Narrative theme: politics / economics

Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.The animals at Manor Farm have had enough of Farmer Jones he's drunk, reckless and cares little for their welfare. When the boar, Old Major, shares his revolutionary plans, the animals are convinced they can thrive on their own once the despot Jones is overthrown. But as the pigs vie for power, they begin to bear an uncanny resemblance to the tyrants they have overthrownGeorge Orwell's renowned fable became an instant success on publication after the Second World War. The novel has continued to captivate readers of all ages, and has secured Orwell's position as one of the great writers of the twentieth century.Trade Review‘[Orwell’s] wit is both edged and human. Few writers of any period have been able to use the English language so simply and accurately to say what they mean, and at the same time to mean something’ The New Republic (1946) ‘The book for everyone and Everyman, its brightness undimmed after fifty years’ Daily Telegraph ‘Orwell … has written in a prose so plain and spare, so admirably proportioned to his purpose, that Animal Farm even seems very creditable if we compare it with Voltaire and Swift’ The New Yorker ‘A prophet who thought the unthinkable and spoke the unspeakable, even when it offended conventional thought’ Daily Express ‘Matchlessly sharp and fresh … The clearest and most compelling English prose style this century’ Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisThe internationally bestselling, Man Booker-shortlisted portrait of a man caught between conflicting identities and betrayed by the world he has embraced - from the author of Exit WestAdapted as a major film starring Kate Hudson and Kiefer Sutherland''Masterful . . . A poignant love story and a thriller that subtly ratchets up the nerve-jangling tension towards an explosive ending'' Metro''Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard. I am a lover of America . . . ''So speaks the mysterious stranger at a Lahore cafe as dusk settles. Invited to join him for tea, you learn his name and what led this speaker of immaculate English to seek you out. For he is more worldy than you might expect; better travelled and better educated. He knows the West better than you do. And as he tells you his story, of how he embraced the Western dream -- and a Western woman -- and how both betrayed him, so the night darkens. Then the true reason for your meeting becomes abundantly clear . . .Challenging, mysterious and thrillingly tense, Mohsin Hamid''s masterly The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a vital read teeming with questions and ideas about some of the most pressing issues of today''s globalised, fractured world.Trade ReviewA profoundly contemporary story about civil wars, unstable countries and refugees pouring to the cities of the West... beautifully written, with the ghost of Camus hovering at the edge of the frame * New Statesman *

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Book Synopsis''All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others''When the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and equality. But gradually a cunning, ruthless élite among them, masterminded by the pigs Napoleon and Snowball, starts to take control. Soon the other animals discover that they are not all as equal as they thought, and find themselves hopelessly ensnared as one form of tyranny is replaced with another. The Penguin English Library - collectable general readers'' editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War.

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Book SynopsisSUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERSHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2017A once-in-a-generation series, Ali Smith''s Seasonal quartet is a tour-de-force about love, time, art, politics, and how we live now. ''Undoubtedly Smith at her best. Puckish, yet elegant; angry, but comforting'' The Times Daniel is a century old. Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand in hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever . . .Discover all four instalments: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. Ali Smith''s new novel, Companion piece, is available now.*****ONE OF THE GUARDIAN''S BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY ''Undoubtedly Smith at her best. Puckish, yet elegant; angry, but comforting'' The Times''Bold and brilliant'' Observer''Terrific, extraordinary, playful . . . There is an awful lot to lift the soul'' Daily Mail Trade ReviewI love Ali Smith's writing, and I've been keeping Autumn for an end-of-book holiday treat * Val McDermid, 'The Observer' *In a country apparently divided against itself, a writer such as Smith is more valuable than a whole parliament of politicians * Financial Times *Bold and brilliant, dealing with the body blow of Brexit to offer us something rare: hope * Jackie Kay *Humour, grace, solace...A light-footed meditation on mortality, mutability and how to keep your head in troubled times * The Guardian *Transcendental writing about art, death and all the dimensions of love. It's not so much 'reading between the lines' as being blinded by the light between the lines - in a good way * Deborah Levy *The novel of the year is obviously Ali Smith's Autumn, which managed the miracle of making at least a kind of sense out of post-Brexit Britain * The Observer *Autumn is a beautiful, poignant symphony of memories, dreams and transient realities * The Guardian *Experimental, thematically complex, associative, time-juggling, powered by a crazed and energetic curiosity * Sunday Times *Pure literary magic * Mail on Sunday *Puckish, yet elegant; angry, but comforting. Long may she Remain that way * The Times *A wonderfully risky project...an ambitious, multi-layered creation...an energising and uplifting story * The Daily Telegraph *A moving exploration of the intricacies of the imagination, a sly teasing-out of a host of big ideas and small revelations, all hovering around a timeless quandary: how to observe, how to be * The New York Times *I wonder: How does she manage to so wonderfully weave in and out of time, to layer time, while creating something that feels like it was written this morning after she read today's newspaper? * PBS News Hour *Publisher's description. Autumn 2016: the UK is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. The seasons roll round as ever. From the imagination of the peerless Ali Smith comes a shape-shifting, light-footed, time-travelling novel. This is a story about right now, this minute; about ageing and time and love and stories themselves. Here comes Autumn. * Penguin *Transcendental writing about art, death and all the dimensions of love. It's not so much 'reading between the lines' as being blinded by the light between the lines - in a good way * Deborah Levy *The book I'd like to receive for Christmas: Ali Smith's Autumn. * Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train *Fantastic writing, big ideas and generosity of spirit * Spectator *[Ali Smith] is Scotland's Nobel laureate-in-waiting - and I can't wait for her new book * Sebastian Barry, Observer *Humour, grace, solace...A light-footed meditation on mortality, mutability and how to keep your head in troubled times * Guardian, Best Fiction 2016 *Autumn is a beautiful, poignant symphony of memories, dreams and transient realities * Guardian *[Ali Smith] is simply incapable of writing a dull paragraph * New Statesman *Bold and brilliant, dealing with the body blow of Brexit to offer us something rare: hope. * Jackie Kay, poet *The novel of the year is obviously Ali Smith's Autumn, which managed the miracle of making at least a kind of sense out of post-Brexit Britain. * Olivia Laing, Observer *Ever-inventive...Autumn is the first serious Brexit novel...In a country apparently divided against itself, a writer such as Smith is more valuable than a whole parliament of politicians. * Financial Times, Books of the Year *

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Book SynopsisWhen the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master, Mr Jones, and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and equality. But gradually a cunning, ruthless elite among them, masterminded by the pigs Napoleon and Snowball, starts to take control. Soon the other animals discover that they are not all as equal as they thought, and find themselves hopelessly ensnared as one form of tyranny is replaced with another. Orwell''s chilling ''fairy story'' is a timeless and devastating satire of idealism betrayed by power and corruption.

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Book SynopsisThomas Pynchon is the author of V., The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow, Slow Learner, a collection of short stories, Mason and Dixon, Against the Day and Inherent Vice. He received the National Book Award for Gravity's Rainbow in 1974.Trade ReviewA major political novel about what America has been doing to itself, to its children, all these many years...One of America's great writers has, after long wanderings down his uncharted roads, come triumphantly home -- Salman Rushdie * New York Times Book Review *Vintage stuff - funny, fantastically inventive, packed with improbable erudition * Times Literary Supplement *A essential novel of our fin de siecle, a finger pointing the way out of the 1980s * USA Today *His descriptive powers are breathtaking...Pynchon proves once again to be the master of what might be called the highbrow conspiracy thriller * Wall Street Journal *One of the funniest, most cleverly written, superbly characterised and beautifully structured books that I have read by a living author * Time Out *

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Book SynopsisWhen the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and equality. But gradually a cunning, ruthless élite among them, masterminded by the pigs Napoleon and Snowball, starts to take control. Soon the other animals discover that they are not all as equal as they thought, and find themselves hopelessly ensnared as one form of tyranny is replaced with another. Orwell''s chilling ''fairy story'' is a timeless and devastating satire of idealism betrayed by power and corruption.

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Book Synopsis''Mary E. Pearson is a fearless storyteller'' Stephanie GarberA reformed thief and the young leader of an outlaw dynasty lock wits in a battle that may cost them their lives, and their hearts, in a new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Remnant Chronicles.When the patriarch of the Ballenger empire dies, his son, Jase, becomes its new leader. Even nearby kingdoms bow to the strength of this outlaw family, who have always governed by their own rules. But a new era looms on the horizon, set in motion by a young queen, which makes her the target of the dynasty''s resentment and anger.At the same time, Kazi, a legendary former street thief, is sent by the queen to investigate transgressions against the new settlements. When Kazi arrives in the forbidding land of the Ballengers, she learns that there is more to Jase than she thought. As unexpected events spiral out of their cTrade ReviewPRAISE FOR MARY E. PEARSONBrilliant fantasy with a boldly beating heart * Stephanie Garber, NYT bestselling author of Once Upon a Broken Heart *One of my favorite reads of the year * Alyson Noël, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Immortals *Deeply satisfying, intricately plotted fantasy * Robin LaFevers, New York Times bestselling author of Grave Mercy and Dark Triumph *Breathtaking * Booklist *Heart-pounding * Cinda Williams Chima, New York Times bestselling author of the Seven Realms and the Heir Chronicles *Masterfully crafted * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisOne of the BBC''s ''100 Novels that Shaped the World''''Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past''Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.George Orwell''s dystopian masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-Four is perhaps the most pervasively influential book of the twentieth century.

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Book Synopsis'All animals are equal - but some are more equal than others'When the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and equality. But gradually a cunning, ruthless Ãlite among them, masterminded by the pigs Napoleon and Snowball, starts to take control. Soon the other animals discover that they are not all as equal as they thought, and find themselves hopelessly ensnared as one form of tyranny is replaced with another. 'It is the history of a revolution that went wrong - and of the excellent excuses that were forthcoming at every step for the perversion of the original doctrine,' wrote Orwell for the first edition of Animal Farm in 1945. Orwell wrote the novel at the end of 1943, but it almost remained unpublished; its savage attack on Stalin, at that time Britain's ally, led to the book being refused by publisher after publisher. Orwell's simple, tragic fTrade ReviewRemains our great satire of the darker face of modern history -- Malcolm BradburyAnimal Farm has seen off all the opposition. It's as valid as today as it was fifty years ago -- Ralph Steadman

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Book SynopsisHidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party.

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Book SynopsisSUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER A once-in-a-generation series, Ali Smith''s Seasonal Quartet is a tour-de-force about love, time, art, politics, and how we live now. ''Her best yet, a dazzling hymn to hope, uniting the past and present with a chorus of voices'' Observer What unites Katherine Mansfield, Charlie Chaplin, Shakespeare, Rilke, Beethoven, Brexit, the present, the past, the north, the south, the east, the west, a man mourning lost times, a woman trapped in modern times? Spring. The great connective. With an eye to the migrancy of story over time, and riffing on Pericles, one of Shakespeare''s most resistant and rollicking works, Ali Smith tells the impossible tale of an impossible time. In a time of walls and lockdown Smith opens the door. The time we''re living in is changing nature. Will it change the nature of story? Hope springs eternal.Discover all four instalments: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. Ali Smith''s new novel, Companion piece, is available now.*****''An astonishing accomplishment and a book for all seasons'' Independent''Smith is a masterful storyteller . . . Savour it'' Evening Standard''Infectious in its energy and warmth'' Daily TelegraphTrade ReviewLuminous, generous, hope-filled... The third book in Ali Smith's seasonal quartet is her best yet, a dazzling hymn to hope, uniting the past and present with a chorus of voices... [Ali Smith] is lighting us a path out of the nightmarish now * Observer *Is there a writer so critically acclaimed and universally beloved? ...Autumn, Winter and Spring are stories of the unlikely connections human beings can make and the cost exacted when those connections are broken. They are state of the nation novels which understand that the nation is you, is me, is all of us: the nation is our choices, our fears, our losses... [Ali Smith] is the national novelist we need in 2019 * New Statesman *An astonishing accomplishment and a book for all seasons * Independent *Smith is a masterful storyteller... Spring is political but Smith is more concerned with the human fallout of current affairs then the machinations of elites... Through her account of unlikely friendships, Smith brings human values to the fore. Savour it, because there is just one instalment left * Evening Standard *Spring weaves a story around the most pressing issues of our time... [A] bubbling, babbling brook of a book...Smith tells stories in a voice you can't help but listen to * The Times *A powerful vision of lost souls in a divided Britain... As Smith's Seasonal Quartet moves towards completion her own role in British fiction looks ever more vital. The final page proclaims spring 'the great connective'. It's not a bad description of Smith herself * Guardian *Beguiling... The eagerly awaited third instalment * Financial Times *Infectious in its energy and warmth * Daily Telegraph *Just when things were starting to look really bad, along comes the third instalment in Ali Smith's seasonal quartet to lift us out of the gloom... An extraordinary embodiment of the ways in which storytelling connects us... The work of Katherine Mansfield and Rilke, Greek myths and the propulsive lyricism of spring itself, thread together in narratives of loss and rejuvenation * Daily Mail *The third of her exceptional Seasonal quartet, which riffs back and forth with Autumn and Winter to expound on the importance of hope to move us beyond the darkest of times * I paper *The most compelling and coherent of the three books... Smith, as always is interested in how a story gets told, and who gets to tell it * Sunday Times *Ali Smith is one of our greatest living novelists, the Virginia Woolf of our times. * The Observer *

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Book SynopsisNOW A MAJOR TV SERIES WITH PRIME VIDEOWINNER OF THE WOMEN''S PRIZE FOR FICTION''Electrifying'' Margaret Atwood''A big, page-turning, thought-provoking thriller'' Guardian----------------------------------All over the world women are discovering they have the power. With a flick of the fingers they can inflict terrible pain - even death. Suddenly, every man on the planet finds they''ve lost control.The Day of the Girls has arrived - but where will it end?----------------------------------''The Hunger Games crossed with The Handmaid''s Tale'' Cosmopolitan''I loved it; it was visceral, provocative and curiously pertinent . . . The story has stayed with me since'' Stylist, The Decade''s 15 Best Books by Remarkable Women''Superb. Insightful, thrilling, funny. Well-crafted, compelling, serious-minded'' Daily Telegraph''Fascinating, ingenious, rattles with a furious pace. Deserves to be read by every woman (and, for that matter, every man)'' The Times''Irresistible. Holds a mirror up to the here and now'' Mail on Sunday''Chilling, thrilling, a blast'' Financial TimesTrade ReviewElectrifying -- Margaret AtwoodA big, brash, page-turning, thought-provoking thriller * Guardian *A fascinating look at what the world might be like if millennia of sexism went the other way. Ingenious . . . deserves to be read by every woman (and, for that matter, every man) * The Times *It's magnificent. I'm agog. Really, I'm several gogs. So smart and scary and sad but true -- Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire SlayerThe Handmaid's Tale for the Gone Girl generation * Grazia *A stone cold genius -- Sarah PerryThe Hunger Games crossed with The Handmaid's Tale * Cosmopolitan *The Power is a subtly funny, lyrical and utterly subversive vision of an impossible future. As all the best visionaries do, Alderman shines a penetrating and yet merciful light on to our present and the so many cruelties in which we may be complicit -- A. L. KennedyElectrifying! Shocking! Will knock your socks off! Then you'll think twice, about everything -- Margaret AtwoodThe Power is a fascinating look at what the world might be like if millennia of sexism went the other way...as a whole the narrative feels ingenious...deserves to be read by every woman (and, for that matter, every man) * The Times *A feminist science-fiction story that's about to make waves * Red *If you enjoy Margaret Atwood's dystopian fiction, this strong, substantial novel is for you * Woman & Home *Alderman is a fluent and powerful writer * Sunday Times *Thought-provoking novel * Glamour *When we say that The Power is profoundly disturbing and you may well want to argue with it as you read, we mean that in a good way * SFX, Five Stars *I loved it; it was visceral, provocative and curiously pertinent . . . The story has stayed with me since * Stylist, the decade's 15 best books by remarkable women *As awesome as it is compulsive * Heat, 5 stars *What starts out as a fantasy of female empowerment deepens and darkens into an interrogation of power itself, its uses and abuses and what it does to the people who have it * Guardian *A raw, gutsy slice of speculative dystopia * Metro *Like the best science fiction, this dystopian feminist fantasy holds up a mirror to the here and now * Mail on Sunday *A gripping read and a reminder of the true joy of a truly engaging story * Stylist *Frenetic sci-fi novel * Daily Mail *Naomi's super-charged, subversive novel....forcing you to rethink everything * Psychologies *One of my favourite books of 2016 - clever, harrowing and thought-provoking -- Paula Hawkins, best-selling author of The Girl on the TrainElectrifying -- Margaret AtwoodIt's a feminist dystopian page-turner of a thriller and I'm IN LOVE with it -- Marian KeyesThis year's Baileys winner is simultaneously a high-concept thought experiment and a rollercoaster, action packed read * Guardian *The Power by Naomi Alderman is the feminist flipside to The Handmaid's Tale, asking what happens when women are suddenly the stronger sex * Evening Standard *An enthrallingly told Cassandra-like prophecy from the ever-inventive Naomi Alderman * Observer *This book sparks with such electric satire that you should read it wearing insulated gloves * Washington Post *The Power is at once as streamlined as a 90-minute action film and as weirdly resonant as one of Atwood's own early fictions * Boston Globe *In this fierce and unsettling novel, the ability to generate a dangerous electrical force from their bodies lets women take control, resulting in a vast, systemic upheaval of gender dynamics across the globe * New York Times Books of the Year *It's a riveting story, told in fittingly electric language, that explores how power corrupts everyone: those new to it and those resisting its loss' * New York Times *

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Book Synopsis''Mary E. Pearson is a fearless storyteller'' Stephanie GarberVow of Thieves is the thrilling sequel to Dance of Thieves, set in the same world as Mary E. Pearson''s New York Times bestselling Remnant Chronicles.Kazi and Jase have survived, stronger and more in love than ever. Their new life now lies before them - the Ballengers will be outlaws no longer, Tor''s Watch will be a kingdom, and Kazi and Jase will meet all challenges side by side, together at last.But an ominous warning mars their journey back, and they soon find themselves captured in a tangled web of deceit woven by their greatest enemies and unlikeliest allies, a place where betrayals run deeper and more deadly than either had thought possible, and where timeless ambitions threaten to destroy them both.PRAISE FOR MARY E. PEARSON''One of my favorite reads of the year'' Alyson NoëlTrade ReviewPRAISE FOR MARY E. PEARSONBrilliant fantasy with a boldly beating heart * Stephanie Garber, NYT bestselling author of Once Upon a Broken Heart *One of my favorite reads of the year * Alyson Noël, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Immortals *Deeply satisfying, intricately plotted fantasy * Robin LaFevers, New York Times bestselling author of Grave Mercy and Dark Triumph *Breathtaking * Booklist *Heart-pounding * Cinda Williams Chima, New York Times bestselling author of the Seven Realms and the Heir Chronicles *Masterfully crafted * Publishers Weekly *

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Book Synopsis''Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.''Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.The Penguin English Library - collectable general readers'' editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War.

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Book SynopsisA PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick With extraordinary relevance and renewed popularity, George Orwell’s 1984 takes on new life in this hardcover edition. “Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions.Trade ReviewOne of the BBC's 100 Novels that Shaped the World “Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”—The New Yorker “1984 is a profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book. It is a fantasy of the political future, and like any such fantasy, serves its author as a magnifying device for an examination of the present.”—Lionel Trilling —

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Book Synopsis1926. Wuhan is in lockdown.Fourteen years ago, its heroes toppled China’s last emperor, but at great cost. Patriots became politicians. Reformers became warlords. Now at Wuchang, the ancient walled city anchoring the metropolis to the Yangtze, they fight to the death.Former comrades and broken families watch each other through iron crosshairs. For Chiang Kai‑shek’s unproven government forces camped outside, victory means a chance at national salvation. For the ragtag Beiyang soldiers and citizenry trapped within, there is but one mission: stay alive.From the banks of the Mother River, the cold stone walls have seen entire dynasties unravelled in tides of senseless destruction. Will the living fare any better?

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Book SynopsisEver since its publication in 1948, George Orwell''s terrifying vision of a totalitarian regime where Big Brother controls its citizens like ''a boot stamping on a human face'' has become a touchstone for human freedom, and one of the most widely-read books in the world. In this new annotated edition Orwell''s biographer D. J. Taylor elucidates the full meaning of this timeless satire, explaining contemporary references in the novel, placing it in the context of Orwell''s life, elaborating on his extraordinary use of language and explaining the terms such as Newspeak, Doublethink and Room 101 that have become familiar phrases today. This is the essential edition of the essential book of modern times.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewForty Days will invade your senses and keep the blood pounding. Once read, it will never be forgotten * The New York Times *In every sense a true and thrilling novel... It tells a story which it is almost one's duty as an intelligent human being to read. And one's duty here becomes one's pleasure also * New York Times Book Review *Werfel's book ... did more than the efforts of any diplomat, journalist, or historian to encourage speech about the unspeakable. It arrives today as a timely reminder that savagery thrives in silence * The Barnes and Noble Review *A crackling read. Symphonic in its handling of profound themes, respectful of its most vacillating characters, Werfel's novel is a grand and satisfying story about the necessities and difficulties of leadership * Booklist *

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Book SynopsisBringing into harsh focus the daily struggle for existence in a Soviet gulag, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn''s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is translated by Ralph Parker in Penguin Modern Classics. This brutal, shattering glimpse of the fate of millions of Russians under Stalin shook Russia and shocked the world when it first appeared. Discover the importance of a piece of bread or an extra bowl of soup, the incredible luxury of a book, the ingenious possibilities of a nail, a piece of string or a single match in a world where survival is all. Here safety, warmth and food are the first objectives. Reading it, you enter a world of incarceration, brutality, hard manual labour and freezing cold - and participate in the struggle of men to survive both the terrible rigours of nature and the inhumanity of the system that defines their conditions of life.Though twice-decorated for his service at the front during the Second World War, Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) was arrested in 1945 for making derogatory remarks about Stalin, and sent to a series of brutal Soviet labour camps in the Arctic Circle, where he remained for eight years. Released after Stalin''s death, he worked as a teacher, publishing his novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich with the approval of Nikita Khrushchev in 1962, to huge success. His 1967 novel Cancer Ward, as well as his magnum opus The Gulag Archipelago, were not as well-received by Soviet authorities, and not long after being awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970, Solzhenitsyn was deported from the USSR. In 1994, after twenty years in exile, Solzhenitsyn made his long-awaited return to Russia.If you enjoyed One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, you might also like Yevgeny Zamyatin''s We, available in Penguin Classics.''It is a blow struck for human freedom all over the world ... and it is gloriously readable''Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisWilliam Boyd was born in 1952 in Accra, Ghana and grew up there and in Nigeria. His first novel, A Good Man in Africa (1981), won the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Somerset Maugham Prize. His other novels include An Ice Cream War (1982, shortlisted for the 1982 Booker Prize and winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), Stars and Bars (1984), The New Confessions (1987), Brazzaville Beach (1990, winner of the McVitie Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize), The Blue Afternoon (1993, winner of the 1993 Sunday Express Book of the Year Award), Armadillo (1998), Any Human Heart (2002, winner of the Prix Jean Monnet) and Restless (2006, winner of the Costa Novel of the Year Award). His latest novel is Sweet Caress (2015). Some seventeen of his screenplays have been filmed, including The Trench (1999), which he also directed, and he is also the author of four collections of short stories: On the Yankee StatioTrade ReviewWickedly funny * The Times *If a widening grin is the test of a novel's entertainment value in retrospect, A Good Man in Africa romps home * Guardian *A delight * Washington Post *Uproariously funny * Observer *

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Book SynopsisIn 1945 secrets hidden at an Italian estate could prove just as vital to humanity''s fate as the war efforts on the frontlines . . . if nurse Diana Bolsena can get to them first.Tuscany, 1945. As the war in Europe ends, American Red Cross nurse Diana Bolsena finds herself separated from her unit. Unable to reconnect with the American army, she''s left to survive with nothing but her spirit, her talents as a nurse, and her nightmares of the horror of war. Determined to return to active duty in the Pacific, to earn her way back Diana begins caring for a child with disabilities on the estate of the enigmatic Signora Bugari. Amidst the ravages of war, it is a peaceful existence until a visiting German officer, Herr Adler, arrives demanding Bugari return what is rightfully his. When a shocking murder attracts more people to the isolated estate, Diana suspects Adler''s hidden secrets could affect the course of history. But who will uncover them

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Book SynopsisTells the story of Howard Roark, a brilliant architect who dares to stand alone against the hostility of second-hand souls. First published in 1943, this novel presents a view of man's creative potential. It is about ambition, power, gold and love.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION''To tell the story of a country or a continent is surely a great and complex undertaking; but the story of a quiet, unnoticed place where there are few people, fewer memories and almost no reliable records - a place such as Glen Conach - may actually be harder to piece together. The hazier everything becomes, the more whatever facts there are become entangled with myth and legend. . .''Deep in the mountains of north-east Scotland lies Glen Conach, a place of secrets and memories, fable and history. In particular, it holds the stories of three different eras, separated by centuries yet linked by location, by an ancient manuscript and by echoes that travel across time.In ancient Pictland, the Christian hermit Conach contemplates God and nature, performs miracles and prepares himself for sacrifice. Long after his death, legends about him are set down by an unknown hand in the Book ofTrade ReviewA haunted, haunting, and deeply humane book -- Robert CrawfordIt's like some beautifully ornate kist or jewel-box that for most of the encounter you admire for its own sake, only to find a key, near the end, that opens onto even more treasure -- Gavin FrancisIt is another wonderful piece of storytelling from James Robertson, offering a penetrating exploration of the complexities of collective memory and the tenacity of tradition, all played out through a thousand years of life in a single glen. It has all the makings of a timeless classic in its own right. -- Professor Gary WestJames Robertson is an extremely fine novelist . . . This is a superb book. . . It is not a book anyone will forget quickly. * Scotland on Sunday *One of Robertson's skills as a novelist is to make both events real and imagined feel equally convincing. * Prospect *Subtly explores the relationship between place and identity * The Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisA mother faces a terrible choice in this explosive literary sensation about a dystopian IrelandTrade Review'Lynch pulls off feats of language that are stunning to witness... This is a triumph of emotional storytelling, bracing and brave.' Esi Edugyan, Chair of Judges, The Booker Prize 2023'If there was ever a crucial book for our current times, it's Paul Lynch's Prophet Song... A brilliantly haunting novel.' Observer'With...Prophet Song, the judges have chosen perhaps the most timely and urgent book on the shortlist... it’s also the very intimate, elemental story of one woman’s love for her family, and her desperate attempts to hold on to the immediate world around her in the face of rising chaos.' Guardian'Prophet Song is composed of masterful sentences, and packs a profound emotional punch.’ Gaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation'I haven't read a book that has shaken me so intensely in many years... The comparisons are inevitable – Saramago, Orwell, McCarthy – but this novel will stand entirely on its own.' Colum McCann, author of Apeirogon'Powerful, claustrophobic and horribly real... Lynch's depiction of Eilish is nuanced and sympathetic, and in the fiercely embodied quality of her love for her children, entirely successful.' Guardian'Surely one of the most important novels of this decade.' Ron Rash, author of Serena'A compassionate, propulsive and timely novel that forces the reader to imagine — what if this was me?' FT'The fifth novel from one of the most acclaimed Irish writers of his generation… As an adventure story-cum-political warning, it’s being touted as "Ireland’s 1984".' Telegraph'In his typically lyrical, lulling style, Lynch pulls off a masterstroke… The chill, so close to home, is blood curdling.' Big Issue'Chillingly plausible.' Irish Times‘Thunderously powerful... In Prophet Song Paul Lynch asks us to face some of our darkest fears, and if he offers no comfort, and little hope, then we must surely recognize his true purpose: that the furious reader should return to the real world determined to find a better ending for this story.' TLS'One of the most harrowing, minatory and provocative novels I have read in a while. It has the sharp cut of reality despite being set in an alternate version of our world, except for when it is all too recognisable. The final and penultimate chapters are truly shuddersome.' Scotsman'Eilish is a wonderful creation… Lynch does an excellent job of showing just how swiftly – and plausibly – a society like ours could collapse. Certain sequences read like a thriller – readers will find themselves literally holding their breath – while others are rendered in beautiful, lyrical prose.' Irish Independent'The work of a master novelist, Prophet Song is a stunning, midnight vision whose themes are at once ancient and all too timely: fear, complicity, resistance, and what becomes of us when hell rises to our homeland.' Rob Doyle, author of Threshold'A profoundly human story that brings to life the horror of living in a modern war zone. Deft, subtle and written in strikingly beautiful prose, with this stunning novel Paul Lynch has joined the ranks of Atwood, Orwell and Burgess.' Christine Dwyer Hickey, author of The Narrow Land'While much of the book’s sinister power lies in how Lynch hints at the steps by which democracy gives way to totalitarianism, its real energy comes from how he portrays the continuing everyday pressure of Eilish's obligations to her children and frail father amid the deepening turmoil… [A] provocative thought experiment.' Daily Mail'A tremendous achievement... This is one of the most important novels of 2023. Paul Lynch is a fearless writer – unafraid of taking on large themes and tackling them face to face.' Irish Examiner'Lynch renders this almost-Ireland in fluid, poetic prose, moulding sentences as if they were made of plasticine. It's no surprise that since his debut he has been compared with the American writer Cormac McCarthy.' The Sunday Times (Ireland)'Gripping, brilliantly realised... A masterly novel that reminds us that democracy is always fragile.' Literary Review'Lynch's writing bristles with tension… While Lynch's novel is a laudable addition to a genre that serves as a warning about how easy it is to lose the freedoms we take for granted, perhaps its greatest achievement is that at no point do the events depicted feel too improbable to be realistic… Prophet Song is entirely original.' Sunday Independent (Dublin)'A prophetic masterpiece.' Washington Post'A chilling cautionary tale of war, parenthood and loss. Tender and terrifying.' Economist, 'Best Books of 2023'

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Book SynopsisFROM THE AWARD-WINNING TRANSLATORS RICHARD PEVEAR AND LARISSA VOLOKHONSKYDostoevsky''s genius is on display in this powerful existential novel.The apology and confession of a minor mid-19th-century Russian official, Notes from Underground, is a half-desperate, half-mocking political critique and a powerful, at times absurdly comical, account of man''s breakaway from society and descent ''underground''.Trade ReviewYou read every shimmering, tormented word, mesmerised. This is Dostoevsky in distillation, a prelude not just to his leading works, but to the entire 20th century... How is it possible to have a character who evokes aspects of Hitler and Pooter, who is hilarious yet disturbing, and both villain and victim? Because Dostoevsky was a genius, and the narrator of Notes From Underground his most protean character, with whom you never quite know how you stand * Sunday Times *Dostoevsky's is a genuinely disembodied voice, speaking for all sufferers and victims * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisTwenty years after the end of the Second World War, an Italian general is despatched to Albania to recover his country's dead. Once there he meets a German general who is engaged upon an identical mission, and their conversations brings out into the open the extent of their horror and guilt, newly exacerbated by their present task.Trade ReviewHe has been compared to Gogol, Kafka and Orwell. But Kadare's is an original voice, universal yet deeply rooted in his own soil * Independent on Sunday *A novelist of dazzling mastery -- Paul Binding * Independent *Astonishing...his finest work -- Azar Nafisi, Man Booker judge and author of 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' * Guardian *With its metonymic realism and fidelity to its characters, The General of the Dead Army reminds us why his work is so valued * New Statesman *Literary gold dust - haunting, bleakly comedic and ultimately horrific * The Times *

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Book SynopsisGordon Comstock loathes dull, middle-class respectability and worship of money. He gives up a ''good job'' in advertising to work part-time in a bookshop, giving him more time to write. But he slides instead into a self-induced poverty that destroys his creativity and his spirit. Only Rosemary, ever-faithful Rosemary, has the strength to challenge his commitment to his chosen way of life. Through the character of Gordon Comstock, Orwell reveals his own disaffection with the society he once himself renounced.Enlivened with vivid autobiographical detail, George Orwell''s Keep the Aspidistra Flying is a tragically witty account of the struggle to escape from a materialistic existence, with an introduction by Peter Davison in Penguin Modern Classics.Trade ReviewA completely harrowing and stark account of poverty ... written in clear and violent language—Cyril Connolly

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Book SynopsisAll animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.The animals at Manor Farm have had enough of Farmer Jones he's drunk, reckless and cares little for their welfare. When the boar, Old Major, shares his revolutionary plans, the animals are convinced they can thrive on their own once the despot Jones is overthrown. But as the pigs vie for power, they begin to bear an uncanny resemblance to the tyrants they have overthrownGeorge Orwell's renowned fable became an instant success on publication after the Second World War. The novel has continued to captivate readers of all ages, and has secured Orwell's position as one of the great writers of the twentieth century.Trade Review‘[Orwell’s] wit is both edged and human. Few writers of any period have been able to use the English language so simply and accurately to say what they mean, and at the same time to mean something’ The New Republic (1946) ‘The book for everyone and Everyman, its brightness undimmed after fifty years’ Daily Telegraph ‘Orwell … has written in a prose so plain and spare, so admirably proportioned to his purpose, that Animal Farm even seems very creditable if we compare it with Voltaire and Swift’ The New Yorker ‘A prophet who thought the unthinkable and spoke the unspeakable, even when it offended conventional thought’ Daily Express ‘Matchlessly sharp and fresh … The clearest and most compelling English prose style this century’ Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisThe first ever graphic novel adaptation of George Orwell''s timeless dystopiaWinston Smith, an outwardly obedient citizen of Airstrip One, dreams secretly of truth and freedom - but his rebellion will come at a terrible cost. George Orwell''s dark masterpiece has enthralled readers for over seventy years. Now the dystopian world of Big Brother, telescreens, the Thought Police and Room 101 is vividly brought to new life in this first ever graphic novel adaptation, illustrated by acclaimed artist Fido Nesti.Trade ReviewFido Nesti has done a grand job of depicting Orwell's dystopian nightmare ... The writer himself, you like to think, would have been most proud of this new graphic interpretation * Buzz Magazine *Hand this to readers who are new to 1984 or hesitant to take up a classic * Booklist *

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERThe unmissable new work from Ali Smith, following the dazzling Man Booker-shortlisted Seasonal quartetOne day in post-Brexit, mid-pandemic Britain, artist Sandy Gray receives an unexpected phone call from university acquaintance Martina Pelf. Martina is calling Sandy to ask for help with a mysterious question she''s been left with after she''s spent half a day locked in a room by border control officials for no reason she can fathom:''Curlew or curfew? You choose.''And what''s any of this got to do with the story of a young and talented blacksmith hounded from her trade and her home more than five hundred years ago?Ali Smith''s novel takes wing, soaring between our atomised present and our medieval past in the hope we can open our locked down homes and selves to all the other times, other species, other histories, other possibilities.''[An] entertaining and expert portrayal of the worlTrade ReviewSuperb, radical, remarkable -- Mohsin Hamid * New York Times *A lockdown story of wayward genius . . . Lyrical visions alternate with fables and farce, history with Covid, in the scheme-busting fifth part of Smith's seasonal quartet -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * Guardian *Scintillating . . . Companion Piece, like life, is messy, funny, sad, beautiful and mysterious -- Alex Preston * Observer *Both a standalone novel and a coda to her Seasonal quartet, Ali Smith's latest, set during the pandemic, offers a wise and humane voice for perilous times * Financial Times *Smith's way of telling a story - looping in time; switching from one fast-flicking consciousness to another; tying up radically different periods of history in a single place - and her amused delight in the flexibilities of language feel not only modernist but, better than that, modern * The New Statesman *Alive to the music and light of language * Washington Post *Smith's work is brainy and moving, thoughtful and playful * NPR *Like Smith's other novels, Companion piece is a formally dazzling story, constructed from a découpage of funny, messy, beautifully disparate elements * Esquire *It is remarkable to be alive at the same time as Scottish writer Ali Smith . . . Smith is intellectually rigorous yet democratic, warm and - crucially - playful * Los Angeles Times *

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Book SynopsisSony Labou Tansi''s surreal portrait of a despised and incompetent regime is a biting, burlesque fable, incisive in its description of postcolonial life.History has been silenced in this modern African state: only the voices of the dead cry out for justice. It is a cry answered by Estina Bronzario, the Woman of Bronze, determined to act against the political and moral corruption of male-dominated society.Murders escalate, crowds ebb and flow, and the years roll by. But all the while, the police never come... ''Central Africa''s greatest writer.'' New York Times''No greater genius than Sony Lab''ou Tansi.'' Independent''Sublimely surreal allegory... Tansi [is] one of Africa''s important voices.'' Publishers WeeklyTrade ReviewCentral Africa's greatest writer * New York Times *No greater genius than Sony Labou Tansi * Independent *Sublimely surreal allegory... Tansi [is] one of Africa's important voices * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisKenyan novelist and playwright Ngugi wa Thiong'o is the author of WEEP NOT CHILD (1964), THE RIVER BETWEEN (1965), and PETALS OF BLOOD (1977). Ngugi was chair of the Department of Literature at the University of Nairobi from 1972 to 1977. He left Kenya in 1982 and taught at various universities in the United States before he became professor of comparative literature and performance studies at New York University in 1992.

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Book Synopsis''A superb novel ... you will be hooked from the first chapter and enjoy every line'' Sunday ExpressDeep in the South American jungle the MAMista Marxist revolutionaries are fighting a hopeless, protracted war against a dictator - while the CIA see an opportunity. Amid the turmoil, three very different people - a doctor, a young firebrand and an educated revolutionary - find themselves thrown together and trapped at the heart of a battle where the enemy is uncertain, and there can be no winners. Len Deighton''s first post-Cold War novel is a chilling and compelling story of revolution and betrayal.''Moral ambiguity used to be called Greeneland. Since Graham Greene''s death, at least part of it ought to be renamed Deightonsville'' Time MagazineTrade ReviewDeighton's longest, most complex and passionate novel in years: an epic tale, set in a South American jungle, of good men and women crushed beneath the heel of Realpolitik. * Kirkus Review *You will be hooked from the first chapter and enjoy every line ... The Berlin Wall may have tumbled, destroying overnight a whole spy cottage industry, but as the dust settles Len Deighton rises like the phoenix ... a superb novel. -- Bryan Forbes * Sunday Express *Moral ambiguity used to be called Greeneland. Since Graham Greene's death, that territory is open for conquest. At least part of it ought to be renamed Deightonsville. * TIME *

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Book SynopsisUnless you're a woman on Tinder between the ages of 19 and 30 in the Clapham area, or a high-end cocaine dealer operating in South West London, you probably won't have heard of Rafe Hubris, BA (Oxon). Despite that, he's a crucial figure in the life of our nation. As Boris Johnson's most classic special adviser (spad) at Number 10, he helped the UK government skilfully and efficiently control the Covid crisis, containing it for good by the end of 2020. In the first of what will doubtless be many memoirs as Rafe travels his own inevitable journey to the premiership, this fly-on-the-wall account documents his Year of 'Rona in its entirety (and iniquity). Even non-Oxbridge readers (for whom the author has taken care to keep his language as accessible as possible) will come away from this volume struck by how lucky we are to have him. Floreat Etona!* *Note for non-Oxbridge readers: this means 'May Eton flourish' in Latin.** **Latin is the language of Ancient Rome and its empire.Trade Review'A pitch-perfect send-up' Evening Standard; ‘A neat and perfectly observed skewering of not just the current administration, but the culture of over-familiar, self-important special advisers too’ Daily Telegraph; ‘I was left with the uneasy feeling that this wasn’t humour, this was a fly-on-the-wall documentary and the occupants of Downing Street had managed, somehow, to live down to what had seemed like outrageous satire. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry’. Peter Magee, The Bookbag

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Book SynopsisA pioneering work of dystopian fiction from one of Sweden''s most acclaimed writersWritten midway between Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four, as the terrible events of the Second World War were unfolding, Kallocain depicts a totalitarian ''World State'' which seeks to crush the individual entirely. In this desolate, paranoid landscape of ''police eyes'' and ''police ears'', the obedient citizen and middle-ranking scientist Leo Kall discovers a drug that will force anyone who takes it to tell the truth. But can private thought really be obliterated? Karin Boye''s chilling novel of creeping alienation shows the dangers of acquiescence and the power of resistance, no matter how futile.Translated with an introduction by David McDuffTrade ReviewThe woman who reimagined the dystopian novel -- Talya Zax * The New Yorker *

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Book SynopsisThe Reluctant Fundamentalist is Mohsin Hamid''s thrillingly provocative international bestseller, available as a Penguin Essential for the first time. Shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2007Now a major film directed by Mira Nair and starring Kate Hudson and Kiefer Sutherland''Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard. I am a lover of America . . . ''So speaks the mysterious stranger at a Lahore cafe as dusk settles. Invited to join him for tea, you learn his name and what led this speaker of immaculate English to seek you out. For he is more worldy than you might expect; better travelled and better educated. He knows the West better than you do. And as he tells you his story, of how he embraced the Western dream -- and a Western woman -- and how both betrayed him, so the night darkens. Then the true reason for your meeting becomes abundantly clear . . .Challenging, mysterious and thrillingly tense, Mohsin Hamid''s masterly The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a vital read teeming with questions and ideas about some of the most pressing issues of today''s globalised, fractured world.''Masterful . . . A multi-layered and thoroughly gripping book, which works as a poignant love story, a powerful dissection of how US imperialist machinations have turned so many people against the world''s superpower - and as a thriller that subtly ratchets up the nerve-jangling tension towards an explosive ending'' Metro''Beautifully written . . . more exciting than any thriller I''ve read for a long time'' Philip Pullman''A brilliant book'' Kiran Desai''Admirably spare and amazingly exciting'' Rachel Cooke, New StatesmanMohsin Hamid is the author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Moth Smoke and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. His fiction has been translated into over 30 languages, received numerous awards, and been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He has contributed essays and short stories to publications such as the Guardian, The New York Times, Financial Times, Granta, and Paris Review. Born and mostly raised in Lahore, he spent part of his childhood in California, studied at Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and has since lived between Lahore, London, and New York.Trade ReviewGripping... remains taut until the final pages...an elegant and sharp indictment of the clouds of suspicion that now shroud our world * Observer *A quietly told, cleverly constructed fable of infatuation and disenchantment with America, set on the treacherous faultlines of current east/west relations, and finely tuned to the ironies of mutual - but especially American - prejudice and misrepresentation...increasingly tense...genuinely provocative...intelligent, highly engaging * Guardian *Elegant, provocative . . . beautifully measured prose . . . a delicate meditation on the nature of perception and prejudice * Daily Mail *Masterful . . . A multi-layered and thoroughly gripping book, which works as a poignant love story, a powerful dissection of how US imperialist machinations have turned so many people against the world's superpower - and as a thriller that subtly ratchets up the nerve-jangling tension towards an explosive ending * Metro *The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an important book * Evening Standard *A fantastic piece of work, superbly considered and controlled, with a lovely stillness and wisdom at its heart * The Times *Beautifully written -- Philip PullmanA profoundly contemporary story about civil wars, unstable countries and refugees pouring to the cities of the West... beautifully written, with the ghost of Camus hovering at the edge of the frame * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisLeaves of Grass is Walt Whitman’s glorious poetry collection, first published in 1855, which he revised and expanded throughout his lifetime. It was ground-breaking in its subject matter and in its direct, unembellished style. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited and introduced by Professor Bridget Bennett.Whitman wrote about the United States and its people, its revolutionary spirit and about democracy. He wrote openly about the body and about desire in a way that completely broke with convention and which paved the way for a completely new kind of poetry. This new collection is taken from the final version, the Deathbed edition, and it includes his most famous poems such as ‘Song of Myself’ and ‘I Sing the Body Electric’.Trade ReviewThere is no one in this great wide world of America whom I love and honour so much -- Oscar WildeI am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of Leaves of Grass. I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has ever produced -- Ralph Waldo EmersonWhitman, the great poet, has meant so much to me. Whitman the one man breaking a way ahead. Whitman the one pioneer . . . Ahead of Whitman, nothing. Ahead of all poets, pioneering into the wilderness of unopened life, Whitman. Beyond him, none -- D. H. LawrenceHis [Whitman’s] Song of Himself was a song for humanity, too. And in spite of all that has happened since, it still echoes here * Independent *Whitman had a fluid personality that made him able to “merge” invisibly, and with great empathy, with the images of other people and events that lodged in his mind . . . unprecedented assembling of rhythm, sound, language and images * New York Times *[Leaves of Grass is] more about the pandemic of possibility, a fever rush of extraordinary beauty in the face of all the available evidence. -- Colum McCann * The Week *Table of ContentsIntroduction - i: Introduction Unit - 1: Inscriptions Chapter - 1: To Foreign Lands Chapter - 2: Song of Myself Chapter - 3: When I Read The Book Chapter - 4: To The States Chapter - 4: Shut Not Your Doors Unit - 2: Children of Adam Chapter - 1: I Sing the Body Electric Chapter - 2: A Woman Waits for Me Unit - 3: Calamus Chapter - 1: In Paths Untrodden Chapter - 2: Scented Herbage of my Breast Chapter - 3: Whoever You are Holding Me Now in Hand Chapter - 4: For You O Democracy Chapter - 5: The Base of All Metaphysics Chapter - 6: Recorders Ages Hence Chapter - 7: When I Heard at the Close of Day Chapter - 8: Are You the New Person Drawn toward Me Chapter - 9: I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing Chapter - 10: To a Stranger Chapter - 11: This Moment Yearning and Thoughtful Chapter - 12: I Hear it was Charged Against Me Chapter - 13: When I Peruse the Conquer'd Flame Chapter - 14: We Two Boys together Clinging Chapter - 15: No Labor-Saving Machine Chapter - 16: A Glimpse Chapter - 17: What Think You I Take Pen in Hand? Chapter - 18: Sometimes with One I Love Chapter - 19: Song of the Open Road Chapter - 20: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Unit - 4: Birds of Passage Chapter - 1: Pioneers! O Pioneers! Unit - 5: Sea Drift Chapter - 1: Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking Unit - 6: By the Roadside Chapter - 1: When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer Unit - 7: Drum Taps Chapter - 1: Beat! Beat! Drums! Chapter - 2: Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night Chapter - 3: The Wound-Dresser Chapter - 4: The Artilleryman's Vision Chapter - 5: O Tan-Faced Prairie Boy Chapter - 6: How Solemn as One by One Chapter - 7: As I Lay with My Head in Your Lap Camerado Chapter - 8: Spirit Whose Work is Done Unit - 8: Memoirs of President Lincoln Chapter - 1: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd Chapter - 2: O Captain! My Captain! Chapter - 3: Hush'd be the Camps To-day Chapter - 4: By Blue Ontario's Shores Unit - 9: Autumn Rivulets Chapter - 1: There was a Child went Forth Chapter - 2: The City Dead-House Chapter - 3: Passage to India Chapter - 4: Prayer of Columbus Chapter - 5: The Sleepers Unit - 10: Whispers of Heavenly Death Chapter - 1: A Noiseless Patient Spider Unit - 11: From Noon to Starry Night Chapter - 1: The Mystic Trumpeter Unit - 12: Annex to Sands at Seventy Chapter - 1: As I Sit Writing Here Chapter - 2: Queries to My Seventieth Year Chapter - 3: Old Salt Kossabone Index - ii: Index of Poem Titles Index - iii: Index of First Lines

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Book Synopsis'The funniest novel I’ve read all year' – Aravind Adiga, author of The White TigerDisorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou is a bighearted satire – alive with sharp edges, immense warmth, and a cast of unforgettable characters – that asks: who gets to tell our stories? And how does the story change when we finally tell it ourselves?Twenty-nine-year-old PhD student Ingrid Yang is desperate to finish her dissertation on the late canonical poet Xiao-Wen Chou and never read about ‘Chinese-y’ things. When she accidentally stumbles upon a strange and curious note in the Chou archives, she convinces herself it’s her ticket out of academic hell.But Ingrid’s in much deeper than she thinks. Her clumsy exploits to unravel the note’s message lead to an explosive discovery, one that upends her entire life and the lives of those around her. With her trusty friend Eunice Kim by her side and her rival Vivian Vo hot on her tail, together they set off a roller coaster of mishaps and misadventures, from campus protests and over-the-counter drug hallucinations, to book burnings and a movement that stinks of Yellow Peril propaganda. In the aftermath, nothing looks the same, including her gentle and doting fiancé . . .As the events Ingrid instigated keep spiraling, she’ll have to confront her sticky relationship to white men and white institutions – and, most of all, herself.Trade ReviewThe funniest, most poignant novel of the year * Vogue *Funny, fearless . . . acutely inspects the power of the white gaze, academic imperialism, peer rivalry and self-hate * Observer *A rollicking, whip-smart ride through the hallowed halls of academia * Harpers Bazaar *Witty, knowing and funny . . . If Donna Tartt set the bar for the noirish campus novel, Elaine Hsieh Chou is setting a new bar for sharp, sideways takes on academia * Evening Standard *Chou’s pen is a scalpel. Disorientation addresses the private absurdities the soul must endure to get free, from tokenism, the quiet exploitation of well-meaning institutions, and the bondage that is self-imposed. Chou does it with wit and verve, and no one is spared. -- Raven Leilani, author of LusterThe funniest novel I’ve read all year . . . Uproarious . . . packed full of sly truths about race, love, and life in general—all of which you’re going to miss, because you’ll be laughing so hard * Aravind Adiga *Funny and insightful, with plenty to say about art, identity, Orientalism and the politics of academia . . . entertaining, rising to a delightful climax * New York Times Book Review *An irreverent campus satire that skewers white sclerotic academia, creepy Asian fetishists and twee boba tea liberalism . . . Helmed by a memorable screwball protagonist, the novel is both a joyous and sharply-drawn caper -- Cathy Park HongAs the best comedy does, Disorientation manages to highlight uncomfortable truths, capture grey areas and hard lines, and resist sliding into easy binaries of heroes and villains * Vanity Fair *Disorientation does what great comedies and satires are supposed to do: make you laugh while forcing you to ponder the uncomfortable implications of every punchline * Washington Post *Captivating, irresistible, and intensely readable, and what we ultimately come to literature to find . . . a unique, propelling story * Chicago Review of Books *A deeply smart, satirical novel that takes a critical look at racism in academia * Buzzfeed *A multivalent pleasure, a deeply original debut novel that reinvents the campus novel satire as an Asian American literary studies whodunnit . . . Wickedly funny and knowing, Chou’s dagger wit is sure-eyed -- Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical NovelA searing literary satire of campus politics * Entertainment Weekly *A fresh, hilarious and thoughtful satire that'll make you think about cultural identity in a whole new way * Good Housekeeping *Searing satire . . . Chou details her protagonist’s struggles with dry humour and wit * Time *So many stifle-a-strangled-laugh lines . . . A send-up of the polite, cardigan-draped white supremacy of liberal arts colleges * Glamour *A smart, satirical look at everything from the fetishization of Asian women to who is celebrated in modern academia * Electric Literature *Hilariously tongue-in-cheek * i-D *

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Book SynopsisThe Big Short meets Succession in this blisteringly smart, darkly funny thriller about mining, money, and moral compromise. When Peter Mount, CEO of a small British mining company, places his bets on a rare-earths bonanza in Oregon, he sets off a chain of events that spans continents - and threatens to unravel his life. But while shareholders chase profit and bankers sharpen their knives, a disillusioned New Yorker and a restless Native American activist begin to fight back. Keith Carter's debut novel is a gripping exposé of corporate greed, environmental peril, and the fragile moral compasses of those at the top. Unflinching, insightful, and wickedly entertaining, The Umbrella Men will change the way you look at the suits behind the scandals - and the cost of digging too deep.

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Book SynopsisSet in Iran at the end of the 19th Century --in the Persian royal court of the Qajars--, In The Palace of Flowers is an atmospheric historical novel about Jamila, an Abyssinian slave who stands at the funeral of a Persian nobleman, watching the rites with empty eyes. In that very moment, she realises that her life will never be acknowledged or mourned with the same significance. The fear of being forgotten, of being irrelevant, sets her and Abimelech, a fellow Abyssinian slave and a eunuch, on a path to find meaning, navigating the dangerous and deadly politics of the royal court, both in the government and the harem, before leading her to the radicals that lie beyond its walls. Love, friendship and the bitter politics within the harem, the court and the Shah's sons and advisors will set the fate of these two slaves. Highly accomplished, richly textured and elegantly written, In The Palace of Flowers is a magnificent novel about the fear of being forgotten.

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Book SynopsisAnimal Farm is George Orwell’s brilliant political satire and allegorical fable about the corrupting effects of power. Published in 1945 it is, to this day, one of the most famous and influential works of fiction ever written.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. This edition features an introduction by journalist, award-winning writer and editor of the New Statesman, Jason Cowley.When the old Major, a highly respected white boar, gathers his fellow farm animals to preach about freedom, rebellion and the evils of man, he incites a revolution that has been brewing for years. The animals drive out their drunken farmer and create their own society – with the promise of equality for all, two scheming pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, appoint themselves leaders. What begins as a supposedly equalitarian community descends into an increasingly violent and hierarchical society, permeated by lies and corruption. Years after publication, Orwell's words remain a stark warning against the lure of fascist populism.Trade ReviewIf you are looking for allegorical literature to understand today’s politics, Animal Farm is a great guidepost. * Observer *The Cold War Candide . . . Virtually every detail in Animal Farm allegorizes some incident in that history. * New Yorker *Animal Farm is moving, bitter and a warning from history . . . [it] is one of the greatest socio-political works of all time. * Fantasy Book Review *Animal Farm is a biting satire of totalitarianism . . . Orwell is unnervingly precise in the way he depicts each step on the road from revolution to tyranny. * Common Sense Media *

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Book SynopsisSalman Rushdie is the author of sixteen novels, including Midnight's Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), The Satanic Verses, and Quichotte (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize). A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature and was made a Companion of Honour in the Queen's last Birthday Honours list in 2022.Trade ReviewA brilliant symphony... Exceptional... One of Rushdie's best novels yet * Independent *Extraordinary... Worth engaging with at every level; a thrilling story told in thrilling language * The Times *Shalimar the Clown is Rushdie's most engaging book since Midnight's Children. It is a lament. It is a revenge story. it is a love story. And it is a warning * Observer *Deeply disturbing and immensely moving... An exquisite, broken thing of pain and beauty * Independent *Excellent... A characteristically daring walk along the tightrope of fiction * Sunday Telegraph *

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Book Synopsis''Provocative, compassionate and beautiful'' - Joy Harjo, US Poet Laureate A moving story of a Maori community''s fight for survival, from one of New Zealand''s most prominent and celebrated authorsOn the remote coast of New Zealand, at the curve that binds the land and the sea, a small Maori community live, work, fish, play and tell stories of their ancestors. But something is changing. The prophet child toko can sense it. Men are coming, with dollars and big plans to develop the area for tourism. As their ancestral land becomes threatened, the people must unite in a battle for survival. Weaving together myth and memory, Patricia Grace''s prize-winning novel is a spellbinding portrait of a defiant community determined to protect their way of life at any cost.Trade ReviewA searching examination of human nature [by] a canonical figure in postcolonial and Maori literature . . . a timely arrival, praising the strength and the resilience of the human spirit whilst capturing, in moments of crystallising clarity, the tragic masochism of its pain and sorrow. * Arts Desk *

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