leap to life when read aloud to a child’ Independent Farmer Giles of Ham:‘A fabulous tale of the days when giants and dragons walked the kingdom’ Sunday Times Leaf by Niggle:‘A haunting and successful demonstration of the qualities of faerie’ New York Times The Adventures of Tom Bombadil:‘Something close to genius’ The Listener Smith of Wootton Major:‘Whoever reads it at eight will no doubt still be going back to it at eighty’ New Statesman
£60.00
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Book SynopsisWith an Introduction and Notes by Michael Irwin, Professor of English Literature, University of Kent at Canterbury This selection of Carroll's works includes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, both containing the famous illustrations by Sir John Tenniel. No greater books for children have ever been written. The simple language, dreamlike atmosphere, and fantastical characters are as appealing to young readers today as ever they were. Meanwhile, however, these apparently simple stories have become recognised as adult masterpieces, and extraordinary experiments, years ahead of their time, in Modernism and Surrealism. Through wordplay, parody and logical and philosophical puzzles, Carroll engenders a variety of sub-texts, teasing, ominous or melancholy. For all the surface playfulness there is meaning everywhere. The author reveals himself in glimpses.
£5.62
Everyman A Passage To India
Book SynopsisAdela and her elderly companion Mrs Moore arrive in the Indian town of Chandrapore, and feel trapped by its insular and prejudiced British community. Determined to explore the ''real India'', they seek the guidance of the charming and mercurial Dr Aziz. But a mysterious incident occurs while they are exploring the Marabar caves, and the well-respected doctor soon finds himself at the centre of a scandal.
£12.34
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Around the World in 80 Days / Five Weeks in a
Book SynopsisWith an Introduction and Notes by Professor Roger Cardinal. University of Kent at Canterbury. Translationsare by Paul Desages (Around the World in Eighty Days) and Arthur Chambers (Five Weeks in a Balloon). JULES VERNE (1828-1905) POSSESSED that rare storyteller's gift of being able to present the far-fetched and the downright unbelievable in such a way as effortlessly to inspire his reader's allegiance and trust. This volume contains two of his best-loved yarns, chosen from among the sixty-four titles of Les Voyages Extraordinaires, Verne's pioneering contribution to the canon of modern science fiction. Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) relates the hair-raising journey made as a wager by the Victorian gentleman Phileas Fogg, who succeeds - but only just! - in circling the globe within eighty days. The dour Fogg's obsession with his timetable is complemented by the dynamism and versatility of his French manservant, Passepartout, whose talent for getting into scrapes brings colour and suspense to the race against time. Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863) was Verne's first novel. It documents an apocryphal jaunt across the continent of Africa in a hydrogen balloon designed by the omniscient, imperturbable and ever capable Dr Fergusson, the prototype of the Vernian adventurer.
£5.62
Myanmar Book Center A Gentle Kind of Poverty
Book SynopsisA Burmese woman returns home after 14 years abroad, struggles to adapt to changes, feels torn between her independent life in England and cultural roots, makes a hard decision after a close friend's death, and ultimately chooses to start a new life in Burma.
£9.74
Pan Macmillan Scenes of London Life: From 'Sketches by Boz'
Book SynopsisDesigned to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. Chosen and introduced by the playwright J. B. Priestley, these twelve marvellous sketches are accompanied by George Cruikshank’s evocative illustrations.Charles Dickens was one of the great chroniclers of London life. From the colourful chaos of dances and gin-shops to the sparse destitution of the pawnshop and the penitentiary, he captured the grime and the glory of the English capital with singular brilliance.Orphans and beggars, lord mayors and murderers, actors, criminals, cab drivers and prostitutes; all rub shoulders in this wonderful selection from Sketches by Boz.
£10.79
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Shutter Island
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£8.99
Suma de Letras Cuentos Completos 2 (1969-1982). Julio Cortazar /
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£15.26
Random House Publishing Group TellTale Heart and Other Writings
Book SynopsisEdgar Allan Poe remains the unsurpassed master of works of mystery and madness in this outstanding collection of Poe's prose and poetry are sixteen of his finest tales, including 'The Tell-Tale Heart', 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' 'The Pit and the Pendulum,' 'William Wilson,' 'The Black Cat,' 'The Cask of Amontillado,' and 'Eleonora'. Here too is a major selection of what Poe characterized as the passion of his life, his poems - 'The Raven,' 'Annabel Lee,' Ulalume,' 'Lenore,' 'The Bells,' and more, plus his glorious prose poem 'Silence - A Fable' and only full-length novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym.
£6.44
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Book SynopsisWilliam Shakespeare (1564-1616) is acknowledged as the greatest dramatist of all time. He excels in plot, poetry and wit, and his talent encompasses the great tragedies of Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth as well as the moving history plays and the comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew and As You Like It with their magical combination of humour, ribaldry and tenderness. This volume is a reprint of the Shakespeare Head Press edition, and it presents all the plays in chronological order in which they were written. It also includes Shakespeare's Sonnets, as well as his longer poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece.
£16.14
Silver Dolphin Books Classic Works from Women Writers
Book SynopsisA fine collection of classic novels, short stories, poems, and essays from distinguished women writers. Women writers have been making their voices heard for centuries, but their works were not always taken seriously. Over time, as women gained more social and political freedom, these works have reemerged as subjects that are considered to be worthy of closer study. Classic Works from Women Writers is a collection of more than thirty novels, short stories, poems, and essays by prominent and lesser-known female writers since the 17th century. Included in this volume are groundbreaking works such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles, the first Hercule Poirot novel; Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” and her follow-up essay; and poetry from the likes of Christina Rossetti, Amy Lowell, and Sara Teasdale. The words of these authors offer a multitude of perspectives on different issues that affect not only women but the wider world as well.
£19.99
Birlinn General Children of the Dead End
Book SynopsisBased on personal memories of his life in Ireland and Scotland in the early 1900s, this was Patrick MacGill’s first novel. It tells the story of Dermod Flynn an independent and feisty youth who earns a meagre living as an itinerant farm hand in Donegal and County Tyrone before coming to Scotland with a potato-picking squad. After living on the road, labouring and navvying, Dermod finds work on the hydro-electric scheme at Kinlochleven –an extraordinarily brutal and unforgiving environment where hundreds died on one of the biggest engineering projects of its time. Against this background, Dermod reads voraciously, begins to discover his talent as a writer and is eventually lured to Fleet Street, where he briefly becomes a journalist. Peopled with extraordinary characters, Children of the Dead End is a gritty and uncompromising expose of the near slavery endured by the poor in Scotland and Ireland at the beginning of the twentieth century.Trade Review'An evocative read about working class life.. should be on every school’s reading list' * Scottish Field *'A superb account of its times' * Irish Times *'Raw, lyrical, angry, Children of the Dead End still retains its affecting power' -- Nick Brooks * The List *'This beautifully written book is a rare and important work' -- Hollie Bruce * Dundee Courier *
£9.49
Canongate Books Sunset Song
Book SynopsisTwice Voted Scotland's Favourite Book'Left me scorched' Ali Smith'Unforgettable' GuardianFaced with a choice between a harsh farming life and the world of books and learning, Chris Guthrie chooses to remain in her rural community, bound by her intense love of the land. But everything changes with the arrival of the First World War and Chris finds her land altered beyond recognition.One of the greatest and most heartbreaking love stories ever told,, Sunset Song offers a powerful portrait of a land and people in turmoil.Trade ReviewSunset Song's great gripping hybrid of melodrama and realism . . . left me scorched -- ALI SMITHIf this new edition is prompting you to re-read Sunset Song after many years, as I have just done, you will find it has lost none of its appeal and emotion. And if you are about to read this remarkable novel for the first time, you are embarking on a profound journey -- NICOLA STURGEONPortrayed with a lyrical intensity that echoes through the years and still resonates today * * New York Times * *An unforgettable evocation of a way of life that has slipped away . . . It is a love song for a landscape and language still familiar - and precious - to a generation born long after [Grassic-Gibbon] died . . . Chris is one of the great women of 20th-century fiction * * Guardian * *Chris Guthrie is the most passionate and appealing heroine in Scottish literature; Grassic Gibbon's magnificent novel is fresh, powerful and timeless -- ANNE DONOVANIt is gritty and passionate and one of Scotland's great 20th-century novels * * Daily Express * *When I read Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Sunset Song in my mid-teens I entered into it with such wholehearted love that I longed to live inside it . . . The rhythms of the prose are incantatory, musical . . . Chris is the centre of the novel and its genius, vivid on every page where she's present -- TESSA HADLEY * * Guardian * *An inescapable landmark of Scottish literature . . . Few novels have ever achieved such an unaffectedly sublime blend of poetry and music, and it is clear from the outset that the title is anything but a conceit. The prose is increasingly symphonic, in its sweep and surge, but the final effect is more like what bagpipers call ceol mor, "big music". It is full of haunting echoes of traditional Scottish balladry * * Times Literary Supplement * *His three great novels have the impetus and music of mountain burns in full spate * * Observer * *An evocative look at female life on the Scottish frontier . . . Sunset Song is the story of a resilient young woman during the early 20th century. Her profound identification with the land is her source of renewal and strength as she endures harrowing family circumstances and, eventually, the devastating fallout of the First World War * * Los Angeles Times * *
£7.59
Pan Macmillan Goblin Market & Other Poems
Book SynopsisWith a preface by Elizabeth Macneal and original illustrations by Laurence Housman.Two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, are enticed by the smells, sounds and sights of the goblin market, tempted by the ripe figs, plump cherries and fragrant berries. Whilst Lizzie resists, Laura is slowly destroyed by her insatiable longing for the goblin’s forbidden fruit.Complete & Unabridged. 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. Here is Christina Rossetti’s first critically acclaimed collection of poetry. Published in 1862, as well as ‘Goblin Market’ it contains some of her most treasured work, such as ‘A Birthday’, ‘An Apple Gathering’ and ‘Remember’. It launched her career as the foremost female poet of her time and, more than a century later, modern readers are still seduced by its symbolism and sensual language.
£10.44
Oxford University Press Keep the Aspidistra Flying
Book SynopsisMoney is what God used to be. Good and evil have no meaning any longer except failure and success.Disgusted by society''s materialism, Gordon Comstock leaves his job in advertising to pursue an ill-fated career as a poet. In his race to the bottom, only Rosemary, his long-suffering girlfriend, challenges Gordon''s self-destructive course. The novel contains the most sustained reflections on the role of the author and the artistic imagination anywhere in Orwell''s fiction, as the book''s protagonist struggles (and ultimately fails) to reconcile his romantic-aestheticist sensibilities with the pressures of the literary marketplace and with social expectations. Completed while Orwell travelled north to work on The Road to Wigan Pier, this novel is a key transitional text in his career. Offering a powerful portrayal of the emotional toll of precarity and the desire to break with capitalism, Keep the Aspidistra Flying is a significant work of mid-century British fiction but it also speaks to our own time.ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Table of ContentsIntroduction Notes on the Text Select Bibliography A Chronology of George Orwell Keep the Aspidistra Flying Explanatory Notes
£9.49
Broadview Press Ltd Pride and Prejudice
Book SynopsisElizabeth Bennet is Austen’s most liberated and appealing heroine, and Pride and Prejudice has remained over most of the past two centuries Austen’s most popular novel. The story turns on the marriage prospects of the five daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, and especially on Elizabeth’s prejudice against the proud and distant Fitzwilliam Darcy. Pride and Prejudice is a romantic comedy that has been read as conservative and feminist, reactionary and revolutionary, rooted in the time of its composition and deliberately timeless. Robert Irvine’s introduction sets the novel in the context of the literary and intellectual history of the period, dealing with such crucial background issues as class relations in Britain, female exclusion from property and power, and the impact of the French Revolution. The introduction and annotations have been expanded and updated for the new edition, and a new appendix of Austen’s juvenilia has been added.Trade Review“Robert P. Irvine’s new edition of Pride and Prejudice is a superb version of Austen’s most frequently taught novel. Broadview’s Austen editions have always been my go-to for the classroom due to their rich introductions and expansive critical apparatuses, and this edition is no exception. Irvine’s cogent and insightful introduction clarifies the novel’s contexts and intertexts for both students and scholars, but what really set this and Broadview’s other Austen editions apart are the excellence and depth of their appendices; this one includes contemporary reviews and judiciously chosen excerpts from conduct books and texts on domestic tourism, on the French Revolution, and on militia regiments, as well as selections from Austen’s letters and juvenilia, all of which richly contextualize Pride and Prejudice for twenty-first-century readers. This edition will be a valuable resource for Austen scholars at all levels, perhaps especially for students who approach the novel with limited knowledge of the period.” — Suzanne L. Barnett, Manhattan College“This is my new go-to edition of Pride and Prejudice. Robert Irvine’s introduction usefully elucidates the social, political, and literary contexts of the novel, and his illuminating explanatory notes are indispensable for today’s student. As with all Broadview Editions, a range of supplementary materials offers productive frameworks for teaching the novel and will benefit both new and veteran readers of Austen.” — Mary-Catherine Harrison, University of Detroit MercyTable of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Jane Austen and Her Time: A Brief Chronology A Note on the Text Map Pride and Prejudice Appendix A: From the Juvenilia (1792–93) 1. From Volume the First: “The Three Sisters” 2. From Volume the Second: “From a young Lady in distress’d Circumstances to her freind” Appendix B: From Austen’s Letters to Her Sister Cassandra 1. To Cassandra Austen, 8–9 January 1799 2. To Cassandra Austen, 11 June 1799 3. To Cassandra Austen, 29 January 1813 4. To Cassandra Austen, 4 February 1813 Appendix C: Contemporary Periodical Reviews of Pride and Prejudice 1. British Critic (February 1813) 2. From Critical Review (March 1813) Appendix D: From the Conduct Books 1. From James Fordyce, Sermons to Young Women (1766) 2. From Dr. John Gregory, A Father’s Legacy to His Daughters (1774) Appendix E: Domestic Tourism 1. From William Watts, The Seats of the Nobility and Gentry (1779) 2. From William Bray, Sketch of a Tour into Derbyshire and Yorkshire (1777) Appendix F: Burke on the French Revolution1. From Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)Appendix G: Discussion of Women’s Role after the French Revolution 1. From Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 2. From Hannah More, Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education (1799) Appendix H: The Militia Regiments on the South Coast of England in 1793–95 1. Women at the Brighton Camp, from The Sussex Weekly Advertiser (1793, 1795) 2. The Mutiny of the Oxfordshire Militia, from The Sussex Weekly Advertiser (1795) Works Cited and Select Bibliography
£12.95
Chiltern Publishing Little Women
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 layers, golden edges, fine details and beautiful colours of these remarkable covers make these titles feel extra special and will look striking on any shelf.
£16.47
Pan Macmillan The Trial
Book SynopsisIn Kafka's powerful and disturbing novel, an innocent man is arrested and repeatedly interrogated for a crime that is never ever explained. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold-foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is translated from German by Douglas Scott and Chris Waller, and features an afterword by David Stuart Davies.On the morning of his thirtieth birthday, a young bank official named Joseph K is arrested although he has done nothing wrong and is never told what he’s been charged with. The Trial is the chronicle of his fight to prove his innocence, of his struggles and encounters with the invisible Law and the untouchable Court where he must make regular visits. It is an account, ultimately, of state-induced self-destruction presenting in a nightmarish scenario the persecution of the outsider and the incomprehensible machinations of the state. Using the power of simple, straightforward language Kafka draws the reader into this bleak and frightening world so that we too experience the fears, uncertainties and tragedy of Joseph K.Trade ReviewThe Dante of the twentieth century -- W. H. AudenNo other voice has borne truer witness to the dark of our times -- George Steiner
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd It Cant Happen Here
Book Synopsis''An eerily prescient foreshadowing of current affairs'' Guardian''Not only Lewis''s most important book but one of the most important books ever produced in the United States'' New YorkerA vain, outlandish, anti-immigrant, fearmongering demagogue runs for President of the United States - and wins. Sinclair Lewis''s chilling 1935 bestseller is the story of Buzz Windrip, ''Professional Common Man'', who promises poor, angry voters that he will make America proud and prosperous once more, but takes the country down a far darker path. As the new regime slides into authoritarianism, newspaper editor Doremus Jessup can''t believe it will last - but is he right? This cautionary tale of liberal complacency in the face of populist tyranny shows it really can happen here.Trade ReviewYou can't read Lewis' novel today without flashes of Trumpian recognition * Slate *An eerily prescient foreshadowing of current affairs * Guardian *Eighty years later the novel feels frighteningly contemporary * Salon *Not only Lewis's most important book but one of the most important books ever produced in the United States * New Yorker *
£9.49
Alma Books Ltd The Portrait of a Lady: Annotated Edition (Alma
Book SynopsisHaving travelled from her native New York to London to meet her relatives, Isabel Archer, a young, independently minded young woman, rejects the marriage proposals of two suitors in her determination to stay in control of her destiny. When she suddenly comes into a large legacy, Isabel believes that this windfall will finally ensure the freedom that she yearns for and embarks on an exhilarating journey through France and Italy, only to find her endeavours thwarted by the sinister plotting of some of her acquaintances. Considered by many to be Henry James’s finest novel, The Portrait of a Lady is a subtle examination of Victorian society and power relations, providing a groundbreaking psychological study of its protagonist. This volume is based on the authoritative New York Edition, and includes the author’s seminal preface.Trade ReviewHenry James’s great, humane masterpiece. -- Hermione Lee
£8.82
North Parade Publishing The Jungle Book
Book Synopsis
£10.80
Pan Macmillan Middlemarch
Book SynopsisComplete and unabridged.One of BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World.A masterpiece of candid observation, emotional insight and transcending humour, Middlemarch is a truly monumental novel. Endlessly appealing to modern readers, Middlemarch has been adapted as a BBC Radio 4 drama.Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. This edition features an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jennifer Egan.Dorothea Brooke is a beautiful and idealistic young woman set on filling her life with good deeds. She pursues the pompous Edward Casuabon, convinced that he embodies these principles, and becomes trapped in an unhappy marriage. Then there is Tertius Lydgate, an anguished progressive whose determination to bring modern medicine to the provinces is muddied by unrequited love. They, and a multitude of other brilliantly drawn characters, reside in the town Middlemarch – the background to George Eliot’s incomparable portrait of Victorian life.
£11.69
Flame Tree Publishing Tales of Mystery and Imagination
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. This beautiful collection compiles Edgar Allan Poe’s most terrifying and otherworldly works. Included are the very first modern detective stories, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget and The Purloined Letter. As well as these are the most famous of Poe’s works, including The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Premature Burial and The Tell-Tale Heart.
£9.49
Alma Books Ltd Silas Marner
Book SynopsisHaving been accused of theft and hounded out of a religious community many years previously, the weaver Silas Marner now lives alone in the village of Raveloe, hoarding the precious wealth he earns. But when Silas's beloved gold is stolen, and an orphaned girl finds her way into his home, he is given the opportunity to transform his selfish and embittered life. George Eliot's favourite novel - rich in symbolism, humour and social criticism - Silas Marner is one of the great nineteenth-century portrayals of rural life. Based on the most authoritative edition and edited using a fresh, intelligent editorial approach, this edition contains extensive notes on the text together with extra material about the author's life and works.Trade Review"A great novel of unquenchable optimism and boundless humanity" The Guardian
£6.99
