Narrative theme: coming of age

Book Synopsis''No man is free of his own history'' Hartmann and Fibich came to England on the kindertransport. As orphans of the war they were strangers in a strange land. Together, they survived. And in adulthood they have been unable to separate, sharing a successful business.Yet Hartmann''s carefully polished manners conceal the past he refuses to think about. While Fibich, a mass of fears and neuroses, can do nothing but remember. Together these two men seek to build a future from the shaky foundations of their own pasts . . .''Like Virginia Woolf, Brookner''s aim is not to draw characters in the round, but to reveal psychological reality in the deep'' The TimesTrade ReviewHer technique as a novelist is so sure and so quietly commanding -- Hilary Mantel Guardian Anita Brookner's best novel so far -- Victoria Glendinning She has never written a better novel ... unbearably moving -- Ruth Rendell It is hard to imagine her taut spare prose going out of fashion The Times

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Book SynopsisEvelyn Waugh''s beloved masterpiece, with an introduction by Paula Byrne The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh''s novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder''s infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by Sebastian Flyte at Oxford, then by his doomed Catholic family, in particular his remote sister, Julia, Charles comes finally to recognise his spiritual and social distance from them.''Lush and evocative ... Expresses at once the profundity of change and the indomitable endurance of the human spirit''The Times

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Book SynopsisPlayful and experimental, James Joyce''s autobiographical A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a vivid portrayal of emotional and intellectual development. This Penguin Modern Classics edition is edited with an introduction and notes by Seamus Deane.The portrayal of Stephen Dedalus''s Dublin childhood and youth, his quest for identity through art and his gradual emancipation from the claims of family, religion and Ireland itself, is also an oblique self-portrait of the young James Joyce and a universal testament to the artist''s ''eternal imagination''. Both an insight into Joyce''s life and childhood, and a unique work of modernist fiction, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a novel of sexual awakening, religious rebellion and the essential search for voice and meaning that every nascent artist must face in order to fully come into themselves.James Joyce (1882-1941), the eldest of ten children, was born in Dublin, but exiled himself to Pa

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Book SynopsisOn the Road swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, generosity, chill dawns and drugs, with Sal Paradise and his hero Dean Moriarty, traveller and mystic, the living epitome of Beat. Now recognized as a modern classic, its American Dream is nearer that of Walt Whitman than Scott Fitzgerald, and it goes racing towards the sunset with unforgettable exuberance, poignancy and autobiographical passion.

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Book Synopsis''The Adventures of Augie March is the Great American Novel. Search no further'' Martin AmisA penniless and parentless Chicago boy growing up in the Great Depression, Augie March drifts through life latching on to a wild succession of occupations, including butler, thief, dog-washer, sailor and salesman. He is a ''born recruit'', easily influenced by others who try to mould his destiny. Not until he tangles with the glamorous Thea, a huntress with a trained eagle, can he attempt to break free. A modern day everyman on an odyssey in search of reality and identity, Augie March is the star of star performer in a richly observed human variety show, a modern-day Columbus in search of reality and fulfilment.The Adventures of Augie March includes an introduction by Christopher Hitchens in Penguin Modern Classics.''Funny, poignant, crowded with carnivalesque types and yet narrated by a voice that is lonely and simple, it is Bellow''s fat comic maTrade ReviewAstonishingly and tremendously entertaining -- The New York TimesA rollicking, perplexing, astounding whopper of a picaresque novel * Chicago Sunday Times *Funny, poignant ... it is Bellow's fat comic masterpiece * Augie March *The great novel of the young person * Harper's *

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Book SynopsisA witty, moving philosophical novel, Jack Kerouac''s The Dharma Bums is a journey of self-discovery through the lens of Zen Buddhist thought. This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Ann Douglas.Following the explosive energy of On the Road, the book that put the Beat Genration on the literary map - and Jack Kerouac on the bestseller list - comes The Dharma Bums, in which Kerouac charts the spiritual quest of a group of friends in search of Dharma, or Truth. Ray Smith and his friend Japhy, along with Morley the yodeller, head off into the high Sierras to seek the lesson of solitude and experience the Zen way of life. But in wildly Bohemian San Francisco, with its poetry jam sessions, marathon drinking bouts and experiments in ''yabyum'', they find the ascetic route distinctly hard to follow.Jack Kerouac (1922-69) was an American novelist, poet, artist and part of the Beat Generation. His first published novel, The Town

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Book SynopsisJames Baldwin''s electrifying first novel.''I had to deal with what hurt me most. I had to deal with my father.''Drawing on James Baldwin''s own boyhood in a religious community in 1930s Harlem, his first novel tells the story of young Johnny Grimes. Johnny is destined to become a preacher like his father, Gabriel, at the Temple of the Fire Baptized, where the church swells with song and it is as if ''the Holy Ghost were riding on the air''. But he feels only scalding hatred for Gabriel, whose fear and fanaticism lead him to abuse his family. Johnny vows that, for him, things will be different. This blazing tale is full of passion and guilt, of secret sinners and prayers singing on the wind. ''His prose hit me, almost winding me with its intensity. I''d never read a novel that described loneliness and desire with such burning eloquence'' Douglas Field, Guardian''A beautiful, enduring, spirtual song of a novel'' Andrew O''HaganTrade ReviewIt broke my heart and made me want to jump up and down... It captures an essential aspect of life in America, its contradictions and seductions, that bittersweet mix of love and hate that so many feel towards the country -- Azar Nafisi * Independent *His prose hit me, almost winding me with its intensity. I'd never read a novel that described loneliness and desire with such burning eloquence -- Douglas Field * Guardian *Vivid imagery, with lavish attention to details * The New York Times *A beautiful, enduring, spiritual song of a novel -- Andrew O'HaganOne of the few essential novelists of our time * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisTruman Capote was born in New Orleans in 1925. He left school at fifteen and subsequently worked for the New Yorker - which provided his first - and last - regular job. He wrote Other Voices, Other Rooms while working on a Louisiana farm in the late 1940s. Truman Capote died in 1984

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Book SynopsisMeg, Jo, Amy and Beth - four 'little women' enduring hardships and enjoying adventures in Civil War New England.Trade Review"The American female myth."—Madelon Bedell

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Book SynopsisThese sumptuous new hardback editions mark the 70th anniversary of Fitzgerald''s death. Increasingly disillusioned by the rejection slips that studded the walls of his room and his on/off engagement to Zelda Sayre, Fitzgerald began his third revision of the novel that was to become This Side of Paradise. The story of a young man''s painful sexual and intellectual awakening that echoes Fitzgerald''s own career, it is also a portrait of the lost generation that followed straight on from the First World War, ''grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken'' and wanting money and success more than anything else.Trade Review“As nearly perfect as such a work could be . . . The glorious spirit of abounding youth glows throughout this fascinating tale. Amory, the romantic egotist, is essentially American.” –The New York Times“[A] bravura display of literary promise . . . Fitzgerald’s prose is capable of soaring like a violin, and of moving his readers with understated husky notes as well as with notes of piercing purity . . . Fitzgerald knew that glamour was bound to fail, that there is an ineradicable human instinct for it which is utterly mistaken.” –from the Introduction by Craig Raine

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Book SynopsisThe Penguin English Library Edition of Great Expectations by Charles DickensWhat do you think that is?'' she asked me, again pointing with her stick; ''that, where those cobwebs are?I can''t guess what it is, ma''am.It''s a great cake. A bride-cake. Mine!Great Expectations, Dickens''s funny, frightening and tender portrayal of the orphan Pip''s journey of self-discovery, is one of his best-loved works. Showing how a young man''s life is transformed by a mysterious series of events - an encounter with an escaped prisoner; a visit to a black-hearted old woman and a beautiful girl; a fortune from a secret donor - Dickens''s late novel is a masterpiece of psychological and moral truth, and Pip among his greatest creations.The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

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Book SynopsisBotchan is a modern young man from the Tokyo metropolis, sent to the ultra-traditional Matsuyama district as a Maths teacher after his the death of his parents. Cynical, rebellious and immature, Botchan finds himself facing several tests, from the pupils - prone to playing tricks on their new, naïve teacher; the staff - vain, immoral, and in danger of becoming a bad influence on Botchan; and from his own as-yet-unformed nature, as he finds his place in the world. One of the most popular novels in Japan where it is considered a classic of adolescence, as seminal as The Catcher in the Rye, Botchan is as funny, poignant and memorable as it was when first published, over 100 years ago.In J. Cohn''s introduction to his colourful translation, he discusses Botchan''s success, the book''s clash between Western intellectualism and traditional Japanese values, and the importance of names and nicknames in the novel.Trade ReviewSoseki's lightest and funniest work -- Donald KeeneThis rollicking rebel, and the spice and pace of the narrative, will appeal to parent, teacher, and schoolchild alike * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisThe Haunted Life is the coming-of-age story of Peter Martin, a college track star determined to idle away what he knows will be one of his last innocent summers in his tranquil New England home town. But with the war escalating in Europe and his two closest friends both plotting their escapes, he realizes how sheltered his upbringing has been. As he surveys the competing influences of his youth, he struggles to determine what might lead to an intellectually authentic life. The Haunted Life is ultimately a meditation on intellectual truth, male friendship and the desire for movement - all themes that would dominate Kerouac''s later work.

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Book SynopsisThe New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club introduces a middle-class American family that is ordinary in every way but one in this novel that won the PEN/Faulkner Award and was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize.   Meet the Cooke family: Mother and Dad, brother Lowell, sister Fern, and Rosemary, who begins her story in the middle. She has her reasons. “I was raised with a chimpanzee,” she explains. “I tell you Fern was a chimp and already you aren’t thinking of her as my sister. But until Fern’s expulsion...she was my twin, my funhouse mirror, my whirlwind other half and I loved her as a sister.” As a child, Rosemary never stopped talking. Then, something happened, and Rosemary wrapped herself in silence. In We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler weaves her most accomplished work to date—a tale of loving but fallible people whose well-intentioned actions

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Book SynopsisFor the centennial of its original publication, a beautiful Deluxe Edition of one of Joyce’s greatest works—featuring a foreword by Karl Ove Knausgaard, author the New York Times bestselling six-volume autobiographical novel My Struggle, which has been likened to a 21st-century Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man   The first, shortest, and most approachable of James Joyce’s novels, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man portrays the Dublin upbringing of Stephen Dedalus, from his youthful days at Clongowes Wood College to his radical questioning of all convention. In doing so, it provides an oblique self-portrait of the young Joyce himself. At its center lie questions of origin and source, authority and authorship, and the relationship of an artist to his family, culture, and race. Exuberantly inventive in style, the novel subtly and beautifully orchestrates the patterns of quotation and repetition instrumental inTrade ReviewOne believes in Stephen Dedalus as one believes in few characters in fiction. -- H. G. Wells[Mr. Joyce is] concerned at all costs to reveal the flickerings of that innermost flame which flashes its myriad message through the brain, he disregards with complete courage whatever seems to him adventitious, though it be probability or coherence or any other of the handrails to which we cling for support when we set our imaginations free. -- Virginia Woolf[A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man will] remain a permanent part of English literature. -- Ezra Pound

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Book SynopsisPart of the Penguin Orange Collection, a limited-run series of twelve influential and beloved American classics in a bold series design offering a modern take on the iconic Penguin paperback Winner of the 2016 AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books 50 Covers competition For the seventieth anniversary of Penguin Classics, the Penguin Orange Collection celebrates the heritage of Penguin’s iconic book design with twelve influential American literary classics representing the breadth and diversity of the Penguin Classics library. These collectible editions are dressed in the iconic orange and white tri-band cover design, first created in 1935, while french flaps, high-quality paper, and striking cover illustrations provide the cutting-edge design treatment that is the signature of Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions today.On the Road Jack Kerouac’s masterpiece of the Beat era was first published in 1957 and continues to provide a vital portrait of a generation adrift, as well as inspiration for travelers, dreamers, and artists in every generation that has followed.Trade Review"An authentic work of art . . . the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat,' and whose principal avatar he is." --Gilbert Millstein, The New York Times "On the Road has the kind of drive that blasts through to a large public. . . . What makes the novel really important, what gives it that drive is a genuine new, engaging and exciting prose style. . . . What keeps the book going is the power and beauty of the writing." --Kenneth Rexroth, San Francisco Chronicle "One of the finest novels of recent years. . . a highly euphoric and intensely readable story about a group of wandering young hedonists who cross the country in endless search of kicks." --Leonard Feather, Downbeat

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Zobel relays José’s pain and frustration in measured, matter-of-fact prose. This perfectly captures the education of an outsider in the shadow of colonization."—Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisA timeless American novel about an immigrant girl growing up on the Lower East Side who dares to challenge her Orthodox Jewish family?s narrow conceptions of a woman?s place in the world, featuring a new foreword by the author of the New York Times bestseller Unorthodox?the basis for the hit Netflix series?and cover art by New Yorker cartoonist Liana FinckA Penguin ClassicThe youngest of four daughters in a family that left Poland in the 1920s for the crowded tenements of New York City?s Lower East Side, Sara Smolinsky has seen her sisters resign themselves, under their rabbi father?s iron fist, to loveless marriages and empty futures. They are ?bread givers,? working to feed the family while their father studies the Torah?according to which, as their father reminds them, a woman without her father or husband is ?less than nothing.? But Sara hungers for more. In defiance of her father, she breaks free, escaping home to see what the American dream holds for her in this poignant coming-of-age tale and striking portrait of feminist rebellion.For more than seventy-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 2,000 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Trade ReviewBread Givers enables us to see our life more clearly, to test its values, to reckon up what it is that our aims and achievements may mean. It has a raw, uncontrollable poetry * New York Times *A fine novel ... Yezierska's sense of vernacular is wonderful * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZEFROM THE COSTA AWARD-WINNING, WOMEN'S PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF UNSETTLED GROUNDEvery parent lies. But some lies are bigger than othersIn the summer of 1976 eight-year-old Peggy Hillcoat is taken from London by her survivalist father to live in a cabin in a remote European forest. When they arrive he tells Peggy that her mother and the rest of the world are gone.Now the two of them must scratch a living from the earth: trapping squirrels, foraging for berries, surviving winter as best they can. But it is easy to lose you way in the forest, to lose yourself. How long will Peggy trust her father''s story? How long can you stay sane when the world is lost? And what happens when you stop believing in everything?Extraordinary' The Sunday TimesRemarkable' Penelope LivelyHaunting, suspenseful As warped and sinister as any Brothers Grimm fairytale' MetroTrade ReviewExtraordinary...From the opening sentence it is gripping...Fuller writes with a singing simplicity that finds beauty amid the terror...might well have you crying out for more. * The Sunday Times *Fuller handles the tension masterfully in this grown-up thriller of a fairytale, full of clues, questions and intrigue. * The Times *Bewitching...a rivetingly dark tale...spellbinding. * Sunday Express *Fuller's twisted tale is compulsive, treading the fine line between charming and sinister. With its disturbing twist, Our Endless Numbered Days could well become a classic. * Stylist, 'Book Wars' *Rewardingly unsettling...as warped and sinister as any Brothers Grimm fairytale, this tautly written, tense novel is brilliant at evoking both the bewitching beauty of its setting - and its inherent dangers...haunting, suspenseful and deftly written...memorably chilling. * Metro *A debut novel that brings to mind such unlikely bedfellows as Thoreau's Walden and Emma Donoghue's Room...gripping. * Guardian *A remarkable first novel, I was much impressed by the conviction of the child's eye view, the vivid climate and the power of the narrative. * Penelope Lively *Our Endless Numbered Days is suspenseful, utterly riveting, and as dark as midnight in the forest. * Rebecca Hunt (author of Everland and Mr Chartwell) *Excellent...I loved the combination of Peggy/Punzel's absolutely authentic child's precision for detail and her day-to-day matter-of-factness (often very funny) with the strangeness of the world she inhabited...very powerfully imagined... absolutely compelling. * Morag Joss (author of The Night Following) *

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Book SynopsisA beautiful clothbound edition of Evelyn Waugh''s classic novel of duty and desire set against the backdrop of the faded glory of the English aristocracy in the run-up to the Second World War.The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh''s novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder''s infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by Sebastian Flyte at Oxford, then by his doomed Catholic family, in particular his remote sister, Julia, Charles comes finally to recognise his spiritual and social distance from them.''Lush and evocative ... Expresses at once the profundity of change and the indomitable endurance of the human spirit''The TimesTrade Review“Waugh’s most deeply felt novel . . . Brideshead Revisited tells an absorbing story in imaginative terms . . . Mr. Waugh is very definitely an artist, with something like a genius for precision and clarity not surpassed by any novelist writing in English in his time.” –New York Times “A many-faceted book . . . Beautifully [written] by one of the most exhilarating stylists of our time.” –Newsweek “First and last an enchanting story . . . Brideshead Revisited has a magic that is rare in current literature. It is a world in itself, and the reader lives in it and is loath to leave it when the last page is turned.” –Saturday Review “Evelyn Waugh’s most successful novel . . . A memorable work of art.” –from the Introduction by Frank Kermode

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Book SynopsisJen has finally got her daughter home.But why does fifteen-year-old Lana still feel lost?When Lana goes missing for four desperate days and returns refusing to speak of what happened, Jen fears the very worst. She thinks she''s failed as a mother, that her daughter is beyond reach and that she must do something - anything - to bring her back.The family returns to London where everyone but Jen seems happy to carry on as normal. Jen''s husband Hugh thinks she''s going crazy - and their eldest daughter Meg is tired of Lana getting all the attention. But Jen knows Lana has changed, and can''t understand why. Does the answer lie in those four missing days? And how can Jen find out?''As gripping as Elizabeth is Missing'' Elle''Utterly compelling'' Rosamund Lupton ''[A] satisfying, cathartic mystery'' Jenny Colgan''A compelling modern family drama with witty and wonderful characters. UtTrade ReviewCourageous...intriguing...entertaining * Observer *As gripping as its predecessor * Elle *A compelling modern family drama with witty and wonderful characters. Utter bliss. -- Nina StibbeGripping, deeply affecting * Irish Times *A beautiful exploration of mental health and love * Stylist *Utterly compelling and insightful, I was drawn into this family in crisis from the first chapter of this unflinchingly honest and beautifully written novel -- Rosamund Lupton, bestselling author of 'Sister'I adored the forensic detail of Healey's writing and the wry, sharp take on millenial family life * Daily Mail *A fast-paced, gripping read * Closer *Oozing with tension and written with captivating brilliance * Heat *At once an absorbing thriller and a beautifully observed study of the relationship between mother and teenage daughter * Refinery29 *I don't know anyone else who writes like this. Emma Healey's voice soars, sings and startles as she takes you right under the skin of her characters. She 'magics' the ordinary into the extraordinary and, just as impressively, transposes the extraordinary to the ordinary. Unforgettable. -- Jane Corry, bestselling author of 'My Husband's Wife'This novel is a beautiful and rare thing - a page turning thriller with all the pain, warmth and humour of authentic family life portrayed. I absolutely loved it. -- Kate Hamer, author of 'The Girl in the Red Coat'Healey is a natural story-teller -- Claire Fuller, author of 'Our Endless Numbered Days'

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Book SynopsisJack Kerouac''s classic novel about friendship, the search for meaning, and the allure of natureA witty, moving philosophical novel, Jack Kerouac''s The Dharma Bums is a journey of self-discovery through the lens of Zen Buddhist thought. This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Ann Douglas.Following the explosive energy of On the Road, the book that put the Beat Genration on the literary map - and Jack Kerouac on the bestseller list - comes The Dharma Bums, in which Kerouac charts the spiritual quest of a group of friends in search of Dharma, or Truth. Ray Smith and his friend Japhy, along with Morley the yodeller, head off into the high Sierras to seek the lesson of solitude and experience the Zen way of life. But in wildly Bohemian San Francisco, with its poetry jam sessions, marathon drinking bouts and experiments in ''yabyum'', they find the ascetic route distinctly hard to follow.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 2023WINNER OF AN POST IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE WRITERS' PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024SHORTLISTED FOR THE KERRY GROUP NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2024SHORTLISTED FOR THE SKY ARTS AWARDS 2024ONE OF SARAH JESSICA PARKER'S BEST BOOKS OF 2023Book of the Year 2023 according to New York Times, New Yorker, The Sunday Times, The Economist, Observer, Guardian, Washington Post, Lit Hub, TIME magazine, Irish Times, The Oldie, Daily Mail, i Paper, Independent, The Standard, The Times, Kirkus, Daily Express, City A.M. From one of our greatest comic novelists and the author of Skippy Dies comes a funny, thought-provoking story of one family desperately clinging on as their world falls apart . . .''A tragicomic triumph. You won''t read a sadder, truer, funnier novel this year'' GuardianThe Barnes family is in trouble. DTrade ReviewIt can't be overstated how purely pleasurable The Bee Sting is to read. Murray's brilliant new novel, about a rural Irish clan, posits the author as Dublin's answer to Jonathan Franzen . . . A 650-page slab of compulsive high-grade entertainment, The Bee Sting oozes pathos while being very funny to boot . . . Murray's observational gifts and A-game phrase-making render almost every page - every line, it sometimes seems - abuzz with fresh and funny insights . . . At its core this is a novel concerned with the ties that bind, secrets and lies, love and loss. They're all here, brought to life with captivating vigour in a first-class performance to cherish * Observer (Anthony Cummins) *The Bee Sting is the finest novel that Murray has yet written and will surely be one of the books of 2023 . . . It bears comparison to the brilliant comic writer Jonathan Coe... But Murray is his own writer, capable of keeping a multi-faceted and compulsive plot moving along with alacrity and confidence, while seamlessly blending drama, comedy and heartbreak... For 13 years, Paul Murray has been best known as the author of Skippy Dies. That, I suspect, is about to change * Sunday Independent *Immersive, brilliantly structured, beautifully written, so dense yet so compelling, [and] as laugh-out-loud funny as it is deeply disturbing . . . The Bee Sting is as ambitious as anything that has gone before, but with a focus and shape that grants it great depth as well as breadth. Seriously, all you need is this, your suntan lotion and a few days off work and you're good to go . . . I didn't see the plot twists coming. And they keep on coming, And coming again . . . I began with an ovation. I'll end abruptly, and in awe... Paul Murray, the undisputed reigning champion of epic Irish tragicomedy, has done it again * The Spectator (Ian Samson) *The most enjoyable new novel I came across this year. A sprawling, Franzen-esque saga about the Barnes family in Ireland recovering from the 2008 financial crisis, it’s an amazing piece of realist fiction, full-bodied, multi-narrative; a huge swing by Murray -- Bret Easton Ellis * Observer *A triumph. The Bee Sting deserves all the praise I am heaping on it. It is generous, immersive, sharp-witted and devastating; the sort of novel that becomes a friend for life * Financial Times (John Self) *Expertly foreshadowed and so intricately put together, a brilliantly funny, deeply sad portrait of an Irish family in crisis . . . Murray is triumphantly back on home turf - troubled adolescents, regretful adults, secrets signposted and exquisitely revealed, each line soaked in irony ranging from the gentle to the savage . . . We live though hundreds of pages on tenterhooks, and the suspense and revelations keep coming until the end [...] He is brilliant on fathers and sons, sibling rivalry, grief, self-sabotage and self-denial, as well as the terrible weakness humans have for magical thinking... A tragicomic triumph, you won't read a sadder, truer, funnier novel this year * Guardian (Justine Jordan) *This bumper novel is already gaining plaudits as the book of the summer, and if it's a meaty, heart punching, expertly executed family saga you need this August, then you can stop the search now . . . Murray delivers scarcely a duff sentence in a 600-page novel that's pure unadulterated pleasure. It's been compared to Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections; I'd argue it's better than that * Daily Mail (Claire Allfree) *No one writes tragicomedy as good as this . . . Both brilliant entertainment and a penetrating look at the human condition, as heavy with pathos as it is rich with humour. And if 650 pages asks a lot of the reader, in this case it more than delivers * i *Delightfully rackety, raucously funny... The Bee Sting is on a par with Skippy Dies, Murray's most beloved book, and certainly exceeds it in ambition. A masterpiece * Irish Independent *Murray is a natural storyteller who knows when to withhold, to indulge, to surprise. He specialises, like Dickens, in lengthy sagas that are mammoth in scope, generous with detail and backstory, flush with humour and colourful characters, all of it steeped in social realism . . . Ambitious, expansive, hugely entertaining tragicomic fiction * Irish Times (Sarah Gilmartin) *Carefully paced, brilliantly convincing and helped along by plenty of subtle satire . . . A huge, marbled wagyu steak of a novel that ranges confidently from humane to horrifying. It's a classic family saga in the mode of The Corrections or The Sound and the Fury . . . Murray delights in taking a stock type - the sullen pubescent, the frazzled mother - and exploding it with ambiguity and empathy . . . An immensely enjoyable piece of expert craftsmanship * The Times (James Riding) *This novel is as generous, expansive, and glorious as a cathedral, as intimate as pillow-talk, and as funny and heartbreaking as nothing you've read before. Paul Murray may just be the most spellbinding storyteller writing today. A magisterial piece of work -- Neel Mukherjee, author of 'The Lives of Others'Bold [and] expansive . . . Paul Murray is consistently inventive, observant and funny. He is on intimate terms with this preteen boy, this teenage girl, this lost middle-aged man and this semi-educated woman, and he knows how to make them vivid . . . The pages turn rapidly as farce and tragedy converge, the latter threatening to get the upper hand * Times Literary Supplement *Utterly absorbing . . . Every perfectly tooled sentence slips down as cleanly as an ice-cold Negroni * Daily Mail ‘2023 Summer Reads’ *[The Bee Sting] reads like an instant classic . . . Murray is a fantastically witty and empathetic writer, and he dazzles by somehow bringing the great sprawling randomness of life to glamorously choreographed climaxes. He is essentially interested in the moral conflicts of our lives, and he handles his characters and their failings with heartbreaking tenderness -- Ron Charles * The Washington Post *Murray’s writing is pure joy — propulsive, insightful and seeded with hilarious observations . . . Through the Barneses’ countless personal dramas, Murray explores humanity’s endless contradictions: How brutal and beautiful life is. How broken and also full of potential. How endlessly fraught and persistently promising. Whether or not we can ever truly change our course, the hapless Barneses will keep you hoping, even after you turn the novel’s last page -- Jen Doll * New York Times *A family lurches into financial and emotional crisis in full view of judgmental neighbours in this astute, remorselessly funny novel about how people are invariably more complex than they first appear . . . Murray tackles some of the biggest issues facing our society in a thoughtful, tragicomic novel exploring smalltown society and social class * Daily Mirror (Huston Gilmore) *The overall tapestry Murray weaves is not one of desolation but of hope. This is a book that showcases one family’s incredible love and resilience even as their world crumbles around them * New York Times, ‘Best Books of 2023’ *Fluid, funny and clever, exceptionally smartly structured . . . There's laughter in every other line, but there's also a compassion and a midlife wisdom at work * Literary Review (Paul Genders) *Funny, dark, moving and deeply humane. It's also driven by an inexorable tragic force, and Murray's intricate narrative dexterity makes it very easy to keep turning all those hundreds of pages * Observer (Summer Reads - Mark O’Connell) *This epic, many-layered tragicomedy of an Irish family in crisis is as pleasurable to read as it is emotionally devastating * Guardian ('Summer Stories') *Breathtaking, blackly comic, Murray's style is entirely and distinctively his own . . . Handling the plot as if it were a Rubik cube, [he] gives each character their voice in a carousel of first-person accounts, tracking backwards and into the present . . . The Bee Sting is an immersion in the tragedy of what-might-have-been * Herald (Rosemary Goring) *The tale of a dysfunctional family trying to hold things together. It's a thing of beauty, a novel that will fill your heart -- Alex Preston * Observer, 'Fiction to look out for in 2023' *The Bee Sting has resulted in Murray being heralded "Dublin's Jonathan Franzen" . . . No one does bittersweet comic novels quite like Murray - fans of his 2010 boarding school comedy Skippy Dies will be aching to get their hands on this * iNews (Leila Slimani) *The book I’ve recommended most this year – and had the most enthusiastic feedback about, a whopping 656 pages later – is without doubt Paul Murray’s Booker-shortlisted tragicomedy, The Bee Sting . . . combines freewheeling hilarity with savage irony, surprise reveals and generations-deep sadness; it offers the immersive pleasures that perhaps only a fat family saga can bring -- Justine Jordan * Guardian, 'Best Books of 2023' *I experienced just about every possible human emotion while reading The Bee Sting, and at an intensity I have not felt with a work of fiction for a long time. Its ambition and scale are astonishing, and as a sheer technical feat of storytelling it is remarkable. Reading it, I was constantly reminded of what the novel as an artform is capable of, and what it is for. It might be a bold claim to make, of the author of Skippy Dies, that this new book is the best thing Paul Murray has ever done - but I'm making it anyway, because it's true -- Mark O'Connell, author of 'To Be A Machine'The idea of being swept up and spat out by falsehoods runs through much of Murray's work . . . There are storylines about doomsday preppers and local GAA teams; themes of class, economic collapse, ecological catastrophe . . . Murray's conversations have an expansive tendency. A single thread can lead him outwards in a web of connections, metaphors, jokes, before he lands smoothly back on the point * Irish Times (Niamh Donnelly) *One of the finest — and funniest — novels of 2023, this Booker-shortlisted tale of a troubled Irish family takes their financial, sexual and existential struggles and turns them into riotous comedy * The Times, 'Best Novels of 2023' *Murray gives us a capacious story of one Irish family that is entertaining, heartbreaking and surprising - few of the characters turn out to be exactly who you thought they'd be * iNews (Gwendolyn Smith) *I'm looking forward to Paul Murray's new family saga, The Bee Sting; he's such a sharp and funny writer -- David NichollsPaul Murray is my favourite young Irish novelist and The Bee Sting confirms all of his talents. Settle in for a hilarious whirlwind of a familial socioeconomic misadventure as only Murray would write it -- Gary Shteyngart, author of 'Super Sad True Love Story'Every sentence in Paul Murray's brilliant family drama The Bee Sting crackles with wit and ingenuity * iNews (Michael Delgado) *A coruscating return for a novelist who's been keeping us waiting for something special since 2010's Skippy Dies . . . a tragicomedy that never stints on great jokes - even at its saddest * The Daily Telegraph *The Bee Sting is far and away the most entertaining of the novels on this year’s Booker shortlist, a fat slab of joyous readability – but which doesn’t stint on emotional depth -- John Self * Independent *Paul Murray was robbed when it came to the Booker this year: his saga about a family scrambling for survival in recession blasted Ireland in 2008 is one of the novels of the year. Told from the perspective of four members of the Barnes family, and unspooling back in time to reveal a host of buried sentences, this effortlessly enjoyable novel overflows with human detail * Daily Mail. 'Best Christmas Gift Books' *One of the best novels of the year . . . a compelling, thought-provoking tragic-comic family drama, told in multiple voices, and set in Ireland. The characters, of all ages, are memorable and convincing, the plot is a cracker and it will keep you gripped, amused and provoked throughout 656 brilliant pages * Independent, ‘Best Books of 2023’ *This propulsive, humane, thrillingly unpredictable story of a family in free-fall was robbed at this year’s Booker . . . bold, original . . . Murray gives a totally fresh perspective on subjects from abuse to money, sexuality, love, climate disaster and violence, while conjuring characters who leap off the page * i Paper, 'Best Christmas Gift Books' *A tour de force of fiction . . . Murray expertly gives us each family member’s perspective of the same events – with flashbacks unravelling an intricate story of betrayal, crime and lust. Profound on the human condition, utterly gripping and peppered with comedy, your giftee will love it just as much as our reviewer did * Independent, 'Best Christmas Gift Books' *[A] wonderful saga . . . [The Bee Sting] brilliantly explores how our self-deceptions ultimately catch up with us, and is at once hilarious and heartbreaking * Booker Prize Judges *A first-class piece of immersive fiction – sharp-witted and clear-eyed but big-hearted – that doesn’t feel as if it’s in retreat from reality -- Jake Kerridge * The Telegraph *I’m going to climb on the log-rolling bandwagon by recommending Paul Murrays achingly tragicomic The Bee Sting. Few, if any, Irish writers have ever succeeded in sketching contemporary midlands Ireland in such queasy yet humane detail. Himself a Dub, Murray brings a rare outsiders eye to an unfashionable and overlooked milieu -- Ed O’Loughlin * Irish Times, ‘Best Books of 2023’ *Triumphant . . . the best sort of holiday reading: engrossingly long, incredibly funny, impossibly sad -- John Self * Irish Times, ‘Best Books of 2023’ *[The Bee Sting] has been a revelation: I loved every second of reading this. I found myself reaching for it on tubes and buses, stealing five minutes to read it as I waited for a coffee, staying up late to read in bed, despite my near-religious sleeping schedule. It has been a pleasure to read, and to say that it’s changed my outlook on reading, my choices, and tastes, would be an understatement. The Bee Sting has allowed me to re-evaluate my prior notions, and to get out of my own way for discovering new fiction -- Aimée Walsh * RTÉ *I’m a sucker for a tragicomic family saga [and] Paul Murray has produced a masterpiece of the form. The Bee Sting is a mosaic-like account of one family’s misery when their car business hits the skids in post-crash Ireland . . . It’s an engrossing (and hilarious) story of blackmail and betrayal, thwarted romance and freak accidents * The Sunday Times, 'Best Books of 2023' *A family lurches into financial and emotional crisis in full view of judgmental neighbours in this astute, remorselessly funny novel that switches between survivalist father Dickie, spendaholic housewife Imelda, surly teenager Cass and her loner brother PJ. * Daily Express, 'Best Books of 2023' *Funny, lyrical and heartbreaking, Paul Murray's Booker nominated family saga is perfect Betwixmas reading * The Standard, 'Best Christmas Gift Books' *At over 600 pages, The Bee Sting may not appear the friendliest looking of reads . . . but don’t let the length put you off – this book earns every page . . . A tragicomedy, this novel is expansive in reach and has a climax that will stay with you long after the final page * City A.M., 'Best Books of 2023' *This is probably the most conventionally satisfying novel of 2023 . . . It is so engrossing that you will always want to be reading it and after you have finished it the characters stay with you. Murray is ostensibly a comic novelist, but he’s dealing in laughter in the dark by the end of this novel, which tackles economic uncertainty, climate crisis and the secrets that can define a family without some of its members realising * i Paper, 'Best Books of 2023' *Paul Murray is a confident, stylish writer: he convincingly evokes a teenage girl’s rage, a boy’s fear, a father’s secrets and a mother’s disappointments and grief * The Economist, 'Best Books of 2023' *Funny and painful with ghosts from the past and spectres from the future -- Clive Myrie * Observer *

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Book Synopsis''A novel of female friendship . . . startling and moving'' New York Times _______________________________________________''In the first few months after Charlie died, I began hearing from her much more frequently . . .''When Helen Clapp gets a missed call from best friend Charlie, she knows it''s a mistake. Because Charlie''s dead. Ghosts break so many fundamental laws of the universe that Helen, a physicist, shouldn''t believe in them. Should she?As this question draws Helen to Charlie''s grieving husband and daughter, she finds herself entangled in the forgotten threads of lost friendship and her own paths not taken . . . ______________________________________________________''There aren''t many novels that bring to mind both Middlemarch and Bridget Jones''s Diary - but Lost and Wanted is one of them'' The Times''Dazzling. Freudenberger explores the nature of aTrade ReviewEndlessly rich . . . It is Freudenberger's willingness to accept human contradictions here - and to lay them out with a combination of calm rigour and rueful comedy - that so triumphantly makes Lost and Wanted the real thing * The Times *Dazzling . . .[Freudenberger explores] the nature of ambition, success and grief . . . brilliant -- Francesca Segal * Financial Times *Freudenberger has a real eye for the subtle differences in how people react to adversity, an ear for the way children talk, and an artist's clear-sighted commitment to seeing the totality of her characters * Sunday Times *The effect is beautiful . . . Reading it, I was moved by intimacies near and far, real and imagined, lost and found in all the echoing corners of the expanding universe * New York Times *This spooky mystery fuses nimbly explained science with a finely calibrated meditation on grief and paths not taken -- Hephzibah Anderson * Mail on Sunday *Tender, sharply observed and marvellously rich * Daily Mail *Are we connected? Are we alone? Freudenberger's brilliant and compassionate novel takes on the big questions of the universe and proves, again, that she is one of America's greatest writers -- Andrew Sean Green, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'Less'[A] stunning portrayal of grief . . . The integration of ideas from physics sparks in the reader new ways of thinking about the nature of time and existence as well as, on a less cosmic scale, about human relationships . . .This is a beautiful and moving novel * Publishers' Weekly *Dazzling . . . [Freudenberger] dramatizes, through Helen, both the dawning awareness that life doesn't always allow for second chances and the great midlife consolation prize: a greater appreciation for those chances - and people - one has been given. * Washington Post *With page-turning acceleration, Lost and Wanted is a piercing meditation on the immutable truths that mourning calls into question. Freudenberger [has a] gravity-defying gift * O, the Oprah Magazine *Deeply involving, substantial, suspenseful, and psychologically lush . . . With daring, zest, insight, wit, and compassion, Lost and Wanted gracefully and thrillingly bridges the divide between science and art * Booklist *Before the full scope of the accomplishment has sunk in-the lucid, compassionate portraits of a wide array of characters, the meticulous hand with which Freudenberger paints their world-you'll be beguiled, as I was, by Helen's narration, so full of humble longing and deep, sweet ruefulness -- Jonathan Lethem, author of 'A Gambler's Anatomy'This tender, engaging story takes a physicist for its heroine, and boldly bends the forces of the universe to the binding love between friends, between partners, between parents and their children. It's a literary and emotional adventure peopled by complex, sympathetic characters, some of whom happen to do science as they navigate their most important relationships -- Dava SobelGorgeous, brainy, and passionate. Lost and Wanted is the best kind of big American novel: a majestic book that takes on nothing less than the nature of the universe-literally-while probing that similarly infinite mystery known as the human heart. Nell Freudenberger's writing is fearless and profound, as it absolutely must be in order to pull off this very modern ghost story that unfolds in the life of an MIT physicist. Freudenberger is one of our best novelists, and she's delivered a real powerhouse of a novel -- Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime WalkLike the finely calibrated tools of particle physics described in its pages,NellFreudenberger's novel demonstrates an astonishing sensitivity to the forces that move us all. Her rendering of grief-with its shadings of denial, anger, longing, dark humor, and magic-is nothing short of perfection -- Julie Orringer, author of 'The Invisible Bridge'An iridescent story of friendship. Lost and Wanted is an extraordinary book, startling in its open curiosity and love -- Rivka Galchen, author of 'Atmospheric Disturbances'Intellectually dazzling and almost unbearably moving, Lost and Wanted stayed with me long after I read it, its characters still moving in my brain like free electrons. Probing the mysteries of the physical universe and the equally mysterious nature of human connection, Nell Freudenberger writes fearlessly and lyrically about physics and grief; parenthood and friendship; the subtleties of race and the seriousness of female ambition. I've read many novels that make me think and some that made me cry, but few that did both as powerfully as this one did -- Amy Waldman, author of 'The Submission'A great work of art treads the line between the ingenious and the improbable. This is true of Nell Freudenberger's remarkable Lost and Wanted. It somehow combines particle physics and paranormal phenomena to present a lucid, humane and wryly comic view of the way we live today. One reads the novel with pleasure and marvels at Freudenberger's courage and intelligence -- David Bezmozgis, author of 'The Betrayers'Brimming with wit and intelligence and devoted to things that matter: life, love, death, and the mysteries of the cosmos. Nell Freudenberger is good at explaining physics, but her real genius is in the depiction of relationships. Each one in the novel-whether between adults, adults and children, or among children-is unique, finely calibrated, and real. The title is a line from a poem by W.H. Auden, which doesn't fully hit until the end of the book, when it takes on heart-rending poignancy * Kirkus *I love novels that are obsessed with the "erotics of knowledge," books that understand how ideas are not the opposite of feelings but rather their intense distillation. A. S. Byatt's "Possession," Ann Patchett's "State of Wonder," Barbara Kingsolver's recent "Unsheltered," and Nell Freudenberger's forthcoming "Lost and Wanted" all are marvelous depictions of the direct link between the body's cravings and the passions of the mind -- Richard Powers * New York Times *Freudenberger's outstanding achievement is that Lost and Wanted is also a moving story about down-to-earth issues like grief and loneliness * NPR *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewIntense, gorgeous, troubling, seductive - a novel that has to be surrendered to rather than read -- Sarah Waters, Booker-shortlisted author of Fingersmith, The Night Watch and The Little StrangerA tour de force * Le Figaro *Haunting, spell-binding, luminous * Lire *An incandescent writer * Les Echos *Magnificent... a captivating autobiographical novel * Elle *A deeply personal exploration of cultural and personal identity, sexuality and belonging. Raw and sensual, readers will be enraptured by the narrator's intense evocations of guilt, desire and longing * Scotsman *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2021WINNER OF DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS 2022A No.1 BESTSELLER IN THE TIMES''A tender and touching love story, beautifully told'' Observer ''Hands-down the best debut I''ve read in years'' The Times ''A beautiful and powerful novel about the true and sometimes painful depths of love'' Candice Carty-Williams, bestselling author of QUEENIE ''An unforgettable debut... it''s Sally Rooney meets Michaela Coel meets Teju Cole'' New York Times''A love song to Black art and thought'' Yaa Gyasi, bestselling author of HOMEGOING and TRANSCENDENT KINGDOM Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists - he a photographer, she a dancer - trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence.At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the most essential British debut of recent years.''An amazing debut novel. You should read this book. Let''s hear it for Caleb Azumah Nelson, also known as the future'' Benjamin Zephaniah''A short, poetic and intellectual meditation on art and a relationship between a young couple'' Bernardine Evaristo, author of GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER''A very touching and heartfelt book'' Diana Evans, award-winning author of ORDINARY PEOPLE''A lyrical modern love story, brilliant on music and art, race and London life, I enjoyed it hugely'' David Nicholls, author of ONE DAY and SWEET SORROW''Caleb is a star in the making'' Nikesh Shukla, editor of THE GOOD IMMIGRANT and BROWN BABY''A stunning piece of art'' Bolu Babalola, bestselling author of LOVE IN COLOUR''For those that are missing the tentative depiction of love in Normal People, Caleb Azumah Nelson''s Open Water is set to become one of 2021''s unmissable books. Utterly transporting, it''ll leave you weeping and in awe.'' Stylist ''An exhilarating new voice in British fiction'' Vogue''A poetic novel about Black identity and first love in the capital from one of Britain''s most exciting young voices'' Harper''s Bazaar''An intense, elegant debut'' GuardianWINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD WINNER OF DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDSSHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNER OF THE BAD FORM BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDSHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEARLONGLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE, THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE AND THE GORDON BURN PRIZE A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD ''5 UNDER 35'' HONOREE Caleb Azumah Nelson''s new novel SMALL WORLDS is available nowTrade ReviewOpen Water is a beautifully, delicately written novel about love, for self and others, about being seen, about vulnerability and mental health. Sentence by sentence, it oozes longing and grace. Caleb is a star in the making. -- Nikesh Shukla, editor of THE GOOD IMMIGRANT and author of BROWN BABYFor those that are missing the tentative depiction of love in Normal People, Caleb Azumah Nelson's Open Water is set to become one of 2021's unmissable books. Utterly transporting, it'll leave you weeping and in awe. * Stylist *An exhilarating new voice in British fiction * Vogue *A short, sharp poetic burst of a novel; it crystallises the torments and heat of young love brilliantly -- Andrew McMillan, award-winning author of PHYSICAL

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Book Synopsis''Unlike any other person I had come across, Welch seemed to be speaking particularly to me'' Alan Bennett''Vivid ... surprising ... an exquisite balance of pain and beauty'' GuardianOrvil Pym does not fit in. A waifish, eccentric, sensitive fifteen-year-old, he hates school and longs to be alone. Spending his Summer holidays in a genteel Surrey hotel with his mysterious father and two brothers who don''t understand him, he explores ancient churches, spies on a man rowing in the river and collects antiques, escaping into his own singular aesthetic world. First published in 1945, this is an unforgettable portrayal of a young man''s sensuous coming-of-age.''A heightened, sensual journey ... it is Orvil''s vibrant energy that allows this book to bubble ... beautifully odd ... spectacular'' IndependentTrade ReviewBritain's Marcel Proust * The Times *Underpinning it is an exquisite balance of pain and beauty - an aspect of the sublime - as Welch brings to vivid life the existence lost to him for ever ... he is surprising us still -- John Self * Guardian *The writer who most directly influenced my work ... he makes the reader aware of the magic that is right under his eyes -- William BurroughsA heightened, sensual journey ... it is Orvil's vibrant energy that allows this book to bubble ... beautifully odd ... spectacular -- The IndependentUnlike any other person I had come across, Welch seemed to be speaking particularly to me -- Alan BennettMaybe there is no better novel in the world than Denton Welch's In Youth Is Pleasure. Just holding it in my hands, so precious, so beyond gay, so deliciously subversive, is enough to make illiteracy a worse social crime than hunger -- John Waters

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Book SynopsisBrideshead Revisited is Evelyn Waugh''s stunning novel of duty and desire set amongst the decadent, faded glory of the English aristocracy in the run-up to the Second World War.The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh''s novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder''s infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by Sebastian Flyte at Oxford, then by his doomed Catholic family, in particular his remote sister, Julia, Charles comes finally to recognise his spiritual and social distance from them.Evelyn Waugh (1903-66) was born in Hampstead, second son of Arthur Waugh, publisher and literary critic, and brother of Alec Waugh, the popular novelist. In 1928 he published his first work, a life of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and his first novel, Decline and Fall, which was soon followed by Vile Bodies (1930), A Handful of Dust (1934) and Scoop (1938). In 1939 he was commissioned in the Royal Marines and later transferred to the Royal Horse Guards, serving in the Middle East and in Yugoslavia. In 1942 he published Put Out More Flags and then in 1945 Brideshead Revisited. Men at Arms (1952) was the first volume of ''The Sword of Honour'' trilogy, and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; the other volumes, Officers and Gentlemen and Unconditional Surrender, followed in 1955 and 1961.If you enjoyed Brideshead Revisited, you might like Waugh''s Vile Bodies, also available in Penguin Classics.''Lush and evocative ... Expresses at once the profundity of change and the indomitable endurance of the human spirit''The Times

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Book Synopsis''A triumph... tender and gut-wrenching, honest and riveting. A book of astonishing accomplishment and bravery'' Guardian A searing, sunlit debut about the powerful bonds that make and break one Iranian-American familyThree young brothers leave Los Angeles in the dead of night for Iran, taken by their father from their mother to a country and an ancestral home they barely recognize. They return to the Valley months later, spit back into American life and changed in inexorable ways.Under the dazzling light of the California sun, our protagonist, the youngest brother, begins to piece together a childhood shattered by his father''s violence, a queer adolescence marked by a shy, secret love affair with a boy he meets on the basketball court, and his ever-changing status as a Muslim in America at the turn of the new millennium.Lyrical and open-hearted, I WILL GREET THE SUN AGAIN is an unforgettable portrait of a family beTrade ReviewA triumph... tender and gut-wrenching... a book of astonishing accomplishment and bravery * Guardian *Exquisite, heart-breaking, incredibly beautiful * Caleb Azumah Nelson *Life-affirming... Khabushani is a talented writer * Sunday Times *A heartbreaking debut * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisThe BBC Between the Covers Book Club Pick''Sentence by sentence, Ben Hinshaw offers wit, sensitivity and sharp observation. Then slowly the reader sees the grand design - the intricate, braided storylines, sustained with energy and relish. It is entertaining, and something more - truly involving, like a whole novel sequence cleverly condensed'' Hilary MantelSurrounded by the dramatic beauty of Guernsey, a teenager discovers a secret and finds his betrayal has the power to ruin adult lives. In London, a marriage shot through with infidelity leads to a quest for revenge, resulting in a series of simultaneously comical and catastrophic events. And in California, as wildfires threaten landscapes and lives, a young veteran struggles with the trauma of war, seeking solace at a local ranch.In this extraordinary debut, a cast of characters grapple with unexpected betrayal, the loss of innocence and the lies we tell. With sharp insight, Ben Hinshaw illumTrade ReviewA surprising and enjoyable read . . . this novel without guardrails stands as a brave debut * The Times *Virtuosity of technique accompanies keenness of insight and depth of characterisation . . . Hinshaw's impressively accomplished debut puts him in [Tim Winton and Jennifer Egan's] company -- Peter Kemp * Sunday Times *Ben Hinshaw offers wit, sensitivity and sharp observation . . . the intricate, braided storylines, sustained with energy and relish. It is entertaining, and something more - truly involving -- Hilary Mantel, author of The Mirror and the LightA poignant demonstration of the way the past is still folded into the present * FT *Ben Hinshaw renders ordinary human agonies with extraordinary precision and emotional insight . . . This book is a riveting and beautifully patterned map of the emotional archipelago of longing and learning, loving and leaving -- Max Porter, author of Grief is the Thing with FeathersSuch an incredibly clever idea this, a set of interlinked stories in which people who appear in one turn up in another . . there's a regretful, wistful atmosphere that's compelling. * Daily Mail *A splendid debut. The stories are sharp, subtle, richly coloured and the world they deliver delightfully surprising. Read this book -- Lynn Freed, author of The Romance of ElsewhereFull of precise moments of humanity. So finely observed, funny and touching -- Alex Hyde, author of VioletsTerrific. I really enjoyed it -- Andy Miller, author of The Year of Reading Dangerously and co-host of BacklistedThe calm, clear and intelligent prose belies the tortured emotional currents just below the surface. Sophisticated and ambitious -- Samantha Dunn, author of Failing Paris

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Book Synopsis''Satisfyingly dark, cleverly plotted and pleasingly Donna Tarttish'' Emma Flint, Little Deaths''Seamlessly blends Gone Girl and Promising Young Woman. Smart, sophisticated, seductive'' S J Watson, Before I Go To Sleep''A deeply compelling story of friendships turned rotten'' Rosemary Hennigan, The Truth Will Out*Sunday Times Bestseller**Shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year 2023**Longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize**Top Ten eBook bestseller**One of Cosmopolitan''s Best Books for 2023**One of Apple''s Best of the Month**One of FT''s Best New Debut Fiction**Heat Book of the Week*------Clare arrives at the University of Edinburgh with a secret. This is her chance for a blank slate: to find the right people and reinvent herself.And then she meets Tabitha.Tabitha is charismatic, beautiful and intimidatingly wealthy. Soon Clare iTrade ReviewSeamlessly blends Gone Girl and Promising Young Woman. Smart, sophisticated, seductive' -- S J Watson, Before I Go To SleepSatisfyingly dark, cleverly plotted and pleasingly Donna Tarttish -- Emma Flint, Little DeathsPerfect for fans of dark academia stories like The Secret History and If We Were Villains -- CosmopolitanDarwent has a great career as a thriller writer ahead of her' -- Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisJack Kerouac''s Great American Novel, now in a delightful new Clothbound Classics editionOn the Road swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, generosity, chill dawns and drugs, with Sal Paradise and his hero Dean Moriarty, traveller and mystic, the living epitome of Beat. Now recognized as a modern classic, its American Dream is nearer that of Walt Whitman than Scott Fitzgerald, and it goes racing towards the sunset with unforgettable exuberance, poignancy and autobiographical passion.Trade ReviewThe most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by thegeneration Kerouac himself named years ago as "beat" * The New York Times *Pop writing at its best. It changed the way I saw the world, making me yearn for fresh experience -- Hanif Kureishi * Independent on Sunday *On the Road sold a trillion Levis and a million espresso machines, and also sent countless kids on the road -- William Burroughs

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE ROONEY PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2023WINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION 2023WATERSTONES IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023Sean is back. Back in Belfast and back into old habits. Back on the mad all-nighters, the borrowed tenners and missing rent, the casual jobs that always fall through. Back in these scarred streets, where the promised prosperity of peacetime has never arrived. Back among his brothers, his ma, and all the things they never talk about. Until one night Sean finds himself at a party dog-tired, surrounded by jeering strangers, his back against the wall and he makes a big mistake.''Staggeringly humane, unfaltering, taut and tender... [It] feels like that rarest of things: a genuinely necessary book'' Guardian''Every detail rings true, every character is fleshy and real and heartbreaking... Michael Magee has a remarkable talent'' Sunday TimesSHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2024SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE EWART-BIGGS PRIZE 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2024SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN MCGAHERN PRIZE 2024LONGLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2024LONGLISTED FOR THE DIVERSE BOOK AWARDS 2024ONE OF SARAH JESSICA PARKER'S BEST BOOKS OF 2023BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 ACCORDING TO THE TIMES AND IRISH TIMESTrade ReviewExceptional . . . Every detail rings true, every character is fleshy and real and heartbreaking . . . Magee has a remarkable talent * Sunday Times (Laura Hackett) *Taut and impressive, unfaltering and deftly executed . . . [It] feels like that rarest of things: a genuinely necessary book * Guardian (Keiran Goddard) *An exceptional debut destined for novel of the year shortlists * Irish Times (Martin Doyle) *Michael Magee is a born storyteller. By the end of the novel I wanted to book a flight to Ireland just to walk around and imagine who was where . . . I read this in two or three sittings only because I wanted to slow down and spend more time with Magee's considered and companionate writing. I finished it only last month, but plan to take it with me abroad to enjoy it once more * Guardian ‘2023 Summer Reads’ (Derek Owusu) *A vision of a post-conflict Belfast that didn't deliver what it promised, blighted by poverty, pain and memory. But far from being bleak, I laughed out loud many times. And it is full of love. Each character is so vividly drawn that I felt like I had met them somewhere before; even the most flawed of them is treated with dignity and respect, and an absence of judgement that reminded me of Annie Ernaux. And the writing! Supple, rich and demotic - Kneecap meets Chekhov - no one else is doing this. I had great hopes for this novel and Michael Magee has booted it out of the park. Absolutely glorious. -- Louise Kennedy, author of 'Trespasses'Unflinching, direct, disarmingly sensitive . . . Suffusing his narrative with honesty and grace, Magee succeeds in bringing his neighborhood to life for readers and suggests that, amid what seems like a never-ending struggle, there is always room for hope * The Washington Post *Michael Magee's Close to Home, amazingly a first novel, is about what it's like to be young and working class right now in Northern Ireland, and is a tremendous read, tensed and immersive, punching the air between hope and despair, deeply decent, unputdownable * Guardian '2023 Summer Reads' (Ali Smith) *Wonderful. A debut overflowing with years of experience and carefully worked craft. By turns hard-edged and soft-hearted, this novel is a gift from Michael Magee to us all -- Jon McGregor, author of 'Reservoir 13'The message of Michael Magee's dead-on debut novel is universal. At its core, Close to Home is about finding a way to transcend the pain, the people and the place you're born into * The New York Times *A complex and compassionate portrait of modern Belfast by an impressive new talent . . . Close to Home is a working class novel, an Irish novel, a bildungsroman, a novel about the self-congratulatory failures of Northern Ireland's political elite . . . [and a] sharp deconstruction of toxic masculinity * Times Literary Supplement *Lucid and stirring . . . Magee's persistently evocative and beautifully matter-of-fact descriptions of Belfast's landmarks and people are intertwined with a sensitive awareness of the city's social, political and religious history * Literary Review *A convincing, nuanced debut, bleak but powerful, marrying the thematic unsentimentality of Edouard Louis with prose reminiscent of Irvine Welsh * Sunday Independent *A beautiful, rich, tough, kind portrait of a life in the balance. And a great study of masculinity, the brother, the friends, the long-lost dad. It's full of hope -- Russell T. DaviesMagee skilfully paints the landscape of a city still scarred by the Troubles . . . The book's themes - masculinity, class and history - don't offer easy resolutions. Instead, Magee deftly conveys the anxieties of a generation facing an uncertain future * Irish Times (Mia Levitin) *A lyrical examination of masculinity, class, and poverty. Magee's prose sings with the tenderness of a writer beyond his years * Electric Literature *Glorious. A bittersweet love letter to Northern Ireland... Magee confer[s] on even the ugliest of things (poverty, sectarianism, illness and death) a kind of sharp-edged elegance * The Times, ‘2023 Summer Reads’ *Beautifully observed and sharp as a knife tip - as real and as raw as the truths you tell on a comedown, in the early hours, in the darkness of some stranger's house. Deeply affecting and badly needed, this is a novel I will be thinking about for a long time -- Lisa McInerney, author of 'The Glorious Heresies'A shard of authenticity, originality and brilliance * The Times (Summer Reads: 'Ask a bookseller') *Terrific debut fiction -- Anne Enright * Observer *Michael Magee's first novel is superb. An emotionally true, keenly observed book that goes deep into the troubled territory of home, family and friendship, returning with a message of love -- David Hayden, author of 'Darker With The Lights On'Close to Home does for Belfast what Shuggie Bain did for Glasgow. Its portrayal of a particular kind of masculinity - self-destructive and romantic by turns - is unsparing, funny and desperately sad. Keep an eye on Michael Magee; he's the real deal. -- Patrick Gale, author of 'A Place Called Winter'How beautifully Magee has brought his characters to life, and how intricately he has created their world * Irish Independent (Kevin Power) *Magee is his own man in his restrained approach . . . I took Sean to my heart and the last line of the book left me with a satsifying shiver * The Times (John Self) *The best debut I've read in years - a tender examination of class, masculinity and place -- Nicole Flattery, author of 'Show Them A Good Time'Amazingly assured first novel. Magee is too good a writer... Gentle as well as brutal * The Tablet *As beautiful as it is brilliant. Reading Close to Home is like crossing a frontier into a new and thrilling territory -- Glenn Patterson, author of 'The International'Close To Home announces an exciting new voice - at once open and wary, tender and unyielding - and sharply alive to the pains and discoveries and mysteries of youth -- Colin Barrett, author of 'Young Skins'Ringing out clear and true as a bell, it gleams with tenderness and perception. There are few narrators so unassuming and unaffected, yet so full of sharp intelligence -- Wendy Erskine, author of 'Dance Move'Precise, compulsive, companionable and genuinely moving. Michael Magee writes a world we see far too little of in contemporary literature. We need books like this -- Seán Hewitt, author of 'All Down Darkness Wide'A beautiful and devastating debut novel about political memory, violence, masculinity, and the impossibility of escaping your origins. * Jacobin *A sharp and humane novel about a young man, and a city, caught in the painful throes of reimagining themselves. It rings with authenticity, and the wisdom of hard-won observation and experience - a hymn to the ways in which art can be a lifeline and an escape. Michael Magee's debut is an important addition to the burgeoning new canon of Belfast literature -- Lucy Caldwell, author of 'These Days'Compulsively readable - you will need to know how this ends! -- Emilie Pine, author of 'Notes to Self'Sharp, immediate, beautiful writing. A vivid portrait of modern Belfast and of how our circumstances shape our lives. Every character is drawn with nuance and complexity, with great precision and attention to detail. I really loved this book -- Rachel Connolly, author of 'Lazy City'Artfully crafted, compassionate, precise and unafraid. I loved this book -- Susannah Dickey, author of 'Common Decency'Close to Home tracks brilliantly written characters across a vividly drawn Belfast * Business Post *One of the year’s most distinctive and immersive debuts . . . Drawing on his own experiences, Michael Magee refreshes the post-Troubles novel to wrestle with his community’s painful heritage of violence and poverty. It sounds bleak, but Sean’s voice fizzes with life * The Times, 'Best Novels of 2023' *It's hard to find fault with a debut novel that unfold its storylines and characters with such care, handling themes of class, masculinity, addiction and trauma with both tenderness and a matter-of-factness * RTÉ, Book of the Week *Michael Magees Close to Home is yet another brilliant novel to emerge from Northern Ireland, making sense of the impact of the long conflict and the transition to troubled peace; Magee powerfully delineates the psychology of those crushed by betrayal * Irish Times, 'Best Books of 2023' *

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Book SynopsisThe most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh''s novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder''s infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly-disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by Sebastian at Oxford, then by his doomed Catholic family, in particular his remote sister, Julia, Charles comes finally to recognize only his spiritual and social distance from them.

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Book SynopsisSometimes you need to clash to make an impact.Bianca Bridge is like an eyeshadow palette. She''s a vibrant kaleidoscope of big personality and even bigger dreams, with a tendency towards messiness and fallout. Case in point: ruining her career prospects and hopes of becoming a writer by having an affair with a married government minister.Fiercely confident and uncompromising, her tyrannical new boss Obadiah Cortland - makeup artist and legend in Trinidad''s beauty scene - is like a statement red lipstick. ''The God of Good Looks'' is a facade he has perfected over years of slipping through the island''s rigid class barriers, and he knows as well as Bianca that the tiniest smudge can ruin your image.When Bianca''s ex threatens both their futures, this clashing combination must find a way to work together to save everything they care about. But might they actually bring out the best in each other?Sparkling, big-hearted andTrade ReviewBianca Bridge is a heroine to root for ... A punchy romance with plenty to say about Caribbean class, poverty and sexism * Observer *A glittering will-they, won't-they Bridget Jones re-boot * Nikki May, author of Wahala *I loved it * India Knight, Sunday Times Style *A will-they-won't-they tension ensues as Mc Ivor uses the metaphor of make-up (there's an awful lot of it) to examine privilege, corruption and truth. It's wickedly funny ... Bianca is a hugely endearing heroine * Daily Mail *McIvor shines in this pitch-perfect narrative of power imbalances ... McIvor combines tight plotting and strong character development ... This makes for a winning story of comeuppance * Publishers Weekly *Likened to Bridget Jones.... It does have that same kind of wonderfully comic voice, as well as a protagonist to adore and root for * Anna Bonnet, Three Books to Read in June *After an affair with a married government official ruins her prospects of becoming a writer, Bianca takes a job with an infamous make-up artist in this warm, Trinidad-set novel * The i Paper, Best Books to Read in June *Mc Ivor uses Bianca's attempt to rebuild her life to examine issues surrounding the beauty industry and the poverty, violence and corruption blighting life in Trinidad . . . There's lots to enjoy, particularly a more authentic picture of Caribbean life than the postcard fantasy * The Times *Part feminist tract, part love letter to an island . . . A self-aware, modern, female-centered novel out of Trinidad which breaks new ground * Monique Roffey, author of Costa Book of the Year, The Mermaid of Black Conch *

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Book SynopsisGenerous-hearted and wickedly insightful, The Girls'' Guide to Hunting and Fishing is the New York Times bestselling novel by Melissa Bank and part of the Penguin Essentials, a series which spotlights the very best of our modern classics The Girls'' Guide to Hunting and Fishing maps the progress of Jane Rosenal as she sets out on a personal and spirited expedition through the perilous terrain of sex, love, relationships, and the treacherous waters of the workplace. Soon Jane is swept off her feet by an older man and into a Fitzgeraldesque whirl of cocktail parties, country houses, and rules that were made to be broken, but comes to realise that it''s a world where the stakes are much too high for comfort. With an unforgettable comic touch, Bank skilfully teases out universal issues, puts a clever new spin on the mating dance, and captures in perfect pitch what it''s like to come of age as a young woman.''This chronicle of a New Yorker'Trade ReviewBeautifully written and very funny. . . as with Salinger and Carver, there is crystalline simplicity to Bank's prose * Guardian *I read the first chapter and thought, 'Wait, I know this girl' . . . I realized she was my friend . . . she made me laugh, she made me weep, and when I closed the book at the end of the day, I knew I'd never forget her -- Ruth OzekiCharming and funny * New York Times *A smart, ruefully funny chronicle of a modern young woman's search for love . . . a model of well-crafted narrative building to a thoughtful, hopeful conclusion. Bank has created a delightful heroine who deserves her happy ending-even though any reader who has really been paying attention to the sharp, unsentimental details knows that all happy endings are provisional * Kirkus *One marvels at Bank's assured control of her material, her witty, distinctive voice and her ability to find comedy, pathos and drama in ordinary lives . . . phenomenally good * Publishers Weekly *This chronicle of a New Yorker's relationships has a wit and perceptiveness that singles it out from the crowd * Guardian *As hilarious as Girls' Guide is, there's a wise, serious core here * Wall Street Journal *A sexy, pour-your-heart-out, champagne tingle of a read-thoughtful, wise, and tell-all honest. Bank's is a voice that you'll remember * Cosmopolitan *Bank writes like John Cheever, but funnier * Los Angeles Times *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewNapolitano's prose is so lovely, so keenly perceptive, that it held me captive until I finished -- Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, YesA profoundly moving and propulsive novel of the deepest connections of family and love, trauma and healing. A book to treasure and share with friends and loved ones -- Angie Kim, bestselling author of Miracle CreekThis powerfully affecting novel illustrates [that] love and luck don't always intertwine * People Magazine *This is a story about family, and sisters... and how love can be redeemed -- Therese Anne Fowler, author of It All Comes Down to ThisRadiant and brilliantly crafted * New York Times *Beautiful, perceptive, wistful. I loved it -- Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper PalaceAnn Napolitano's writing is astonishing -- Marian Keyes, author of Grown UpsAs addictive as last year's The Paper Palace * Grazia *This is a big-hearted, beautiful and wise family saga. Napolitano creates real, flawed characters - and makes you see the world anew. So wonderful as to be unmissable * Good Housekeeping, Book of the Month *

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Book SynopsisA tale of forbidden sexual passion and thwarted dreams played out against the lush, summer backdrop of the Massachusetts Berkshires, Edith Wharton called Summer her ''hot Ethan.'' In their rural settings and their poor, uneducated protagonists, Summer and Ethan Frome represent a sharp departure from Wharton''s familiar depictions of the urban upper class. Charity Royall lives unhappily with her hard-drinking adoptive father in an isolated village, until a visiting architect awakens her sexual passion and the hope for escape. Exploring Charity''s relation to her father and her lover, Wharton delves into dark cultural territory: repressed sexuality, small-town prejudice, and, in subtle hints, incest.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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Book SynopsisBotchan is a modern young man from the Tokyo metropolis, sent to the ultra-traditional Matsuyama district as a Maths teacher after his the death of his parents. Cynical, rebellious and immature, Botchan finds himself facing several tests, from the pupils - prone to playing tricks on their new, naïve teacher; the staff - vain, immoral, and in danger of becoming a bad influence on Botchan; and from his own as-yet-unformed nature, as he finds his place in the world. One of the most popular novels in Japan where it is considered a classic of adolescence, as seminal as The Catcher in the Rye, Botchan is as funny, poignant and memorable as it was when first published, over 100 years ago.Translated by J. CohnTrade ReviewSoseki's lightest and funniest workThis rollicking rebel, and the spice and pace of the narrative, will appeal to parent, teacher, and schoolchild alike * Times Literary Supplement *

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