Contemporary fiction titles are those which focus on the present or near past. Stories rooted in the current cultural, social, and political landscape which feature characters we can all recognise.
Contemporary Fiction Books
Everyman Joy In The Morning
Book SynopsisTrapped in the rural hell-hole of Steeple Bumpleigh with his bossy ex-fiancée, Florence Craye, her fire-breathing father, Lord Worplesdon, her frightful Boy-Scout brother, Edwin, and her beefy new betrothed, 'Stilton' Cheesewright, Bertie Wooster finds himself walking a diplomatic tightrope. With Florence threatening to ditch Stilton for Bertie, and Stilton threatening to trample on Bertie's insides if she does, things look black until Jeeves arrives to save the day. One of Wodehouse's most sparkling comedies, replete with an attendant cast of tyrannical aunts, demon children and literary fatheads.
£11.40
Everyman Psmith In The City
Book SynopsisWhen Psmith finds himself working in the City for the pompous Mr Bickersdyke, he makes it his mission to bring a little sweetness and light into the bank manager's life. The monocled wit with the suave manner and the chivalrous but devil-may-care attitude to life is determined not to let honest toil depress him. The consequence is a series of battles in which Bickersdyke comes off worst and Wodehouse's readers best.
£12.34
Everyman Lord Emsworth And Others
Book SynopsisA collection of stories in which familiar characters and places are reintroduced in unfamiliar circumstances, reminding us – if we need reminding – of their author's limitless powers of comic invention. In the title story – one of Wodehouse's longest and best shorter fictions – Lord Emsworth takes his revenge on his ghastly secretary, the Efficient Baxter, setting off a wave of similar reprisals at Blandings Castle with amazing results. In other tales we meet several members of the Drones Club, while the final three reunite us with the ineffable Ukridge, more of whose ever-optimistic schemes for making easy money come to grief. A delightful meeting with old friends for some readers, a superb introduction to the world of Wodehouse for others.
£12.34
Everyman Cocktail Time
Book SynopsisFrederick, Earl of Ickenham, is not the man to run away from other people’s romantic problems, not even when faced with the tangled relationships of his godson, Johnny, Johnny’s girlfriend, Belinda, butler Albert Peasemarch and Peasemarch’s beloved, Phoebe, who happens to be the sister of his employer, bad-tempered Sir Raymond ‘Beefy’ Bastable. Sir Raymond is himself in pursuit of Barbara Crowe. Everything turns on the fate of the script for a film called Cocktail-Time by Bastable’s nephew, Cosmo Wisdom – but just to stir the mixture a little further, Wodehouse throws in American con-artist Oily Carlisle. Now read on...
£11.40
Everyman A Damsel In Distress
Book SynopsisA damsell in distress - an Almost Blandings novel set in Belphi Castle, Hampshire and a two week house party for the son-and-heir's 21st.Trade ReviewThis is one of the most entertaining and utterly delightful books that you are ever likely to read. Set in the 1920s, it reads like a musical, only without the music. Wonderfully appealing characters, from the singleminded Earl of Marshmoreton, pompous Lord Belpher, lovely Maud (aka Lady Patricia) and all round nice guy George Bevan, a light and natural romance, hilarious scenes which will stay vividly in your imagination for a long, long time... a book that you will not be able to put down, who could ask for more?
£12.34
Everyman Carry On, Jeeves
Book SynopsisThe titles of the first story in this collection – 'Jeeves Takes Charge' – and the last – 'Bertie Changes His Mind' – sum up the relationship of twentieth-century fiction's most famous comic characters. In between them, the various feeble-minded men and lively young women who populate Wooster's world appeal to Jeeves to solve their problems and are never disappointed.
£13.50
Everyman Piccadilly Jim
Book SynopsisThis sparkling story of transatlantic manners follows the fortunes of playboy Jimmy Crocker in England and America. When Jimmy falls for a girl in London and vows to reform himself as a result, the quest for love leads him to his Aunt Nesta’s house in New York, where his escapades involve impersonating himself and attempting to kidnap Nesta’s odious son Ogden – with the boy demanding a cut of the ransom money. A full flush of minor characters – pretentious poets, butlers, boxers, put-upon husbands and Wall Street businessmen – make the comedy crackle as only Wodehouse knew how.
£12.34
Everyman Jill The Reckless
Book SynopsisWhen Jill Mariner is arrested for fighting over a parrot and then loses all her money on the same day, she is abandoned by her pompous fiancé and goes to stay with her rich relations on Long Island. Uncle Elmer is delighted to see her – until he finds out that Jill is penniless. Heading for New York, she ends up in the chorus of a musical comedy on Broadway where she eventually finds the man of her dreams. A light romantic comedy in Wodehouse’s most charming manner.
£12.34
Everyman Very Good, Jeeves!
Book SynopsisVery Good Jeeves! (1930) is a collection of eleven short stories starring Bertie Wooster in eleven alarming predicaments from which he has to be rescued by his peerless gentleman's gentleman. Whether Bertie is tangling with a red-headed ball of fire such as Roberta Wickham, dealing with an irate headmistress, placating a rampaging aunt, puncturing the wrong hot water bottle, singing 'Sonny Boy', or simply trying to concentrate on his golf handicap, Jeeves is always there to help - though rarely in ways which his employer expects. These brilliantly plotted stories give the essence of Wodehousian comedy.Trade Review"Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in." -- EVELYN WAUGHHe exhausts superlatives -- STEPHEN FRY"Pure word music" -- DOUGLAS ADAMSThe Everyman edition promises to be a splendid celebration of the divine Plum -- THE INDEPENDENT"The handsome bindings are only the cherry on top of what is already a cake without compare" * EVENING STANDARD *
£12.34
Everyman Sam the Sudden
Book SynopsisNot-so-fresh off the tramp steamer from America, Sam Shotter settles in the sleepy suburb of Valley Fields. His pastoral peace is short-lived, however, when Soapy Molloy, Dolly the Dip, and Chimp Twist arrive on the scene looking for two million dollars they seem to have mislaid in the vicinity. Not only does Sam discover he's living right bang next door to the girl of his dreams, but he's sitting, rather embarrassingly, on a goldmine. Some rather superior sleuthing will be required.Trade ReviewThe handsome bindings are only the cherry on top of what is already a cake without compare * Evening Standard *Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in. * Evelyn Waugh *He exhausts superlatives * Stephen Fry *
£12.34
Everyman Plum Pie
Book SynopsisA collection of stories featuring familiar Wodehouse characters includes Jeeves and Wooster, Ukridge and his fearsome Aunt Julia, Bingo Little and his wife, romantic novelist Rosie M. Banks, twin Mulliner brothers George (the screenwriter) and Alfred (the conjuror),Galahad Threepwood, dotty Lord Emsworth and his younger son Freddie, the dog-biscuit salesman. In between stories, their creator explores some of the more extraordinary items in the American news of his day.Trade ReviewWodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in. * Evelyn Waugh *The handsome bindings are only the cherry on top of what is already a cake without compare * Evening Standard *
£12.34
Everyman Barmy in Wonderland
Book SynopsisLove is a powerful spur, and Cyril Fotheringay-Phipps (known to his friends as Barmy) invests his modest fortune in a stage production, encouraged by his admiration for the delectable Miss Dinty Moore. And so he demonstrates that affairs of the heart and high finance may be happily combined.
£11.40
Everyman Indiscretions of Archie
Book SynopsisIt wasn't Archie's fault, really. It's true he went to America and fell in love with Lucille, the daughter of a millionaire hotel proprietor . . . and if he did marry her -- well, what else was there to do? From his point of view, the whole thing was a thoroughly good egg; but Mr. Brewster, his father-in-law, thought differently, Archie had neither money nor occupation, which was distasteful in the eyes of the industrious Mr. Brewster; but the real bar was the fact that he had once adversely criticized one of his hotels. Archie did his best to heal the breach; but, being something of an ass, genus priceless, he found it almost beyond his powers to placate the "man-eating fish" whom Providence had given him as a father-in-law. . . .Trade ReviewThe handsome bindings are only the cherry on top of what is already a cake without compare. * Evening Standard *Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in * Evelyn Waugh *He exhausts superlatives * Stephen Fry *
£13.50
Everyman A Prefect's Uncle
Book SynopsisThe action of the novel takes place at the fictional "Beckford College", a private school for boys; the title alludes to the arrival at the school of a mischievous young boy called Farnie, who turns out to be the uncle of the older "Bishop" Gethryn, a prefect, cricketer and popular figure in the school. His arrival, along with that of another youngster who becomes fag to Gethryn, leads to much excitement and scandal in the school, and the disruption of some important cricket matches.Trade ReviewSublime comic genius * Ben Elton *The finest and funniest writer the past century ever knew * Stephen Fry *Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in * Evelyn Waugh *The Everyman edition promises to be a splendid celebration of the divine Plum * The Independent *
£11.40
Everyman The Pothunters
Book SynopsisWhen someone breaks into the cricket pavilion and steals two silver cups, the whole school is agog. Could it possibly be an inside job? Nothing less than the honour of St Austin's is at stake, not to mention the reputation of Jim Thomson, an excellent athlete with a talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.In this charming novel of school life, the first book he published, Wodehouse demonstrates right away a talent for story telling and characterisation, not to mention a sharp ear for the inflections of schoolboy speech, still recognisable after more than a century. But what marks the story out from others of the same sort are the many humorous touches which hint at a master of comedy in the making.Trade ReviewThe handsome bindings are only the cherry on top of what is already a cake without compare. * Evening Standard *Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in * Evelyn Waugh *
£12.34
Everyman The Old Reliable
Book SynopsisFollowing the death of Carmen Flores, the lubricious Mexican star, Adela Cork buys her Hollywood house. Hoping to escape from the domineering Adela, her brother-in-law Smedley, who has lived with her since losing his money, searches the house for Carmen's legendary lost diary, in the belief that its scorching revelations about the sex life of her fellow stars will make him millions. He is helped and hindered by a safe-blowing butler, a pompous movie mogul, a posse of unemployed scriptwriters, and the redoubtable Adela herself. Fortunately, Adela's sister, 'Bill' Shannon, not for nothing nicknamed 'the Old Reliable', is on hand to ensure a satisfactory outcome. A light comedy which is also a sharp satire on Hollywood mores.
£12.34
Everyman Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin
Monty Bodkin has returned to London from Hollywood, leaving Sandy Miller, his secretary there, heartbroken, because Monty loves English hockey international Gertrude Butterwick instead of her. Holding down a job for a year was the condition laid down by Gertrude’s father before Monty and Gertrude could be married, a condition Monty has unexpectedly fulfilled by blackmailing Hollywood movie mogul Ivor Llewellyn. Back in England, he intends to claim his bride, but the path to true love never runs smooth, as Monty is about to find out.
£13.50
Everyman Bring on the Girls
Book SynopsisDespite an enormous solo output, P. G Wodehouse often co-operated with other writers, especially in the early stages of his career, exchanging or sharing plots, advising on problems and even writing books and stage-works together. Bring on the Girls is a characteristically mordant account of his work with Guy Bolton in musical comedy, which occupied much of Wodehouse’s energy from his arrival in America and effectively made his reputation. This is a tactful book - there are no shocking revelations - but an extremely amusing one, with vivid portraits of such stars as Gertrude Lawrence and insights into febrile life behind the scenes.Trade ReviewWodehouse’s idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in. -- Evelyn WaughHe exhausts superlatives -- Stephen FryThe Everyman edition promises to be a splendid celebration of the divine Plum. * The Independent *The handsome bindings are only the cherry on top of what is already a cake without compare * Evening Standard *
£14.25
Everyman The Luck Stone
Book SynopsisOriginally published as a serial in Chums under the pseudonym of Basil Windham, The Luck Stone is thoroughly Wodehouse with his trademark sticky situations, quirky characters, sly humour and wit, and of course, his renowned prose. All written in the form of a letter to a friend, this dark and suspenseful plot will never fail to disappoint
£13.50
Everyman The Swoop! & The Military Invasion of America
Book Synopsis"Deep down in his heart the genuine Englishman has a rugged distaste for seeing his country invaded by a foreign army. People were asking themselves by what right these aliens had overrun British soil. An ever-growing feeling of annoyance had begun to lay hold of the nation.”Clarence Chugwater is not a Boy Scout for nothing. It is summer 1909 and everyone is too interested in the Test Match to notice that England has been invaded by the Germans. And the Russians. And the Chinese. Not to mention a ‘boisterous band of the Young Turks’, a mad Mullah, and a brace of North African pirates. The government has recently abolished the army so there is nothing to be done about it anyway, except give a masterly display of polite indifference. But this would be to reckon without patriotic Clarence, ‘Boy of Destiny’, who alone is prepared to stand up to the foe, and who devises a highly unorthodox plan to restore his country to freedom…The Swoop! Or, How Clarence Saved England reprints the 33 black and white drawings by C. Harrison that accompanied the first edition. It is supplemented by The Military Invasion of America, in which Clarence’s story is humorously transplanted across the Atlantic.Trade ReviewThe Everyman edition promises to be a splendid celebration of the divine Plum * The Independent *
£10.99
Everyman Flann O'Brien The Complete Novels
Book SynopsisIn the five novels by Ireland's greatest comic writer we can explore the full range of his invention, from the multi-layered madness of At Swim-Two-Birds to the piercing realism of The Hard Life and the surreal logic of The Third Policeman. This is a world where bicycles listen to conversations, inventors search formethods of 'diluting' water, and characters play truant while novelists sleep; a world where spiteful fairies wreak havoc and heroes from legend blunder into suburban sitting-rooms. This is recognizably the Ireland of Joyce and Beckett - rowdy, high-spirited, by turns sensual and and cerebral -transformed by O'Brien's unique vision.
£18.00
Everyman Washington Square
Book SynopsisWhen Catherine Sloper falls for Maurice Townsend, her father, a wealthy New York doctor, believes that Townsend is a fortune hunter after his daughter’s inheritance. He forbids the marriage but Catherine persists in her affection, encouraged by her foolish aunt Lavinia who has a weakness for Maurice herself. Dr Sloper takes Catherine abroad to distract her from the infatuation, but she proves to be as stubborn as her father. The book is a vivid study of the four central characters drawn in what are, for this author, unusually strong primary colours.Six novels by Henry James and two volumes of his shorter fiction are already published in Everyman’s Library.
£10.44
Everyman The Book of Evidence & The Sea
Book SynopsisThe Book of Evidence, shortlisted for the Booker prize in 1989 and The Sea, which won the Booker prize in 2005, take us into the hauntingly confused worlds of two ageing male protagonists - washed- up scientist Freddie Montgomery, desperate to explain why he is being held in an Irish prison for murder (The Book of Evidence) and recently widowed art historian Max Morden, who has returned to a sleepy seaside boarding house to relive the events of his first adolescent awakenings (The Sea). With spellbinding virtuosity, Banville piles ambiguity upon ambiguity to construct tense tales of sex, betrayal and self-deception, which keep us turning the page, while questioning our own certainties about memory and identity. In both works, the acclaimed Irish novelist is revealed at his masterful best, conjuring dark wit, suspense and drama from the stunning lyrical beauty of his near-perfect prose.Trade ReviewIreland's finest contemporary novelist. * The Economist *
£12.34
Everyman Go Tell It on the Mountain
Book Synopsis'Go back to where you started, or as far back as you can, examine all of it, travel your road again and tell the truth about it. Sing or shout or testify or keep it to yourself: but know whence you came.'Originally published in 1953, Go Tell it on the Mountain was James Baldwin's first major work, based in part on his own childhood in Harlem. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a Pentecostal storefront church in Harlem. Baldwin's rendering of his protagonist's spiritual, sexual and moral struggle towards self-invention opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understood themselves.Trade ReviewSomething in his prose hit me, almost winding me with its intensity. I'd never read a novel that described loneliness and desire with such burning eloquence. -- Douglas Field * Guardian *It broke my heart and made me want to jump up and down, unable to fully articulate my own response towards it ... [A] notion of a shared humanity consumed Baldwin, and infused everything he did and wrote. Deprived of heritage and history, he borrowed freely and created his own unique language, with the cadences of the Bible and of jazz and Negro spirituals, and inflections of James, Dickens and Shakespeare ... This should, like J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, have been crowned as the Great American Novel. -- Azar Nafisi * Independent *A distinctive book, both realistic and brutal ... A novel of extraordinary poetry. * Chicago Tribune *
£14.39
Everyman Ghost Stories
Book SynopsisTales about ghosts are as old as human culture itself but the ghost story as a distinguished literary form reached its apogee in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As traditional religions declined in the West during those years, people looked for new ways of describing the spiritual realities explained by religion. The ghost story is a literary expression of this need, its rise corresponding to the growing popularity of Spiritualism. Ghost stories balance the increasingly powerful scientific materialism of the age with intimations that there are other orders of experience which we cannot define and only glimpse. The Everyman selection of ghost stories includes examples from this period by major writers such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Guy de Maupassant, Henry James and Edith Wharton. M. R. James is featured as a specialist in the genre. Later writers include Elizabeth Bowen, Penelope Lively and Ray Bradbury.One feature of this collection is to show that there is more to the ghost story than the thrill of horror, important though that is. These stories include comedy and tragedy, pathos, drama and even poetry. Each is a masterpiece in its own right, irrespective of whether or not we believe in the realm of spectres.
£13.50
Everyman Rome Stories
Book SynopsisDuring its three-thousand-year history Rome has been an imperial metropolis, the capital of a nation and the spiritual core of a great world religion. For writers from antiquity to the present, however, the place holds an alternative significance as a realm of fantasy, aspiration and desire. Captivating and lethal at one and the same moment, its fatal gift of beauty both transfigures and betrays those in thrall to it. Rome Stories explores the city's fateful impact through the writing of classical historians, a Renaissance sculptor, 18th-century tourists, American, British and French novelists and the authors of modern Rome, each testing and unravelling the city's ageless paradoxes. Gibbon admires the Last of the Tribunes, Goethe decodes the mysteries of the Carnival and Stendhal's subversive aristocrats mingle revolution with a little cross-dressing amid their gilt mirrors and frescoed ceilings From Plutarch to Pasolini, from Hawthorne to Wharton, the city of Caesars and popes, of dreamers, chancers and hustlers confronts the questing imagination with its eternally unflinching gaze.
£10.99
Little, Brown Book Group The Evening Of The Holiday
Book SynopsisPassionate undercurrents sweep in and out of this eloquent novel about a love affair in the summer countryside in Italy and its inevitable end. It takes place in a setting of pastoral beauty during a time of celebration -- a festival. Sophie, half English, half Italian, meets Tancredi, an Italian who is separated from his wife and family. In telling the story of their love affair, author Shirley Hazzard punctures the placid surface of polite Italian society to reveal the intense yearnings and surprising responses in sophisticated people caught up in emotions they do not always understand.Trade Review'Charged with great power ... The impact on the reader is extraordinarily intense' New York Times Book Review 'Short, elegant, and very good ... A beautifully precise, ironic, and yet evocative style' New York Review of Books
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Symposium
Book Synopsis'The greatest Scottish novelist of modern times . . . She was peerless, sparkling, inventive and intelligent - the crème de la crème.' Ian RankinOne October evening five London couples gather for a dinner party, enjoying 'the pheasant (flambe in cognac as it is)' and waiting for the imminent arrival of the late-coming guest Hilda Damien, who has been unavoidably detained due to the fact that she is being murdered at this very moment.With an introduction by Ian Rankin.Symposium is Muriel Spark - one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century and author of classics including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - at her wicked best. 'A rich, heady, disturbing brew.' Lorna Sage'Extremely clever and highly entertaining.' Penelope Lively'Stiletto-sharp fiction.' Alan Taylor, Scotland on SundayTrade ReviewThe greatest Scottish novelist of modern times . . . She was peerless, sparkling, inventive and intelligent - the crème de la crème * Ian Rankin *Extremely clever and highly entertaining ... A young bride is seen to have been connected, apparently by chance, with a sequence of untimely deaths ... Symposium is put together like an intricate jigsaw puzzle * Penelope Lively *This is the story of a dinner party, a knot of people with pasts and connections which at first seem few but are later found to be many ... The prevailing mood is urbane: the wine is poured, the talk continues, and all the time the ice on which the protagonist s' world rests is being thinned from beneath by boiling emotions and ugly motives ... No living writer handles the tension between formality of expression and the subversiveness of thought more elegantly * Candia McWilliam, Independent on Sunday *Stiletto-sharp fiction...as in the bitter confections of Ivy Compton-Burnett, it is the dialogue that propels this dangerous, devilish book * Alan Taylor, Scotland on Sunday *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group At Mrs Lippincote's
Book SynopsisThe debut novel from Elizabeth Taylor - shortlisted for the Booker Prize*Mrs Lippincote's house, with its mahogany furniture and yellowing photographs, stands as a reminder of all the certainties that have vanished with the advent of war. Temporarily, this is home for Julia, who has joined her husband Roddy at the behest of the RAF. Although she can accept the pomposities of service life, Julia's honesty and sense of humour prevent her from taking her role as seriously as her husband, that leader of men, might wish; for Roddy, merely love cannot suffice - he needs homage as well as admiration. And Julia, while she may be a most unsatisfactory officer's wife, is certainly no hypocrite.*'Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning-point in one's own experience' Elizabeth Bowen 'No writer has described the English middle classes with more gently devastating accuracy' Rebecca Abrams, Spectator 'A Game of Hide and Seek showcases much of what makes Taylor a great novelist: piercing insight, a keen wit and a genuine sense of feeling for her characters' Elizabeth Day, GuardianTrade ReviewSubtle, stylised, and rather special social comedy * Kirkus *Witty, hilarious, astringent, devastating - her impeccable style can do anything and with such seemingly effortless ease -- Neel MukherjeeElizabeth Taylor is finally being recognised as an important British author: an author of great subtlety, great compassion and great depth -- Sarah WatersAlways intelligent, often subversive and never dull, Elizabeth Taylor is the thinking person's dangerous housewife. Her sophisticated prose combines elegance, icy wit and freshness in a stimulating cocktail - the perfect toast to the quiet horror of domestic life -- Valerie MartinTaylor is one of the hidden treasures of the English novel -- Philip Hensher * Daily Telegraph *Her best novels - At Mrs. Lippincote's (1945), A View of the Harbour (1947), A Game of Hide and Seek (1951) - are, in spite of their prim titles, funny, savage and full of loneliness and suppressed emotion. For her characters, as for their author, propriety is a survival mechanism, a way of keeping the show on the road -- Rachel Cooke * Guardian *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group A View Of The Harbour: A Virago Modern Classic
Book SynopsisINTRODUCED BY SARAH WATERS'Every one of her books is a treat and this is my favourite, because of its wonderful cast of characters, and because of the deftness with which Taylor's narrative moves between them ... A wonderful writer' SARAH WATERSIn the faded coastal village of Newby, everyone looks out for - and in on - each other, and beneath the deceptively sleepy exterior, passions run high. Beautiful divorcee Tory is secretly involved with her neighbour, Robert, while his wife Beth, Tory's best friend, is consumed by the worlds she creates in her novels, oblivious to the relationship developing next door. Their daughter Prudence is aware, however, and is appalled by the treachery she observes. Mrs Bracey, an invalid whose grasp on life is slipping, forever peers from her window, constantly prodding her daughters for news of the outside world. And Lily Wilson, a lonely young widow, is frightened of her own home. Into their lives steps Bertram, a retired naval officer with the unfortunate capacity to inflict lasting damage while trying to do good.'Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning-point in one's own experience' - ELIZABETH BOWEN'Always intelligent, often subversive and never dull, Elizabeth Taylor is the thinking person's dangerous housewife. Her sophisticated prose combines elegance, icy wit and freshness in a stimulating cocktail' - VALERIE MARTIN'A magnificent and underrated mid-20th-century writer, the missing link between Jane Austen and John Updike' - DAVID BADDIELTrade ReviewEvery one of her books is a treat and this is my favourite, because of its wonderful cast of characters, and because of the deftness with which Taylor's narrative moves between them ... A wonderful writer * Sarah Waters *Jane Austen, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Bowen - soul-sisters all * Anne Tyler *A wonderful novelist * Jilly Cooper *An eye as sharply all-seeing as her prose-style is elegant - even the humdrum becomes astonishing * Daily Telegraph *She's a favourite of this writer. I've read this novel, set in a seaside town in the 1940s, five times and I'm itching to read it again. There's a mother from hell in it who makes me wince and chuckle -- Jacqueline WilsonThere is a deceptive smoothness in her tone, or tone of voice, as in that of Evelyn Waugh; not a far-fetched comparison, for in the work of both writers the funny and the appalling lie side by side in close amity -- Kingsley AmisIt is time that justice was done to Elizabeth Taylor... All her writings could be described as coming into the category of comedy. Comedy is the best vehicle for truths that are too fierce to be borne -- Anita BrooknerHer best novels-At Mrs. Lippincote's (1945), A View of the Harbour (1947), A Game of Hide and Seek (1951)-are, in spite of their prim titles, funny, savage and full of loneliness and suppressed emotion. For her characters, as for their author, propriety is a survival mechanism, a way of keeping the show on the road -- Rachel Cooke * Guardian *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group The Well Of Loneliness
Book SynopsisTHE MOST FAMOUS LESBIAN NOVEL FOR DECADES - AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'The bible of lesbianism' THE TIMES 'A beacon for sexual self-discovery' HEPHZIBAH ANDERSON, BBC CULTURE 'One of the first and most influential contributions of gay and lesbian literature' NEW STATESMANA powerful novel of love between women, The Well of Loneliness brought about the most famous legal trial for obscenity in the history of British law. Banned on publication in 1928, it then went on to become a classic bestseller.'What do I care for the world's opinion? What do I care for anything but you!'Stephen Gordon (named by a father desperate for a son) is not like other girls: she hunts, she fences, she reads books, wears trousers and longs to cut her hair. She is an ideal child of aristocratic parents who grows up to be a war hero, a bestselling writer and a loyal, protective lover. But Stephen is a woman, and her lovers are women. In the stifling grandeur of Morton Hall, the locals begin to draw away from her, aware of some indefinable thing that sets her apart. And when Stephen Gordon reaches maturity, she falls passionately in love with another woman. As her ambitions drive and society confines her, Stephen is forced into desperate actions.Introduced by Diana Souhami, author of the acclaimed biography The Trials of Radclyffe Hall. Trade ReviewThe bible of lesbianism * The Times *The outpouring of support Hall received from members of the public around the world, who wrote to thank her for creating, in her heroine Stephen Gordon, a character with whom they could identify -- Alison Flood * Guardian *Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness still holds a place as a beacon for sexual self-discovery -- Hephzibah Anderson * BBC Culture *A pioneering lesbian novel * Daily Telegraph *Beautifully written and constructed, with delightful prose. It is the standard-bearer; the lesbian The Grapes of Wrath -- Lee LynchThe archetypal lesbian novel * Times Literary Supplement *One of the first and most influential contributions of gay and lesbian literature * New Statesman *Passionately felt and courageous * Spectator *
£10.44
Little, Brown Book Group A Far Cry From Kensington
Book SynopsisWith a cover design by Lucienne DayWhen Mrs Hawkins tells Hector Bartlett he is a 'pisseur de copie', that he 'urinates frightful prose', little does she realise the repercussions. Holding that 'no life can be carried on satisfactorily unless people are honest' Mrs Hawkins refuses to retract her judgement, and as a consequence, loses not one, but two much-sought-after jobs in publishing. Now, years older, successful, and happily a far cry from Kensington, she looks back over the dark days that followed, in which she was embroiled in a mystery involving anonymous letters, quack remedies, blackmail and suicide.Trade ReviewThe divine Spark is shining at her brightest . . . Pure delight * Claire Tomalin, INDEPENDENT *An outstanding novel . . . A FAR CRY FROM KENSINGTON has an effortless, transluscent grasp of the spirit of the period * OBSERVER *'Wonderfully entertaining - full of absurd, comical, engaging characters and written with typical wit, elegance and aplomb * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *One of Muriel Spark's most liberating, liberated and meditative novels. Spark is a writer who can take the meditative and make it mercurially funny, playful and mischievous * Ali Smith *
£13.49
Little, Brown Book Group The Comforters
Book Synopsis'The greatest Scottish novelist of modern times.' Ian RankinIn this first novel by Muriel Spark - author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - the only things that aren't ambiguous are Spark's matchless originality and glittering wit.With an introduction by Ali Smith.Caroline Rose is plagued by the tapping of typewriter keys and the strange, detached narration of her every thought and action. She has an unusual problem - she realises she is in a novel. Her fellow characters are also possibly deluded: Laurence, her former lover, finds diamonds in a loaf of bread - could his elderly grandmother really be a smuggler? And Baron Stock, her bookseller friend, believes he is on the trail of England's leading Satanist.'A master of malice and mayhem.' Michiko Kakutani, New York Times'Brilliantly original and fascinating.' Evelyn Waugh'A light, clever, mirthful tour de force ... It disrupts and charms its readers with its combination of wit, precision, intelligence and hilarity. As vibrant as ever, more than fifty years after its first appearance.' Ali SmithTrade ReviewThat this light, clever, mirthful tour de force was a first novel is astounding. It ends with its own genesis, neatly, like a good joke. As vibrant as ever, more than 50 years after its first appearance, it still knocks the stuffing out of the realist tradition, and probably always will -- Ali SmithBrilliantly original and fascinating * Evelyn Waugh *A master of malice and mayhem * Michiko Katutani, NEW YORK TIMES *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group A Game Of Hide And Seek
Book Synopsis'Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning-point in one's own experience' - Elizabeth Bowen, author of The Heat of the DayIntelligent and haunting, with echoes of Brief Encounter, this is a love story by one of the best British writers of the 20th century.During summer games of hide and seek Harriet falls in love with Vesey and his elusive, teasing ways. When he goes to Oxford she cherishes his photograph and waits for a letter that never comes.Years pass and Harriet stifles her dreams; with a husband and daughter, she excels at respectability. But then Vesey reappears and her marriage seems to melt away. Harriet is older, it is much too late, but she is still in love with him.Trade ReviewAlways intelligent, often subversive and never dull, Elizabeth Taylor is the thinking person's dangerous housewife. Her sophisticated prose combines elegance, icy wit and freshness in a stimulating cocktail - the perfect toast to the quiet horror of domestic life * Valerie Martin *A magnificent and underrated mid-20th-century writer, the missing link between Jane Austen and John Updike' -- David Baddiel * Independent *A Game of Hide and Seek showcases much of what makes Taylor a great novelist: piercing insight, a keen wit and a genuine sense of feeling for her characters -- Elizabeth Day * Guardian *Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning-point in one's own experience * ELIZABETH BOWEN *Elizabeth Taylor is finally being recognised as an important British author: an author of great subtlety, great compassion and great depth. As a reader, I have found huge pleasure in returning to Taylor's novels and short stories many times over. As a writer I've returned to her too - in awe of her achievements, and trying to work out how she does it * Sarah Waters *A magnificent and underrated mid-20th-century writer, the missing link between Jane Austen and John Updike' * Independent *The unsung heroine of British 20th-century fiction. Elizabeth Taylor wrote 12 novels, and each displays her exquisitely light touch, her firt for discreet irony and her skill at revealing the emotional depths behind even the meekest exterior. She is at her very best here, a novel in which love is never declared, but is meticulously evoked. No writer has described the English middle classes with more gently devastating accuracy * Rebecca Abrams, SPECTATOR *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Desert Of The Heart
Book SynopsisSet in the late 1950s, this is the story of Evelyn Hall, an English Professor, who goes to Reno to obtain a divorce and put an end to her disastrous 16-year marriage. While staying at a boarding house to establish her six-week residency requirement she meets Ann Childs, a casino worker and fifteen years her junior. Physically, they are remarkably alike and eventually have an affair and begin the struggle to figure out just how a relationship between two women can last.Desert of the Heart examines the conflict between convention and freedom and the ways in which the characters try to resolve the conflict
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group The Lifeboat
Book SynopsisI was to stand trial for my life. I was twenty-two years old. I had been married for ten weeks and a widow for six.It is 1914 and Europe is on the brink of war. When a magnificent ocean liner suffers a mysterious explosion en route to New York City, Henry Winter manages to secure a place in a lifeboat for his new wife Grace. But the survivors quickly realize the boat is over capacity and could sink at any moment. For any to live, some must die.Over the course of three perilous weeks, the passengers on the lifeboat plot, scheme, gossip and console one another while sitting inches apart. Their deepest beliefs are tested to the limit as they begin to discover what they will do in order to survive.Trade ReviewAlmost unbearably exciting - you'll gulp it down in a single sitting -- Kate Saunders * The Times *You will be gripped -- Andrew Holgate * Sunday Times *Ingenious. . . An unflinching examination of the will to survive . . . Vividly exciting, beautifully paced and surprisingly funny; in Grace, Rogan has found a voice that is both fresh and mysterious -- Justine Jordan * Guardian *Rogan's rip-roaring tale is a chilling reminder of the cost of survival -- Elena Seymenliyska * Daily Telegraph *A magnificently layered book . . . As compelling as it is profound -- Daisy Goodwin * Sunday Times *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group The Land Of Green Ginger: A Virago Modern Classic
Joanna Burton was born in South Africa but sent by her missionary father to be raised in Yorkshire. There she dreams of the far-off lands she will visit and adventures to come. At eighteen, tall and flaxen-haired, she meets Teddy Leigh, a young man on his way to the trenches of the First World War. Joanna has been in love before - with Sir Walter Raleigh, with the Scarlet Pimpernel, with Coriolanus - but this is different. Teddy tells her he's been given the world to wear as a golden ball. Joanna believes him and marries him, but the fabled shores recede into the distance when, after the war, Teddy returns in ill health. The magic land turns out to be the harsh reality of motherhood and life on a Yorkshire farm. Yet still she dares to dream.
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group China Court: A Virago Modern Classic
Book SynopsisBy the author of Black Narcissus and The River'Godden was a writer who constantly drew on her own life experiences' ROSIE THOMAS, GUARDIAN'Her prose is pure, delicate, and gently witty' NEW YORK TIMES 'It has the rare illusive charm, the flashes of wit' KIRKUS REVIEWS Tracy Quinn, daughter of a screen star and raised on film sets around the world, returns to her adored family home, a country house named China Court. Her grandmother's recent death has set in motion events that threaten Tracy's future and the very existence of China Court. As Tracy fights to save the old house, inhabited by five generations of Quinns, the ancestors who created it are evoked: profligate, faithless Jared; Eliza, the embittered spinster; and Ripsie, an outcast orphan who rose to become the powerful matriarch. China Court is the story of the hours and days of a country house in Cornwall and five generations of the family who inhabited it.Trade ReviewGodden was a writer who constantly drew on her own life experiences, frugally mixing and recasting the elements to give them fresh significance, but always relating her work back to the people, places, human passions and frailties that she knew and understood best -- Rosie Thomas * Guardian *Her craftsmanship is always sure; her understanding of character is compassionate and profound; her prose is pure, delicate, and gently witty * New York Times *It has the rare illusive charm, the flashes of wit, the sometimes cruel penetration of character that is Rumer Godden * Kirkus Reviews *Her acceptance allows the novel to end on a note of considerable drama, a transition accomplished so subtly that surprise is virtually guaranteed * Los Angeles Times *
£999.99
Little, Brown Book Group A Fugue in Time: A Virago Modern Classic
Book SynopsisGhosts past, present, and future haunt an old London house in this masterful work of fiction from a New York Times bestselling author.'A genius for storytelling' EVENING STANDARD 'One of our best and most original novelists' PHILIP HENSHER 'Her craftsmanship is always sure . . . pure, delicate, and gently witty' NEW YORK TIMES Grizel Dane, a bold young servicewoman in the US army, arrives at the London home of her great-uncle Sir Rollo Dane, seeking refuge from the chaos of wartime. Through the old man, Grizel learns the surprising history of the Dane family and Lark Ingoldsby.Orphaned by a train crash, Lark was taken in by the Danes as an adoptive daughter but soon found herself caught in a web of sibling rivalry, love and attrition. Selina Dane, racked with jealousy, sets out to destroy Lark's dreams of love. When Grizel falls for Pax Masterson, a wounded airman, Rollo urges her to seize her chance for happiness, as he was not able to. A century of a family's history remains alive and vibrant within these walls, the events that defined their lives unfolding over and over again. But that living history is not ending quite yet, for the war is bringing a stranger from America to Number 99 Wiltshire Place to leave her indelible mark on it.A different kind of ghost story, Rumer Godden's poignant, stylistically brilliant A Fugue in Time is a story rich in wonder, imagination, and heart - a favourite for the many devoted fans of the bestselling author of Black Narcissus and In This House of Brede. A passionate story of romance and tragedy also inspired the classic film Enchantment starring David Niven and Teresa Wright.Trade ReviewA genius for storytelling * Evening Standard *One of our best and most original novelists -- Philip HensherHer craftsmanship is always sure; her understanding of character is compassionate and profound; her prose is pure, delicate, and gently witty * New York Times *All [Godden's novels] have one important thing in common: They are beautifully and simply wrought by a woman of depth and sensitivity * Los Angeles Times *Godden has never been out of print * Irish Times *A genius for storytelling * Evening Standard *One of our best and most original novelists. -- Philip Hensher
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Rumi's Daughter
Book SynopsisRumi is now acknowledged as one of the great mystical poets of the Western world, with huge sales of the many collections of his poetry. Not much is known about his life except that he lived in thirteenth-century Anatolia (now Turkey), had a great spiritual friendship with a wild man called Shams, brought an adopted daughter into his family, and was distraught when Shams finally disappeared. Rumi's Daughter is the delightful novel about Kimya, the girl who was sent from her rural village to live in Rumi's home. She already had mystical tendencies, and learned a great deal under Rumi's tutelage. Eventually she married Shams, an unusual husband, almost totally absorbed by his longings for God. Their marriage was fiery and different and, in the end, dissolved by Kimya's death - after which Shams vanished. Rumi's Daughter tells Kimya's story with great charm and tenderness. Well written and thought-provoking, it is sure to draw comparison with Paolho Coelho's The Alchemist, and also to add something fresh and new to what is so far known about Rumi.Trade ReviewAn intriguing, passionate story, beautifully and simply told and full of extraordinary wisdom * Sunday Telegraph *An exquisite evocation of a young woman's spiritual awakening- A poetic gift of the creative imagination as translucent and refreshing as water from a mountain stream. * Anne Baring, co-author, The Myth of the Goddess *A beautiful little book that speaks to the soul. The world of Rumi and Shams is seen through the eyes of a girl, full of simple wonder, wisdom and the mysterious turning of the heart. This story resonates with the sacred child and mystic in each of us. * Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, author of Sufism, The Transformation of the Heart *
£12.34
New Island Books Aithníonn an Fhuil a Chéile
Book SynopsisTá Danny Ó Murchú ag dul le bualadh lena dheartháir Jimmy. Ní fhaca siad a chéile le níos mó ná fiche bliain. Ar an mbealach chuig an gcruinniú, is cuimhin le Danny na tréimhsí maithe agus na drochthréimhsí, an spraoi agus na troideanna – agus an t-achrann mór amháin a scar iad. An dtroidfidh siad arís nó an mbeidh siad ina gcairde mar ba ghnáth leo a bheith? Níl a fhios ag Danny. Danny Murphy is going to meet his brother, Jimmy. They haven't seen each other in over twenty years. On the way to the meeting, Danny remembers the good times and the bad times, the fun and the fights - and the one big row that drove them apart. Will they fight again or will they become the friends they used to be? Danny doesn't know.
£8.59
Quercus Publishing The Great Swindle: Prize-winning historical
Book SynopsisNow a major French film Au revoir là-haut - Prix Goncourt-winning masterpiece by the writer who brought you Alex, Irène and Camille."One of the most pleasurable reading experiences of recent years" - David Mills, The Sunday TimesOctober 1918: the war on the Western Front is all but over. Desperate for one last chance of promotion, the ambitious Lieutenant Henri d'Aulnay Pradelle sends two scouts over the top, and secretly shoots them in the back to incite his men to heroic action once more.And so is set in motion a series of devastating events that will inextricably bind together the fates and fortunes of Pradelle and the two soldiers who witness his crime: Albert Maillard and Édouard Péricourt.Back in civilian life, Albert and Édouard struggle to adjust to a society whose reverence for its dead cannot quite match its resentment for those who survived. But the two soldiers conspire to enact an audacious form of revenge against the country that abandoned them to penury and despair, with a scheme to swindle the whole of France on an epic scale.Meanwhile, believing her brother killed in action, Édouard's sister Madeleine has married Pradelle, who is running a little scam of his own...Translated from the French by Frank WynneTrade ReviewThe vast sweep of the novel and its array of extraordinary secondary characters have attracted comparisons with the works of Balzac. Moving, angry, intelligent - and compulsive -- Marcel Berlins * The Times *A big, swirling tale that itself reads like a 19th-century novel ... thick with detail, immersing the reader in its elaborately bleak world -- Sarah Lyall * New York Times *This book is thick with detail, immersing the reader in its elaborately bleak world ... an irresistible story -- Patricia Wall * New York Times *Exceptionally powerful examination of the aftermath of war and of the people whose lives were washed away in its wake -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times *Lemaitre's novel is a rare synthesis of the tragic and the comic - a masterclass in nail-biting suspense ... Frank Wynne is a superb translator who captures the rude exuberance of the original French -- Edward Wilson * Independent *Engrossing . . . one of the most pleasurable reading experiences of recent years -- David Mills * The Sunday Times *Lemaitre's deadpan ironic tone is beautifully caught by his regular translator Frank Wynne. A kind of Ealing comedy with a bruised but still beating heart, this is the most purely enjoyable book I've read this year * Sunday Express *A fast-paced tale, filled with twists and turns, following a mischievous, disillusioned view of post-war France * Figaro *A masterly epic of post-war France, where impostures triumph and capitalists grow rich from the ruins * Le Monde *You feel the author's indignation ... Who really profits from war? Crooks, the vengeful and frauds: The Great Swindle is political as much as it is picaresque * Télérama *
£10.44
Quercus Publishing Sleeping on Jupiter
Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2015 AND WINNER OF THE 2016 DSC PRIZE FOR SOUTH ASIAN LITERATUREA stark and unflinching novel by a spellbinding storyteller, about religion, love and violence in the modern world.A train stops at a railway station. A young woman jumps off. She has wild hair, sloppy clothes, a distracted air. She looks Indian, yet she is somehow not. The sudden violence of what happens next leaves the other passengers gasping.The train terminates at Jarmuli, a temple town by the sea. Here, among pilgrims, priests and ashrams, three old women disembark only to encounter the girl once again. What is someone like her doing in this remote corner, which attracts only worshippers?Over the next five days, the old women live out their long-planned dream of a holiday together; their temple guide finds ecstasy in forbidden love; and the girl is joined by a photographer battling his own demons.The full force of the evil and violence beneath the serene surface of the town becomes evident when their lives overlap and collide. Unexpected connections are revealed between devotion and violence, friendship and fear, as Jarmuli is revealed as a place with a long, dark past that transforms all who encounter it.Trade ReviewRestrained and devastating Sleeping on Jupiter... balances formal neatness with raw political invective about the treatment of women in India -- Tim Martin * Daily Telegraph *Anuradha Roy's compulsively readable novel presents interlocking stories that reveal an India characterised by both oppression and beauty. -- Pamela Paul * New York Times. *Concise, elegant . . . The novel's examination of violence, sexism, and spirituality is powerful * New Yorker *Unshowy perceptiveness with which it addresses big themes such as religious hypocrisy and violence towards women in Indian society -- Claire Armitstead * Guardian *There's been a recent call to action against sexual assault in India as rape cases have begun to make international headlines rather than just being accepted as part of everyday female experience in the country. In focusing on this perpetration of violence against women and children, Roy's book is both incredibly timely and extremely brave. -- Lucy Scholes * The National. *(Roy) holds her story in a fine balance, scrupulously turning from one perspective to another in order to show the often yawning gap between how we imagine ourselves and how others see us... she writes in a lucid, realist manner, contrasting her restraint with the violence of her subject (the colour red is everywhere, page after page has images of blood). But this not a conventional novel, because it is to freighted with ambiguity and impotence. -- Kate Webb * Times Literary Supplement *A rich, immersive novel about a group of people colonised by their pasts...[the] precise evocation of a sense of place, matched by an equally precise portrayal of interior states, all in unhurried, unshowy prose, makes Sleeping on Jupiter both accomplished and affecting -- Sanjay Sipahimalani * Indian Express *The themes of innocence stolen, the refuge of the imagination, and the inclination to look away are handled with sensitivity and subtlety in some of the best prose of recent years encountered by this reader. Roy brings a painterly eye, her choice of detail bringing scenes to sensual life, while eschewing floridness: a masterclass rather in the art of restraint, the pared-back style enabling violence close to the surface to glint of its own accord . . . An important contribution to an essential debate, Anuradha Roy's poetic work of luminous prose deserves a wide readership in India and beyond. -- Rebecca K Morrison * Independent. *It has the rare quality that makes your heart race. You're no longer a mere spectator, you're part of the very narrative - because what possible explanation can there be for just how desperately you begin looking for closure -- Saudamini Jain * Hindustan Times *Anuradha Roy's brilliant new novel, Sleeping on Jupiter, is a riveting and poignant read...There's a whole tapestry out there: lost innocence, displacement, violence, friendship, survival, unconventional love, rejection, and pain...all penned with excellent craft. The opening chapters are violent but etched in delicate, detached prose -- Suneetha Balakrishnana * The Hindu *Roy has used the most potent weapon in a writer's arsenal - the form of the novel, with its ability to simultaneously be universal and particular - to boldly unmask the hidden face of Indian spirituality and the rampant sexual abuse in its unholy confines. -- Meena Kandasamy * Guardian. *A heart wrenching, yet beautiful portrait of resilience and feistiness of women in India...a haunting book of prose that is almost poetry -- Sarju Kaul * The Asian Age *Sexual abuse is a difficult subject to write about but Roy avoids titillation by relating the incidents in the simplistic language of an innocent child, and in the first person, which reinforces the horror of what is happening... While Sleeping On Jupiter is ostensibly a novel about India and its particular relation to this particular problem, its implications reach far wider. -- Jane Wallace * Asian Review of Books *An unflinching novel from one of India's greatest living authors. * O Magazine. *A magnificently crafted, luminous tale . . . Sleeping on Jupiter is not just an important read, but an essential one -- Chelsea Leigh Home * Washington Indepedent. *Roy writes beautifully . . . Readers will be moved and changed by this evocative, subtle novel of modern India as it reaches its conclusions told with dark beauty and a dreamlike intensity -- Sun Yung Shin * Star Tribune. *Sleeping on Jupiter is that rarest of novels: a fiction that serves as an agent of social change. -- Paul Constant * Seattle Weekly. *Roy crafts a riveting tale of religion, family and violence that is nearly impossible to put down. -- Kathleen Davies * Michigan Daily. *
£9.49
Quercus Publishing The Last Brother
Book SynopsisRaj is oblivious to the Second World War being fought beyond his tiny exotic island. His mother is his sole company while his father works as a prison guard, so the boy thinks only of making friends. One day, from the far-away world, a ship brings to the island Jewish exiles who have been refused entry to Israel. David, a recently orphaned boy of his own age from Prague, becomes the friend that he has longed for, and Raj takes it upon himself to help David to escape from the prison. As they flee through sub-tropical forests and devastating storms, the boys battle hunger and malaria - and forge a friendship only death could destroy.Trade Review'Sophisticated, confident and beautifully poetic writing that's tender and poignant and consistently captivating ... a remarkable and precise portrait of a childhood that both convinces and moves' Daniel Hahn, Bookseller. * Bookseller *'A lushly beautiful child's-eye tale' Boyd Tonkin, Independent. * Independent *'The rich implications of history ... that lie behind its comparatively simple story would have won the admiration of Margeurite Yourcenar' Paul Binding, Times Literary Supplement. * Literary Supplement *
£9.49
Everyman The Great Gatsby
Book SynopsisThe story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession," it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.Young, handsome and fabulously rich, Jay Gatsby is the bright star of the Jazz Age, but as writer Nick Carraway is drawn into the decadent orbit of his Long Island mansion, where the party never seems to end, he finds himself faced by the mystery of Gatsby's origins and desires.Trade ReviewA classic, perhaps the supreme American novel -- John Carey * Sunday Times *
£11.88
Everyman Old Goriot
Book SynopsisMonsieur Goriot is one of a disparate group of lodgers at Mademe Vauquer''s dingy Parisian boarding house. At first his wealth inspires respect, but as his circumstances are mysteriously reduced he becomes shunned by those around him, and soon his only remaining visitors are his two beautifully dressed daughters. Goriot''s fate is intertwined with two other fellow boarders: the young social climber Eugene Rastignac, who sees a way to gain the acceptance and wealth he craves, and the enigmatic figure of Vautrin, who is hiding darker secrets than anyone
£12.34
Everyman Nicholas Nickleby
Book SynopsisDicken's third novel, published in 1839, is a brilliant and vivid melodrama of honest youth triumphing over vice and injustice. Bursting with energy and populated by a whole world of inimitable and memorable characters - including especially the theatrical troupe with whom Nicholas performs - the book is both a griping story and a series of magnificent scenes. It is also indignant protest against cruelty and oppression, most memorably encapsulated in Dickens's powerful portrayal of Mr Squeers and his wicked boarding school - a passage which was to be instrumental in helping to reform the Victorian education system. The novel has been adapted for television stage and screen.
£17.09
Everyman The Periodic Table
Book SynopsisAn extraordinary kind of autobiography in which each of the 21 chapters takes its title and its starting-point from one of the elements in the periodic table. Mingling fact and fiction, science and personal record, history and anecdote, Levi uses his training as an industrial chemist and the terrible years he spent as a prisoner in Auschwitz to illuminate the human condition. Yet this exquisitely lucid text is also humourous and even witty in a way possible only to one who has looked into the abyss.
£12.34
