Search results for ""penguin books ltd""

THE FIRST NOVEL IN THE RECORD-BREAKING, MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING THURSDAY MURDER CLUB SERIES.----------'Smart, compassionate, warm, moving and so VERY funny' Marian Keyes'So smart and funny. Deplorably good' Ian Rankin'Thrilling, moving, laugh-out-loud funny' Mark BillinghamIn a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case.Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?The Times Crime Book of the MonthGuardian Best Crime and Thrillers----------'A warm, wise and witty warning never to underestimate the elderly' Val McDermid'I completely fell in love with it' Shari Lapena'This is properly brilliant. The pages fly and I can't stop smiling' Steve Cavanagh'Steeped in Agatha Christie joy' Araminta Hall'Pure escapism' Guardian'As gripping as it is funny' Evening Standard'An exciting new talent in crime fiction' Daily Mail'A witty and poignant tale' Daily Telegraph'Funny and original' Sun

Read more less

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER'A sweeping saga about the Iranian revolution as it explodes . . . a Doctor Zhivago of Iran' Margaret Atwood_____________________________________1950s Tehran. In an alleyway an abandoned baby cries into the night, attracting the attention of the young man who will save her.And so begins the story of Aria, an orphan girl who comes of age on the volatile streets. As Aria grows she is torn between the three women fated to mother her: the harsh wife of the man who rescued her; a wealthy widow, who offers her refuge but cannot offer her love; and the mysterious Mehri, whose secrets will shatter everything Aria thought she knew about herself. And then, just as the political turmoil in the country deepens, Aria falls in love with a boy caught on the wrong side of the revolution . . . _____________________________________'Sweeping, cinematic and oh-so-gripping' Sunday Telegraph'Leaves you simultaneously heartbroken and full of hope' Sunday Times'Warm-hearted, compelling, hugely enjoyable' Times'Spellbinding' Mail on Sunday'Explores the darkness and hope of a city on the brink of revolution . . . Epic. An impressive debut, not easily forgotten' Observer

Read more less

'Hugely gripping' Mark Billingham, Rabbit Hole 'Heart-stopping Elly Griffiths, The Locked Room 'What a read!' Stuart Turton, The Devil and the Dark Water----------16-year-old Sadie Saunders is missing. Five friends set out into the woods to find her. But they're not just friends... THEY'RE SUSPECTS. You see, this was never a search party. It's a witch hunt. And not everyone will make it home alive... THE CHALK MAN meets THE HUNTING PARTY in this Observer, Thriller of the Month; witness four suspects as, alongside DI Fleet, you attempt to discover the truth about what happened to Sadie...---------- 'A bloody good read and the very definition of unpredictable ' John Marrs, Keep it in the Family 'Clever and atmospheric' Mark Edwards, No Place to Run 'A brilliantly tense tale' Araminta Hall, Hidden Depths 'A marvel: intricate, complex and utterly gripping' Alex Lake, Ready or Not 'Simon Lelic just gets better and better' Dervla Mctiernan, The Murder Rule 'A chillingly complex, well-crafted web' Jane Corry, We All Have Our Secrets 'A skilfully-woven mystery that oozes with tension' T M Logan, The Holiday 'Atmospheric and chilling. Fantastic read!' Carla Kovach, One Girl Missing

Read more less

Carlos Magdalena of Kew Gardens is not your average botanical horticulturist. He's a man on a mission to save the world's most endangered plants from destruction and thieves hunting for wealthy collectors. He is a plant messiah.From the planet's tiniest waterlily - the Nymphaea thermarum - to Huarango trees with roots over 50 metres long, Carlos has a miraculous ability to bring breathtakingly beautiful plants back from the brink of extinction. He has travelled to the most remote and dangerous parts of the world - from the mountains of Peru to isolated Indian Ocean islands to the deepest Australian outback - in search of the rarest exotic species. Then, back in the Tropical Nursery at Kew, he uses pioneering, left-field techniques to help them grow.Now he's here to spread the gospel. The Plant Messiah is the inspirational story of a man who has devoted - and risked - his life to save incredible species, all in the name of making this Earth a greener and happier place. Amen to that.

Read more less

Sweeping through crumbling towns, travelling fairs and windswept ports, Gabriel García Márquez introduces a host of extraordinary characters and communities in his mesmerising tales of everyday life: smugglers, bagpipers, the President and Pope at the funeral of Macondo's revered matriarch; a very old angel with enormous wings. Teeming with the magical oddities for which his novels are loved, Márquez's stories are a delight.Gabriel García Márquez's Collected Stories are re-issued on Gabriel García Márquez 's birthday to celebrate the publication of his books as ebooks for the first time.

Read more less

ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS BOOKS AND WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE_______________________________'Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice'Gabriel García Márquez's great masterpiece is the story of seven generations of the Buendía family and of Macondo, the town they built. Though little more than a settlement surrounded by mountains, Macondo has its wars and disasters, even its wonders and its miracles. A microcosm of Columbian life, its secrets lie hidden, encoded in a book, and only Aureliano Buendía can fathom its mysteries and reveal its shrouded destiny.Blending political reality with magic realism, fantasy and comic invention, One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of the most daringly original works of the twentieth century._______________________________'Should be required reading for the entire human race' The New York Times'The book that sort of saved my life' Emma Thompson'No lover of fiction can fail to respond to the grace of Márquez's writing' Sunday Telegraph

Read more less

A CLASSIC STORY OF ENDURING LOVE FROM THE NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR _______________________________'It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love'Fifty-one years, nine months and four days have passed since Fermina Daza rebuffed hopeless romantic Florentino Ariza's impassioned advances and married Dr Juvenal Urbino instead. During that half-century, Flornetino has fallen into the arms of many delighted women, but has loved none but Fermina.When Fermina's husband is killed trying to retrieve his pet parrot from a mango tree, Florentino seizes his chance to declare his enduring love. But can young love find new life in the twilight of their lives?_______________________________'The most important writer of fiction in any language' Bill Clinton'An exquisite writer, wise, compassionate and extremely funny' Sunday Telegraph'An amazing celebration of the many kinds of love between men and women' The Times

Read more less

A SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, SPECTATOR, FINANCIAL TIMES, GUARDIAN, BBC HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR'This is the biography we have been awaiting for 400 years' Hilary Mantel'A masterpiece' Dan Jones, Sunday TimesThomas Cromwell is one of the most famous - or notorious - figures in English history. Born in obscurity in Putney, he became a fixer for Cardinal Wolsey in the 1520s. After Wolsey's fall, Henry VIII promoted him to a series of ever greater offices, and by the end of the 1530s he was effectively running the country for the King. That decade was one of the most momentous in English history: it saw a religious break with the Pope, unprecedented use of parliament, the dissolution of all monasteries. Cromwell was central to all this, but establishing his role with precision, at a distance of nearly five centuries and after the destruction of many of his papers at his own fall, has been notoriously difficult.Diarmaid MacCulloch's biography is much the most complete and persuasive life ever written of this elusive figure, a masterclass in historical detective work, making connections not previously seen. It overturns many received interpretations, for example that Cromwell was a cynical, 'secular' politician without deep-felt religious commitment, or that he and Anne Boleyn were allies because of their common religious sympathies - in fact he destroyed her. It introduces the many different personalities of these foundational years, all conscious of the 'terrifyingly unpredictable' Henry VIII. MacCulloch allows readers to feel that they are immersed in all this, that it is going on around them.For a time, the self-made 'ruffian' (as he described himself) - ruthless, adept in the exercise of power, quietly determined in religious revolution - was master of events. MacCulloch's biography for the first time reveals his true place in the making of modern England and Ireland, for good and ill.

Read more less

Assassin's Creed: Revelations is the thrilling novelisation by Oliver Bowden based on the game series.Older, wiser and more deadly than ever, Master Assassin Ezio Auditore embarks on an epic journey to find the lost library of Altair - a library that may hold the key to defeating the Templars for ever. However, a shocking discovery awaits him.The library holds no only a hidden knowledge but also the most unsettling secret the world has ever known; a secret the Templars hope to use to control humankind's destiny. Five keys are needed to access the library - to find them, Ezio must travel to the troubled city of Constantinople, where a growing army of Templars threaten to estabalize the Ottoman Empire. Walking in the footsteps of his predecessor, Altair, Ezio must defeat the Templars for the final time. For the stakes have never been higher, and what started as a pilgrimage has become a race against time... Assassin's Creed: Revelations is based on the phenomenally successful gaming series. Fans of the game will love these stories. Other titles in the series include Assassin's Creed: Renaissance, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade, and Assassin's Creed: Forsaken.Oliver Bowden is the pen-name of an acclaimed novelist.

Read more less

Discover the new Penguin Crime and Espionage seriesA crime novelist has found the perfect subject - but it may cost him his lifeEnglish writer Charles Latimer is travelling in Istanbul when a police inspector tells him about the infamous master criminal Dimitrios, long wanted by the law, whose body has just been fished out of the Bosphorus. Immediately fascinated, Latimer decides to retrace Dimitrios' steps across Europe to gather material for a new book, but instead finds himself descending into a terrifying underworld of international espionage, Balkan drug dealers, unscrupulous businessmen and fatal treachery - one he may not be able to escape.

Read more less

Discover easy, delicious and energy-saving recipes with The Ultimate Air-Fryer Cookbook - the MUST-HAVE kitchen companion to save you time and moneyTHE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 2 BESTSELLER AND FEATURED ON THE CHANNEL 5 SHOW AIRFRYERS: DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MISSING?'From simple midweek meals to whole joints of meat and even desserts, you'll discover how to bring the magic of air-frying to every culinary occasion' SUNDAY EXPRESS'The air fryer guru . . . Packed with tasty and accessible recipes and invaluable advice' OK! MAGAZINE'A real must-have for the kitchen. Delicious recipes' CHAT SPECIAL'Speedy, healthy family meals that are bang on budget and delicious to boot' HELLO!__________The last thing anyone needs right now is to worry about the cost of cooking their dinner. And with air fryers proven to be quicker, healthier and up to 80% cheaper than a traditional oven, we don't need to . . .This is the ultimate guide to cooking easy and delicious meals using the most valuable kitchen item. From simple midweek meals to whole joints of meat, hearty breakfasts to desserts and cakes, The Ultimate Air-Fryer Cookbook will teach you how to bring the magic of air-frying into every meal.Featuring over 80 delicious recipes that will show you that the air fryer is for so much more than chips, including:· Celeriac Rösti served with the perfect air-fried poached egg· Turkey Meatballs with Air-Fried Tomato Sauce to· Butternut Squash Sliders and· Choc Chip Cookies. . . there really is no end to what you can make with you air fryer!As well as these mouth-watering recipes, you will also find expert guidance on making the most of your air fryer, metric measurements for UK kitchens, and practical advice on cleaning and maintenance, making this the must-have air fryer cookbook.__________Why use an air fryer? . . .· They use 80% less energy and cooking meals up to twice as fast, air fryers offer the perfect low-energy alternative to traditional ovens.· Crisp and delicious food that is low in fat. Air fryers use substantially less fat than other methods of frying.· Not just for chips! Includes over 80 recipes covering everything from meat and vegetables to desserts and cakes· Invaluable advice talks you through the different types of air fryer, as well as how to use and maintain them.

Read more less

Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-SmithFilled with rich description and luxurious beauty, these ten tales of loss and longing from one of Japan's greatest writers show the pull between duty and desire, ecstasy and death: a mother lost in mourning, a moonlit journey to fulfil a wish, a night of infidelity, a young lieutenant who ends his life.

Read more less

Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.With warmth, tenderness and quiet wit, Oscar Wilde's fables and fairy tales have moved and delighted for generations. In far-off kingdoms and ocean realms, in the company of giants and nightingales, Wilde speaks of heartbreak and redemption, of cruelty and compassion, of love lost, of love gained, of love lasting. Included in this selection are stories from The Happy Prince and A House of Pomegranates.'His tales will dazzle children and intrigue adults' Guardian

Read more less

*A Times, Financial Times, Observer and Nature Book of the Year*We still have time to change the world. From Greta Thunberg, the world's leading climate activist, comes the essential handbook for making it happen. You might think it's an impossible task: secure a safe future for life on Earth, at a scale and speed never seen, against all the odds. There is hope - but only if we listen to the science before it's too late.In The Climate Book, Greta Thunberg has gathered the wisdom of over one hundred experts - geophysicists, oceanographers and meteorologists; engineers, economists and mathematicians; historians, philosophers and indigenous leaders - to equip us all with the knowledge we need to combat climate disaster. Alongside them, she shares her own stories of demonstrating and uncovering greenwashing around the world, revealing how much we have been kept in the dark. This is one of our biggest challenges, she shows, but also our greatest source of hope. Once we are given the full picture, how can we not act? And if a schoolchild's strike could ignite a global protest, what could we do collectively if we tried? We are alive at the most decisive time in the history of humanity. Together, we can do the seemingly impossible. But it has to be us, and it has to be now.

Read more less

Escape into nature with Matt Baker's fascinating journey through the natural year and family life on the farm'A delight' Countryfile Magazine_______Matt Baker finds his calm on the farm.Surrounded by nature with his family, dogs, array of sheep, Mediterranean miniature donkeys and a whole host of wildlife in the farm's ancient woodland, Matt shows us how the power and beauty of the countryside can bring joy to us all.Following the ever-changing seasons of the year, we see woodland animals emerge after a long winter of hibernation and lambs begin to gambol in April. We hear the dawn chorus in the height of summer and see the preparations unfold for the harsh and wild winter months.Peppered with hand drawn sketches, unforgettable moments from Matt's TV career and stories of a landscape you'll fall in love with - from its sun-soaked pastures to 6ft snow drifts - Matt reveals how the outdoors has made him who he is today.

Read more less

A beautiful companion set to the award-winning and internationally beloved phenomena, The Lost Words and The Lost Spells, adults and children alike will love receiving, sending and displaying The Wild Cards'Breathtaking and magical. Jackie Morris has created something that you could spend all day looking at' New Statesman'Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris have made a thing of astonishing beauty' ObserverDiscover and share the wonders of the wild world as seen in The Lost Words and The Lost Spells...This collection of 100 postcards features artwork and words from two beloved modern classics, in which Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane celebrate the creatures, trees and plants of nearby nature, from Acorn to Wren, by way of Curlew and Kingfisher, Silver Birch and Snow Hare, Goldfinch and Gorse.The front of each card bears one of Morris's Greenaway Medal-winning paintings; on the reverse, you will find an accompanying quotation from one of the spell-poems in the Lost books, as well as an identification of the species shown on the card. The remaining space is left blank for you to fill in these wild cards with pen, pencil or paint - and then send them out into the world to make and renew connections.

Read more less

'An extraordinary storyteller' Bernardine Evaristo'People say that on the first night Francis Sancher spent in Rivière au Sel the wind in its temper screamed down from the mountains...'Francis Sancher always said he would come to an unnatural end. So when this handsome newcomer to the Guadeloupean village of Rivière au Sel is found dead, face down in the mud, no one is particularly surprised. Loved by some - especially women - and reviled by others, Francis was an enigmatic figure. Where did he come from? What caused his strange nocturnal wanderings? What devils haunted him? As the villagers come to pay their respects, they each reveal another piece of the mystery behind his life and death - and their own buried secrets and stories come to light.'The grand queen, the empress, of Caribbean literature' Fiammetta Rocco, Guardian

Read more less

'A liberating and lacerating critique of American racial madness, capitalism and white superiority ... Schuyler's wild, misanthropic, take-no-prisoners satire of American life seems more relevant than ever ... Afrofuturist before such a term existed' New York Review of Books Telling the extraordinary story of a mysterious process that can turn black skin white in 1930s America, Black No More is a pioneering and caustic work of Black speculative fiction from one of the great Harlem Renaissance authors.'A clever and biting satire' Isabel Wilkerson, The New York Times Book Review'No one is safe from Schuyler's biting mockery' The New York Times

Read more less

'Dazzling ingenuity and cleverness' IndependentThree con artists are on the make, and making millions. There's Silas, the leader, slick and self-assured; Liz, his glamorous lover; and Bob, the young cockney upstart (who's also falling for Liz). As this uneasy trio's swindles take them from New York high-rises to sixties London, corrupt governments to, finally, the ultimate con in the Middle East, will their luck start to run out?'For sheer readability he has no peer' Evening Standard

Read more less

Become more confident in 2023 with this essential guide from the bestselling author of The Anxiety Solution, renowned hypnotherapist and host of The Calmer You podcast, Chloe Brotheridge'Rebuild your self-esteem with this simple, practical guide to beating anxiety and being brave' GRAZIA'The only way to improve our confidence - in any area of life - is by pushing through our comfort zone . . . This straightforward guide will show you how' Evening Standard, Books to Read for Better Mental Health It's time to be the most confident version of yourself . . . _______ Confidence is not something we either have or don't have - it can be built, and this straightforward guide will show you how. Renowned clinical hypnotherapist and anxiety expert Chloe Brotheridge has helped hundreds of clients with anxiety and low self-confidence, and in this book will use her own stories, scientific research, and the experiences of other women to show you how to: · Feel more confident · Spend less time worrying and people-pleasing · Build self-belief · Reach your full potential · Assertively set boundaries for a happier, healthier you The Confidence Solution reveals how everyone can follow their path to confidence. 'A straightforward guide . . . she uses her own stories, scientific research and the experiences of other women to show her readers how to feel more confident' Stylist Praise for The Anxiety Solution: 'Remarkable, pioneering, could change your life' Daily Mail *Previously published as Brave New Girl*

Read more less

Whether you're a long-term vegan, giving veggie a go or just want to make your meals more sustainable, ONE POT VEGAN is filled with delicious recipes that take the fuss out of plant-based cooking80 quick, easy and delicious vegan recipes, each using only one dish!'Anyone considering a foray into veganism should acquaint themselves with the work of Roxy Pope and Ben Pook . . . simple, healthy recipes made up of everyday ingredients' Vogue_________One Pot Vegan is the perfect staple cookbook for vegans, vegetarians, flexitarians, or anyone who simply wants more plants on their plate.Packed with inspiration for pastas, curries, salads, stir-fries, noodles and even puddings, every recipe uses simple supermarket ingredients - for maximum flavour with minimum fuss.One-pot, one-pan and one-tray recipes include:- QUICK AND NUTRITIOUS MIDWEEK MEALS, such as rainbow noodles, smoky sausage cassoulet, and roasted squash with cauliflower and sage- SIMPLE SIDES AND LIGHT BIGHTS, such as roasted vegetable mezze, loaded sweet potato wedges, and no-waste harissa cauliflower- HEARTY HOME COMFORTS, like rich lazy lasagne, mushroom and ale filo pie, and warming pearl barley chilli- TAKEAWAY CLASSICS, including mushroom tikka masala, tofu satay, and Chinese-inspired sweet and sour jackfruit- SWEET TREATS AND DESSERTS such as peanut butter swirl brownies, boozy Caribbean pear cake, and cardamom and pistachio shortbreadFrom the creators of SO VEGAN, one of the world's leading vegan food platforms with a growing community of over 1.5 million followers. Recipes are accompanied by full nutritional info, plus tips for batch cooking or freezing.Eating more plants has never been so easy!_________PRAISE FOR SO VEGAN:'Faff-free, delicious recipes' Times'Masterminds' Plant Based News

Read more less

The concluding part of John le Carré's celebrated Karla Trilogy, Smiley's People sees the last confrontation between the indefatigable spymaster George Smiley and his great enemy, as their rivalry comes to a shattering end.A Soviet defector has been assassinated on English soil, and George Smiley is called back to the Circus to clear up - and cover up - the mess. But what he discovers sends him delving into the past, on a trail through Hamburg and Paris to Cold War Berlin - and a final showdown with his elusive nemesis, Karla. 'An enormously skilled and satisfying work' Newsweek'We are all Smiley's people, a kind of secular god of intelligence' New YorkerTHE SEVENTH GEORGE SMILEY NOVEL

Read more less

Global warming has reached terrifying heights of severity, human consumption has caused the extinction of countless species and neoliberalism has led to a destructive divide in wealth and a polarization of mainstream politics. The climate crisis demands action. Your planet needs you! Can we shop our way out of a crisis? Will technology save the day? What does it mean to be a citizen and not a consumer? Are the real solutions inside of us? Who Cares Wins provides a plethora of solutions guaranteed to inspire and create lasting global change. Lily Cole has met with some of the millions of people around the world who are working on creative, innovative solutions to our biggest challenges and are committed to creating a more sustainable and peaceful future for humanity. Embracing debate and exploring issues from fast fashion to fast food, farming to plastic waste, renewable energy to gender equality, the book features interviews with diverse voices from entrepreneurs like Stella McCartney and Elon Musk, to activists such as Extinction Rebellion co-founder Dr Gail Bradbrook, Farhana Yamin, Isabella Tree, Putanny Yawanawa and Alice Waters, to offer a beacon of possibility and celebrate the joy and power of collective global creativity in challenging times.Who Cares Wins is a rousing call to action that will instil hope and leave you feeling equipped with the solutions and practical steps needed to make a difference. We are the ancestors of our future: a generation that will either be celebrated for its activism or blamed for its apathy.__________________It is time for us to choose solutions over despair, to act now and create a better future.'It's a positive, useful book - how to make choices. We need to get governments on board. I wish Lily was world controller' Vivienne Westwood, fashion designer and founder of Vivienne Westwood Ltd'A welcome and thorough overview of some of the many aspects of the crisis humanity is now facing alongside the visionary possibilities for change at our fingertips. If we don't act it isn't for lack of good ideas' Dr Gail Bradbrook, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion'Your book is golden, like you' Patti Smith

Read more less

Just in time for the centennial of the sinking of the Titanic, this graphic deluxe edition compiles first hand accounts, testimonies, and letters by notable Titanic survivors, including Archibald Gracie, Lawrence Beesley, Elizabeth W. Shutes, and the "unsinkable" Molly Brown. Full of historically accurate details and an afterword by the grandson of Lawrence Beesley, Titanic Survivors and author of The Loss of the S.S. Titanic, it will be the gift to give die-hard Titanic buffs. Authoritative, commemorative and in a striking, luxurious package with and introduction by Titanic enthusiast and expert, Tim Maltin, this will be the authoritative work on the disaster.

Read more less

'For its historical depth, analytical vigour and mobilizational potential, this book is unparalleled ... every page is an urgent invitation to resist' David Lammy MP The bestselling author of PostCapitalism offers a guide to resisting the far rightThe far right is on the rise across the world. From Modi's India to Bolsonaro's Brazil and Erdogan's Turkey, fascism is not a horror that we have left in the past; it is a recurring nightmare that is happening again - and we need to find a better way to fight it.In How to Stop Fascism, Paul Mason offers a radical, hopeful blueprint for resisting and defeating the new far right. The book is both a chilling portrait of contemporary fascism, and a compelling history of the fascist phenomenon: its psychological roots, political theories and genocidal logic. Fascism, Mason powerfully argues, is a symptom of capitalist failure, and it has haunted us throughout the twentieth century.History shows us the conditions that breed fascism, and how it can be successfully overcome. But it is up to us in the present to challenge it, and time is running out. From the ashes of COVID-19, we have an opportunity to create a fairer, more equal society. To do so, we must ask ourselves: what kind of world do we want to live in? And what are we going to do about it?

Read more less

Told in woozy, narrative prose poems, the award-winning chronicle of a group of friends stumbling their way into 21st-century adulthood 'Genius . . . Keatsian in density and bloom' Brenda Shaughnessy 'Poppick represents a slice of his generation . . . he lets himself delight in verbal unpredictability, when figures of speech jump out, or sparkle and shine' The New York Times Book Review These poems tell the story of a generation in crisis: at odds with its own ideals, precariously (or just un-) employed, and absolutely terrified of seeing itself in the planet's future. Is our contemporary moment pure tragedy, or a dark joke? Can it be both? Ranging between elegiac lyrics and autobiographical accounts of a group of poets moving from Iowa to Brooklyn in the years before and after the 2016 election, Fear of Description reinvigorates the prose poem, exploring the slippery terrain between grief and friendship, artifice and technology, writing and ritual, hauntings and obsessions - searching for joy in art but instead finding it in pitch darkness. As the narrative cuts back and forth in time and circles around itself, the stories which begin to emerge in this remarkable book - of precarious employment, dead dogs speaking through Ouija boards and youthful brilliance cut short - explore at once the struggle to find one's place in the world, and the fear of being trapped once there. 'Through Poppick's memories we relive that brief window of youth when friendship is the magic audience that grounds us' Jennifer Moxley

Read more less

The Reformation which engulfed England and Europe in the sixteenth century was one of the most highly-charged, bloody and transformative periods in their history, and has remained one of the most contested. In this dazzling book, Diarmaid MacCulloch explores a turbulent and endlessly fascinating era. 'A masterly take on the Reformation ... absorbing and compelling, full of insights' Linda Hogan, Irish Times'One of our very best public historians ... as this collection triumphantly confirms, MacCulloch writes authoritatively and engagingly on a remarkably diverse range of topics in the history of Christian culture' Peter Marshall, Literary Review'Written with elegance and sometimes donnish wit ... he wears his learning lightly' Robert Tombs, The Times'Dazzling ... prodigiously learned ... MacCulloch has a gift for explaining complicated things simply' Jack Scarisbrick, Catholic Herald

Read more less

'Consistently illuminating ... Like all the best stories, it is about the timeless tides of power and influence ... trade deals can sometimes be sexy, thrilling and epic' Sinclair McKay, SpectatorLife in Europe was fundamentally changed in the 16th century by the astonishing discoveries of the New World and of direct sea routes to Asia. To start with England was hardly involved and London remained a gloomy, introverted medieval city. But as the century progressed something extraordinary happened.Stephen Alford's evocative, original and fascinating new book uses the same skills that made his widely praised The Watchers so successful, bringing to life the network of merchants, visionaries, crooks and sailors who changed London forever. In a sudden explosion of energy English ships were suddenly found all over the world - trading with Russia and the Levant, exploring Virginia and the Arctic, and fanning out across the Indian Ocean. London's Triumph is above all about the people who made this possible - the families, the guild members, the money-men who were willing to risk huge sums and sometimes their own lives in pursuit of the rare, exotic and desirable. Their ambitions fuelled a new view of the world - initiating a long era of trade and empire, the consequences of which we still live with today.

Read more less

A collection of stories, including two of Wilde's most famous: 'The Canterville Ghost', in which a young American girl helps to free the tormented spirit that haunts an old English castle and 'The Happy Prince', who was not as happy as he seemed. Often whimsical and sometimes sad, they all shine with poetry and magic.

Read more less

Collecting five stories of suspense, mystery and slow, creeping horror, Daphne Du Maurier's Don't Look Now and Other Stories includes an introduction by Susan Hill, author of The Woman in Black, in Penguin Modern Classics.John and Laura have come to Venice to try and escape the pain of their young daughter's death. But when they encounter two old women who claim to have second sight, they find that instead of laying their ghosts to rest they become caught up in a train of increasingly strange and violent events. The four other haunting, evocative stories in this volume also explore deep fears and longings, secrets and desires: 'Not After Midnight', in which a lonely teacher investigates a mysterious American couple; 'A Border Line Case', in which a young woman confronts her father's past and his associations with the IRA; 'The Way of the Cross', in which a party of pilgrims to Jerusalem encounter strange phenomena in the Garden of Gethsemane; and 'The Breakthrough', in which a scientist claims to be able to trap the soul at the point of death ...Daphne du Maurier (1907-89) - English novelist, biographer, and playwright, who published romantic suspense novels, mostly set on the coast of Cornwall. Du Maurier is best known for and Jamaica Inn (1936), filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1939, Rebecca (1938), filmed by Hitchcock in 1940, and The Birds (1952), filmed by Hitchcock in 1963. If you enjoyed Don't Look Now and Other Stories, you might like Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'Daphne du Maurier has no equal' Sunday Telegraph'Du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings'Stephen King

Read more less

Le Morte D'Arthur is Sir Thomas Malory's richly evocative and enthralling version of the Arthurian legend. Recounting Arthur's birth, his ascendancy to the throne after claiming Excalibur, his ill-fated marriage to Guenever, the treachery of Morgan le Fay and the exploits of the Knights of the Round Table, it magically weaves together adventure, battle, love and enchantment. Le Morte D'Arthur looks back to an idealized Medieval world and is full of wistful, elegiac regret for a vanished age of chivalry. Edited and published by William Caxton in 1485, Malory's prose romance drew on French and English verse sources to give an epic unity to the Arthur myth, and remains the most magnificent re-telling of the story in English.

Read more less

FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER 'Evaristo possesses enough ball-busting originality to create whole novels for each of the historical characters she resurrects . . . [she creates] funky yarns so tantalising you want to devour them' Guardian Meet Stanley Williams: Single, in his thirties, grieving the death of his Jamaican father and wondering if there is more to life than his nine-to-five banking job in a sky-high glass menagerie.Enter Jessie O'Donnell: barmaid, former singer-cum-comedienne, and desperate to get into her rusty old Lady Niva and hit the freeway across Europe. The unlikely pair begin an electrifying odyssey that weaves in and out of history, colliding with the forgotten heroes of Europe's past. Shakespeare's mysterious 'Dark Lady of the Sonnet's, Pushkin and his Ethiopian great-grandfather and the mixed-race Allessandro de' Medici of Florence are all ready to have their voices heard, and Stanley and Jessie do what they can to hang on for the ride . . . 'A bouncy. . . touching novel about the search for love and belonging' The Times

Read more less