Search results for ""penguin books""

*** CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS AUTHOR OF THE YEAR 2022***Dive into the blissfully funny No. 1 bestseller about three women who find themselves criss-crossing the line between success and failure, happiness and sadness, sanity and madness, from the No. 1 bestselling author of Grown Ups'Totally addictive . . . a real page turner' SUNDAY EXPRESS'Brilliantly written and fabulously well-observed' INDEPENDENT___________'Dammit,' she realized. 'I think I'm having a nervous breakdown.'Lisa Edwards' career as a hot-shot magazine editor is destined for high-rise New York, when suddenly she's blown off-course into the delights of low-rise Dublin. But what on earth can she do about it?Ashling Kennedy, Lisa's super-organized assistant, is good at worrying. Too good. She's even terrified of a little bit of raw fish . . .Clodagh Kelly is Ashling's best friend and has done everything right: beautiful kids and a husband come prince - everything in fact that Ashling has ever wanted. She should be happy. But she isn't.Three women on the verge of happiness and even closer to a complete breakdown . . .Which way will they fall?___________'Keyes has given romantic comedy a much-needed face-lift. Chatty and warmhearted, Keyes's talent is to tell it how it is' Independent'Laden with plots twists, jokey asides and nicely turned bits of zeitgeisty observational humour' Guardian'The voice of a generation' Daily Mirror

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*** CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS AUTHOR OF THE YEAR 2022***Discover the gorgeously funny and heartwarming bestseller about final chances from the No 1. bestselling author of Grown Ups'Moving, relatable and infinitely tender' INDEPENDENT'Plenty of heart, lots of laughs, and a fantastic twist in the tail' COSMOPOLITAN___________'Love is blind, there was no doubt about it. In Tara's case it was also deaf, dumb, dyslexic, had a bad hip and the beginnings of Alzheimer's . . .'Tara, Katherine and Fintan have been best friends since they were teenagers. Now in their early thirties, they've been living it up in London for ten years.But what have they to show for a decade of hedonism?Sure, Tara's got a boyfriend - but only because she's terrified of spending five minutes alone. Katherine, on the other hand, has a neatness fetish that won't let anyone too close to mess up her life.And Fintan? Well, he has everything. Until he learns that without your health, you've got nothing . . .All three are drinking in the last chance saloon and they're about to discover that if you don't change your life, life has a way of changing you . . .'A comforting doorstopper of a read that's as addictive as solitaire' Daily Mail___________Praise for Marian Keyes'An outstanding writer and chronicler of our times' Independent on Sunday'Mercilessly funny' Times'The voice of a generation' Daily Mirror

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Ghost Children is a compassionate and gritty examination of love and loss from one of Britain's most-loved writers, Sue TownsendHow can she leave the past behind when he won't let her? Seventeen years ago Angela Carr aborted an unwanted child. The child's father, Christopher Moore, was devastated by the loss and he retreated from the world. Unable to accept what had happened between them both went their separate ways. However, when Christopher makes a horrifying discovery whilst out walking his dog on the heath he finds that he is compelled to confront Angela about the past. As they start seeing each another again can they avoid the mistakes of the past? And will their future together be eclipsed by those mistakes of yesterday? 'Gripping and disturbing. Utterly absorbing' Independent 'Bleak, tender and deeply affecting. Seldom have I rooted so hard for a set of fictional individuals' Mail on Sunday 'Leaves one gasping for more' Daily Telegraph 'Engrossing, memorable and moving' Guardian 'Startling and raw' Observer

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'A magnificent opus ... extraordinary, spellbinding ... this book does what no other on autism has done' Ann Bauer, Washington Post*Pulitzer finalist 2017*The stunning history of autism as it has been discovered and felt by parents, children and doctorsNearly seventy-five years ago, Donald Triplett of Forest, Mississippi became the first child diagnosed with autism. In a Different Key tells the extraordinary story of the world his diagnosis created - a riveting human drama that takes us across continents and through some of the great social movements of the twentieth century.The history of autism is, above all, the story of families fighting for a place in the world for their children. It is the story of women like Ruth Sullivan, who rebelled against a medical establishment that blamed "refrigerator mothers" for causing autism, of fathers who pushed scientists to dig harder for treatments, of parents who forced schools to accept their children. But many others played starring roles too: doctors like Leo Kanner, who pioneered our understanding of autism, scientists who sparred over how to treat autism, and those with autism, like Temple Grandin and Ari Ne'eman, who explained their inner worlds and championed a philosophy of 'neurodiversity'. This is also a story of fierce controversy: from the question of whether there is truly an autism 'epidemic', and whether vaccines played a part in it, to scandals involving 'facilitated communication', one of many treatments that have proved to be blind alleys. And there are dark turns too: we learn about experimenters feeding LSD to children with autism, or shocking them with electricity to change their behaviour; and the authors reveal, for the first time, that Hans Asperger, discoverer of the syndrome named after him, may have cooperated with the Nazis in sending disabled children to their deaths.By turns intimate and panoramic, In a Different Key takes us on a journey from an era when families were shamed and children were condemned to institutions, to one in which parents and people with autism push not simply for inclusion, but for a new understanding of autism: as difference rather than disability.

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The Thief is Clive Cussler's fifth historical thriller featuring detective Isaac Bell.A bold kidnapping aboard an ocean liner sends detective Isaac Bell across America in a deadly game of cat and mouse . . .Leaving England aboard the liner Mauretania, Isaac Bell, chief investigator at the legendary Van Dorn Detective Agency, stumbles on and thwarts a kidnapping. The two victims, who have fled Europe carrying a secret invention, fear that a foreign power wishes to steal it before they can bring it to America.Bell and the Van Dorn Agency offer to protect them.And it isn't long before Bell is fighting skullduggery in the middle of the Atlantic. In New York City, as well as across the country as he and the inventors head for California, the deadly chase is on. On their trail is the murderous agent known only as the 'Acrobat', instructed to steal this world-changing invention - and kill anyone in his way . . .Bestseller Clive Cussler - author of the Dirk Pitt novels Crescent Dawn and Atlantis Found - has legendary super-sleuth Isaac Bell protect a top-secret invention with the power to shape the course of history. The Thief is the fifth novel in the Isaac Bell series, following The Race.Praise for Clive Cussler:'The Adventure King' Daily Express'The guy I read' Tom Clancy

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A vivid, seminal portrait of early 1980s Britain: a period that changed Britain foreverThe early 1980s in Britain were a time of hope, and of dread: of Cold War tension and imminent conflict, when crowds in the street could mean an ecstatic national celebration or an inner-city riot. Here, Andy Beckett recreates an often misunderstood moment of transition, with all its potential and uncertainty: the first precarious years of Margaret Thatcher's government. By the end of 1982, the country was changing, leaving the kinder, more sluggish postwar Britain decisively behind, and becoming the country we have lived in ever since: assertive, commercially driven, outward-looking, often harsher than its neighbours.

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Considered by many to be the first work of the true crime genre, this ground-breaking book reconstructs the murder of the Clutter family from information provided by newspaper articles and interviews. 'Dick became convinced that Perry was that rarity, "a natural killer" - absolutely sane, but conscienceless, and capable of dealing, with or without motive, the coldest-blooded deathblows'On 15 November 1959, the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, a wealthy farmer, his wife and their two young children were found brutally murdered. Blood all over the walls, the telephone lines cut, and only a few dollars stolen. Heading up the investigation is Agent Al Dewey, but all he has are two footprints, four bodies, and a whole lot of questions. Truman Capote's detailed reconstruction of the events and consequences of that fateful night, In Cold Blood is a chilling, gripping mix of journalistic skill and imaginative power. 'The American dream turning into the American nightmare. A remarkable book' Spectator'One of the most stupendous books of the decade' Sunday Express

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'Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire.'Marlow, a seaman, tells of a journey up the Congo. His goal is the troubled European and ivory trader Kurtz. Worshipped and feared by invaders as well as natives, Kurtz has become a godlike figure, his presence pervading the jungle like a thick, obscuring mist. As his boat labours further upstream, closer and closer to Kurtz's extraordinary and terrible domain, so Marlow finds his faith in himself and civilization crumbling.

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All-powerful, brilliant, decisive, ruthlessly effective ... this is the image of the CIA as portrayed in countless films and novels. It is wrong.This shocking book, based on thousands of declassified documents and interviews with agents at all levels, shows the reality behind the glamorous myth: a blundering, chaotic and dangerously incompetent organization, so ineffective it was nicknamed 'Can't Identify Anything' by Nato forces. In a story of botched coups, missed targets, lost operatives and fatal errors, Tim Weiner shows how the CIA now poses a threat not only to the security of the US, but the world.

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The definitive biography of George VI, the hero of The King's SpeechGeorge VI reigned through taxing times. Acceding to the throne upon his brother's abdication, he was immediately confronted with the turmoil in European politics leading up to the Second World War, then the War itself, followed by a period of austerity, social transformation and loss of Empire. George was unprepared for kingship, suffering from a stammer which could make public occasions very painful for him. Moreover he had grown up in the shadow of his brother, a man who had been idolized as no royal prince has been, before or since. However, as Sarah Bradford shows in this sympathetic biography, although George was not born to be king, he died a great one.'A triumph ... Sarah Bradford looks set to inherit Lady Longford's mantle as royal biographer supreme' Mail on Sunday'Lucid, convincing and admirably fair ... George VI has been fortunate in his biographer' Philip Ziegler'Vivid, thorough and enjoyable' IndependentSarah Bradford is a historian and biographer. Her books include Cesare Borgia (1976), Disraeli (1982), winner of the New York Times Book of the Year, Princess Grace (1984), Sacherevell Sitwell (1993), Elizabeth: A Biography of Her Majesty the Queen (1996), America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (2000), Lucrezia Borgia (2005) and Diana (2007).She lives in London and is married to the 8th Viscount Bangor. She is currently working on a full scale biography of Queen Victoria.

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WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2020A SUNDAY TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, THE TIMES AND BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEARFor most of human history, the seas and oceans have been the main means of long-distance trade and communication between peoples - for the spread of ideas and religion as well as commerce. This book traces the history of human movement and interaction around and across the world's greatest bodies of water, charting our relationship with the oceans from the time of the first voyagers. David Abulafia begins with the earliest of seafaring societies - the Polynesians of the Pacific, the possessors of intuitive navigational skills long before the invention of the compass, who by the first century were trading between their far-flung islands. By the seventh century, trading routes stretched from the coasts of Arabia and Africa to southern China and Japan, bringing together the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific and linking half the world through the international spice trade. In the Atlantic, centuries before the little kingdom of Portugal carved out its powerful, seaborne empire, many peoples sought new lands across the sea - the Bretons, the Frisians and, most notably, the Vikings, now known to be the first Europeans to reach North America. As Portuguese supremacy dwindled in the late sixteenth century, the Spanish, the Dutch and then the British each successively ruled the waves.Following merchants, explorers, pirates, cartographers and travellers in their quests for spices, gold, ivory, slaves, lands for settlement and knowledge of what lay beyond, Abulafia has created an extraordinary narrative of humanity and the oceans. From the earliest forays of peoples in hand-hewn canoes through uncharted waters to the routes now taken daily by supertankers in their thousands, The Boundless Sea shows how maritime networks came to form a continuum of interaction and interconnection across the globe: 90 per cent of global trade is still conducted by sea. This is history of the grandest scale and scope, and from a bracingly different perspective - not, as in most global histories, from the land, but from the boundless seas.

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Our planet's resources are running out. The media bombards us with constant warnings of impending shortages of fossil fuels, minerals, arable land, and water and the political Armageddon that will result as insatiable global demand far outstrips supply. But how true is this picture?In Winner Take All, Dambisa Moyo cuts through the misconceptions and noise surrounding resource scarcity with a penetrating analysis of what really is at stake. China, Moyo reveals, has embarked on one of the greatest commodity rushes in history. Tracing its breathtaking quest for resources - from Africa to Latin America, North America to Europe - she examines the impact it is having on us all, and its profound implications for our future.

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For most of western history, all sex outside marriage was illegal, with the church and state punishing any dissent. Between 1600 and 1800, this entire world-view was shattered by revolutionary new ideas - that consenting adults have the freedom to do what they like with their own bodies, and morality cannot be imposed by force. This groundbreaking book shows that the creation of this modern culture of sex - broadcasted and debated in a rapidly expanding universe of public media - was a central part of the Enlightenment, and helped create a new model of western civilization whose principles of equality, privacy and individual freedom last to this day.

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'For many years I had wanted to start a zoo . . . any reasonable person smitten with an ambition of this sort would have secured the zoo first and obtained the animals afterwards. but throughout my life I have rarely if ever achieved what I wanted by tackling it in a logical fashion.'A Zoo in My Luggage is Gerald Durrell's account of his attempt to set up his own zoo, after years spent gathering animals for other zoos. Journeying to Cameroon, he and his wife collected numerous mammals, birds and reptiles, including Cholmondely the chimpanzee and Bug-eye the bush-baby.But their problems really began when they attempted to return with their exotic menagerie. Not only had they to get them safely home to Britain but they also had to find somewhere able and - most of all - willing to house them.Told with wit and a zest for all things furry and feathered, Gerald Durrell's A Zoo in My Luggage is a brilliant account of how a pioneer of wildlife preservation came to found a new type of zoo.

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In Switch Bitch four tales of seduction and suspense are told by the grand master of the short story, Roald Dahl.Topping and tailing this collection are The Visitor and Bitch, stories featuring Dahl's notorious hedonist Oswald Hendryks Cornelius (or plain old Uncle Oswald) whose exploits are frequently as extraordinary as they are scandalous. In the middle, meanwhile, are The Great Switcheroo and The Last Act, two stories exploring a darker side of desire and pleasure.In the black comedies of Switch Bitch Roald Dahl brilliantly captures the ins and outs, highs and lows of sex.'Dahl is too good a storyteller to become predictable' Daily TelegraphRoald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, Roald Dahl's Twisted Tales by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahl's stories continue to make readers shiver today.

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In Going Solo, the world's favourite storyteller, Roald Dahl, tells of life as a fighter pilot in Africa.'They did not think for one moment that they would find anything but a burnt-out fuselage and a charred skeleton, and they were astounded when they came upon my still-breathing body lying in the sand nearby.'In 1938 Roald Dahl was fresh out of school and bound for his first job in Africa, hoping to find adventure far from home. However, he got far more excitement than he bargained for when the outbreak of the Second World War led him to join the RAF. His account of his experiences in Africa, crashing a plane in the Western Desert, rescue and recovery from his horrific injuries in Alexandria, flying a Hurricane as Greece fell to the Germans, and many other daring deeds, recreates a world as bizarre and unnerving as any he wrote about in his fiction.'Very nearly as grotesque as his fiction. The same compulsive blend of wide-eyed innocence and fascination with danger and horror' Evening Standard'A non-stop demonstration of expert raconteurship' The New York Times Book ReviewRoald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, Roald Dahl's Twisted Tales by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahl's stories continue to make readers shiver today.

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He thought he had it easy, until he fell into the middle of a murderous drug war . . .'This one you'll have trouble putting down' New York TimesNick Breakspear thought he had opted for the easy life, but acting as nursemaid for the idle rich aboard the luxury yacht Wavebreaker in the Bahamas does have its downside.Especially when you come across a bullet-ridden boat not far from the infamous drug baron's hideaway island of Murder Cay. Most people would turn a blind eye.But Nick Breakspear isn't most people.Before long, Nick and the crew of Wavebreaker find themselves caught in the middle of a drug war between two equally matched and just as deadly forces.And neither side is taking prisoners . . .

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WINNER of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2015In the last two decades football in Britain has made the transition from a peripheral dying sport to the very centre of our popular culture, from an economic basket-case to a booming entertainment industry. What does it mean when football becomes so central to our private and political lives? Has it enriched us or impoverished us?In this sparkling book David Goldblatt argues that no social phenomenon tracks the momentous economic, social and political changes of the post-Thatcherite era in a more illuminating manner than football, and no cultural practice sheds more light on the aspirations and attitudes of our long boom and now calamitous bust. A must-read for the thinking football fan, The Game of Our Lives will appeal to readers of Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby and Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson. It will also be relished by readers of British social history such as Austerity Britain by David Kynaston. 'Brilliantly incisive. Goldblatt is not merely the best football historian writing today, he is possibly the best there has ever been. Goldblatt's book could hardly be more impressive' Sunday Times

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Submarine is the wickedly funny first novel by Joe DunthorneNOW AN ACCLAIMED FILM BY RICHARD AYOADEMeet Oliver Tate, fifteen years old. Convinced that his father is depressed ('Depression comes in bouts. Like boxing. Dad is in the blue corner') and his mother is having an affair with her capoeira teacher, ('a hippy-looking twonk'), he embarks on a hilariously misguided campaign to bring the family back together. Meanwhile, he is also trying to lose his virginity - before he turns sixteeen - to his pyromaniac girlfriend Jordana. Will Oliver succeed in either aim? Submerge yourself in Submarine and find out . . . 'Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud enjoyable. The sharpest, funniest, rudest account of a troubled teenager's coming-of-age since The Catcher in the Rye' Independent'A richly amusing tale of mock GCSEs, sex, death and challenging vocabulary . . . Excruciatingly funny incidents and cracking gags' Time Out'Excellent . . . the wonderful, Day-Glo certainties of adolescence have rarely been so brilliantly laid out' Independent on Sunday'Perfectly pitched . . . transplants The Catcher in the Rye to south Wales . . . Dunthorne can make you laugh like did during double physics on a wet Wednesday afternoon' Observer'A brilliant first novel by a young man of ferocious comic talent' The TimesJoe Dunthorne was born and brought up in Swansea. He is the author of Submarine, which has been translated into fifteen languages and made into an acclaimed film directed by Richard Ayoade, and Wild Abandon, which won the 2012 Encore Award. His debut poetry pamphlet was published by Faber and Faber. He lives in London.www.joedunthorne.com

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Rob Brydon tells story of his slow ascent to fame and fortune in Small Man in a Book. A multi-award-winning actor, writer, comedian and presenter known for his warmth, humour and inspired impressions, Rob Brydon has quickly become one of our very favourite entertainers. But there was a time when it looked like all we'd hear of Rob was his gifted voice. Growing up in South Wales, Rob had a passion for radio and soon the Welsh airwaves resounded to his hearty burr. However, these were followed by years of misadventure and struggle, before, in the TV series Marion and Geoff and Gavin and Stacey, Rob at last tickled the nation's funny bone. The rest, as they say, is history. Or in his case autobiography. Small Man in a Book is Rob Brydon's funny, heartfelt, honest, sometimes sad, but mainly funny, memoir of how a young man from Wales very, very slowly became an overnight success. Rob Brydon was brought up in Wales, where his career began on radio and as a voiceover artist. After a brief stint working for the Home Shopping Network he co-wrote and performed in his breakthrough show, the darkly funny Human Remains. He has since starred in the immensely popular Gavin and Stacey, Steve Coogan's partner in The Trip, and was the host of Would I Lie to You? and The Rob Brydon Show. He now lives in London with his wife and five children.

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Badfellas is the definitive account by Ireland's most respected crime writer and journalist, Paul Williams, of how organized crime evolved in Ireland over the past four decades.Drawing on his vast inside knowledge of the criminal underworld, an unparalleled range of contacts and eye witness interviews, Williams provides a chilling insight into the godfathers ­ and events - that have dominated gangland since the late 1960s.Until the explosion of paramilitary violence in the 1970s, Ireland was a criminal backwater. However, petty criminals with dreams of the big time were quick to emulate the ruthless actions of the subversives. Organized crime took hold in Ireland and soon armed robberies, kidnappings and murder became commonplace.After the introduction of heroin to Ireland by Dublin's Dunne family in the late 1970s, there was no going back. Badfellas traces how the hugely lucrative drug trade that then emerged led to the gang wars that have corroded communities and devastated countless lives. Badfellas describes in gripping detail the shocking depths to which the mobsters have sunk. Badfellas is essential reading for anyone who cares about keeping communities safe

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Pankaj Mishra's provocative account of how China, India and the Muslim World are remaking the world in their own image - shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2013SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2013Viewed in the West as a time of self-confident progress, the Victorian period was experienced by Asians as a catastrophe. As the British gunned down the last heirs to the Mughal Empire or burned down the Summer Palace in Beijing, it was clear that for Asia to recover a new way of thinking was needed. Pankaj Mishra re-tells the history of the past two centuries, showing how a remarkable, disparate group of thinkers, journalists, radicals and charismatics emerged from the ruins of empire to create an unstoppable Asian renaissance, one whose ideas lie behind everything from the Chinese Communist Party to the Muslim Brotherhood, and have made our world what it is today.Reviews:'Arrestingly original ... this penetrating and disquieting book should be on the reading list of anybody who wants to understand where we are today' John Gray, Independent 'A riveting account that makes new and illuminating connections ... deeply entertaining and deeply humane' Hisham Matar'Fascinating ... a rich and genuinely thought-provoking book' Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph'Provocative, shaming and convincing' Michael Binyon, The Times 'Lively ... engaging ... retains the power to shock' Mark Mazower, Financial Times'Subtle, erudite and entertaining' Economist, New DelhiAbout the author:Pankaj Mishra is the author of Butter Chicken in Ludiana, The Romantics, An End to Suffering and Temptations of the West. He writes principally for the Guardian, The New York Times, London Review of Books and New York Review of Books. He lives in London, Shimla and New York.

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Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio lived the darkest and most dangerous life of any of the great painters. The worlds of Milan, Rome and Naples through which Caravaggio moved and which Andrew Graham-Dixon describes brilliantly in this book, are those of cardinals and whores, prayer and violence. On the streets surrounding the churches and palaces, brawls and swordfights were regular occurrences. In the course of this desperate life Caravaggio created the most dramatic paintings of his age, using ordinary men and women - often prostitutes and the very poor - to model for his depictions of classic religious scenes. Andrew Graham-Dixon's exceptionally illuminating readings of Caravaggio'spictures, which are the heart of the book, show very clearly how he created their drama, immediacy and humanity, and how completely he departed from the conventions of his time.

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Imagine a world where all the news you see is defined by your salary, where you live, and who your friends are. Imagine a world where you never discover new ideas. And where you can't have secrets.Welcome to 2011.Google and Facebook are already feeding you what they think you want to see. Advertisers are following your every click. Your computer monitor is becoming a one-way mirror, reflecting your interests and reinforcing your prejudices.The internet is no longer a free, independent space. It is commercially controlled and ever more personalised. The Filter Bubble reveals how this hidden web is starting to control our lives - and shows what we can do about it.

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'It was the start of my second new life, in a city that had a spin of its own - a wilder orbit inside the earth's calm blue-green whirl. New York wasn't open to the hopelessness and lost purpose that drifted around lesser places . . . 'Meet Bobby, Jonathan and Clare. Three friends, three lovers, three ordinary people trying to make a place for themselves in the harsh and uncompromising world of the Seventies and Eighties.And as our threesome form a new kind of relationship, a new approach to family and love, questioning so much about the world around them, so they hope to create a space, a home, in which to live.

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'The only transformation that interests me is a total transformation- however minute. I want the encounter with a person or a work of art to change everything.'Brazen, brilliant and deeply searing, Sontag's diaries wrestle with the profound - exploring ideas and subjects as far-reaching as writing, war, desire and consciousness.From the graphic destruction of war-torn Vietnam to her tumultuous romantic affairs, in the second volume of her diaries, Sontag is profoundly candid and insightful. This instalment charts the years when Sontag wrote the majority of her renowned essays, including the ground-breaking Against Interpretation in 1966. Riveting and enlightening, As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh illuminates the mind of one of the twentieth century's most significant intellectuals. 'Her diary entries combine her interests with bright, aphoristic turns of phrase....These diaries are a reminder of the value of the work that made her great, and also mysterious . . . ' The Economist'It is a rare pleasure to read, in her diary, discoveries being made in real time. She applies her mind to itself with enthusiasm' The Guardian 'In its fragmentation and incoherence and passion, its combination of the erudite and the everyday, it is more true to life, both intellectual and emotional, than the most artful novel or careful biography. It may well be that Sontag's diaries, like Virginia Woolf's (which she knew and admired) will come to be seen as just as brilliant and important as anything she wrote.' The Telegraph

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OBSERVER BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2015TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT BOOKS OF THE YEAR and OBSERVER BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2014WINNER OF THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION'S MORRIS D. FORKOSCH PRIZE 2016'The most complete and plausible exploration of the roots of the 1916 Rebellion... essential reading' Colm TóibínVivid Faces surveys the lives and beliefs of the people who made the Irish Revolution: linked together by youth, radicalism, subversive activities, enthusiasm and love. Determined to reconstruct the world and defining themselves against their parents, they were in several senses a revolutionary generation.The Ireland that eventually emerged bore little relation to the brave new world they had conjured up in student societies, agit-prop theatre groups, vegetarian restaurants, feminist collectives, volunteer militias, Irish-language summer schools, and radical newspaper offices. Roy Foster's book investigates that world, and the extraordinary people who occupied it. Looking back from old age, one of the most magnetic members of the revolutionary generation reflected that 'the phoenix of our youth has fluttered to earth a miserable old hen', but he also wondered 'how many people nowadays get so much fun as we did'. Working from a rich trawl of contemporary diaries, letters and reflections, Vivid Faces re-creates the argumentative, exciting, subversive and original lives of people who made a revolution, as well as the disillusionment in which it ended.

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Is That a Fish in Your Ear? by David Bellos asks: how do we really make ourselves understood to other people? This funny, wise and life-affirming language book shows how, from puns to poetry, news bulletins to the Bible, Asterix to Swedish films, translation is at the heart of everything we do - and makes us who we are.Selected by The New York Times as one of the 100 Notable Books of 2011'A wonderful, witty book ... richly original, endlessly fascinating ... for anyone interested in words' Economist, Books of the Year 'A scintillating bouillabaisse ... spiced with good and provocative things' Literary Review'Dazzlingly inventive' The New York Times'Clear and lively ... There is nothing quite like it' Spectator

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'So you need help. What's your name and trouble?'Private Investigator Philip Marlowe's latest client is Orfamay Quest. She's come all the way from Manhattan, Kansas, to find her missing brother Orrin. Or at least that's what she tells Marlowe, offering him just twenty dollars for his trouble. Feeling charitable, Marlowe accepts - though it's not long before he wishes he hadn't. Soon the trail leads to a succession of Hollywood starlets, uppity gangsters, suspicious cops and corpses with ice picks jammed into their necks . . .The Little Sister is Raymond Chandler's fifth novel featuring laconic PI Philip Marlowe.'Marlowe remains the quintessential urban private eye' Los Angeles Times'Chandler grips the mind from the first sentence' Daily Telegraph 'One of the greatest crime writers, who set standards others still try to attain' Sunday Times'Chandler is an original stylist, creator of a character as immortal as Sherlock Holmes' Anthony BurgessDiscover the newest addition to the inimitable Philip Marlowe series - Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne - out 6 September 2018 in hardback and ebook from Hogarth.

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The Kingdom is Clive Cussler's third Fargo Adventure. Whether it's lost treasure or missing persons, the Fargos find themselves in a heap of trouble every time . . . When Texas oil baron Charlie King contacts Sam and Remi Fargo he has an unusual request. He hired an investigator - and good friend of the pair - to locate his missing father in the Far East. But now the investigator has vanished. Would Sam and Remi be willing to look for them both? Though something about the request doesn't quite add up, Sam and Remi agree to help out.It's a journey that takes the Fargos to Tibet, Nepal, Bulgaria, India, and China. They get mixed up with black-market fossils, a centuries-old puzzle chest, the ancient Nepali kingdom of Mustang, a balloon aircraft from a century before its time . . . and an extraordinary skeleton that might turn the history of human evolution on its head. Oh, and not a few unfriendly people with guns and itchy trigger fingers . . .Clive Cussler, author of the celebrated Dirk Pitt novels Treasure of Khan and Valhalla Rising, presents the third novel in his newest series, following the adventures of treasure hunters Sam and Remi Fargo. The Kingdom follows Spartan Gold and Lost Empire. Praise for Clive Cussler:'Cussler is hard to beat' Daily Mail'Cussler is the guy I read' Tom Clancy

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Discover this surprising gem - the sharp, funny and irresistible debut novel from the bestselling author of Exit West and The Reluctant Fundamentalist 'Subtly audacious . . . A steamy and often darkly amusing book about sex, drugs, and class warfare in postcolonial Asia' Village Voice'You know you're in trouble when you can't meet a woman's eye, particularly if the woman happens to be your best friend's wife...'In Lahore, Daru Shezad is a junior banker with a hashish habit. When his old friend Ozi moves back to Pakistan, Daru wants to be happy for him. Ozi has everything: a beautiful wife and child, an expensive foreign education - and a corrupt father who bankrolls his lavish lifestyle.As jealousy sets in, Daru's life slowly unravels. He loses his job. Starts lacing his joints with heroin. Becomes involved with a criminally-minded rickshaw driver. And falls in love with Ozi's lonely wife.But how low can Daru sink? Is he guilty of the crime he finds himself on trial for?

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A beautiful new edition of Laurie Lee's celebrated autobiographical trilogy: Cider with Rosie, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and A Moment of War'I was set down from the carrier's cart at the age of three; and there with a sense of bewilderment and terror my life in the village began.''This trilogy is a sequence of early recollections, beginning with the dazzling lights and sounds of my first footings on earth in a steep Cotswold valley some three miles long. For nineteen years this was the limit of my world, then one midsummer morning I left home and walked to London and down the blazing length of Spain during the innocent days of the early thirties. Never had I felt so fat with time, so free to go where I would. Then such indulgence was suddenly broken by the savage outbreak of the Civil War . . .' - Laurie Lee

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"This Snow Crash thing--is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?"Juanita shrugs. "What's the difference?"The only relief from the sea of logos is within the well-guarded borders of the Burbclaves. Is it any wonder that most sane folks have forsaken the real world and chosen to live in the computer-generated universe of virtual reality?In a major city, the size of a dozen Manhattans, is a domain of pleasures limited only by the imagination. But now a strange new computer virus called Snow Crash is striking down hackers everywhere, leaving an unlikely young pizza delivery man as humankind's last best hope.The perfect cyberpunk sci-fi read, Snow Crash is an equally worthy successor to William Gibson's Neuromancer and predecessor to Ernest Cline's Ready Player One.***What readers are saying about Snow Crash:'It's hard to believe Neal wrote his books when the published date claims. He's always so right about the future, and I keep on hoping he's so wrong' Goodreads Reader Review'Snow Crash is to Books as The Matrix is to movies (with only the absolute BEST parts of Tron and Da Vinci Code thrown in)' Goodreads Reader Review'Loved it! Can't recommend it highly enough. Everyone should read this book. Go do it. Do it now. It's just awesome. You won't regret it' Goodreads Reader Review'It's hilarious and mind-blowing. From the first page to the last, I was amazed at just how much influence this book has had on TV, movies, etc.' Goodreads Reader Review

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Edited by Niall Ferguson, Virtual History applies 'counterfactual' arguments to decisive moments in modern history.What if Britain had stayed out of the First World War?What if Germany had invaded Britain in 1940?What if Nazi Germany had defeated the Soviet Union?How would England look if there had been no Cromwell?What if there had been no American Revolution?And what if John F. Kennedy had lived?In this acclaimed book, leading historians from Andrew Roberts to Michael Burleigh challenge the complacency of traditional accounts, exploring what might have been if nine of the most decisive moments in modern history had never happened.'Quite brilliant, inspiring for the layman and an enviable tour de force for the informed reader ... A wonderful book ... lucid, exciting and easy to read' - Literary Review'Ferguson constructs an entire scenario starting with Charles I's defeat of the Covenanters, running through three revolutions that did not happen and climaxing with the collapse of the West, ruled by an Anglo-American empire, in the face of a mighty transcontinental, tsarist Russian imperium ... A welcome, optimistic assault on an intellectual heresy' - Sunday Times'A talented and imaginative team who tackle with counterfactual verve a series of turning points' - Daily Telegraph

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'There should be no combination of events for which the wit of man cannot conceive an explanation.'In this tale drawn from the note books of Dr Watson, the deadly hand of Professor Moriarty once more reaches out to commit a vile and ingenious crime. However, a mole in Moriarty's frightening criminal organization alerts Sherlock Holmes of the evil deed by means of a cipher. When Holmes and Watson arrive at a Sussex manor house they appear to be too late. The discovery of a body suggests that Moriarty's henchmen have been at their work. But there is much more to this tale of murder than at first meets the eye and Sherlock Holmes is determined to get to the bottom of it.

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'When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'In this, the final collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures, the intrepid detective and his faithful companion Dr Watson examine and solve twelve cases that puzzle clients, baffle the police and provide readers with the thrill of the chase.These mysteries - involving an illustrious client and a Sussex vampire; the problems of Thor Bridge and of the Lions Mane; a creeping man and the three-gabled house - all test the bravery of Dr Watson and the brilliant mind of Mr Sherlock Homes, the greatest detective we have ever known.

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'We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'Sherlock Holmes's fearless chronicler Dr Watson once again opens his notebooks to bring to light eight further tales of some of the strangest and most fascinating cases to come before the enquiring mind of London's most famous detective.These mysteries involve the disappearance of secret plans as well as of a lady of noble standing; the curious circumstances of Wisteria Lodge and of the Devil's Foot; as well as the story His Last Bow, the last outing of Holmes and Watson on the eve of the First World War.

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From the bestselling authors of Why does E=mc2? comes The Quantum Universe, in which Brian Cox, presenter of the BBC's Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe, and Jeff Forshaw go on a brilliantly ambitious mission to show that everyone can understand the deepest questions of science. But just what is quantum physics? How does it help us understand our amazing world? Where does it leave Newton and Einstein? And why, above all, can we be sure that the theory is good?Here, Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw give us the real science behind the bizarre behaviour of the atoms and energy that make up the universe, and reveal exactly how everything that can happen, does happen.

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Making the Future is the latest collection of essays from Noam Chomsky, one of our most vital and provocative voices of political dissent. Taking up the thread from 2007's Interventions, these penetrating and compelling articles examine numerous topics, including the financial crisis, Obama's presidency, WikiLeaks and the on-going conflicts in the Middle East.Restating and refining his commitment to democracy and finding inspiration in the popular uprisings of the Arab Spring, Making the Future is Chomsky's fiercely-argued and timely comment on a fast-changing world.Praise for Noam Chomsky:'Chomsky is one of a small band of individuals fighting a whole industry. And that makes him not only brilliant, but heroic' Arundhati Roy'Noam Chomsky is a global phenomenon . . . he may be the most widely read American voice on foreign policy on the planet today' New York Times Book Review'Noam Chomsky is an inspiration all over the world - to millions I suspect - for the simple reason that he is a truth-teller on an epic scale' John Pilger

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INSPIRATION FOR THE THRILLING AMAZON PRIME SERIES JACK RYAN . . . Jack Ryan Jr. returns in Dead or Alive, the gripping thriller from Tom Clancy. The world's number one terrorist is about to unleash a holy war. Only one agency, one man, can stop him . . . The Campus was secretly created by President Jack Ryan to covertly eliminate terrorists. Now it faces its greatest threat: a sadistic killer known as the Emir. Mastermind of countless horrific attacks, the Emir has eluded capture by every law enforcement agency in the world. And he is about to unleash a monumental strike at the heart of America.But on the Emir's trail is intelligence expert Jack Ryan Jr. Following in his legendary father's footsteps, he and his allies at the Campus are on a manhunt that will take them across the globe, into the shadowy arenas of political gamesmanship, in a race to prevent the fall of the West.Dead or Alive is the nerve-shredding second thriller in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Jr. series. The Teeth of the Tiger was the first. Praise for Tom Clancy:'Heart-stopping action . . . entertaining and eminently topical' Washington Post'Classic Clancy . . . well-constructed tension and realistic action' Short List'Exhilarating. No other novelist is giving so full a picture of modern conflict' Sunday Times

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Following the top-ten bestselling success of A Battle Won, Under Enemy Colours and A Ship of War, Sean Thomas Russell's captivating fourth novel Until The Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead is the maritime adventure of 2014. Under the command of Captain Charles Hayden, Royal Navy frigate HMS Themis is sent to counter the threat of the French forces in the West Indies. In the middle of the vast Atlantic, Hayden discovers two Spanish noblemen, castaway in a ship's boat - a stroke of almost impossible good fortune. The Spaniards' explanation for their plight seems so improbable that Hayden's officers suspect them of being criminals or even spies. But they have secrets far more shocking than that - secrets which will haunt Hayden in his new posting. Upon reaching the Barbados station, Hayden finds himself under the command of the vainglorious Sir William Jones, an impetuous and foolhardy officer. Refusing orders will cost Hayden his command. Accepting them might cost him his ship and crew. UNTIL THE SEA SHALL GIVE UP HER DEAD is the brilliant fourth tale in the epic maritime adventures of Charles Hayden. A masterpiece already rivalling the stories of Bernard Cornwell and Patrick O'Brian. Praise for Sean Thomas Russell: 'Russell's encyclopaedic command of nautical lore, joined to his rare ability to spin a ripping yarn, combine to place the reader right in the middle of the action, of which there is plenty' Neal Stephenson 'Well-written, plenty of adventure . . . places the reader in the midst of the action of battle' The Marine Society 'An impressive, sweeping and momentous naval epic' Crew Report Sean Thomas Russell is a lifelong sailor whose passion for the sea - and his love of nautical history - inspired the adventures of Charles Hayden. His latest book follows bestsellers A Battle Won, Under Enemy Colours and A Ship of War. Sean lives on Vancouver Island. www.sthomasrussell.com

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'My name is Eva, which means "life", according to a book of names my mother consulted. I was born in the back room of a shadowy house, and grew up amidst ancient furniture, books in Latin, and human mummies, but none of those things made me melancholy, because I came into the world with a breath of the jungle in my memory.'Isabel Allende tells the sweet and sinister story of an orphan who beguiles the world with her astonishing visions, triumphing over the worst of adversity and bringing light to a dark place.

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My Family and Other Animals is the bewitching account of a rare and magical childhood on the island of Corfu by treasured British conservationist Gerald Durrell, beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range.'What we all need,' said Larry, 'is sunshine...a country where we can grow.''Yes, dear, that would be nice,' agreed Mother, not really listening. 'I had a letter from George this morning - he says Corfu's wonderful. Why don't we pack up and go to Greece?''Very well, dear, if you like,' said Mother unguardedly. Escaping the ills of the British climate, the Durrell family - acne-ridden Margo, gun-toting Leslie, bookworm Lawrence and budding naturalist Gerry, along with their long-suffering mother and Roger the dog - take off for the island of Corfu.But the Durrells find that, reluctantly, they must share their various villas with a menagerie of local fauna - among them scorpions, geckos, toads, bats and butterflies.Recounted with immense humour and charm My Family and Other Animals is a wonderful account of a rare, magical childhood.'Durrell has an uncanny knack of discovering human as well as animal eccentricities' Sunday Telegraph'A bewitching book' Sunday TimesGerald Durrell was born in Jamshedpur, India, in 1925. He returned to England in 1928 before settling on the island of Corfu with his family. In 1945 he joined the staff of Whipsnade Park as a student keeper, and in 1947 he led his first animal-collecting expedition to the Cameroons. He later undertook numerous further expeditions, visiting Paraguay, Argentina, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Mauritius, Assam and Madagascar. His first television programme, Two in the Bush¸ which documented his travels to New Zealand, Australia and Malaya was made in 1962; he went on to make seventy programmes about his trips around the world. In 1959 he founded the Jersey Zoological Park, and in 1964 he founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. He was awarded the OBE in 1982. Encouraged to write about his life's work by his brother, Durrell published his first book, The Overloaded Ark, in 1953. It soon became a bestseller and he went on to write thirty-six other titles, including My Family and Other Animals, The Bafut Beagles, Encounters with Animals, The Drunken Forest, A Zoo in My Luggage, The Whispering Land, Menagerie Manor, The Amateur Naturalist and The Aye-Aye and I. Gerald Durrell died in 1995.

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RICHARD H. THALER: WINNER OF THE 2017 NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICSShortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year AwardECONOMIST, FINANCIAL TIMES and EVENING STANDARD books of the yearFrom the renowned and entertaining behavioural economist and co-author of the seminal work Nudge, Misbehaving is an irreverent and enlightening look into human foibles. Traditional economics assumes that rational forces shape everything. Behavioural economics knows better. Richard Thaler has spent his career studying the notion that humans are central to the economy - and that we're error-prone individuals, not Spock-like automatons. Now behavioural economics is hugely influential, changing the way we think not just about money, but about ourselves, our world and all kinds of everyday decisions.Whether buying an alarm clock, selling football tickets, or applying for a mortgage, we all succumb to biases and make decisions that deviate from the standards of rationality assumed by economists. In other words, we misbehave. Dismissed at first by economists as an amusing sideshow, the study of human miscalculations and their effects on markets now drives efforts to make better decisions in our lives, our businesses, and our governments.Coupling recent discoveries in human psychology with a practical understanding of incentives and market behaviour, Thaler enlightens readers about how to make smarter decisions in an increasingly mystifying world. He reveals how behavioural economic analysis opens up new ways to look at everything from household finance to assigning faculty offices in a new building, to TV quiz shows, sports transfer seasons, and businesses like Uber.When economics meets psychology, the implications for individuals, managers and policy makers are both profound and entertaining.

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A beautifully designed edition of Truman Capote's dazzling New York novel Breakfast at Tiffany's, which inspired the classic 1961 film starring Audrey Hepburn 'What I've found does the most good is just to get into a taxi and go to Tiffany's. It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits...' Meet Holly Golightly - a free spirited, lop-sided romantic girl about town. With her tousled blond hair and upturned nose, dark glasses and chic black dresses, Holly is a style sensation wherever she goes. Her apartment rocks to Martini-soaked parties and she plays hostess to millionaires and gangsters alike. Yet Holly never loses sight of her ultimate dream - to find a real life place like Tiffany's that makes her feel at home. Full of sharp wit and exuberant, larger-than-life characters which vividly capture the restless, madcap era of 1940s New York, Breakfast at Tiffany's will make you fall in love, perhaps for the first time, with a book. 'A master writer ... makes the heart sing and the narrative fly' The New York Times 'The most romantic story ever written' Alex James, Guardian 'One of the century's greatest storytellers' Independent on Sunday

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The poor boy who made his fortune . . . not just once but twice.Little Jeff Pearce grew up in a post-war Liverpool slum. His father lived the life of an affluent gentleman whilst his mother was forced to steal bread to feed her starving children. Life was tough and from the moment Jeff could walk he learned to go door to door, begging rags from the rich, which he sold down the markets. Leaving school at the age of fourteen, he embarked on an extraordinary journey, and found himself, before the age of thirty, a millionaire.Then, after a cruel twist of fate left him penniless, he, his wife and children were forced out of their beautiful home . . .With nothing but holes in his pockets, Jeff had no alternative but to go back down the markets and start all over again. Did he still have what it took? Could he really get back everything he had lost?A Pocketful of Holes and Dreams is the heartwarming true story of a little boy who had nothing but gained everything and proof that, sometimes, rags can be turned into riches . . .______________'An inspirational tale of hard work and determination' 5* reader review 'I just loved this book from the first chapter - I was gripped' 5* reader review

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A collection of nine exceptional stories from the acclaimed author of The Catcher in the Rye'This is the squalid, or moving, part of the story, and the scene changes. The people change, too. I'm still around, but from here on in, for reasons I'm not at liberty to disclose, I've disguised myself so cunningly that even the cleverest reader will fail to recognize me.'This collection of nine stories includes the first appearance of J. D. Salinger's fictional Glass family, introducing Seymour Glass in the unforgettable 'A Perfect Day for Bananafish'.'The most perfectly balanced collection of stories I know' Ann Patchett

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Feel chills down your spine with the thrilling third novel in Nicci French's bestselling killer series . . . Ruth Lennox is found by her daughter in a pool of her own blood. But who would want to murder an ordinary housewife? And why? 'Undeniably at the top of British psychological suspense writing' OBSERVER'Frieda's thinking keeps you gripped and adds twists that most people wouldn't imagine' 5***** READER REVIEW­__________Psychotherapist Frieda Klein wasn't ready for a case to get this personal.When her niece befriends Ruth Lennox's son, Ted, she finds herself in the difficult position of confidant to both Ted, and DCI Karlsson.Soon it's clear that Ruth was leading a secret life. Her family close ranks.And Karlsson needs Frida's help more than ever before . . .But Frieda is distracted. Having survived an attack on her life, she's struggling to stay focused when a patient's chance remark rings alarm bells.Suddenly Frieda finds herself chasing the path of a suspected serial killer.Or is it merely a symptom of her own increasingly fragile mind? . . .__________'A roller coaster of emotions . . . Truly brilliant writing' 5***** READER REVIEW'The storyline is gripping with twists and turns along the way' 5***** READER REVIEW'Had me gripped from the first few pages. Lots of twists and turns' 5***** READER REVIEWPraise for Nicci French: 'Sophisticated, compassionate, gripping . . . Not many books are as insightful as they are addictive; Nicci French's are' Sophie Hannah 'A brilliantly crafted new crime series' Daily Mirror 'Terrific. The writing is pacy, the jaw-dropping twists are plentiful' Short List 'One of French's hardest-to-put-down novels' Sunday Express 'French is undeniably at the top of British psychological suspense writing, expert in the unguessable twist, supremely skilled at ratcheting up the tension' Observer 'A nerve-jangling and addictive read' Daily Express

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