Fiction Books

Book SynopsisDiscover Haruki Murakami''s first two novels.''If you''re the sort of guy who raids the refrigerators of silent kitchens at three o''clock in the morning, you can only write accordingly. That''s who I am.'' Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 are Haruki Murakami''s earliest novels. They follow the fortunes of the narrator and his friend, known only by his nickname, the Rat. In Hear the Wind Sing the narrator is home from college on his summer break. He spends his time drinking beer and smoking in J''s Bar with the Rat, listening to the radio, thinking about writing and the women he has slept with, and pursuing a relationship with a girl with nine fingers. Three years later, in Pinball, 1973, he has moved to Tokyo to work as a translator and live with indistinguishable twin girls, but the Rat has remained behind, despite his efforts to leave both the town and his girlfriend. The narrator finds himself hTrade ReviewMurakami fans will no doubt delight in this new publication. For newcomers, these early works are an excellent introduction to a writer who has since become one of the most influential novelists of his generation -- Hannah Beckerman * Observer *Murakami’s way of making emotionally resonant images and symbols bump around on the page, and in one’s mind, remains fresh, miraculously, more than 35 years on -- Jerome Boyd Maunsell * Evening Standard *Wind/Pinball is a fresh, heart-warming dose of the Japanese master * Economist *To read a Murakami book is to feel comforted by the familiarity and predictability of its strangeness. These are Murakami’s two earliest novels and so, like archaeological artefacts, they detail the early construction of his now-famous style. -- Claire Kohda Hazelton * The Times Literary Supplement *quintessential Murakami… an excellent introduction to a writer who has since become one of the most influential novelists of his generation -- Guardian * Hannah Beckerman *

Read more less

Book Synopsis*JO NESBO HAS SOLD OVER 50 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE*''An incendiary cocktail of murder, revenge and a hitman with multiple problems'' IndependentThe contract killer.Olav lives the lonely life of a fixer. When you ''fix'' people for a living - terminally - it''s hard to get close to anyone.The gangster''s wife. Now he''s finally met the woman of his dreams. But she''s his boss''s wife. And Olav''s just been hired to kill her. Two very big problems.''Nesbo is in bracing form...gripping'' The SunWatch out for The Jealousy Man, the new Jo Nesbo book, out nowTrade ReviewDeserves to be a smash... A perfectly pitched thriller * Sunday Mirror *[An] incendiary cocktail of murder, revenge and a hitman with multiple problems * Independent *Nesbo is in bracing form...gripping * Sun *Striking in its simplicity… Nesbo is a writer at the top of his game who continues to amaze in new and confounding ways * Daily Express *The undisputed king of Scandinavian crime fiction...I am so used to the energetic plot twists, fiendish violence and addictive verbosity of Nesbo’s writing that Blood on Snow, with its simplicity, brevity and unlikely poetry, comes as a welcome antidote. It is set in the 1970s, an era of increasing fascination to Nesbo, and has a first-person narrative that provides a window into its protagonist’s lonely, tortured soul * The Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisJames Hilton was born in Lancashire in 1900, the son of a headmaster. His best known books, Lost Horizon and Goodbye Mr Chips, were written during the thirties, a period which afforded him great commercial success and enormous popularity. Lost Horizon was made into a blockbuster Hollywood film in 1937. For a time, Hilton was highest paid screen-writer in Hollywood and he won an Academy Award in 1942 for his work on the screenplay of Mrs. Miniver. Hilton continued to write novels throughout his career. He died in 1954.Trade ReviewHilton's premise strikes a deep chord in today's 'everything is relative' society. His utopia retains all its charm and, in his creation of Shangri-La, he added something permanently to the language * Guardian *Lost Horizon introduced the world to a Tibetan paradise where people live extraordinarily long lives of peace, harmony and wisdom. Expertly plotted and deftly written, Hilton's book suggests mysteries without spelling them out - and leaves us wanting more * New York Times *James Hilton invented the name Shangri-La for a paradise on earth in a book that captured the imagination of a public dealing with financial hardships and the threat of Nazism * Observer *More than 60 years after James Hilton wrote Lost Horizon, launching one of the century's most enduring literary mysteries, the search for paradise on earth has led to the mountains of south-west China… Hilton intended it as a pacifist parable; Hollywood turned it into a romantic blockbuster * Guardian *The important thing to note about this very fine novel - the tale of an adventure in Tibet - is that it is unusual and the product of a first-class mind...a wildly exciting story, nightmare, fantasy, or what you will * Daily Express *

Read more less

Book Synopsis*JO NESBO HAS SOLD OVER 50 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE**No 1 Sunday Times bestseller*''Immensely enjoyable and gloriously dark'' Daily ExpressHe''s the best cop they''ve got. When a drug bust turns into a bloodbath it''s up to Inspector Macbeth and his team to clean up the mess. He''s also an ex-drug addict with a troubled past. He''s rewarded for his success. Power. Money. Respect. They''re all within reach. But a man like him won''t get to the top.Plagued by hallucinations and paranoia, Macbeth starts to unravel. He''s convinced he won''t get what is rightfully his. Unless he kills for it. ''A deliciously oppressive page-turner'' GuardianWatch out for The Jealousy Man, the new Jo Nesbo book, out nowTrade ReviewMajestically satisfying...a deliciously oppressive page-turner -- Steven Poole * Guardian *Immensely enjoyable and gloriously dark... He has accomplished that toughest of literary feats: putting his own unmistakable mark on one of Shakespeare's most celebrated plays -- Matt Gibson * Daily Express *Inventive and deeply satisfying... a dark but ultimately hopeful Macbeth, one suited to our own troubled times -- James Shapiro * New York Times Book Review *Nesbo makes excellent use of all the atmosphere of his genre, and the stakes at play are every bit as convincing as those in the original... This is Nesbo doing what he's good at -- Lucy Scholes * Independent *Macbeth as a SWAT team leader. His wife as a former prostitute. The three witches as drug dealers. It's Shakespeare's darkest tale -- reimagined by the king of Nordic noir -- Graeme Thomson * Mail on Sunday *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''I remember seeing the lion looking yellow and heavy-headed and enormous against a scrubby-looking tree in a patch of orchard bush and P. O. M. kneeling to shoot him. Then there was the short-barrelled explosion of the Mannlicher and the lion was going to the left on a run, a strange, heavy-shouldered, foot-swinging cat run. I hit him with the Springfield and he went down...''Returning to his love of the African continent and its wildlife, Hemingway captures brilliantly the thrill and excitement of the hunt for big game. In some of the most vivid, intense and evocative travel writing, and memoir of his career, he describes the vastness of Africa and the brutality of its ''sports'', showing even in this slim volume why he was one of the great American writers of the twentieth century.Trade ReviewA fine book on death in the African afternoon. . .The writing is the thing; that way he has of getting down with beautiful precision the exact way things look, smell, taste, feel, sound * New York Times *If he were never to write again, his name would live as long as the English language, for Green Hills of Africa takes its place beside his other works on that small shelf in our libraries which we reserve for the classics * Observer *This book is an expression of a deep enjoyment and appreciation of being alive - in Africa. There is more to it than hunting; it is the feeling of the dew on the grass in the morning, the shape and colour and smell of the country, the companionship of friends ... and the feeling that time has ceased to matter * TLS *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe thirtieth anniversary edition of a twentieth century classic - an unforgettable journey through 1960s Morocco, based on the author''s own childhoodFor fans of Gerald Durrell''s My Family and Other Animals, Laurie Lee''s Cider With Rosie and Elizabeth Gilbert''s Eat Pray LoveQuirky, charming and suffused the footloose spirit of the sixties, this is the irresistible story of an English woman who decides on a whim to move herself and her two young daughters to Morocco. The ensuing adventure takes them through richly perfumed markets, dilapidated hotels and mystical Sufi retreats, via friendships and feuds, romances with nomadic street performers, hitch-hiking and nights camping by the coast - all seen through the eyes of a precocious five-year-old girl. Rediscover this transporting modern classic about the spirit of freedom, filled with the sights, smells and textures of twentieth century Morocco.Trade ReviewA tour de force * London Review of Books *Whimsical, evocative, heartfelt... Synthesizing a blur of images, Hideous Kinky is a song of childhood exile, a paean to the troublesome beauty of life on the run * New York Times *Funny and appealing... It has a delightful lightness of being * Times Literary Supplement *Just open the book and begin, and instantly you will be charmed, then intrigued and finally moved by this fascinating story * Spectator *Genuine and endearing... Esther Freud is adroit at capturing the way adult follies appear to a child [and] she has a gift for unstated hilarity... Like the sword swallowers in the marketplace, she manages to make it look effortless * Los Angeles Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTaking its inspiration from Shakespeare's idea of the seven ages of a human life, this new anthology brings together the best-loved poems in English to inspire, comfort and delight readers for a lifetime. Beginning with babies, the book is divided into sections on childhood, growing up, making a living and making love, family life, getting older, and approaching death, ending with poems of mourning and commemoration.Ranging from Chaucer to Carol Ann Duffy, via Shakespeare, Keats, and Lemn Sissay, this book offers something for each of those moments in life whether falling in love, finding your first grey hair or saying your final goodbyes when only a poem will do.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn January 1850 Dostoyevsky was sent to a remote Siberian prison camp for his part in a political conspiracy. The four years he spent there, startlingly re-created in The House of the Dead, were the most agonizing of his life. In this fictionalized account he recounts his soul-destroying incarceration through the cool, detached tones of his narrator, Aleksandr Petrovich Goryanchikov: the daily battle for survival, the wooden plank beds, the cabbage soup swimming with cockroaches, his strange family' of boastful, ugly, cruel convicts. Yet The House of the Dead is far more than a work of documentary realism: it is also a powerful novel of redemption, describing one man's spiritual and moral death and the miracle of his gradual reawakening.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDon Quixote has become so entranced by reading romances of chivalry that he determines to become a knight errant and pursue bold adventures, accompanied by his squire, the cunning Sancho Panza. As they roam the world together, the aging Quixote's fancy leads them wildly astray.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe notorious and celebrated novel that established modern realism For this novel of French bourgeois life in all its inglorious banality, Flaubert invented a paradoxically original and wholly modern style. His heroine, Emma Bovary, a bored provincial housewife, abandons her husband to pursue the libertine Rodolphe in a desperate love affair. A succès de scandale in its day, Madame Bovary remains a powerful and scintillating novel.This Penguin Classics edition is translated with notes and an introduction by Geoffrey Wall. It includes a preface by Michele Roberts. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by dTrade Review"Madame Bovary is like the railroad stations erected in its epoch: graceful, even floral, but cast of iron." -- John Updike

Read more less

Book Synopsis''One of the comic masterpieces'' Daily Telegraph ______________________________________Henderson Dores is an Englishman in New York - and completely out of his depth.He should be concentrating on his job as an art assessor, but his complicated personal life keeps intruding. And that''s before we even get to his sense of alienation, of being a fish out of water. For Henderson is a shy man lost in a country of extraverts and weirdos. Subway poets, loony millionaires, Bible-bashers and sharp-suited hoods stalk him wherever he goes. But it is only when he''s sent to America''s deep South to examine a rare collection of paintings that matters take a life-threatening turn. Still, if it doesn''t kill you, they say it can only make you stronger . . .______________________________________''Boyd''s humour, timed to a tee, always raps out the truth'' Mail on Sunday''Extremely funny. Boyd does not pass up

Read more less

Book SynopsisW.B. Yeats''s Selected Poems is edited with an introduction and notes by Timothy Webb in Penguin Modern Classics.Few have lived their ideas so passionately and nobly as W.B. Yeats in his love affairs, politics and poetry. From his youth in the 1880s, a fertile dreamer rediscovering and remaking the Irish tradition, he grew into a great and innovative poet of the twentieth century. This selection of Yeats''s work includes the final book from the unjustly neglected narrative poem The Wanderings of Oisin and a number of lyrics from Yeats''s work as poetic dramatist. This edition breaks new ground by allowing the reader to engage with a dozen poems in alternative versions; in many other cases it provides significant variants, so that Yeats''s struggle to revise his poetry can be experienced with unusual immediacy. It also includes explanatory and textual notes for each poem.W B Yeats (1865-1939) was one of the great and innovative poets of the twentieth century. Much of his most vigorous verse on love, sex, Irish and international politics, the complexities of the occult and the ''sedentary toil'' of poetry was produced in the years between his fiftieth birthday in 1915 and his death in 1939.If you enjoyed Selected Poems, you might like The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry, also available in Penguin Classics.''A compelling poetic presence ... together with Joyce, Yeats made modern Irish poetry possible''Timothy Webb

Read more less

Book Synopsis''We are Progress and the New Age. Nothing can stand in our way.''When Oxford-educated Emperor Seth succeeds to the throne of the African state of Azania, he has a tough job on his hands. His subjects are ill-informed and unruly, and corruption, double-dealing and bloodshed are rife. However, with the aid if Minister of Modernization Basil Seal, Seth plans to introduce his people to the civilized ways of the west - but will it be as simple as that?

Read more less

Book Synopsis''A work of rapture - jolting, hilarious and incredibly racy'' Martin Amis, The TimesSelf-satisfied, delighting in the many fascinating quirks of his own personality, Hermann Hermann is perhaps not to be taken too seriously. But then a chance meeting with Felix, a man he believes to be his double, reveals a frightening ''split'' in Hermann''s nature. Convinced that he has found his doppelgänger, Hermann uses this discovery to weave a money-making plan that leads to disguise, betrayal and eventually murder. Filled with impudent, startling humour, and dominated by the egotistical and scornful figure of a killer who thinks himself an artist, Despair takes us into a deranged world of doubles and illusions, where nothing is quite as it seems.

Read more less

Book SynopsisPeter Shaffer was born in Liverpool in 1926. Among his plays, The Salt Land (1954), Equus (1973) which won Shaffer the 1975 Tony Award for Best Play as well as the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, Amadeus (1979) which won the Evening Standard Drama Award and the Theatre Critics Award for the London production.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn these three works of erotic prose Georges Bataille fuses sex and spirituality in a highly personal and philosophical vision of the self. My Mother is a frank and intense depiction of a young man''s sexual initiation and corruption by his mother, where the profane becomes sacred, and intense experience is shown as the only way to transcend the boundaries of society and morality. Madame Edwarda is the story of a prostitute who calls herself God, and The Dead Man, published in 1964 after Bataille''s death, is a startling short tale of cruelty and desire. This volume also contains Bataille''s own introductions to his texts as well as essays by Yukio Mishima and Ken Hollings.Trade ReviewThe power of Bataille's prose is still impressive, his capacity to shock still compelling * Literary Review *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1960 Jack Kerouac was near breaking point. Driven mad by constant press attention in the wake of the publication of On the Road, he needed to ''get away to solitude again or die'', so he withdrew to a cabin in Big Sur on the Californian coast. The resulting novel, in which his autobiographical hero Jack Duluoz wrestles with doubt, alcohol dependency and his urge towards self-destruction, is one of Kerouac''s most personal and searingly honest works. Ending with the poem ''Sea: Sounds of the Pacific Ocean at Big Sur'', it shows a man coming down from his hedonistic youth and trying to come to terms with fame, the world and himself.Trade ReviewKerouac's grittiest novel... sensual and uninhibited * The New York Times *Stunning and vivid * Sunday Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisMulk Raj Anand''s extraordinarily powerful story of an Untouchable in India''s caste system, with a new introduction by Ramachandra Guha, author of GandhiBakha is a proud and attractive young man, yet none the less he is an Untouchable - an outcast in India''s caste system. It is a system that is even now only slowly changing and was then as cruel and debilitating as that of apartheid. Into this vivid re-creation of one day in the life of Bakha, sweeper and toilet-cleaner, Anand pours a vitality, fire and richness of detail that earn his place as one of the twentieth century''s most important Indian writers.''One of the most eloquent and imaginative works to deal with this difficult and emotive subject'' Martin Seymour-Smith''It recalled to me very vividly the occasions I have walked ''the wrong way'' in an Indian city, and it is a way down which no novelist has yet taken me'' E. M. ForsterTrade ReviewOne of the most eloquent and imaginative works to deal with this difficult and emotive subject -- Martin Seymour-SmithIt recalled to me very vividly the occasions I have walked 'the wrong way' in an Indian city, and it is a way down which no novelist has yet taken me -- E. M. Forster

Read more less

Book SynopsisEmma Bovary is beautiful and bored, trapped in her marriage to a mediocre doctor and stifled by the banality of provincial life. An ardent reader of sentimental novels, she longs for passion and seeks escape in fantasies of high romance, in voracious spending and, eventually, in adultery. But even her affairs bring her disappointment and the consequences are devastating. Flaubert''s erotically charged and psychologically acute portrayal of Emma Bovary caused a moral outcry on its publication in 1857. It was deemed so lifelike that many women claimed they were the model for his heroine; but Flaubert insisted: ''Madame Bovary, c''est moi''.Trade Review"Madame Bovary is like the railroad stations erected in its epoch: graceful, even floral, but cast of iron." -- John Updike

Read more less

Book Synopsis''The stories here will provoke, delight and impress. Joost Zwagerman''s selection forms a fascinating guidebook to a landscape you''ll surely want to wander in again.'' Clare Lowden, TLS''There is a lot of northern European melancholy in the collection, though often tinged with wry humour...an excellent book'' Jonathan Gibbs, Minor Literatures''We were kids - but good kids. If I may say so myself. We''re much smarter now, so smart it''s pathetic. Except for Bavink, who went crazy''A husband forms gruesome plans for his new fridge; a government employee has a haunting experience on his commute home; prisoners serve as entertainment for wealthy party guests; an army officer suffers a monstrous tropical illness. These short stories contain some of the most groundbreaking and innovative writing in Dutch literature from 1915 to the present day, wTrade ReviewForms a loose narrative - both historical and literary - of the twentieth century...watching the decades roll by in this looking-glass world, familiar yet strange, is one of the book's chief pleasures...the stories here will provoke, delight and impress. Joost Zwagerman's selection forms a fascinating guidebook to a landscape you'll surely want to wander in again. -- Claire Lowden * TLS *There is a lot of northern European melancholy in the collection, though they are often tinged with wry humour...The Second World War and Dutch colonialism also cast their shadows on these stories. Unblemished comedy is in short supply. And you have to ask: is this gloominess a reflection on the Dutch temperament, or on the present selection?... An excellent book -- Jonathan Gibbs * Minor Literatures *An affectionate love-letter to the Dutch short story which deserves to be cherished by all * TN2 Magazine, Trinity College Dublin *the range of stories, styles and authors means you can happily plunge in free of preconceptions and rarely findyourself disappointed. Similar anthologies can vary wildly in quality but The Penguin Book Of Dutch Short Stories keeps the bar high throughout mainly because, it seems, Zwagerman chose to include stories he admired on merit rather than making sure a list of boxes were ticked... -- Charlie Connelly * New European *

Read more less

Book SynopsisGeorge Eliot's Victorian masterpiece: a magnificent portrait of a provincial town and its inhabitantsGeorge Eliot’s novel, Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life, explores a fictional nineteenth-century Midlands town in the midst of modern changes. The proposed Reform Bill promises political change; the building of railroads alters both the physical and cultural landscape; new scientific approaches to medicine incite public division; and scandal lurks behind respectability. The quiet drama of ordinary lives and flawed choices are played out in the complexly portrayed central characters of the novel—the idealistic Dorothea Brooke; the ambitious Dr. Lydgate; the spendthrift Fred Vincy; and the steadfast Mary Garth. The appearance of two outsiders further disrupts the town’s equilibrium—Will Ladislaw, the spirited nephew of Dorothea’s husband, the Rev. Edward Casaubon, and the sinister John Raffles, who threatens to exposTrade Review"One of the few English novels written for grown-up people" -- Virginia Woolf"The most profound, wise and absorbing of English novels...and, above all, truthful and forgiving about human behavior." -- Hermione Lee

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review“A groundbreaking example of comics representation in literature.”—Publishers Weekly“Penguin provides introductory essays; superb analyses by the series editor, Ben Saunders; and extensive bibliographies.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post“Stories become classics when generations of readers sort through them, talk about them, imitate them, and recommend them. In this case, baby boomers read them when they débuted, Gen X-ers grew up with their sequels, and millennials encountered them through Marvel movies. Each generation of fans—initially fanboys, increasingly fangirls, and these days nonbinary fans, too—found new ways not just to read the comics but to use them. That’s how canons form. Amateurs and professionals, over decades, come to something like consensus about which books matter and why—or else they love to argue about it, and we get to follow the arguments. Canons rise and fall, gain works and lose others, when one generation of people with the power to publish, teach, and edit diverges from the one before ... A top-flight comic by Kirby—or his successor on “Captain America,” Jim Steranko—barely needed words. You could follow the story just by watching the characters act and react. Thankfully, Penguin volumes do justice to these images. They reproduce sixties comics in bright, flat, colorful inks on thick white paper—unlike the dot-based process used on old newsprint, but perhaps truer to their bold, thrill-chasing spirit.”—Stephanie Burt, The New Yorker“As before, all three of these volumes re-present Professor Ben Saunders’ learned general series intro which does an excellent job of succinctly explaining the rise of Marvel Comics and the Marvel Method.”—Forces of Geek

Read more less

Book SynopsisApollinaire is the most significant French poet of early modernism and the only great First World War poet from France. He coined the word 'surrealism' and was at the forefront of literary and artistic experimentalism. This new selection covers the full range of his career in facing-page translations, with some pictorial calligrams.Trade ReviewRepresentative of the poetic career as a whole. * Mark Ford, London Review of Books *Sorrell's lexical choices makes us realize how subtle the challenge to the translator really is, and how successfully that challenge has been met. * Translation and Literature *There's no doubt that reading French books will help you expand your vocabulary and general comprehension skills, but for many, the thought of getting through an entire French novel is rather daunting. An enjoyable alternative is to read poetry which offers French Prose in shorter, more manageable chunks and where better to start than with the poems of one of France's most celebrated poets, Guillaume Apollinaire? * Living France *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Compelling, remorseless, brilliant'' John Gray I can still see Simenon coming into my office the next day, pleased with himself, displaying even more self-confidence, if possible, than before, but nevertheless with a touch of anxiety in his eyes.'' Maigret sets the record straight and tells the story of his own life, giving a rare glimpse into the mind of the great inspector - and the writer who would immortalise him.''One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories'' Guardian ''A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness'' IndependentTrade ReviewPraise for Georges Simenon:“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian “These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post “Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People “I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner “The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide “A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —The Independent (London) “Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London) “Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray “A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark “A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.”lle —Peter Ackroyd “Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville"Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor" ― Times (London)"Strangely comforting . . . so many lovely bistros from the Paris of mid-20th C. The corpses are incidental, it's the food that counts." ― Margaret Atwood"One of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere." ― Financial Times"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn."-- Stig Abell ― The Sunday Times (London)

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn official tie-in edition of Philip K. Dick''s dazzling speculative novel to accompany the new TV series, executive produced by Ridley Scott. Philip K. Dick''s acclaimed cult novel gives us a horrifying glimpse of an alternative world - one where the Allies have lost the Second World War. In this nightmare dystopia the Nazis have taken over New York, the Japanese control California and the African continent is virtually wiped out. In a neutral buffer zone in America that divides the world''s new rival superpowers, lives the author of an underground bestseller. His book offers a new vision of reality - an alternative theory of world history in which the Axis powers were defeated - giving hope to the disenchanted. Does ''reality'' lie with him, or is his world just one among many others?''The most brilliant science fiction mind on any planet''Rolling Stone''Dick''s finest book, and one of the very best science fiction novels ever published''<Trade ReviewThe most brilliant sci-fi mind on any planet * Rolling Stone *California's own William Blake. Visionary and prophet * Daily Telegraph *

Read more less

Book SynopsisOne of the BBC''s ''100 Novels That Shaped Our World''A gorgeous clothbound edition of Jean Rhys''s great masterpiece of desire and madness in the Caribbean, published for the novel''s fiftieth anniversary. Born into the oppressive, colonialist society of 1930s Jamaica, white Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway meets a young Englishman who is drawn to her innocent beauty and sensuality. After their marriage, however, disturbing rumours begin to circulate which poison her husband against her. Caught between his demands and her own precarious sense of belonging, Antoinette is inexorably driven towards madness, and her husband into the arms of another novel''s heroine. This classic study of betrayal, a seminal work of postcolonial literature, is Jean Rhys''s brief, beautiful masterpiece.''She took one of the works of genius of the nineteenth century and turned it inside-out to create one of the works of genius of the twentieth century''Michele Roberts, The Times

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Your Face Tomorrow is already being compared with Proust and rightly so'' Observer''One of contemporary literature''s major works ... you have to open this book'' Ali Smith''I am myself my own fever and pain''Jacques Deza has been told he has a gift: he can see through people; guess just from their faces what will become of them. When he encounters the enigmatic Bertram Tupra at a party, Deza is persuaded to join a mysterious underground group. His task: to observe an assortment of people - politicians, celebrities, seemingly ordinary citizens - and predict their next move. But where will Deza''s descent into this twilight world eventually take him? The first part of Javier Marias'' masterly trilogy asks how well we truly know and understand those around us.Translated by Margaret Jull CostaTrade ReviewYou are dazzled by the author's intelligence and understanding of human nature * Scotsman *Your Face Tomorrow is already being compared with Proust and rightly so. It is a novel of extraordinary subtlety and pathos. The next thing Marias deserves is the Nobel Prize * Observer *He has as gift for the wickedly comic set piece...He seems incapable of writing a thoughtless or throwaway sentence.We need more novelists like Marias * Independent on Sunday *An intriguing and audacious experiment * Sunday Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewHeart-tugging stories [...] his understanding of human frailties and sympathy for the underdog shine through on every page * Daily Mail *Powerfully evocative of impoverished, pre-modern Paris * Evening Standard *One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories * Guardian *A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness * Independent *The most addictive of writers . . . a unique teller of tales * Observer *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Penguin English Library Edition of Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin''My hour is come ... the clock of eternity is about to strike, but its knell must be unheard by mortal ears!''This violent, profound, baroque and blackly humorous novel is the story of Melmoth, who has sold his soul in exchange for immortality in a satanic bargain, and now preys on the helpless in their darkest moments, offering to ease their suffering if they will take his place and release him from his centuries of tortured wanderings. Melmoth the Wanderer (1820) blended Gothic fiction and psychological realism to create a work of hallucinatory power.The Penguin English Library - beautiful editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the Second World War.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDescribed by Clarice Lispector as ''the best one'', this intoxicating portrayal of a man searching for his destiny is her mystical, enigmatic masterpiece''All I''ve got is hunger. And that instable way of grasping an apple in the dark-without letting it fall''Martim, believing that he has committed a murder, flees the city and escapes into the night. Wandering through the vastness of nature he arrives, in a state of fear and wonder, at a remote ranch run by two women. There Martim finds work and, as he labours in the blistering heat of the Brazilian summer, becomes transfigured; remade into something else entirely.Translated by Benjamin Moser ''The most important Brazilian woman writer of the twentieth century... The richness of The Apple in the Dark defies the explanatory power of any single interpretation'' TLSTrade ReviewLispector is the premier Latin American woman prose writer of this century * The New York Times Book Review *Clarice Lispector left behind an astounding body of work that has no real corollary inside literature or outside it -- Rachel Kushner * Bookforum *Brilliant and unclassifiable: glamorous, cultured, moody, Lispector is an emblematic twentieth-century artist who belongs in the same pantheon as Kafka and Joyce -- Edmund WhiteOne of the true originals of Latin American literature -- Terrence Rafferty * The New York Times Book Review *A genius on the level of Nabokov -- Jeff VanderMeer * Slate *Sphinx, sorceress, sacred monster. The revival of the hypnotic Clarice Lispector has been one of the true literary events of the twenty-first century -- Parul Seghal * The New York Times *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''It will be read and re-read not as a treatise but as a story: one of the most extraordinary that has ever been written of the origins of Western self-consciousness'' Simon SchamaThe marriage of Cadmus and Harmony was the last time the gods of Olympus feasted alongside mortals. What happened in the distant ages preceding it, and in the generations that followed, form the timeless tales of ancient Greek mythology. In this masterful retelling of the myths we think we know, Roberto Calasso illuminates the deepest questions of our existence.''The kind of book one comes across only once or twice in one''s lifetime'' Joseph Brodsky''A perfect work like no other'' Gore VidalTrade ReviewSensuous, dazzlingly intelligent -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * Sunday Times *The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony is a perfect work like no other -- Gore VidalA brilliant and profound narration -- A.S. ByattA masterpiece ... a wonderfully fashioned work of art -- John BanvilleCalasso has no equal in the sparkle of his storytelling and the depth of his learning -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *Enlivening, enthralling, essential: a classic -- Peter Conrad * Observer *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewVintage Simenon, a dark masterpiece . . . A calmly, almost diffidently narrated yet terrifying study of race hatred and mass hysteria, it was eerily prophetic * Guardian *Simenon lays out with ruthless exactitude the way selfish, conscience-free greed exploits modest, hospitable decency . . . The world of Chez Krull is a common, shared one . . . the world of the immigrant, of navigating cautiously in a foreign country * London Review of Books *Fierce, bleak and compellingly written . . . with pitiless landscapes of hopeless longing, random cruelty and galloping fate warmed only by the twilit lyricism of doomed desire. These are novels of eye-opening, spine-tingling control and intensity. * The Independent *Seriously good * Evening Standard *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''A novel of love, war and death; brilliantly entertaining and far ahead of its time'' Guardian ''She is my husband''s mistress - and here am I, taking her out to dinner''Sophia Willoughby of Blandamer House, upstanding Victorian matriarch, has packed her errant husband off to Paris with his mistress Minna. But when tragedy throws her life off balance Sophia goes to seek him out, and instead finds herself intensely attracted to the charismatic, bohemian Minna, who leads her on a wild, chaotic adventure through a city in the throes of revolution.''One of the great under-read British novelists of the twentieth century. This is my favourite of her novels'' Sarah Waters''Every page contains something brilliant, arresting or amusing, and one comes away from it staggered'' Claire HarmanTrade ReviewSylvia Townsend Warner has to be one of the great under-read British novelists of the twentieth century. This, my favourite of her novels, has a disaffected Victorian wife falling for her husband's charismatic mistress, and discovering revolutionary politics along the way -- Sarah WatersIt's a wildly leftist novel of love, war and death; Townsend Warner chucks the lot into her simmering story, but it remains skilfully crafted. Brilliantly entertaining and far ahead of its time * Guardian *With insight, malice, exquisiteness; in its wit, its instinct for style, its drawing-room urbanities, it will suggest at one time or another the work of a Rebecca West, a Virginia Woolf, an Elinor Wylie * The New York Times *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Linn Ullmann has written something of beauty and solace and truth. I don''t know how she managed to sail across such dangerous waters'' RACHEL CUSKHe is a renowned Swedish filmmaker and has a plan for everything. She is his daughter, by the actress he directed and once loved. Each summer of her childhood, the daughter visits the father at his remote Faro island home on the edge of the Baltic Sea.Now that she''s grown up - a writer, with children of her own - and he''s in his eighties, they envision writing a book together, about old age, language, memory and loss. She will ask the questions. He will answer them. The tape recorder will record.But it''s winter now and old age has caught up with him in ways neither could have foreseen. And when the father is gone, only memories, images and words -- both remembered and recorded - remain. And from these the daughter begins to write her own story, in the pages which become this book.Heart-breaking Trade ReviewLinn Ullmann has written something of beauty and solace and truth. I don't know how she managed to sail across such dangerous waters * Rachel Cusk *This magnificent, elegant work is pure tour de force... one of the best things I've read in a long, long time * Ali Smith *[An] exquisite and warm novel ... Among Norway's contemporary writers, Ullmann might be the finest sentence by sentence * John Freeman *Unquiet is a wonderfully absorbing and moving family story told with a directness, naturalness, and grace that can only result from Linn Ullmann's close attention to the eloquent details of day-to-day life, her honest embrace of herself and the people close to her, and a keen sensitivity to language and the high demands of good writing * Lydia Davis *I've long admired Linn Ullmann's fiction, and Unquiet is her masterpiece. Based on her upbringing as the child of two great artists, it is the portrait of complex loves; of a youth divided and inspired by diametrically opposed creative influences; and of the ravages of age. Calm yet fierce, exquisitely rendered, this novel imprints itself indelibly?as if you, too, had been there * Claire Messud *Ullmann navigates the dangerous and fissile territory... with great power. I am in awe * Edmund de Waal *Effortlessly lucid, full of grace and restraint * Sunday Times *A powerful and unsettling hybrid of memoir, fiction and meditation ... The work of a lifetime * Guardian *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Unquestionably one of the brightest-burning talents in the constellation of science fiction'' The New York TimesWritten under the pseudonym James Tiptree Jr., the pioneering and outlandish tales of Alice B. Sheldon are some of the greatest science fiction short stories of the twentieth century, telling of dystopian chases, alien sex and the loneliness of the universe.''What her work brought to the genre was a blend of lyricism and inventiveness, as if some poet had rewritten a number of clever SF standards and then passed them on to a psychoanalyst'' Brian Aldiss''Feminist dystopian fiction owes just as much to this woman - who wrote as a man - as Margaret Atwood'' Vox

Read more less

Book Synopsis ''The kind of novelist who inspires an intense sense of ownership in her fans ... her sympathies tended naturally to the marginal, the vulnerable, the exploited, the obscure'' Sarah WatersSukey Bond, a sixteen-year-old orphan, is sent to work as a servant at a farm on the remote Essex Marshes. There she falls in love with gentle, unworldly Eric, the son of the rector''s wife, only for them to be separated when their relationship is discovered. But nothing will deter Sukey in her quest to be reunited with her true love, even if it means seeking the help of Queen Victoria herself.''One of our most idiosyncratic, courageous and versatile writers'' Hermione Lee ''One can''t be too thankful that Miss Townsend Warner has lived to discover the alchemist''s secret of transmuting the past into pure gold'' Hilary SpurlingTrade ReviewThe kind of novelist who inspires an intense sense of ownership in her fans ... though entirely without sentimentality, her sympathies tended naturally to the marginal, the vulnerable, the exploited, the obscure -- Sarah WatersOne of our most idiosyncratic, courageous and versatile writers -- Hermione Lee

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewRobot's technical proficiency and ontological ambitions could be compared to those of Lem at his best, and its author, like Lem, considered himself less an sf writer than a prose-writing philosopher of metaphysical inclinations. With its powerful vision of a society of slaves controlled and abused by a mysterious Mechanism and a stimulating theory of Superbeings, Robot was almost immediately recognized as an instant classic which catapulted Snerg to the rank of Poland's best sf authors * Science Fiction Encyclopedia *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIntroducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world''s greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-SmithCelebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil.Georges Simenon''s brilliant pipe-smoking detective, Jules Maigret, is one of the most beloved literary creations of the twentieth century. In this adventure, an officer from Scotland Yard is studying Maigret''s methods when a call from an island off the Côte d''Azure sends the two men off to an isolated community to investigate its eccentric inhabitants.

Read more less

Book Synopsis''This debut novel about womanhood and expectations will be one of the most exciting of the year'' INDEPENDENT, the best fiction books to read in 2024''A young woman''s life, told through the men she has dated. With glorious attention to detail and emotional fluency, Dunn charts the ways in which we are built and broken by love'' PANDORA SYKES***An irresistible and achingly relatable debut novel for anyone who has ever had to let go of what they thought their life would look like and open themselves up to the dizzying possibilities of chance.Elliot. Joe. Tommy. Nathanael. Wren. Oliver. Malik. Zach. Frank. Patrick. Noah. These are the men Margot has loved, liked, lusted over.Since she was seventeen, she's pictured them like stepping stones each one bringing her closer to finding someone to share her life with and, eventually, father the children she's always imagined in her future.From her first sexual encounter, t

Read more less

Book Synopsis''The new crime and espionage series from Penguin Classics makes for a mouth-watering prospect'' Daily TelegraphTwo young children hold the key to a secret stash of money - and a relentless psychopath is on their trail...Harry ''Preacher'' Powell, his fingers tattooed with LOVE and HATE, is out of prison and doing the Devil''s work. He knows his ex-cellmate hid $10,000 somewhere. He knows how to charm his way into unsuspecting lives. And he knows where the man''s family lives. As he hunts them down, a terrifying game of cat and mouse begins. One of the great chase novels, The Night of the Hunter is a savage tale of innocence and evil in the Depression-era South.Trade ReviewDavis Grubb's The Night of the Hunter remains the gold standard of southern noir. Grubb's unforgettably charismatic and psychopathic villain, Harry Powell, still has the power to flood your twenty-first century dreams with terror. -- Richard PriceA thriller which commands one's frozen attention. It is also a work of beauty and power and astonishing verbal magic. * New York Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA new selection of the much-loved Father Brown stories, now part of the Penguin English Library''No man''s really any good till he knows how bad he is, or might be''With his round, unassuming face, his pipe and umbrella, the bumbling priest Father Brown makes for an improbable detective. Yet his innocent air hides a piercing understanding of the criminal mind, and a boundless knowledge of human nature. This selection brings together some of the best of G. K. Chesterton's beloved stories, in which we see the clerical sleuth foiling a jewel thief in London, solving a macabre mystery in a Scottish castle and unravelling dark deeds in a sleepy English suburb. With a beautiful new cover design by award-winning designer Coralie Bickford-Smith and presented in the delightful Penguin English Library series, this new selection brings together the very best of the Father Brown stories, inviting new readers to discover one of the most unforgettable characters in literature.

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Michael Donkor is a real talent'' SARAH WINMAN, author of Still Life''Hugely enjoyable and very moving, Donkor''s frank, clear-eyed and funny prose is so refreshing - an important voice in contemporary British fiction'' DIANA EVANS, author of Ordinary PeopleBright and precocious ten-year-old Kwame Akromah knows how to behave. He knows the importance of good manners, how to stay at the top of the class and out of the way when his mother and father are angry with each other. But when his charismatic cousin Yaw arrives from Ghana to live with the family while he looks for work, the rules Kwame has learned about the world can no longer guide him.Twenty years later, Kwame is a secondary-school teacher, popular with his students and depended on by his friends. His is a life spent elegantly weaving between the classroom, the labyrinth of Grindr politics and increasingly intermittent visits to his parents' home. Behind the confident façade, however, he is as driven by caution as he was as a boy.But when electrifying changemaker Marcus Felix is appointed as headteacher, Kwame must reckon with himself as he never has before. Can he face the ghosts of his childhood? How will he learn to move through the world without losing who he is? And where does existing stop and living begin?Grow Where They Fall is a beautifully written, spirited and deeply moving novel about a young man finding the courage to expand the limits of who he might become, from the acclaimed author of Hold.---''Brilliant ... Donkor shapes lives that are so rich in texture that you genuinely care about who they are and what they're going through'' JEFFREY BOAKYE''Radiant, deeply felt ... I loved every shining moment'' GUY GUNARATNE''A masterclass in immersive storytelling ... Donkor''s words make me proud to be a Black British man'' ASHLEY HICKSON-LOVENCE

Read more less

Book SynopsisEnjoy fourteen beautifully illustrated fairytales, retold in a simple, lyrical style in this collection for children.This collection of famous fairytales from around the world will delight both kids and adults, featuring familiar favourites like Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk, as well as lesser-known gems such as The Fisherman and his Wife and Diamonds and Toads.A First Book of Fairy Tales contains fourteen classic tales accompanied by magical illustrations that are known and loved around the world by many. Adults can enjoy introducing little ones to their favourites and reading these fairytales as the perfect bedtime story.This exciting fairytale book for children offers:- Lyrical text alongside dynamic illustrations that bring classic stories to life in an engaging way.- Content by award-winning author Mary Hoffman, who has published over 90 children's books.- Classic tales that are known around the world, full of

Read more less

Book SynopsisWith a foreword by Kat Delacorte, author of With Fire in Their BloodIt will have blood, they say: blood will have blood'On a bleak, stormy night in Scotland, three witches prophesy: Macbeth will be a lord twice-over and Macbeth will be king; but Banquo's sons will also be kings. When the witches' predictions start to come true, the ambitious Lady Macbeth vows to help her husband become King of Scotland and hold on to the throne by any means necessary. But as the pursuit of power leads them down a dark and bloody path, the Macbeths soon begin to unravel.Macbeth is Shakespeare's famously blood-soaked tale of greed and prophecy so powerful that superstitions about the curse of The Scottish Play' continue to this day.Discover STAGED, a limited collection of Shakespeare's unabridged plays that celebrates the genius of the Bard and the tropes that continue to delight YA readers to this day.Explore the rest of the STAGED collection:As You Like It With a foreword by Talia HibbertHamlet With a foreword by Faridah Àbíké-ÍyímídéA Midsummer Night's Dream With a foreword by Becky AlbertalliMuch Ado About Nothing With a foreword by Holly BourneRomeo and Juliet With a foreword by Jennifer Niven

Read more less