Literary studies: fiction Books

Book SynopsisThe Professor (1845-6), written before Jane Eyre, challenged contemporary expectations of the novel by its brevity, realism, and insistence on a working career both before and after marriage for its hero and heroine. Strikingly up to date for its period, the action begins against a background of the fight for better factory conditions in the 1830s, and finishes in the early 1840s with the spread of liberal ideas which led to the continental revolutions of 1848.This edition is based directly on the author''s fair copy manuscript, and also includes `Emma'', Charlotte Brontë''s last, unfinished attempt to write a novel after Villette. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify t

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Book SynopsisFielding''s comic masterpiece of 1749 was immediately attacked as `A motley history of bastardism, fornication, and adultery''. Indeed, his populous novel overflows with a marvellous assortment of prudes, whores, libertines, bumpkins, misanthropes, hypocrites, scoundrels, virgins, and all too fallible humanitarians. At the centre of one of the most ingenious plots in English fiction stands a hero whose actions were, in 1749, as shocking as they are funny today. Expelled from Mr Allworthy''s country estate for his wild temper and sexual conquests, the good-hearted foundling Tom Jones loses his money, joins the army, and pursues his beloved across Britain to London, where he becomes a kept lover and confronts the possibility of incest. Tom Jones is rightly regarded as Fielding''s greatest work, and one of the first and most influential of English novels. This carefully modernized edition is based on Fielding''s emended fourth edition text and offers the most thorough notes, maps, and bibliography. The introduction uses the latest scholarship to examine how Tom Jones exemplifies the role of the novel in the emerging eighteenth-century public sphere. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade Reviewwith each volume having an introduction by an acknowledged expert, and exhaustive notes, the World's Classics are surely the most desirable series and, all-round, the best value for money * Oxford Times *well-produced edition. * Daily Telegraph Arts & Books section, 5 July 1997 *

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Book SynopsisAuster''s tale of obsession from the author of contemporary classic The New York Trilogy: ''a literary voice for the ages'' (Guardian)The Book of Illusions, written with breath-taking urgency and precision, plunges the reader into a universe in which the comic and the tragic, the real and the imagined, and the violent and the tender dissolve into one another.One man''s obsession with the mysterious life of a silent film star takes him on a journey into a shadow-world of lies, illusions, and unexpected love. After losing his wife and young sons in a plane crash, Vermont professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in grief. Then, watching television one night, he stumbles upon a lost film by silent comedian Hector Mann, and remembers how to laugh . . .Mann was a comic genius, in trademark white suit and fluttering black moustache. But one morning in 1929 he walked out of his house and was never heard from again. Zimmer''s ob

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Book SynopsisThe world first publication of a previously unknown work of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien, which tells the powerful story of a doomed young man who is sold into slavery and who swears revenge on the magician who killed his father.Kullervo son of Kalervo is perhaps the darkest and most tragic of all J.R.R. Tolkien's characters. Hapless Kullervo', as Tolkien called him, is a luckless orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic destiny.Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and who tries three times to kill him when still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and guarded by the magical powers of the black dog, Musti. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruellest of fates.Tolkien wrote that The Story of Kullervo was the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own', and was a majTrade ReviewPraise for J.R.R. Tolkien:‘One marvels anew at the depth, breadth and persistence of J.R.R. Tolkien’s labour. No one sympathetic to his aims – the invention of a secondary universe – will want to miss this chance to be present at the creation.’Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisA young, inexperienced governess is charged with the care of Miles and Flora, two small children abandoned by their uncle at his grand country house. She sees the figure of an unknown man on the tower and his face at the window. It is Peter Quint, the master''s dissolute valet, and he has come for little Miles. But Peter Quint is dead. Like the other tales collected here - `Sir Edmund Orme'', `Owen Wingrave'', and `The Friends of the Friends'' - `The Turn of the Screw'' is to all immediate appearances a ghost story. But are the appearances what they seem? Is what appears to the governess a ghost or a hallucination? Who else sees what she sees? The reader may wonder whether the children are victims of corruption from beyond the grave, or victims of the governess''s `infernal imagination'', which torments but also entrals her? `The Turn of the Screw'' is probably the most famous, certainly the most eerily equivocal, of all ghostly tales. Is it a subtle, self-conscious exploration of thTable of ContentsSir Edmund Orme; Owen Wingrave; The Friends of the Friends; The Turn of the Screw

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Book Synopsis''I have lately written...a tale, to illustrate an opinion of mine, that a genius will educate itself.''Mary Wollstonecraft is best known for her pioneering views on the rights of women to share equal rights and opportunities with men. Expressed most forcefully in her Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), her forthright opinions also inform her two innovative novels, Mary and The Wrongs of Woman, a fictional sequel to the Vindication. In both novels the heroines have to rely on their own resources to establish their independence and intellectual development. Mary learns to take control of her destiny and become a social philanthropist, while Maria, in The Wrongs of Woman, fights imprisonment and a loveless marriage to claim her rights.Strongly autobiographical, both novels powerfully complement Wollstonecraft''s non-fictional writing, inspired by the French Revolution and the social upheavals that followed. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made ava

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Book SynopsisUlysses is one of the foundational texts of modern literature, yet has a reputation for complexity and controversy. In Ulysses Unbound, Joyce expert Terence Killeen untangles this seemingly knotty classic to reveal the wonders beneath, in a clear and comprehensive guide which will provide new and vital insights for everyone from students to specialists.In this new edition, published to celebrate the centenary of Ulysses'' first publication in 1922, Killeen seamlessly combines close literary analysis with a broad account of the novel''s fascinating history, from its writing and publication to its long contemporary afterlife. We get under the skin of the text to discover the joys of Joyce''s remarkable range of themes, styles and voices, as Killeen reanimates the real people who inspired many of the characters. Ulysses Unbound is an indispensable, illuminating and entertaining companion to one of the twentieth century''s great works of art.With a foreword by Colm TóibínTrade ReviewKilleen's impulse is to create a commentary on Ulysses that opens the book for anyone to read. He writes clearly; his companion to Ulysses makes the book easier to follow without simplifying anything. His book is not his own insistent interpretation of Ulysses; rather, it is a guide for others that is systematic and supremely helpful. Each reader will have different moments when Ulysses Unbound becomes essential ... it comes to our aid most practically and succinctly. -- Colm TóibínStriking a balance between adequate explication and merciful concision, Killeen's considered, low-key style has already proven illuminating for both academic and general readers. -- Emer Nolan * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisAn eccentric professor saves a London Zoo ape from a rocket experiment in this dazzling classic by a trailblazing animal rights activist, introduced by Sarah Hall.''Pitch-perfect.'' Ali Smith''So original.'' Hilary Mantel''Stunning.'' Isabel Waidner''There is nobody quite like her.'' A.S. Byatt''Her beastly, risky best.'' Eley WilliamsWhen my species has destroyed itself, we may need yours to start it all again. In London Zoo, Professor Darrylhyde is singing to the apes again. Outside their cage, he watches the two animals, longing to observe the mating ritual of this rare species. But Percy, inhibited by confinement and melancholy, is repulsing Edwina''s desirous advances. Soon, the Professor''s connection increases as he talks, croons, befriends - so when a scientist arrives on a secret governmental mission to launch Percy into space, he vows to secure his freedom. But when met by sTrade Review'So refreshing and interesting: the opulence, playful excess, brittle wit.' - Hilary Mantel (on The Snow Ball)'I read it in one sitting ... Wonderful!' - Claire-Louise Bennett (on The Snow Ball)

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Book SynopsisThis novel is a designedly political document. Written at the time of the Hastings impeachment and set in the period of Hastings’s Orientalist government, Hartly House, Calcutta (1789) represents a dramatic delineation of the Anglo-Indian encounter. The novel constitutes a significant intervention in the contemporary debate concerning the nature of Hastings’s rule of India by demonstrating that it was characterised by an atmosphere of intellectual sympathy and racial tolerance. Within a few decades the Evangelical and Anglicising lobbies frequently condemned Brahmans as devious beneficiaries of a parasitic priestcraft, but Phebe Gibbes’s portrayal of Sophia’s Brahman and the religion he espouses represent a perception of India dignified by a sympathetic and tolerant attempt to dispel prejudice.Trade Review‘An entertaining account of Calcutta … These letters indeed are written with a degree of vivacity which renders them very amusing’ Mary Wollstonecraft‘one of the earliest British novels of India of a transcultural love affair between the heroine Sophia Goldborne and a young Brahman. Although positively reviewed by Mary Wollstonecraft, as “an animated picture of Eastern manners”, it soon vanished from literary history; only recently has it begun to arouse the interest of students of 18th-century colonial literature … Michael Franklin has done a splendid job editing the novel, with a full introductory essay and explanatory notes, thereby making it available to researchers, students, and the general reader. The republication of Hartly House, Calcutta will add a new dimension to our understanding of 18th-century literature and early British India.’ Nigel Leask, Regius Professor of English, University of Glasgow'The explanatory notes and introduction are both valuable for contextualizing the novel for casual readers, as well as providing pedagogical resources for classroom use.’The Early Modern Women Journal -- .Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsNote on the TextIntroductionHARTLY HOUSE, CALCUTTAVolume IVolume IIVolume IIIExplanatory NotesSelect Bibliography

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Book SynopsisSinister histories is the first book to offer a detailed exploration of the Gothic's response to Enlightenment historiography. It uncovers hitherto-neglected relationships between fiction and prominent works of eighteenth-century history, locating the Gothic novel in a range of new interdisciplinary contexts. Drawing on ideas from literary studies, history, politics and philosophy, the book demonstrates the extent to which historical works influenced and shaped Gothic fiction from the 1760s to the early nineteenth century. Through a series of detailed readings of texts from The Castle of Otranto (1764) to Maria, or The Wrongs of Woman (1798), this book offers an alternative account of the Gothic's development and a sustained revaluation of the creative legacies of the French Revolution.Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsAbbreviationsIntroduction: history and the Gothic in the eighteenth century1. Contested pasts: David Hume, Horace Walpole and the emergence of Gothic fiction2. '[B]ringing this deed of darkness to light': representations of the past in Clara Reeve's The Old English Baron (1778)3. 'Entombed alive': Sophia Lee's The Recess (1783-85), the Gothic and history4. '[E]very nerve thrilled with horror': the French Revolution, the past and Ann Radcliffe's The Romance of the Forest (1791)5. 'Things as they are': William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft and the perils of the present ReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisReviews ‘Anne Rowe, a scrupulous Murdoch scholar of many years’ standing, has written a slim but comprehensive overview of the writer’s career, attending successively to aspects of her output in both genres, encompassing matters intellectual, spiritual, experiential and geographical.’ Stuart Walton, The London MagazineTrade Review'This new overview of Murdoch's life, coming as it does in her centenary year, brings together fresh materials on her life and work and will be a central resource for students, teachers, academics and the general reader. Rowe builds on her vast knowledge of Murdoch – and her earlier published work – to bring out the fullest examination of Murdoch's life and work to date. This is a book by an academic at the height of her powers'.Dr Miles Leeson, Director of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre, University of Chichester‘The leading Murdoch scholar Anne Rowe, in an effective new critical study, emphasises the relevance to Murdoch’s future reputation of society’s increasing openness to “more complex variations in sexual and psychological make-up”. The old myth that Murdoch only writes about leisured middle-class heterosexuals who live in big houses has in turn bred the more recent myth that nobody could possibly bother reading her nowadays...’ Leo Robson, The New StatesmanTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 Iris Murdoch: A Writing Life 2 Writing the Novel of Ideas: The Philosopher and Public Intellectual3 Writing Sacraments: The Holy Atheist4 Writing A New Vocabulary of Experience5 Writing the Landscape: The Island of Spells and the Sacred CityAfterword

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Book SynopsisThis monograph treats modes of fictionality in contemporary auto/biography, memoir and autofiction. Adopting a case study approach, it demonstrates the extent to which contexts of production and reception are important in framing generic expectations with respect to the representation of lived experience and in helping to determine the status of the narrator as (fictional) persona or (implied) author.

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Book Synopsis''Witty, bittersweet, surprising, and compellingly readable'' Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review''A completely original and bewitching adventure'' A. D. Rhine, author of Daughters of Bronze and Horses of Fire''A dazzling labyrinth of a book that pulls you in with both hands'' Luna McNamara, author of PSYCHE AND EROS''This is more than a story of love and escape and broken chains. This is more than an exquisitely crafted tale. This book is a candle in a dark hour'' Maya Deane, author of Wrath Goddess Sing''Quirky, tender, and endlessly inventive, this is a Greek myth retelling unlike any other. Pulley''s big brain and huge heart are deployed to godly effect in THE HYMN TO DIONYSUS'' V. V. James, Sunday Times Bestselling author of SanctuaryRaised in a Greek legion, Phaidros has been taught to follow his commander''s orders at all costs. But when he rescues a baby from a fire at Thebes'' palace, he defies those orders and keeps the blue-eyed boy''s existence a secret.Years later, after a strange encounter that led to the death of his battalion, Phaidros has become a training master for young soldiers. He struggles with panic attacks and flashbacks, and he is not alone: all around him, his fellow veterans are losing their minds.Madness is not his only problem: Phaidros has become entangled with the search for Thebes'' lost young crown prince-a search that leads him to a blue-eyed witch named Dionysus, whose guidance is as wise as the events that surround him are strange. In Dionysus''s company, Phaidros witnesses sudden outbursts of riots and unrest, and everywhere Dionysus goes, rumors follow about a new god, one sired by Zeus but lost in a fire . . .In The Hymn to Dionysus, bestselling author Natasha Pulley transports us to an ancient empire on the edge of ruin to tell an utterly captivating story about a man needing a god to remind him how to be a human.Praise for The Hymn to Dionysus''[Pulley] makes the ancient world feel close-by. I was enthralled from the first page to the last''Elyse John, author of Orphia and Eurydicius''[A] fresh and stylish reimagining . . . Fans of Greek myth retellings won''t want to miss this'' Publishers Weekly, Starred review ''This novel twists the ideas of duty and honour, exploring the depths of humanity and the power of connection in a world consumed by chaos. An absolute must-read'' Crystal King, bestselling author of In the Garden of Monsters and Feast of Sorrow

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Book SynopsisThe official book on Ian Fleming and James Bond by the bestselling author of Agent ZigzagTrade Review'A marvellously entertaining and informative book ... deserves to fly off the shelves every bit as quickly as Devil May Care' Spectator 'Thrilling' Sunday Times 'Everything that makes Bond interesting with relation to the real world, in fact, is explored here. Ben Macintyre's skill, in this entertaining mix of history, espionage, biography, and post-war sociology, is to make you see clearly where Ian Fleming's world ended and the fantasy of James Bond began' Tom Fleming, Literary Review 'Fleming, a journalist like Macintyre, would have approved of Macintyre's fast, witty and informative style, and this is the perfect starting place for anyone wanting to find out more about Bond and his creator' Mail on Sunday

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Book Synopsis The comprehensive collection of letters spanning the adult life of one of the world’s greatest storytellers, now revised and expanded to include more than 150 previously unseen letters, with revealing new insights into The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Trade Review‘The closest we can get to an actual autobiography … reveals new insights into the mind of one of England’s greatest storytellers’ Telegraph ‘These revised and amplified letters are an absolute treat’ Sunday Times ‘This is a terrific book … the letters simply glow with warmth, interest and enthusiasm’ Private Eye ‘These letters provide an intriguing new glimpse into Tolkien’s life and work, allowing us to hear from one of the world’s best-loved authors in his own voice’ The National Archives

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Book SynopsisThe Decameron (c.1351) was written in the wake of the Black Death, a shattering epidemic which had shaken Florence''s confident entrepreneurial society to its core.In a country villa outside the city, ten young noble men and women who have escaped the plague decide to tell each other stories. Boccaccio''s skill as a dramatist is masterfully displayed in this virtuoso performance of one hundred tales, vivid portraits of people from all stations in life, with plots which revel in a bewildering variety of human reactions. Themes are playfully restated from one story to another within an elegant and refined framework. One of Chaucer''s most fruitful sources for the Canterbury Tales, Boccaccio''s work artfully combines the essential ingredients of narrative: fate and desire, crises and quick-thinking.This new translation by Guido Waldman captures the exuberance and variety and tone of Boccaccio''s masterpiece. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade Review'This new translation of The Decameron is especially valuable for the manner in which it accurately imitates the divergent tones and structures of Boccaccio's prose. Boccaccio's art is an exercise in brinkmanship which leads characters and readers alike into a turmoil of moral and social disorder only to retrieve them within his formal literary structure at the end. In common with the main text, this introduction will prove very useful both to the general reader and to the student unable to read in the Italian.' Christopher C. Stevens. Italian Studies, XLIX, 1994

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Book Synopsis“Every page brings forth the elegiac tone of JRR Tolkien’s work... It is a beautiful book, including many wonderful pictures by Tolkien himself… Garth’s book made me realise the impact that Tolkien has had on my life.”The Times A lavishly illustrated exploration of the places that inspired and shaped the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, creator of Middle-earth. This new book from renowned expert John Garth takes us to the places that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien to create his fictional locations in The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and other classic works. Featuring more than 100 images, it includes Tolkien’s own illustrations, contributions from other artists, archive images, maps and spectacular present-day photographs. Inspirational locations range across Great Britain – particularly Tolkien’s beloved West Midlands and Oxford – but also oveTrade Review“Not only a wonderfully rich & learned book but beautiful as well. I’m sure Tolkien would have loved it.” -- Tom Holland * Award-winning historian, author and broadcaster *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. England to the Shire 2. Four Winds 3. The Land of Lúthien 4. Shore and the Sea 5. Roots of the Mountains 6. Rivers, Lakes and Waterlands 7. Tree-woven Lands 8. Ancient Imprints 9. Watch and Ward 10. Places of War 11. Craft and Industry Appendix Endnotes Select Bibliography Index Acknowledgements

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Book SynopsisIn Boyhood, J. M. Coetzee revisits the South Africa of half a century ago, to write about his childhood and interior life. Boyhood''s young narrator grew up in a small country town. With a father he imitated but could not respect, and a mother he both adored and resented, he picked his way through a world that refused to explain its rules, but whose rules he knew he must obey. Steering between these contradictions, Boyhood evokes the tensions, delights and terrors of childhood with startling, haunting immediacy. Coetzee examines his young self with the dispassionate curiosity of an explorer rediscovering his own early footprints, and the account of his progress is bright, hard and simply compelling.Trade ReviewThis life is described with such skill, such exactitude and such relentlessness that I found myself gasping for air... Coetzee has achieved something universal in his work...a fine book, probably the best description of a childhood I have ever read * The Times *As funny, cruel and terrifying as life itself. It is also intense and elegant, clearly the product of the complex, subtle imagination which shapes Coetzee's outstanding fiction... As austerely beautiful as would be expected of Coetzee the artist...its aloof, edgy grace and seething passion ensure the narrative is both truthful and mysterious * Irish Times *Boyhood is a deeply-felt and utterly compelling account of a South African childhood: the narrative style is as spare and lean as the Karoo flatlands which form its backdrop * Daily Telegraph *The economy with which Coetzee makes sense of his past is evidence, once again, of his outstanding talent * Independent on Sunday *An uncannily accurate picture of the way things were in South Africa * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review... the novel is undeniably significant in the history of crime fiction. * Lucy Worsley, Huffington Post Books *

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Book Synopsis''He was a man of fairly firm fibre, but there was something in this sudden, uncontrollable shriek of horror which chilled his blood and pringled in his skin. Coming in such a place and at such an hour, it brought a thousand fantastic possibilities into his head...''The Victorian fin de siècle: the era of Decadence, The Yellow Book, the New Woman, the scandalous Oscar Wilde, the Empire on which the sun never set. This heady brew was caught nowhere better than in the revival of the Gothic tale in the late Victorian age, where the undead walked and evil curses, foul murder, doomed inheritance and sexual menace played on the stretched nerves of the new mass readerships. This anthology collects together some of the most famous examples of the Gothic tale in the 1890s, with stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Vernon Lee, Henry James and Arthur Machen, as well as some lesser known yet superbly chilling tales from the era. The introduction explores the many reasons for the Gothic revival, and how it spoke to the anxieties of the moment. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewThe characters in Roger Luckhurst's excellent selection are variously assailed by mummies, bewitched by revived pagan goddesses, and doomed to inexorable decline by the misdeeds of their ancestors. * Times Literary Supplement *An excellent collection, especially for a relative newcomer to the genre since it includes some of the very best, but the introduction and notes make it a great choice too for people who may already know some of the stories but would like to know more about their context. Highly recommended. * Leah Galbraith, FictionFan *Table of ContentsDIONEA; LORD ARTHUR SAVILE'S CRIME; SIR EDMUND ORME; MAGIC LANTERN; THE SPECTRAL HAND; THE MARK OF THE BEAST; THE DAK BUNGALOW AT DAKOR; LOT 249; THE CASE OF LADY SANNOX; THE PALLINGHURST BAROW; THE GREAT GOD PAN; VAILA

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Book SynopsisDesigned to meet the requirements for students at IGCSE and A level, this accessible educational edition offers the complete text of Spies with a comprehensive study guide. Highlights of Andrew Bruff''s guide include:- detailed analyses of character, setting and theme;- close examination of the novel''s plot, structure and narrative techniques;- key quotations and activities both for the student working alone and in the classroom.In the quiet cul-de-sac where Keith and Stephen live the only immediate signs of the Second World War are the blackout at night and a single random bomb site. But the two boys start to suspect all is not as it seems when one day Keith announces a disconcerting discovery: the Germans have infiltrated his own family. And when the secret underground world they have dreamed up emerges from the shadows they find themselves engulfed in mysteries far deeper and more painful than they had bargained for.

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Book SynopsisA selection of the very best writing by A. A. Gill, 'by miles the most brilliant journalist of our age' (Lynn Barber).Trade ReviewI can't think of a writer whose style so exactly replicated their conversation as A. A. Gill. Reading his weekly dispatches was just like being with him in person, which is why so many readers took his death late last year very personally. People - even people who had never met him - felt they'd lost their funniest, most outrageous chum. Opening a paper without an article by him is like going to your store cupboard and finding that there's no chilli or salt: everything is blander without him. Two collections which came out this year, Lines in the Sand and The Best of A A. Gill, showcase him at his finest. Adrian showed incredible courage, wit and generosity of heart during his final weeks. Once my husband, always my friend, he is irreplaceable, on and off the page -- Cressida Connolly * The Spectator Books of the Year *Everything by A. A. Gill was dictated down the phone to obliging assistants, who found him "charming and hilarious", according to Celia Hayley, editor of this posthumous collection of articles ... The fact the text was spoken aloud, performed for an audience, gives the prose its distinctive baroque theatrical flourish. Gill was like a fruity actor, preening and posturing in the limelight, or as he'd have put it, "yearning and longing, exclaiming and declaiming, biding and abiding". His brain was like a thesaurus, so Gill didn't so much construct sentences as compose lists ... The spirits always rose when you opened a paper with him in it, as his affectations and provocations were a tonic. How bland everyone else is in comparison ... Gill's peacockery is much missed, much needed. "That's rather good, isn't it?" he'd chortle to his copytaker, modesty never in his armoury. Indeed, much of it was -- Roger Lewis * The Times Book of the Week *Anyone who writes of a restaurant visit that "it was like eating in an underpass at the end of the world", certainly had something and The Best of A. A. Gill is the pick of the late writer's uniformly excellent journalism, ranging across food, television, travel and family * Choice *[Gill] is breathtakingly rude, sharply perceptive and brilliantly funny all at once. But it isn't all frothing invective. Gill's travel writing ... is gripping and moving in equal measure ... Gill's vivid reporting transports you right into the centre of wherever he is and will not let you go ... [A] must-read collection of brilliant writing -- Mernie Gilmore * DAILY EXPRESS *Few writers could compete with the late, great A. A. Gill. Lap up his wonderful wit, merciless excoriationsand lyrical musings in this collection of his very best journalism, covering everything from eatingturtle to Iraq, dyslexia and Good Morning Britain * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisFamous Essex Authors, that you have never heard, that will in fact heard of. There are literally dozens of names that have been, sadly, forgotten over time. You may recognise some book titles, however (The French Lieutenant's Woman? One Hundred and One Dalmatians?). Some of the romance writers featured may not have famous names or even famous "titles" but they were so prolific and popular that they deserve to be foregrounded for their contribution to the world of books.Who knew, for instance, that a working class girl from Dagenham (Sheila Holland) would become so successful as a romantic novelist under her various pseudonyms that she went into tax exile on a mansion on the Isle of Man, or that a quiet introvert from Leigh-on-Sea was capable of writing raunchy novels about Arab sheikhs although she had never travelled beyond England (Violet Winspear). Then there is the impressive R.D.Wingfield, whose books about Detective Frost were a huge favourite of the author, revealed as being from Basildon, not far from her own home in Southend. Finding out why these people started writing, what motivated them, how they enjoyed success by using their lively imaginations, and how they sometimes struggled, has revealed a fascinating insight into the people of Essex. Even the 17th century aristocracy produced its memorable scribes with a Duchess from Colchester flaunting her exoticism and style with both the written and spoken word (Margaret Cavendish). Peppered throughout these pages are boxes featuring additional relevant trivia which should hopefully extend readers' knowledge of Essex authors and their works.Title includes a fold out map.Table of Contents13 Douglas Adams 15 Margery Allingham 19 Sabine Baring-Gould 22 Nina Bawden 24 Arnold Bennett 27 Samuel Bensusan 30 Ursula Bloom 34 Robert Buchanan 37 Margaret Cavendish 40 Joseph Conrad 43 Warwick Deeping 46 Daniel Defoe 50 Henry de Vere Stacpoole 52 John Fowles 56 Margaret Gatty 58 Elinor Glyn 62 Eleanor Graham 64 James Hilton 67 Joseph Hocking 70 Sheila Holland 74 Fergus Hume 77 Harriett Jay 80 Sarah Kane 82 The Kernahans 85 Denise Levertov 87 William Morris 90 Arthur Morrison 93 Ruth Pitter 96 Francis Quarles 98 Roland Quittenton 100 Ruth Rendell 104 Dorothy Sayers 107 Dodie Smith 110 Susan Smythies 112 Joseph Strutt 114 The Taylors of Ongar 117 H.G.Wells 121 James Wentworth Day 122 R.D.Wingfield 125 Violet Winspear 128 William Winstanley 130 Mary Wollstonecraft 132 Lady Emma Caroline Wood 134 Lady Mary Wroth 136 The Authors Who Did Not Quite Make the Essex list - mainly because of short stays 139 Poetic Licence - well known figures with more tenuous links to Essex 143 Essex Links to Classical Literature - references to Essex in some of the classics 146 More Literary Connections to Essex - touches on playwrights, historians, and others connected to both writing and Essex 150 Conclusion

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.''It''s a poor sort of memory that only works backward.''In Carroll''s sequel to Alice''s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice once again finds herself in a bizarre and nonsensical place when she passes through a mirror and enters a looking-glass world where nothing is quite as it seems. From her guest appearance as a pawn in a chess match to her meeting with Humpty Dumpty, Through the Looking Glass follows Alice on her curious adventure and shows Carroll''s great skill at creating an imaginary world full of the fantastical and extraordinary.

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Book SynopsisFeaturing plays and poetry from all over the world, including Latin American and African fiction, this book offers a deeper look into the famed fiction of Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and more, as in-depth literary criticism and interesting authorial biographies give each work of literature a new meaning.Table of Contents 1: Introduction 2: Heroes and legends 3000BCE – 1300CE 1: Only the gods dwell forever in sunlight, The Epic of Gilgamesh 2: To nourish oneself on ancient virtue induces perseverance, Book of Changes, attributed to King Wen of Zhou 3: What is this crime I am planning, O Krishna? Mahabharata, attributed to Vyasa 4: Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles, Iliad, attributed to Homer 5: How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there’s no help in the truth! Oedipus the King, Sophocles 6: The gates of hell are open night and day; smooth the descent, and easy is the way, Aeneid, Virgil 7: Fate will unwind as it must, Beowulf 8: So Scheherazade began… One Thousand and One Nights 9: Since life is but a dream, why toil to no avail? Quan Tangshi 10: Real things in the darkness seem no realer than dreams, The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu 11: A man should suffer greatly for his Lord, The Song of Roland 12: Tandaradei, sweetly sang the nightingale, “Under the Linden Tree”, Walther von der Vogelwelde 13: He who dares not follow love’s command errs greatly, Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, Chretien de Troyes 14: Let another’s wound be my warning, Njal’s Saga 15: Further reading 2: Renaissance to enlightenment 1300 - 1800 1: I found myself within a shadowed forest, The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri 2: We three will swear brotherhood and unity of aims and sentiments, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Luo Guanzhong 3: Turn over the leef and chese another tale, The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer 4: Laughter’s the property of man. Live joyfully, Gargantua and Pantagruel, Francois Rabelais 5: As it did to this flower, the doom of age will blight your beauty, Les Amours de Cassandre, Pierre de Ronsard 6: He that loves pleasure must for pleasure fall, Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe 7: Every man is the child of his own deeds, Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes 8: One man in his time plays many parts, First Folio, William Shakespeare 9: To esteem everything is to esteem nothing, The Misanthrope, Moliere 10: But at my back I always hear Time’s winged chariot hurrying near, Miscellaneous Poems, Andrew Marvell 11: Sadly, I part from you; like a clam torn from its shell, I go, and autumn too, The Narrow Road to the Interior, Matsuo Basho 12: None will hinder and none be hindered on the journey to the mountain of death, The Love Suicides at Sonezaki, Chikamatsu Monzaemon 13: I was born in the Year 1632, in the City of York, of a good family, Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe 14: If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others? Candide, Voltaire 15: I have courage enough to walk through hell barefoot, The Robbers, Friedrich Schiller 16: There is nothing more difficult in love than expressing in writing what one does not feel, Les Liaisons dangereuses, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 17: Further reading 3: Romanticism and the rise of the novel 1800 - 1855 1: Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge, Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge 2: Nothing is more wonderful, nothing more fantastic than real life, Nachtstucke, E T A Hoffmann 3: Man errs, till he has ceased to strive, Faust, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 4: Once upon a time… Children’s and Household Tales, Brothers Grimm 5: For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn? Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen 6: Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley 7: All for one, one for all, The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas 8: But happiness I never aimed for, it is a stranger to my soul, Eugene Onegin, Alexander Pushkin 9: Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes, Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman 10: You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass 11: I am no bird; and no net ensnares me, Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte 12: I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul! Wurthering Heights, Emily Bronte 13: There is no folly of the beast of the Earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men, Moby-Dick, Herman Melville 14: All partings foreshadow the great final one, Bleak House, Charles Dickens 15: Further Reading 4: Depicting real life 1855 – 1900 1: Boredom, quiet as the spider, was spinning its web in the shadowy places of her heart, Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert 2: I too am a child of this land; I too grew up amid this scenery, The Guarani, Jose de Alencar 3: The poet is a kinsman in the clouds, Les Fleurs du mal, Charles Baudelaire 4: Not being heard is no reason for silence, Les Miserables, Victor Hugo 5: Curiouser and curiouser! Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll 6: Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart, Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky 7: To describe directly the life of humanity or even of a single nation, appears impossible, War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy 8: It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view, Middlemarch, George Eliot 9: We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne 10: In Sweden all we do is to celebrate jubilees, The Red Room, August Strindberg 11: She is written in a foreign tongue, The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James 12: Human beings can be awful cruel to one another, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain 13: He simply wanted to go down the mine again, to suffer and to struggle, Germinal, Emile Zola 14: The evening sun was now ugly to her, like a great inflamed wound in the sky, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy 15: The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde 16: There are things old and new which must not be contemplated by men’s eyes, Dracula, Bram Stoker 17: One of the dark places of the earth, Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad 18: Further reading 5: Breaking with tradition 1900 - 1945 1: The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle 2: I am a cat. As yet I have no name. I’ve no idea where I was born, I am a Cat, Natsume Soseki 3: Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin, Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka 4: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, Poems, Wilfred Owen 5: April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, The Waste Land, T S Eliot 6: The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit, Ulysses, James Joyce 7: When I was young I, too, had many dreams, Call to Arms, Lu Xun 8: Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself, The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran 9: Criticism marks the origin of progress and enlightenment, The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann 10: Like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars, The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald 11: The old world must crumble. Awake, wind of dawn! Berlin Alexanderplatz, Alfred Doblin 12: Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston 13: Dead men are heavier than broken hearts, The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler 14: It is such a secret place, the land of tears, The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery 15: Further reading 6: Post-war writing 1945 – 1970 1: Big Brother is watching you, Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell 2: I’m seventeen now, and sometimes I act like I’m about thirteen, The Catcher in the Rye, J D Salinger 3: Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland, Poppy and Memory, Paul Celan 4: I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me, Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison 5: Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul, Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov 6: Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s awful! Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett 7: It is impossible to touch eternity with one hand and life with the other, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Yukio Mishima 8: He was the beat – the root, the soul of beatific, On the Road, Jack Kerouac 9: What is good among one people is an abomination with others, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe 10: Even wallpaper has a better memory than human beings, The Tin Drum, Gunter Grass 11: I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 12: Nothing is lost if one has the courage to proclaim that all is lost and we must begin anew, Hopscotch, Julio Cortazar 13: He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt, Catch-22, Joseph Heller 14: I rhyme to see myself, to set the darkness echoing, Death of a Naturalist, Seamus Heaney 15: There’s got to be something wrong with us. To do what we did, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote 16: Ending at every moment but never ending its ending, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez 17: Further reading 7: Contemporary literature 1970 – present 1: Our history is an aggregate of last moments, Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon 2: You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, Italio Calvino 3: To understand just one life you have to swallow the world, Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie 4: Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another, Beloved, Toni Morrison 5: Heaven and Earth were in turmoil, Red Sorghum, Mo Yan 6: You could not tell a story like this. A story like this you could only feel, Oscar and Lucinda, Peter Carey 7: Cherish our island for its green simplicities, Omeros, Derek Walcott 8: I felt lethal, on the verge of frenzy, American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis 9: Quietly they moved down the calm and sacred river, A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth 10: It’s a very Greek idea, and a profound one. Beauty is terror, The Secret History, Donna Tartt 11: What we see before us is just one tiny part of the world, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami 12: Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are, Blindness, Jose Saramago 13: English is an unfit medium for the truth of South Africa, Disgrace, J M Coetzee 14: Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories, White Teeth, Zadie Smith 15: The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn’t one, The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood 16: There was something his family wanted to forget, The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen 17: It all stems from the same nightmare, the one we created together, The Guest, Hwang Sok-yong 18: I regret that it takes a life to learn how to live, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer 19: Further reading 8: Glossary 9: Index 10: Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.The horrid mystery hanging over us in this house gets into my head like liquor, and makes me wild.'Centred around a glorious yellow diamond that carries with it a menacing history, The Moonstone tells the story of Rachel Verinder, who inherits the stone on her eighteenth birthday. That very evening, the diamond is stolen and there begins an epic enquiry into hunting down the thief. At the same time, three Indian men, Brahmin guardians of the diamond are attempting to reclaim the stone in order to return it to their sacred Hindu Idol.Told from the perspective of 11different characters, Wilkie Collins' tale of mystery and suspicion was considered the first modern English detective novel at its time of publication.

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Book SynopsisThe complex moral ambiguities of seduction and revenge make Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782) one of the most scandalous and controversial novels in European literature. The subject of major film and stage adaptations, the novel''s prime movers, the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, form an unholy alliance and turn seduction into a game - a game which they must win. This new translation gives Laclos a modern voice, and readers will be able a judge whether the novel is as `diabolical'' and `infamous'' as its critics have claimed, or whether it has much to tell us about the kind of world we ourselves live in. David Coward''s introduction explodes myths about Laclos''s own life and puts the book in its literary and cultural context. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a weTrade ReviewThe Oxford World's Classic edition offers students an excellent introduction to this classic text and also important notes and chronologies. * Dr. Paraic Finnerty, University of Portsmouth. *

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Book SynopsisScience Fiction has proved notoriously difficult to define. It has been explained as a combination of romance, science and prophecy; as a genre based on an imagined alternative to the reader''s environment; and as a form of fantastic fiction and historical literature. It has also been argued that science fiction narratives are the most engaged, socially relevant, and responsive to the modern technological environment. This Very Short Introduction doesn''t offer a history of science fiction, but instead ties examples of science fiction to different historical moments, in order to demonstrate how science fiction has evolved over time. David Seed looks not only at literature, but also at drama and poetry, as well as film. Examining recurrent themes in science fiction he looks at voyages into space, the concept of the alien and alternative social identities, the role of technology in science fiction, and its relation to time - in the past, present, and future. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade Reviewbrief yet thorough * The Guardian *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Voyages into space ; 2. Alien encounters ; 3. Science fiction and technology ; 4. Utopias and dystopias ; 5. Fictions of time ; 6. The field of science fiction

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Book Synopsis'Fascinating.... Wonderfully exhilarating.' Mail on SundayFinalist for The Tolkien Society Best Book AwardAn engaging, original and radical reassessment of J.R.R. Tolkien, revealing how his visionary creation of Middle-Earth is more relevant now than ever before.What is it about Middle-Earth and its inhabitants that has captured the imagination of millions of people around the world? And why does Tolkien's visionary creation continue to fascinate and inspire us eighty-five years on from its first appearance?Beginning with Tolkien's earliest influences and drawing on key moments from his life, Twenty-First-Century Tolkien is an engaging and radical reinterpretation of the beloved author's work. Not only does it trace the genesis of the original books, it also explores the later adaptations and reworkings that cemented his reputation as a cultural phenomenon, including Peter Jackson's blockbuster films of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and the highly anticipated TV series The Rings of Power.Delving deep into topics such as friendship, failure, the environment, diversity, and Tolkien's place in a post-Covid age, Nick Groom takes us on an unexpected journey through Tolkien's world, revealing how it is more relevant now than ever before.Trade ReviewFascinating... Wonderfully exhilarating... In a rousing finale, Groom suggests that Tolkien is exactly the writer we need at this particularly perilous moment, as we emerge, Hobbit-like, from our holes and try to imagine a new kind of life in this post-pandemic age. * Mail on Sunday *Each chapter displays a mastery of both the works in question - whether books or adaptations - and of the vast corpus of Tolkien scholarship. Narratives of literary production or of Hollywood bureaucratic processes rarely come as absorbing as Groom's... Illuminating... Groom's explorations of Tolkien's sources... are always provocative and often ingenious. * Literary Review *This fascinating book explores The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings from their genesis through all the different major adaptations of the Tolkien 'legendarium.' It starts off neatly summarizing Tolkien's life and influences - such as his friendship with W.H. Auden and C.S. Lewis. * Wall Street Journal *Provides a fresh study of the impact Tolkien has on contemporary readers' and viewers' understanding of good, evil, war, and conflict. * Library Journal *A loving ode to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. An adventure worth taking. * Publishers Weekly *A modern journey through Tolkien's work, which has engendered a rich field of cultural activity. A thought-provoking examination. With the authority of extensive research, Groom unpacks the reasons for the appeal of Tolkien to a new generation. * Kirkus Reviews *An excellent, perceptive and superbly crafted analysis of the way our ever-changing world has responded to Tolkien. A stunning achievement. -- Brian Sibley, award-winning author of The Fall of NúmenorTable of Contents1: Myriad Middle-Earths 2: Uncertainty 3: The Ambiguity of Evil 4: The Hesitancy of Good 5: Lucid Moments 6: Just War 7: Conclusion: Weird Things

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Book SynopsisIn 1983 de Beauvoir published Sartre''s letters, maintaining that her own to him had been lost. They were found by de Beauvoir''s adopted daughter, and published to a storm of controversy in France. Tracing the emotional and triangular complications of her life with Sartre, the letters reveal her not only as manipulative and dependent but Simonealso as vulnerable, passionate, jealous and committed.Trade ReviewThere is more than a whiff of Les Liaisons Dangereuses about these pages * Spectator *This is a vivid piece of unexpurgated social history, and an opportunity to hear a vigorous and innovative thinker...speaking in her abrasive, touching, breathtakingly candid private voice * Sunday Times *

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Book Synopsis''Superb, beautifully written, touching and occasionally very funny'' Andrew RobertsDavid Gilmour''s superb biography of Rudyard Kipling is the first to show how the life and work of the great writer mirrored the trajectory of the British Empire, from its zenith to its final decades. His famous poem ''Recessional'' celebrated Queen Victoria''s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, but his last poems warned of the dangers of Nazism, and in those intervening years Kipling, himself an icon of the Empire, was transformed from an apostle of success to a prophet of national decline. As Gilmour makes clear, Kipling''s mysterious stories and poetry deeply influenced the way his readers saw both themselves and the British Empire, and they continue to challenge us today.''A fine, fair and generous work ... Gilmour''s celebrated life of Curzon demonstrated his mastery of imperial nuance and esoteric character, and he brings to this book just the right combination of empathy,Trade ReviewAn enthralling biography of a mind ... essential reading for anyone who cares about how a writer finds, and passionately lives, his subject -- Ruth Padel * Daily Telegraph *The best Kipling biogaphy yet written ... Gilmour's account of this driven man shines with intelligence -- J. B. Pick * Scotsman *A fine, fair and generous work ... Gilmour's celebrated life of Curzon demonstrated his mastery of imperial nuance and esoteric character, and he brings to this book just the right combination of empathy, distaste and fastidious detachment -- Jan Morris * New Statesman *

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Book Synopsis''Senneval, you see in me your sister, the girl you seduced at Nancy, the woman who murdered your son, the wife of your own father and the ignoble creature who sent your mother to the gallows...''Who but the Marquis de Sade would write, not of the pain, tragedy, and joy of love but of its crimes? Murder, seduction, and incest are among the cruel rewards for selfless love in his stories; tragedy, despair, and death the inevitable outcome. Sade''s villains will stop at nothing to satisfy their depraved passions, and they in turn suffer under the thrall of love.Psychologically astute, and defiantly unconventional, these stories show Sade at his best. A skilled and artful storyteller, he is also an intellectual who asks questions about society, about ourselves, and about life, for which we have yet to find the answers. This new selection includes ''An Essay on Novels'', Sade''s penetrating survey of the novelist''s art. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade Review[An] excellent new edition... A recommended introduction to the Sadean oeuvre for anyone genuinely interested in the ideas that won him enduring notoriety. * Ruth Scurr, Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsAn Essay on Novels ; Miss Henrietta Stralson, or The Effects of Despair ; Faxelange, or the Faults of Ambition ; Florville and Courval, or Fatality ; Rodrigo, or The Enchanted Tower ; Ernestine. A Swedish Tale ; The Countess of Sancerre, or Her Daughter's Rival ; Eugenie de Franval. A Tragic Tale

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Book SynopsisPrepare to meet what lurks beneath .'Macabre, fantastic and haunting . In her vision of intimacy and interdependence, you're simply not safe until everybody else is dead . ' Guardian'Idiosyncratic, haunting, masterly .

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE 2023 LOCUS AWARD FOR NON-FICTIONWINNER OF THE BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION AWARD FOR BEST NON-FICTIONFINALIST FOR THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST RELATED WORKSHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH FANTASY AWARD FOR BEST NON-FICTION'Always readable, illuminating and honest. It made me miss the real Terry.' - Neil Gaiman'Sometimes joyfully, sometimes painfully, intimate . . . it is wonderful to have this closeup picture of the writer's working life.' - Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Observer--------At the time of his death in 2015, award-winning and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett was working on his finest story yet - his own.The creator of the phenomenally bestselling Discworld series, Terry Pratchett was known and loved around the world for his hugely popular books, his smart satirical humour and the humanity of his campaign work. But that's only part of the picture.Before his untimely death, Terry was writing a memoir: the story of a boy who aged six was told by his teacher that he would never amount to anything and spent the rest of his life proving him wrong. For Terry lived a life full of astonishing achievements: becoming one of the UK's bestselling and most beloved writers, winning the prestigious Carnegie Medal and being awarded a knighthood.Now, the book Terry sadly couldn't finish has been written by Rob Wilkins, his former assistant, friend and now head of the Pratchett literary estate. Drawing on his own extensive memories, along with those of the author's family, friends and colleagues, Rob unveils the full picture of Terry's life - from childhood to his astonishing writing career, and how he met and coped with what he called the 'Embuggerance' of Alzheimer's disease.A deeply moving and personal portrait of the extraordinary life of Sir Terry Pratchett, written with unparalleled insight and filled with funny anecdotes, this is the only official biography of one of our finest authors.--------'Spins magic from mundanity in precisely the way Pratchett himself did.' - Telegraph'As frank, funny and unsentimental as anything its subject might have produced himself.' - Mail on SundayTrade ReviewAlways readable, illuminating and honest. It made me miss the real Terry. * Neil Gaiman *Heart breaking and funny . . . sometimes joyfully, sometimes painfully, intimate . . . it is wonderful to have this closeup picture of the writer's working life. -- Frank Cottrell-Boyce * Observer *The joy of this biography . . . is that it spins magic from mundanity in precisely the way Pratchett himself did. * The Telegraph *No one, after Pratchett's wife, Lyn, and daughter, Rhianna, knew the author as well as Wilkins. I wept through the last 20 pages - beautifully done - charting Pratchett's decline in a way that is both sensitive and unsparing. * The Times *Fond, funny and conveys a pitch-perfect sense of how Pratchett managed to take the elements of his 1950s working-class childhood . . . and turn it into a universe of limitless richness and invention. * Mail on Sunday *The friendship and affection between the pair shines through every page . . . Of course, [Pratchett] fans will love the book . . . and even casual readers will delight in tales of his idiosyncratic passions. * Independent *A biography almost as funny and perceptive as one of Terry's novels . . . a rich, deeply affectionate portrait of a unique personality . . . it's a joy to see the much-missed author spring back into technicolour life in this fascinating and deeply moving tribute. * Daily Express *A moving and acutely observed account . . . Pratchett's magical mind, and dementia, by the man who knew him best. * The Sunday Times *Wilkins has many advantages over most biographers, having not only known his subject well, but taken down notes while he was alive for his projected memoir. The result, at times, is like a ventriloquist act, with Pratchett's voice and personality emerging loud and clear. * The Herald *Both more and less than a biography . . . full of insights and revelations, in many ways the sort of thing Prathett might have written about himself, proud of what has been done, honest about the process . . . written with intelligence and compassion. -- Christopher Priest * The Times Literary Supplement *Reduced me to tears of both laughter and heartbreak. -- Charlotte Heathcote * Daily Mirror *Lively and affectionate, this is not a critical biography, but nor is it sycophantic. It shows Pratchett as brilliant and generous, but also cantakerous, with a ruthless sense of the ridiculous. * i News *A fabulous addition to any Pratchett library. * SFX *It isn't surprising that what most recommends this book is the anecdotes, amusing or sombre or often a mix of the two . . . It captures the spirit of Pratchett's writing by telling hard truths through an enjoyable-to-read layer and inspires rage, laughter and sadness in turns. * The Sydney Morning Herald *A captivating and in-depth account . . . [the] use of first-hand source material is very effective in relaying Pratchett's own take on many aspects of his life and career and, with Wilkins' additions and occasional fact-checking, it makes for a highly readable and enjoyable biography. * The AU Review *Wilkins is a faithful and comprehensive documenter of Pratchett's life . . . moving and sensitive. * Canberra Times *

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Book SynopsisEssential to Virginia Woolf's development as a novelist, these short stories are among the most interesting and accomplished fictions she wrote.Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text Note on Publication and Spelling Select Bibliography A Chronology of Virginia Woolf The Mark on the Wall Kew Gardens An Unwritten Novel Solid Objects A Hanuted House Monday or Tuesday Blue and Green The String Quartet A Society In the Orchard Woman's College From Outside The New Dress 'Slater's Pins Have No Points' The Lady in the Looking-glass: A Reflection Explanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisThe second of two companion volumes which documents the later writing of The Silmarillion, Tolkien's epic tale of war.In The War of the Jewels Christopher Tolkien takes up his account of the later history of The Silmarillion from the point where it was left in Morgoth's Ring. The story now returns to Middle-earth, and the ruinous conflict of the High Elves and the Men who were their allies with the power of the Dark Lord. With the publication in this book all of J.R.R. Tolkien's later narrative writing concerned with the last centuries of the First Age, the long history of The Silmarillion, from its beginning in The Book of Lost Tales, is completed; and the enigmatic state of the work at his death can be understood.This book contains the full text of the Grey Annals, the primary record of The War of the Jewels, and a major story of Middle-earth now published for the first time: the tale of the disaster that overtook the forest people of Brethil when Hurin the Steadfast came among them Trade Review‘Christopher Tolkien shows himself to be his father’s son… Tolkien devotees will rejoice’ The New York Times Book Review ‘Illustrates the development, depth and richness of J R R Tolkien’s personal mythology’ Vector

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Book SynopsisThe fourth volume that contains the early myths and legends which led to the writing of Tolkien's epic tale of war, The Silmarillion.In this fourth volume of The History of Middle-earth, the shaping of the chronological and geographical structure of the legends of Middle-earth and Valinor is spread before us.We are introduced to the hitherto unknown Ambarkanta or Shape of the World, the only account ever given of the nature of the imagined Universe, ccompanied by maps and diagrams of the world before and after the cataclyusms of The War of the Gods and the Downfall of Numenor. The first map of Beleriend is also reproduced and discussed.In The Annals of Valinor and The Annals of Beleriend we are shown how the chronology of the First Age was moulded: and the tale is told of Aelfwine, the Englishman who voyaged into the True West and came to Tol Eressea, Lonely Isle, where he learned the ancient history of Elves and Men.Also included are the original Silmarillion' of 1926, and the Quenta Trade Review‘Illustrates the development, depth and richness of J R R Tolkien’s personal mythology’ Vector

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Book SynopsisThe untold story of how the First World War shaped the lives, faith, and writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Giving an unabashedly Christian vision of hope in a world tortured by doubt and disillusionment, the two writers created works that changed the course of literature and shaped the faith of millions---now in paperback.

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Book SynopsisA third memoir from the author of the huge international bestsellers Angela's Ashes and Tis. In Teacher Man, Frank McCourt details his illustrious, amusing, and sometimes rather bumpy long years as an English teacher in the public high schools of New York CityFrank McCourt arrived in New York as a young, impoverished and idealistic Irish boy but one who crucially had an American passport, having been born in Brooklyn. He didn''t know what he wanted except to stop being hungry and to better himself. On the subway he watched students carrying books. He saw how they read and underlined and wrote things in the margin and he liked the look of this very much. He joined the New York Public Library and every night when he came back from his hotel work he would sit up reading the great novels.Building his confidence and his determination, he talked his way into NYU and gained a literature degree and so began a teaching career that was to last 30 years, working in New York''s public high schoolsTrade Review‘McCourt has a compulsion to tell us the story of his life, but he does it so well – modulating beautifully from ventriloquistically exact repro teen-speak to rhapsodic meditations on his midlife crisis – that one couldn’t possibly want him to stop. I wish I could have been in one of his classes.’ Sunday Times ‘This memoir about teaching is unlike any other I have read: relatively mundane events and incidents shine against that backdrop of that pathetic, abused child.’ Francis Gilbert, Sunday Telegraph ‘In this third memoir, McCourt recounts his years as a high-school teacher in New York, where he would stop at nothing to reach his surly charges. Nine times out of 10, his approach was successful and it is exhilarating to see these generations of tough-talking teenagers blossom.’ Observer

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Book SynopsisThe unfinished fictions collected here are the novels and other writing that Jane Austen did not publish, including works such as Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon.Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text Select Bibliography A Chronology of Jane Austen Lady Susan The Watsons Sanditon Opinions of Mansfield Park Opinions of Emma Plan of A Novel Verses Appendix Abbreviations Textual Notes Explanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisThe history America never wanted you to read. 'The narrative took my breath away' Philippe Sands 'An extraordinarily and shockingly powerful read' Peter Frankopan 'One of the must-reads of the year' Suzannah Lipscomb 'Brilliant and provocative' Gavin Esler Sarah Churchwell examines one of the most enduringly popular stories of all time, Gone with the Wind, to help explain the divisions ripping the United States apart today. Separating fact from fiction, she shows how histories of mythmaking have informed America's racial and gender politics, the controversies over Confederate statues, the resurgence of white nationalism, the Black Lives Matter movement, the enduring power of the American Dream, and the violence of Trumpism. Gone with the Wind was an instant bestseller when it was published in 1936; its film version became the most successful Hollywood film of all time. Today the story's racism is again a subject of controversy, but it was just as controversial in the 1930s, foreshadowing today's debates over race and American fascism. In The Wrath to Come, Sarah Churchwell charts an extraordinary journey through 160 years of American denialism. From the Lost Cause to the romances behind the Ku Klux Klan, from the invention of the 'ideal' slave plantation to the erasure of interwar fascism, Churchwell shows what happens when we do violence to history, as collective denial turns fictions into lies, and lies into a vicious reality.Trade ReviewEye-opening and at times jaw-dropping; a powerful reminder of the prejudices and suffering horrors of the recent past, and a call to arms to learn from the lessons of history. Highly recommended -- Peter FrankopanAn extraordinarily and shockingly powerful read... With meticulous research and fine structure, it offers a most disturbing arc that transports us from now back to what we thought was another era but which is, in reality, so deeply enmeshed with the intolerances and prejudices of today. At times the narrative took my breath away. I was riveted from start to finish -- Philippe SandsSarah Churchwell's brilliant and provocative guide to understanding the twenty-first century dis-United States of America explores America's myths about itself, through that great Hollywood myth about the South and racism, Gone With the Wind. If you want to know why Donald Trump connects with so many Americans today, as a link to the 'Lost Cause' of the Confederacy, Churchwell's account offers the answers -- Gavin EslerA brilliant and important book that exposes the truths hidden by one of the world's most famous stories and, in so doing, reveals how the (im)moral weight of this tale has not only shaped American culture over the last century but is shaping American politics and society today. One of the must-reads of the year -- Suzannah LipscombThe Wrath to Come is packed with fascinating, well-researched and often jaw-dropping history * Daily Telegraph *Churchwell's excoriating analysis is energising * Literary Review *Stylish and thoughtful, Churchwell's book is an exemplary exploration of how Gone with the Wind reflects, and continues to affect, American culture * Spectator *A painful reflection on how the ghosts of the civil war still haunt US culture * The Times *The case Churchwell builds against Gone with the Wind is a compelling one * Sunday Times *Rich in detail and rigorously argued, this is cultural history at its very best * Tortoise Media *A stylish blend of literary criticism, cultural history and political polemic * Sunday Business Post *She has a deep scholarly understanding of America's literature and history, and her writing is smart and crisp, creating a narrative that is as gripping as it is enlightening * Mail Plus *An exceptional book, smart and searing and scary * Baptist News *

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Book SynopsisAngelica Garnett may truly be called a child of Bloomsbury. Her Aunt was Virginia Woolf, her mother Vanessa Bell, and her father Duncan Grant, though for many years Angelica believed herself, naturally enough, the daughter of Vanessa''s husband Clive. Her childhood homes, Charleston in Sussex and Gordon Square in London, were both centres of Bloomsbury activity, and she grew up surrounded by the most talked-about writers and artists of the day - Leonard and Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry, the Stracheys, Maynard Keynes, David Garnett (whom she later married), and many others. But Deceived with Kindness is also a record of a young girl''s particular struggle to achieve independence from that extraordinary and intense milieu as a mature and independent woman. With an honesty that is by degrees agonising and uplifting, the author creates a vibrant, poignant picture of her mother, Vanessa Bell, of her own emergent individuality, and of the Bloomsbury era.Trade ReviewPassionate, lucid, risky, rash, hard to put down and impossible to forget -- Hilary Spurling * Observer *Beautifully written and admirably honest... Refreshing and surprising -- Fiona MacCarthy * The Times *

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Book Synopsis'A fine biography...Rogers has done a wonderful job' Daily Telegraph J. L. Carr was the most English of Englishmen: headmaster of a Northamptonshire school, cricket enthusiast and campaigner for the conservation of country churches. But he was also the author of half a dozen utterly unique novels, including his masterpiece, A Month in the Country, and a publisher of some of the most eccentric - and smallest - books ever printed. Byron Roger's acclaimed biography reveals an elusive, quixotic and civic-minded individual with an unswerving sympathy for the underdog, who led his schoolchildren through the streets to hymn the beauty of the cherry trees and paved his garden path with the printing plates for his hand-drawn maps, and whose fiction is quite remarkably autobiographical. Much more than the life of a thoroughly decent man, The Last Englishman is a comic and touching anatomy of the best kind of Englishness. 'Conveying the significance of the author of Carr's Dictionary of Extraordinary Cricketers to anyone unfamiliar with his books, or what may now fairly be called his myth, was always going to be difficult. Somehow, Roger's has managed it' D. J. Taylor, Sunday Times 'A great success, and more life-affirming than F. R. Leavis's entire output' Independent on Sunday

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Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionLonglisted for the Orwell Prize for Political WritingThe Ministry of Truth charts the life of George Orwell's 1984, one of the most influential books of the twentieth century and a work that is ever more relevant in this tumultuous era of 'fake news' and 'alternative facts'. 'Fascinating . . . If you have even the slightest interest in Orwell or in the development of our culture, you should not miss this engrossing, enlightening book.' - John Carey, The Sunday TimesGeorge Orwell's 1984 has become a defining narrative of the modern world. Its cultural influence can be observed in some of the most notable creations of the past seventy years, from Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale to the reality TV landmark Big Brother, while ideas such as 'thought police', 'doublethink', and 'Newspeak' are ingrained in our language.In the first book to fully examine the origin and legacy of Orwell's final masterpiece, Dorian Lynskey investigates the influences that came together in the writing of 1984 from Orwell's experiences in the Spanish Civil War and in wartime London to his fascination with utopian and dystopian fiction. Lynskey explores the phenomenon the novel became when it was first published in 1949 and the changing ways in which it has been read over the decades since, revealing how history can inform fiction and how fiction can influence history.'Everything you wanted to know about 1984 but were too busy misusing the word "Orwellian" to ask.' - Caitlin MoranTrade ReviewFascinating . . . Freshly and powerfully argued . . . If you have even the slightest interest in Orwell or in the development of our culture, you should not miss this engrossing, enlightening book. -- John Carey, The Sunday TimesThe Ministry of Truth is the best book I have read in a long time. Fizzing with ideas yet superbly readable . . . [this] is both a warning and an exhortation for us all to be stubborn as Orwell was with facts, and like Winston Smith to cling to the belief that 2+2=4. -- C. J. SansomEverything you wanted to know about 1984 but were too busy misusing the word -Orwellian- to ask. -- Caitlin Moran

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Book SynopsisThe first-ever volume of the photographs of German writer W.G. Sebald, exquisitely designed to shed new light on his creative process, as it chronicles the images and encounters that shaped his writing life. Shadows of Reality presents a unique, fully illustrated catalogue of W.G. Sebald's photographs- an extraordinary combination of film negatives, prints, and slides from the University of East Anglia's photographic collection, the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach, and the Sebald Estate. Complementing the exhibition Lines of Sight- W.G. Sebald's East Anglia and edited by literary scholar Clive Scott and photography curator Nick Warr, this wonderfully comprehensive book covers the multiple photographic facets of Sebald's published work and includes a substantial amount of material that has not been made public before. Introduced by Nick Warr, who offers an intriguing overview of the author's critical relationship to photography, Shadows of Reality also includes an illuminating interview with Michael Brandon-Jones, the photographer who collaborated with Sebald on all of his publications. The book features a collection of extracts-principally on photography-from interviews with Sebald himself, bequeathed to the archive of recordings held at the University of East Anglia by his close friend Gordon Turner, who also provides a memoir. Accompanying these are inspired essays by Clive Scott and Angela Breidbach on Sebald's writing-with-photographs and the complex and mercurial interactions of those photographs with narrative design. A deeply important collection for anyone interested in Sebald's creative processes or the ways in which photography might serve fiction, Shadows of Reality is an inexhaustible treasure trove of new discoveries and revelations about the cherished international author.

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