Fiction

In this inspiring story, Andreï Makine looks back on a childhood friendship which changed his life. Set in 1970s Siberia, in the declining years of the Soviet Empire, My Armenian Friend offers a poignant evocation of ordinary lives as well as a window into Makine's own evolution as a writer.In an orphan school, a young Russian boy befriends Vardan, an Armenian child who, because mature and sensitive, is tormented by schoolyard bullies. When the Russian boy meets Vardan's Armenian family, he falls under their spell. In his eyes, their home is a kingdom transported from afar, which is adorned, aromatic, and beautiful despite how little the family possesses. Their neighbourhood is in a place of exile but is one of community, made up of former prisoners, exhausted adventurers and others who have been uprooted from their homes. As he grows closer to Vardan, the Russian boy learns to recognise a people forced indefinitely to live on the margins, but who, despite persecution, hold on to their culture and cherish the memories they have of their homeland and its history. Even in a brutally inhospitable Siberia, they recreate a transformative "kingdom of Armenia".

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Disgraced ex-cop Robert Hoon has crossed the wrong people for the last time. Having struck a humiliating blow against the criminal network known as the Loop, Hoon has been targeted by the Alphas, an elite squad of assassins who will not stop until he is dead. Outnumbered, outgunned, and on unfamiliar territory, Hoon’s only chance of survival lies several hundred miles north, in a place he knows better than anyone else on Earth. He swore he’d never set foot there again, but almost four decades after he left, Bob Hoon is finally going home.

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YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE... Kate Irving arrives at her grandfather’s cottage at Frenchman’s Creek in the dead of night with her young son, a small suitcase and little else. Its scattered community of fishermen, farmers, artists and jetsetters barely bat an eyelid, because theirs is a rarefied world, tucked beneath the lush forest that lines the banks of the Helford Estuary, deep in the heart of Cornwall, where life is slow and people generally mind their own business. Unless, of course, your grandfather happens to be a pillar of the local community… Kate’s left the past behind and guards her privacy and her son fiercely. She’s wary of accepting the friendship her new neighbours offer, but their kindness is too great to refuse and she begins to feel she has found her place in the world. That is, until tragedy strikes, and her new friends look to her for the answers… Kate soon learns that the past always catches up with you, in the end—the question is, will she be able to face it, when it does? Suspense and mystery are peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced mystery, set amidst the spectacular Cornish landscape.

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The first English-language collection from one of India’s most hard-hitting writers, these poems brilliantly exemplify writing as an act of resistance. Militant, satirical, and biting, Kalyani Charal pulls no punches in eviscerating paternalistic - and patriarchal - bourgeois socialists who speak on behalf of others.Writing from lived experience, Charal delineates the bourgeois values that fuel the social machinery of caste oppression, while drawing parallels with social and racial marginalisation around the world. Thus, in her poetry, the specificity of Dalit lives in Bengal, a region which prides itself on its Leftist history and enlightened culture, and whose partition into India and Bangladesh has left a legacy of communal tension, refugees, and statelessness, is at the same time the universality of precarity, marginality and dispossession. Finally, there is space for love - wistful and full-throated, with an attentiveness to the natural world that speaks to her claim that “all Dalit woman writers are eco feminists”.This is how birds and people of colour become one and the sameAn adjective blossoms, ‘migrants’.“Kalyani Thakur Charal’s sharp writing on Dalit feminism has shaken the system time and again” - Scroll India

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'A MASTERFULLY WRITTEN SERIES' Ashley Audrain 'GRABS YOU ON THE FIRST PAGE' Laura Dave Two couples, two close friends, one missing husband… Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain. At first, his wife Nina thinks he is blowing off steam somewhere after their heated fight the night before. But then a day goes by. Two days. Five. And Jake is still nowhere to be found. Nina’s friend Lily thinks she may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing. After Lily confesses everything to her husband, Christian, the two decide that nobody can find out what happened leading up to Jake’s disappearance, especially not Nina. But Nina is out there looking for Jake, and she won’t stop until the truth is discovered. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Nita Prose and Freida McFadden 'Prepare for a wild ride' NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Wonderfully well written' NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Had me hooked until the end' NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Praise for Mary Kubica ‘Brilliantly propulsive and engrossing’ JP DELANEY ‘A twisty rollercoaster ride’ LISA GARDNER ‘Seductive and unpredictable’ KARIN SLAUGHTER

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BOOK 19 IN THE EPIC HISTORICAL SAGA OF THE COURTNEY FAMILY, FROM GLOBAL SENSATION WILBUR SMITH. BOOK 3 IN THE TIGER'S PREY SEQUENCE.The Courtney family is torn apart as three generations fight on opposing sides of a terrible war that will change the face of the world forever, set against the backdrop of the American revolution.'Best historical novelist' Stephen King'Wilbur Smith is one of those benchmarks against whom others are compared' The TimesTHREE GENERATIONS. A DEVASTATING WAR.1774. Rob Courtney has spent his whole life in a quiet trading outpost on the east coast of Africa, dreaming of a life of adventure at sea. When his grandfather Jim Courtney dies, and the mysterious Captain Cornish calls into the fort, Rob takes his chance and stows away on Marston's ship as it sails to England.Arriving in London, Rob is seduced by the charms of the big city and soon finds himself desperate and penniless. That is until the navy comes calling. Rob enlists and is sent across the Atlantic on a ship to join the war against the rebellious American colonists.But on the other side of the Atlantic, unbeknownst to Rob, his distant cousins Cal and Aidan Courtney are leading a campaign against the British in a quest for American Independence. When Aidan is killed in a fierce battle with British troops, Cal vows he will not rest until he has avenged his brother's death, by driving the British out of America - by whatever means necessary . . .A powerful new historical thriller by the master of adventure fiction, Wilbur Smith, of families divided and a country on the brink of revolution.Book 20 in the Courtney family series, Nemesis, is available April 2023. Pre-order now.'Storm Tide' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/e 17-04-2022.

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THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE 2020 AKUTAGAWA PRIZE'My oshi was on fire. Word was he'd punched a fan'High-school student Akari has only one passion in her life: her oshi, her idol. His name is Masaki Ueno, best known as one-fifth of Japanese pop group Maza Maza. Akari's dedication to her oshi consumes her days completely. She keeps a blog entirely devoted to him, religiously chronicling and analysing all his events. He is the spine of her life; she cannot survive without him. When Masaki is rumoured to have assaulted a female fan, facing waves of social media backlash, Akari's world falls apart.Offering a vivid insight into otaku culture and adolescence, Idol, Burning is a brilliantly gripping story of obsession, coming of age and the addictive, relentless nature of fandom culture.

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The aftermath of a shocking crime sends Jack Ryan, Jr. down a path that leads to international destruction in the latest entry in this #1 New York Times bestselling series.The quiet of a Texas night is shattered by the sounds of screeching brakes, crumpling metal and, most shockingly, rapid gunfire. The auto accident Jack Ryan, Jr. thought he witnessed turned out to be a professional hit. Jack may be too late to save the victim, but he'll be damned if he's going to let the hitters escape justice.He's got just one lead - a meeting the victim was going to. When Jack shows up instead, he's drawn into the seedy underbelly of a small Texas town and the cold case of a college student who vanished from its streets.Jack is left with nothing but questions. Who wants it to look like the victim was drunk? Why does someone want an innocent witness killed? And most of all, what's a team of South African hitmen doing in the Lone Star State?His quest for answers will take Jack from a quiet Texas road to the middle of an international conspiracy - and may just cost him his life.PRAISE FOR TOM CLANCY'Constantly taps the current world situation for its imminent dangers and spins them into an engrossing tale'NEW YORK TIMES'Exhilarating. No other novelist is giving so full a picture of modern conflict'SUNDAY TIMES'A brilliantly constructed thriller that packs a punch'DAILY MAIL'Heart-stopping action . . . entertaining and eminently topical'WASHINGTON POST

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When unexpected disaster strikes Lord Westfield's Men during a packed performance, Nicholas Bracewell, the theatre company's stage manager and all-around performer of miracles, must save the day once again. A melee caused by men in disguise is brought under control, but before the troupe can lament their destroyed set, Nick discovers a body in the stands with a knife sticking out of its back.

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‘A true master of British crime writing’ RICHARD OSMAN Rachel Savernake investigates a bizarre locked-room puzzle in this delicious Gothic mystery from the winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger. England, 1930. Journalist Nell Fagan is on the trail of a bizarre mystery: in 1606, a man vanished from a locked gatehouse in Blackstone Fell, a remote Yorkshire village. Three hundred years later, it happened again. Days after confiding in sleuth Rachel Savernake, Nell herself disappears. In search for answers, and determined to bring an end to the disappearances, Rachel travels to the lonely Yorkshire village, with its eerie moor and sinister tower. But Rachel must be careful – with all of these people going missing, there’s every chance she will be taken too... For anyone who loves a dazzling mystery, Blackstone Fell explores the shadowy borderlands between the spiritual and scientific, between sanity and madness, and between virtue and deadly sin. 'Martin Edwards celebrates and satirises the genre with wit and affection... He leaves you wanting more.' THE TIMES 'Suspects abound in the book’s wonderfully labyrinthine plot, and the brilliant Savernake is a fascinatingly enigmatic character.' WASHINGTON POST 'Perfect for those who love a locked-room mystery... with a wonderful golden age of crime feel.' BELFAST TELEGRAPH 'Martin Edwards holds his own with the best of classic crime.' DAILY MAIL 'Ingeniously plotted and racily told... Blackstone Fell is more or less impossible to put down – this is Edwards on the top of his form.' DOROTHY L SAYERS SOCIETY BULLETIN

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1916. As thousands of Brits are fighting on the Front Line, a new breed of women emerges to hold the Home Front together. Fiercely independent and fiery-spirited, the munitionettes, or 'canaries', are easily recognisable with their chemically-stained yellow faces. Among the raucous group of women is Florrie Duncan, who plans to celebrate her birthday in style at the Golden Goose pub. But the celebrations are cut short when all but one are killed in a brutal explosion.

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1842. Joshua Weyland is languishing in America and desperate to return to England and his fiancé. He ships home on a small brig but when it founders on rocks off the coast of Cornwall and he narrowly escapes with his life, it's clear to him that the ship had been deliberately wrecked. Who could be responsible? From the eccentric doctor and his daughter who nurse him back to health, to the local fishermen, tin miners and 'Preventers' tasked with subduing smuggling activity, Joshua has plenty of questions which could land him in serious trouble. When an epic storm erupts and another ship is in peril, Joshua is forced to fight for his life to avert disaster and get to the bottom of the mystery.

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War is declared, and Biggles is ready for action!September 1939. Britain has declared war on Germany. Major James Bigglesworth, known to his friends as ‘Biggles’, is eager to get straight into the action alongside old friends Algernon ‘Algy’ Lacey and ‘Ginger’ Hebblethwaite. They don’t have to wait long.The British government has covertly acquired a small island in the Baltic, off the north coast of Germany. The island is unremarkable save for one feature: a natural sea cave, unknown to the Germans, large enough to house several aircraft.Biggles’ orders: wreak havoc on German forces for as long as possible without compromising the location of the secret base. It’s a dangerous mission, for the might of the enemy military machine will be bent on finding them, led by Biggles’ old nemesis, Erich von Stalhein.Take to the skies in a classic Biggles adventure packed with heroism and feats of derring-do. Perfect for fans of Derek Robinson and Max Hennessy.

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Biggles has a cold war.November 1939. The Winter War between the Finns and the Soviets has begun, and Finland has called for international support. Biggles, Algy and Ginger have volunteered to help, and fly reconnaissance missions over the country on the lookout for Soviet troops and aircraft.Quite by chance on one such flight, Biggles spots a lone figure at death’s door in the snow, and lands to investigate. The man is Petolski, a Polish scientist. His plane crashed on the Finland–Russia border while he was trying to escape Occupied Poland with seven years’ worth of experimental aircraft research. Rather than let it fall into enemy hands, he has hidden it somewhere near the downed plane.The research cannot fall into enemy hands, and Biggles is ordered to retrieve it at all costs. But the Russians have found out about the research as well, and a party led by Biggles’ nemesis, Erich von Stalhein, is already looking for it. The race is on!Strap in for a classic Biggles cat-and-mouse chase in the ice and snow of Finland. Perfect for fans of Derek Robinson and Max Hennessy.

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Following a string of disastrous house-sitting assignments, and an equally troubled personal life, Thea Osborne is understandably apprehensive about her latest commission: a wintry month in an isolated house with only an assortment of animals, including her loyal spaniel Hepzie, for company. With the summer lushness of the Cotswolds turned icy grey, Thea spends her first few days exploring the beautiful hamlet of Hampnett, meeting some of the locals. But then the weather turns extreme, and so do events. When she stumbles across a man lying dead in a snow-covered field, Thea finds herself once again at the heart of a mystery.

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The gripping new Kate Shugak novel by New York Times bestselling author Dana Stabenow. What seems a tragic accident soon becomes a murder investigation as Kate is drawn into a case of political intrigue. A mid-air collision in the Alaskan wilderness between two small aircraft leaves ten people dead. Was it a bird strike, pilot error... or premeditated murder? Then an eleventh body is found in the wreckage: a man shot gangland style, twice in the chest and once in the head. In an investigation that reaches to the highest levels of government, justice may not be served, but Kate Shugak is determined that the truth will out, even at the risk of her life and the lives of those she loves most. Reviewers on Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak series: 'An antidote to sugary female sleuths: Kate Shugak, the Aleut private investigator' New York Times 'Crime fiction doesn't get much better than this' Booklist 'If you are looking for something unique in the field of crime fiction, Kate Shugak is the answer' Michael Connelly

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In the summer of 1932, Maisie Dobbs's career takes an exciting new turn when she accepts an undercover assignment directed by Scotland Yard's Special Branch and the Secret Service. Posing as a junior lecturer, she is sent to a private college in Cambridge to monitor any activities, "not in the interests of His Majesty's Government."

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The latest adventure for the intrepid Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes takes readers into the frenetic world of silent films, where the pirates are real and the shooting isn't all done with cameras. In England's young silent-film industry, the megalomaniacal Randolph Fflytte is king. Nevertheless, Mary Russell is dispatched to investigate the criminal activities that surround Fflytte's popular movie studio. So Russell is traveling undercover to Portugal, along with the film crew that is gearing up to shoot a cinematic extravaganza, Pirate King. But as movie make-believe becomes true terror, Russell and Holmes themselves may experience a final fadeout.

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August 1914. When war in Europe is declared, a young American cartographer, Michael Clifton, is compelled to fight for his father's native country, and sets sail for England to serve in the British Army. Three years later, he is listed as missing in action. April 1932. After Michael's remains are unearthed in a French field, his devastated parents engage investigator Maisie Dobbs, hoping she can find the unnamed nurse whose love letters were among their late son's belongings. It is a quest that leads Maisie back to her own bittersweet wartime love - and to the discovery that Michael Clifton may not have died in combat. Suddenly an exposed web of intrigue and violence threatens to ensnare the dead soldier's family and even Maisie herself as she attempts to cope with the impending loss of her mentor and the unsettling awareness that she is once again falling in love.

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'If you've missed Laymon, you've missed a treat' Stephen King The deeper the tourists go into the Beast House, the darker the nightmares become. But the worst part is beneath the haunted structure. Don't even think about going into the cellar...

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Reminiscent of the works of Margaret Atwood, Deborah Harkness, and Octavia E. Butler, The Women Could Fly is a queer feminist speculative novel that speaks to our times – a piercing dystopian tale, set in a world in which magic is real and single women are closely monitored in case they are shown to be witches . . .Josephine Thomas has heard every conceivable theory about her mother's disappearance. That she was kidnapped. Murdered. That she took on a new identity to start a new family. That she was a witch. This is the most worrying charge because in a world where witches are real, peculiar behaviour raises suspicions and a woman - especially a Black woman - can find herself on trial for witchcraft.Finally ready to let go of the past, Jo’s future is in doubt. The State mandates that all women marry by the age of 30 - or forfeit their autonomy by registering to be monitored. At 28, Jo is ambivalent about marriage, feeling she has never understood her mother more. When offered the opportunity to honour one last request from her mother's will, Jo leaves her regular life to feel connected to her one last time.'For fans of Margaret Atwood' - Elle'Thoughtful...wry, magical' - Guardian'Brimming with wonder' - Raven Leilani, author of Luster

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40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, WITH A FOREWORD BY STANLEY TUCCI'I have bought more copies of this book to give to people, in a frenzy of enthusiasm, than any other . . . Heartburn is the perfect, bittersweet, sobbingly funny, all-too-true confessional novel' NIGELLA LAWSON'I kept a copy of Nora Ephron's Heartburn next to me as a reminder of how to be funny and truthful, and all I ended up doing was ignoring my writing and rereading Heartburn' AMY POEHLERSeven months into her pregnancy, Rachel discovers that her husband is in love with another woman. The fact that this woman has a 'neck as long as an arm and a nose as long as a thumb' is no consolation. Food sometimes is, though, since Rachel is a cookery writer, and between trying to win Mark back and wishing him dead, she offers us some of her favourite recipes. Heartburn is a roller coaster of love, betrayal, loss and most satisfyingly revenge.This is Nora Ephron's (screenwriter of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle) roman a clef: 'I always thought during the pain of the marriage that one day it would make a funny book,' she once said. And it is!'It is snortingly funny in its depiction of the death throes of a relationship. And it bursts with recipes. What more could you ask for?' ADAM KAYPART OF THE VIRAGO DESIGNER COLLECTION. COVER FEATURES TEXTILE DESIGN BY ELZA SUNDERLAND

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This is a love story, a story about growing up, a story about what its like to be a women (East and West), a story about the history of the post-imperial Middle East during the last 30 years or so, perplexed and bloody years, and a story about home.

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From celebrated New York Times bestselling author, Steve Berry, comes the latest Cotton Malone adventure, in which the discovery of a lost historical document challenges the global might of the United States.King Ludwig II of Bavaria was an enigmatic figure who was deposed in 1886, mysteriously drowning three days later. Eccentric to the point of madness, history tells us that in the years before he died Ludwig engaged in a worldwide search for a new kingdom, one separate, apart, and in lieu of Bavaria. A place he could retreat into and rule as he wished. But a question remains: did he succeed? Enter Cotton Malone. After many months, Malone's protégé, Luke Daniels, has managed to infiltrate a renegade group intent on winning Bavarian independence from Germany. Daniels has also managed to gain the trust of the prince of Bavaria, a frustrated second son intent on eliminating his brother, the duke, and restoring the Wittelsbach monarchy, only now with him as king. Everything hinges on a 19th century deed which proves that Ludwig's long-rumored search bore fruit - legal title to lands that Germany, China, and the United States all now want, only for vastly different reasons. In a race across Bavaria for clues hidden in Ludwig's three fairytale castles - Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee - Malone and Daniels battle an ever-growing list of deadly adversaries, all intent on finding the last kingdom.

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She will breathe a new empire into life – but all worlds can escape their creator…‘Full of adventure… A celebration of the power of storytelling’ GUARDIANIn the wake of an unimportant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for a goddess, who tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga, ‘victory city’.Over the next two hundred and fifty years, Pampa Kampana’s life becomes deeply interwoven with Bisnaga’s as she attempts to make good on the task that the goddess set for her: to give women equal agency in a patriarchal world. But all stories have a way of getting away from their creator, and Bisnaga is no exception.‘Mesmerising’ ELIF SHAFAK, author of The Island of Missing Trees‘A total pleasure to read’ SUNDAY TIMES‘One of the planet’s greatest writers’ EVENING STANDARD‘A triumph… Enthralling’ I***A FINANCIAL TIMES AND THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR******A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK***

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The new book set in the universe of Assassin's Creed. Reliving the memories of his ancestor who fought beside Joan of Arc, high-ranking Templar Simon Hathaway slowly uncovers secrets of the past that could dangerously impact his present . . . and that of the entire Templar order.An endless conflict. An old wrong. A new revelation. Simon Hathaway, member of the Templar Inner Sanctum, brings a cool head and detached manner to his new role as Head of Abstergo Industry's Historical Research Division.But Simon also has an insatiable curiosity, and is fascinated by the thought of experiencing history first-hand through his ancestor Gabriel Laxart, who fought alongside the legendary Joan of Arc.When he enters the newly-designed Animus for its initial project, Simon finds himself unprepared for what he discovers: how deep the conflict between the Templars and the Assassins goes, and what his ancestor is willing to do for the woman he loves. And as he slowly uncovers secrets of the past, Simon is confronted with the most dangerous truth of all: Who is the heretic . . . and who is the true believer?

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A woman finds herself filling a pit in the forest in the middle of the night; a family lock each other in their bedrooms to battle a strange plague; a wizard punishes two beautiful ballerinas by turning them into one hugely fat circus performer; a colonel is warned not to lift the veil from his dead wife's face; and a distraught father brings his daughter back to life by eating human hearts in his dreams. In these blackly comic tales of revenge, disturbing deaths and haunting melancholy, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya blends miracles and madness in the darkest of modern fairy tales.

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'Immediately enticing, endlessly charming, full of wit, magic and deep, moving humanity. It transported me to a world both familiar and utterly unknown, keeping me enthralled on every page' CLAIRE NORTH, AUTHOR OF THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST _____________ When Elina makes her annual summer pilgrimage to the remote family farm in Lapland, she has three days to catch the pike in a local pond, or she and the love of her life will both die. This year her task is made even more difficult by a host of deadly supernatural creatures and the homicide detective on her trail. Can Elina catch the pike and lay to rest the curse that has been hanging over her head ever since a youthful love affair turned sour? Can Sergeant Janatuinen make it back to civilization in one piece? And just why is Lapland in summer so weird?

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The aliens from Dort have lost their world and now they want Earth!It is the year 2000. In fifty years' time the planet Dort will collide with its sun and be destroyed. Ratta, the dictator of Dort has chosen Earth as a new home for his people. But first he is creating ten thousand disasters to wipe out all human life!Only Britain's best scientist, Professor Mike Dauntless, has the mind and spirit to stop Ratta from destroying humankind.

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A Supernatural Mystery for Fans of The Many Deaths of Laila Starr and Something is Killing the Children! Jessica Harrow is dead… but her journey has only just begun. Discover the world of the afterlife, where Jessica has been recruited as a Reaper, tasked with ferrying countless souls to their final destination. But unlike the rest of the Reapers, Jess has no memory of what killed her and put her into this position. In order to unravel the mystery of her own demise, she'll have to solve an even bigger one – where is the actual Grim Reaper? Acclaimed writer Stephanie Phillips (Harley Quinn) and fan-favorite artist Flaviano (New Mutants) present a bold new vision of what comes after, and the nature of death itself. Collects Grim #1-5.

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Virginia Woolf's singular technique in Mrs Dalloway heralds a break with the traditional novel form and reflects a genuine humanity and a concern with the experiences that both enrich and stultify existence. Society hostess, Clarissa Dalloway is giving a party. Her thoughts and sensations on that one day, and the interior monologues of others whose lives are interwoven with hers gradually reveal the characters of the central protagonists. Clarissa's life is touched by tragedy as the events in her day run parallel to those of Septimus Warren Smith, whose madness escalates as his life draws toward inevitable suicide.

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Far from the Madding Crowd is perhaps the most pastoral of Hardy's Wessex novels. It tells the story of the young farmer Gabriel Oak and his love for and pursuit of the elusive Bathsheba Everdene, whose wayward nature leads her to both tragedy and true love. It tells of the dashing Sergeant Troy whose rakish philosophy of life was ‘…the past was yesterday; never, the day after’, and lastly, of the introverted and reclusive gentleman farmer, Mr Boldwood, whose love fills him with ‘…a fearful sense of exposure’, when he first sets eyes on Bathsheba. The background of this tale is the Wessex countryside in all its moods, contriving to make it one of the most English of great English novels.

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'There he lay looking as if youth had been half-renewed, for the white hair and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey, the cheeks were fuller, and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, burning eyes seemed set amongst the swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches underneath were bloated. It seemed as if the whole awful creature were simply gorged with blood; he lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his repletion.' Thus Bram Stoker, one of the greatest exponents of the supernatural narrative, describes the demonic subject of his chilling masterpiece Dracula, a truly iconic and unsettling tale of vampirism.

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From its first publication in 1719, Robinson Crusoe has been printed in over 700 editions. It has inspired almost every conceivable kind of imitation and variation, and been the subject of plays, opera, cartoons, and computer games. The character of Crusoe has entered the consciousness of each succeeding generation as readers add their own interpretation to the adventures so thrillingly 'recorded' by Defoe. Praised by eminent figures such as Coleridge, Rousseau and Wordsworth, this perennially popular book was cited by Karl Marx in Das Kapital to illustrate economic theory. However it is readers of all ages over the last 280 years who have given Robinson Crusoe its abiding position as a classic tale of adventure.

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Just because the world of Bungo Stray Dogs is peaceful doesn’t mean there isn’t trouble. From Dostoyevsky having trouble with Japanese to Chuuya losing his hat, you never know what will happen next!

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A road novel, a coming-of-age tale, and a raunchy slapstick comedy that tells—in careening, charismatic prose—the (true) story of the theft of the body of Saint John of the Cross.In August 1592, a bailiff and his two assistants arrive at the monastery of Úbeda, with the secret task of transferring the remains of Saint John of the Cross, the great Carmelite poet and mystic, to his final abode. When they exhume him, they find the saint's body as incorrupt and fresh as when he died. Thus commences a series of adventures and misfortunes populated by characters that seem to be drawn from mythology. Luis Felipe Fabre masterfully incorporates Saint John's verses into his prose, as if the saint had prophesied the delirium that would surround his own posthumous transfer. This funny, highly entertaining novel manages to honor the mystical poetry of the Carmelite while inviting the reader to reflect on issues such as the sacred and the profane, the body and the soul, and spiritual (as well as carnal) ecstasy.

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