Search results for ""penguin books ltd""

The acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series edited by A. R. Braunmuller and Stephen Orgel   The legendary Pelican Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare’s time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used. Updated by general editors Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller, these easy-to-read editions incorporate over thirty years of Shakespeare scholarship undertaken since the original series, edited by Alfred Harbage, appeared between 1956 and 1967. With definitive texts and illuminating essays, the Pelican Shakespeare will remain a valued resource for students, teachers, and theater professionals for many years to come.   For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 title

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FREDERICK M. KEENER is Professor of English at Hofstra University. His publications include English Dialogues of the Dead, An Essay on Pope and The Chain of Becoming.

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Virgil (70-19BC) studied rhetoric and philosophy in Rome where he became a court poet. As well as The Aeneid, his Eclogues earned him the reputation as the finest Latin poet.

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Froggy's mother knows that everyone's nervous on the first day of school. "Not me!" says Froggy, and together they leapfrog to the bus stop—flop flop flop. Froggy's exuberant antics will delight his many fans and reassure them that school can be fun."This is a great read-aloud with sounds and words that encourage active participation...A charming story to calm those pre-school jitters."—School Library Journal

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One of the greatest essayists of the Graeco-Roman world, Plutarch (c. AD 46 -120) used an encyclopedic knowledge of the Roman Empire to produce a compelling and individual voice. In this superb selection from his writings, he offers personal insights into moral subjects that include the virtue of listening, the danger of flattery and the avoidance of anger, alongside more speculative essays on themes as diverse as God's slowness to punish man, the use of reason by supposedly 'irrational' animals and the death of his own daughter. Brilliantly informed, these essays offer a treasure-trove of ancient wisdom, myth and philosophy, and a powerful insight into a deeply intelligent man.

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Hardy's two versions of a strange story set in the weird landscape of Portland. The central figure is a man obsessed both with the search for his ideal woman and with sculpting the perfect figure of Aphrodite.

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'A quiet work of art that explores the complexity of trauma in the wake of the Enniskellen bombing. McKeon’s writing is sensitive, elusive and philosophical, and pursues an elusive truth at the heart of the Troubles.’ PAUL LYNCH 'Exceptional ... The imaginative storytelling and fine prose of Remembrance Sunday puts McKeon in the big leagues' Irish Times'A supreme storyteller' Sunday Times'If you enjoy Colum McCann's work, this novel is for you' Irish Independent'Impressive ... A poignant, delicately composed novel that doesn't stint on the wreckage of violence' Daily Mail 'Beautifully written' Sunday IndependentChinatown, New York. After a chance encounter with an old friend, Simon Hanlon, an Irish architect, experiences a seizure, his first in almost thirty years. Soon, they come to him daily.As he awaits a brain operation, Simon turns his mind back to his childhood on a farm near the Irish border. At fifteen, he was present when an IRA bomb exploded at the Remembrance Sunday parade in Enniskillen. It was in the following weeks that his seizures first began. Now, he is compelled to seek out the bomber from the remnants of his past, and to ask himself the question: why do we harm one another?Remembrance Sunday is a moving and unforgettable novel about love, empathy and the ways in which history imprints itself upon our hearts and minds.***'Deeply felt and delicate, Remembrance Sunday is a timely evocation of the havoc the Troubles wreaked, not just on the street, but on the soul' CLAIRE KILROY'Beautifully wrought, startlingly perceptive, stealthily gripping . . . It moves masterfully between the forensic and the lyrical, the meditative and the dramatic, the personal and the political' KEVIN POWER'McKeon animates a story out of the North's recent history with much skill and empathy. Complicating the commonplace, attempting to make sense of the senseless, the novel is an impressive and moving act of imagination and remembrance' NICK LAIRD'A stunning achievement. I was completely gripped by it and awed at the sublime skill and beauty of its execution. Darragh has created a work of art of immediate relevance and enduring importance' DONAL RYAN

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The mysterious and atmospheric debut novel perfect for fans of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, Stacey Halls and Bridget Collins . . .'I loved this fresh take on the gothic genre. Vivid, haunting, surprising' STACEY HALLS, bestselling author of The Familiars'A full-blooded gothic mystery with bite, great characterisation and heaps of atmosphere' EMMA STONEX, bestselling author of The Lamplighters'With echoes of Jane Eyre but with a heart of its own . . . A suspenseful and beautifully crafted novel filled with atmosphere, rich characters and plenty of layers to keep a reader hooked right to the end' SUSAN STOKES-CHAPMAN, bestselling author of Pandora_________1852.Margaret Lennox is offered a position as governess at Hartwood Hall. She quickly accepts, hoping this isolated country house will allow her to leave her past behind.But Margaret soon starts to feel there's something odd about her new home, despite her growing fondness for her bright, affectionate pupil, Louis.Strange figures move through the dark.Tensions rise between the servants.The east wing sits eerily abandoned . . .Even stranger is the local gossip surrounding Mrs Eversham, Louis's widowed mother, who is deeply distrusted by the nearby village.Margaret is certain that everyone has something to hide.But as her own past threatens to catch up with her, she must learn to trust her instincts before it's too late . . ._________*LONGLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWN AWARD*'An immersive, atmospheric novel and a true love letter to Gothic fiction' i'A creepy, captivating gothic mystery' WOMAN'S WEEKLY'A quintessential manor-home mystery . . . Lumsden's debut reminds us never to trust first appearances. Mesmerizing' SARAH PENNER, bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary'This book delivers HUGE Jane Eyre vibes, gothic and mysterious Victoriana. I LOVED it' SOPHIE IRWIN, author of Sunday Times bestseller A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting'Dark, twisty, gothic and full of surprises...a deliciously atmospheric page-turner' LIZ HYDER, author of The Gifts'Lovers of Victorian literature will adore this compelling gothic mystery. An impressive debut' LOUISE HARE, author of This Lovely City'Brilliantly creepy and utterly compelling' CAROLINE LEA'A brilliant love letter to classic Victorian fiction and a standout debut' HAZEL GAYNOR'Smart, atmospheric, gripping and full of surprises, this is a Gothic spine-chiller by an absolutely modern writer' MAGGIE GEE

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With the vision of an historian and the voice of a novelist, prize-winning author John Demos explores the social, cultural and psychological roots of the scourge that is witch-hunting, both in the remote past and today. "The Enemy Within" chronicles the most prominent witch-hunts of the Western world - women and men who were targeted by suspicious neighbours and accused of committing horrific crimes by supernatural means - and shows how the fear of witchcraft has fueled recurrent cycles of accusation, persecution and purging. A unique and fascinating book, it illuminates the dark side of communities driven to rid themselves of perceived evil, no matter what the human cost.

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From the bard of the Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac's Maggie Cassidy is an autobiographical novel of young love, published in Penguin Modern Classics.Though publishers stopped Maggie Cassidy's Jack Duluoz and On the Road's Sal Paradise from sharing the same name, Kerouac meant the books to be two parts of the same life. While On the Road made Paradise (and Kerouac) a hero for generations to come of the disaffected and restless, Maggie Cassidy is an affectionate portrait of the teenager that made the man - of friendship and first love growing up in a New England mill town. Duluoz is a high school athletics and football star who meets Maggie Cassidy and begins a devoted, inconstant, tender adolescent love affair. It is one of the most sustained, poetic pieces of Kerouac's 'spontaneous prose'.Jack Kerouac (1922-69) was an American novelist, poet, artist and part of the Beat Generation. His first published novel, The Town and the City, appeared in 1950, but it was On the Road, published in 1957, that made Kerouac famous. Publication of his many other books followed, among them The Subterraneans, Big Sur, and The Dharma Bums. Kerouac died in Florida at the age of forty-seven.If you enjoyed Maggie Cassidy, you might like Kerouac's The Subterraneans and Pic, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'A very unique cat - a French Canadian Hinayana Buddhist Beat Catholic savant' Allen Ginsberg

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In The Automatic Customer, John Warrillow provides the essential blueprint for turning your customers into subscribersThe lifeblood of your business is repeat customers. But customers can be fickle, markets shift and competitors are ruthless. So how do you ensure a steady flow of business? The secret - no matter what industry you're in - is finding and keeping automatic customers.These days virtually anything you need can come through a subscription. Far beyond Spotify and Netflix, companies in nearly any industry, from home contractors to florists, can build subscriptions into their business.Subscription is the key to increasing cash flow, igniting growth and boosting the value of your company. Whether you want to transform your entire business into a recurring revenue engine or just pick up an extra 5 per cent of sales growth, The Automatic Customer will be your secret weapon.'Read, apply and watch your bank deposits grow every month' Chris Guillebeau, bestselling author of The $100 Startup'If you have a business, or are thinking about starting one, this book will be the best investment you've ever made' Bo Burlingham, editor-at-large of Inc. and author of Small Giants and Finish BigJohn Warrillow, the author of Built to Sell, is the founder of The Value Builder System™ where advisors help company owners increase the value of their business. Previously, he founded Warrillow & Co., a subscription-based research business dedicated to helping Fortune 500 companies market to small business owners. A sought-after speaker and popular Inc.com columnist, he lives in Toronto.

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The word 'kama' means the desire for sensual pleasure in Sanskrit, and was considered an essential part of the well-rounded education of a young, urbane gentleman. Treating pleasure as an art, Kama Sutra is a handbook covering every aspect of love and relationships. Its seven sections are devoted to the social life, courtship and marriage, extra-marital relations, the conduct of courtesans and prescriptions for enhancing attractiveness, as well as systematic, detailed instruction on sex. This modern translation of Kama Sutra takes it away from the well-worn image of an erotic, Oriental curiosity. This clear, accurate translation conveys all the original flavour and feel of this elegant, intimate and hugely enjoyable work; a masterpiece of pithy description and a wry account of human desires and foibles.

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Thirty years ago Tom Clancy was a Maryland insurance broker with a passion for naval history. But he had always dreamed of writing a novel, and his first effort, The Hunt for Red October, catapulted on to the New York Times bestseller list. From that day forward, Clancy established himself as an undisputed master at blending exceptional realism and authenticity, intricate plotting, and razor-sharp suspense. He passed away in October 2013.

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The mind-bending new masterpiece from the multi-award-winning author of Apple TV's smash hit literary adaptation SHINING GIRLS, starring Elizabeth Moss.'Addictive, fascinating and compelling page-turner' - Guardian'A high-concept page-turner' - The Herald'Beukes puts cerebral propositions into breakneck thrillers' - The Spectator--Bridge's maverick scientist mother Jo is dead.Now she's examining everything Jo left behind.Which is when she finds her big secret.Is it a drug?A gateway to other worlds?Jo believed so.Bridge is desperate to see her mother again.Will do anything, risk anything.Including search for her in those other realities.What she doesn't know is that othersare after Jo's secret. And some believe anyoneit touches must be destroyed.Bridge? She just wants to find her mom ...Page-turning and ambitious, BRIDGE is a dazzlingly inventive speculative thriller with an unforgettable cast of characters, and the work of a novelist at the height of her powers.--'You can tell Beukes is having an absolute blast putting words on the page. Her fun is evident in the big, bloody action sequences; in the squirmy, almost retro grotesqueness of the dreamworm.' - The New York Times'An addictive, fascinating and compelling page-turner. With an original take on the many worlds theory.' – Guardian'Complex, challenging, gripping and thought-provoking. A morally thorny tale without clear-cut heroes or villains. Beukes does a skilful job of balancing desperate but very relatable hope.' - SFX

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A SPECIAL-EDITION BOXSET CREATED TO CELEBRATE THE PULITZER-PRIZE WINNING GRAPHIC NOVEL''S 40TH ANNIVERSARY''The first masterpiece in comic book history'' The New Yorker ''The most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust'' Wall Street JournalA brutally moving work of art -- widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written -- MAUS recounts the chilling experiences of the author''s father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats.Maus is a haunting tale within a tale, weaving the author''s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father into an astonishing retelling of one of history''s most unspeakable tragedies. It is an unforgettable story of survival and a disarming look at the legacy of trauma.This paperback box set includes MAUS in its original two-volume format, re-released with an exclusive sixte

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THE NO. 1 BESTSELLERA fascinating, insightful, warts-and-all portrait' - The Guardian 'Painstakingly researched ... informed by countless inside sources' - The Observer'Compelling and revealing' - Irish Times* * *Inside the rise of the political party, once subordinate to the IRA, that is on the brink of taking power in IrelandSinn Féin is the most popular political party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. A movement once synonymous with a paramilitary campaign is on the brink of taking real power through purely democratic means. But if Sinn Féin has mastered the art of electoral politics, it remains strangely opaque. Who really runs the party? How is it funded? And what can we expect of it as a party of government?Aoife Moore, Irish Journalist of the Year in 2021, explores these and other burning questions in The Long Game. Drawing on exclusive interviews with current and former members of Sinn Féin, she builds up a picture of a party undergoing a profound, and still incomplete , transformation. She looks at the key individuals and moments that put the party on its present course, and she explores tensions within the party and the wider republican movement.Packed with revelatory details, The Long Game is a groundbreaking telling of contemporary Ireland's biggest and most elusive political story.* * *'A powerful portrait of the inside world of an elusive political party ... an important work' - Sunday Independent'Eye opening and brave ... carefully researched, judicious and packed with revelatory detail' - Fergal Keane'An explosive read ... important and revelatory' - Business Post'Incisive [and] well-written' - Irish Times'[An] excellent, well-sourced account' - The Telegraph'... paint[s] a picture of a political force utterly unwilling to face scrutiny or have uncomfortable conversations with itself' - Financial Times

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Private Detective Isaac Bell crosses some of America's harshest terrain in pursuit of the most twisted killer yet, in the latest action-packed historical blockbuster from Sunday Times bestseller Clive Cussler.Women are being brutally murdered all over America . . . it's going to take an extraordinary mind to uncover the truth before it's too late.The year is 1911. Chief Investigator Isaac Bell of the Van Dorn Detective Agency has had many extraordinary cases before. But none quite like this.Hired to find a young woman named Anna Pape who ran away from home to become an actress, Bell gets a shock when her murdered body turns up instead. Vowing to bring the killer to justice, he begins a manhunt which leads him into increasingly more alarming territory. Anna Pape was not alone in her fate - petite young blonde women like Anna are being murdered in cities across America.And the pattern goes beyond the physical resemblance of the victims - there are disturbing familiarities about the killings themselves that send a chill through even a man as experienced with evil as Bell. If he is right about his fears, then he is on the trail of one of the greatest monsters of his time.

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Drawing on his own experience, Barney Campbell's Rain is a powerful, vivid and affecting portrait of the Afghan frontline.'No better on-the-ground description of Britain's war will ever be written. Rain is what Chickenhawk or, more recently, Matterhorn was to Vietnam. It's unputdownable, except for when the reader needs to draw breath or battle a lump in the throat' Evening StandardTom Chamberlain was destined to be a soldier from the moment he discovered a faded picture of his father patrolling the streets of Belfast.With the war in Afghanistan at its savage peak, Tom is despatched from home in the dead of an anonymous September night, a blood tribute leaving without fanfare. Full of eagerness, but wracked by self-doubt, he must discover who he is and what he is capable of.But as the bonds with his comrades grow, home - and the loved ones left behind - seem ever more remote from the surreal violence and exhilaration of war.____________'Rain is not merely good, it's remarkable. Powerful, at times unbearably harrowing, it captures both the fear and exhilaration of men pushed to breaking point' JEREMY PAXMAN'A wonderfully achieved, enthralling and moving novel of war. Its authenticity is as telling as it is terrifying' WILLIAM BOYD'Gripping . . . the ending is genuinely shocking' DAILY MAIL'One of the most powerful and emotional works ever written about British soldiers in battle. Troubling, funny, upsetting, exhilarating and deeply moving. You will never forget it' COLONEL RICHARD KEMP'One of the best novels about the Afghanistan war. Brutally honest, it could have been a memoir' DAVID AXE

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THE HEARTBREAKING AND POWERFUL NOVEL FROM NO.1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR JANE GREEN When Gabby first met Elliott she knew he was the man for her.In twenty years of marriage she has never doubted her love for him - even when he refused to give her the one thing she still wants most of all. But now their two daughters are growing up Gabby feels that time and her youth are slipping away. And then she meets Matt . . . Intoxicated by the way this young, handsome and successful man makes her feel, Gabby is momentarily blind to what she stands to lose on this dangerous path. And in one reckless moment she destroys all that she holds dear. Consumed by regret, Gabby does everything she can to repair the home she has broken. But are some betrayals too great to forgive? __________ Praise for Jane Green: 'A heartbreaking tale of love and family, truly compelling' Closer 'Compulsively readable. I raced through it' Daily Mail 'Green is women's fiction royalty . . . a compelling family drama' Glamour

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Discover the legendary life of the man behind the make-up and glasses, Barry Humphries'A literary masterpiece' SUNDAY TIMES___________Because Barry Humphries deliberately furnished would-be biographers with whimsical fictions and blatant mystifications, the true details of his life are among the best-kept secrets of our time. More Please, prophetically his first utterance, reveals the man behind the actor.This bestselling book moves from suburban Australia of the 1930s, 40s and 50s to Humphries' international stardom and his revelations and confessions will astonish his vast audience, being so wildly at odds with all that has gone before.Fascinating and always funny, this is the truly remarkable memoir from the man who made the whole world laugh.

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'A rich, complex and beautifully crafted novel' P.D. JamesThe prize-winning classic that 'changed the thriller landscape', with a new foreword from Val McDermid.VERA HILLYARD. AUNT. MOTHER. MURDERESS.Faith Severn's life has long been overshadowed by the mystery surrounding her aunt. A respectable woman who committed a crime so terrible she was hung for it. Now, the time has come to piece her story together.What secret caused two devoted sisters to turn from love to hate? And was Vera born a killer. . .Or was she driven to it?'Brilliantly plotted. Vine is not afraid to walk down the mean streets of the mind and can build up an almost tangible atmosphere of menace and unease' Daily Telegraph'Will linger in your memory long after you have closed the book. A first-rate novel' Washington PostA Dark-Adapted Eye is a modern classic. If you enjoy the crime novels of P.D. James and Ian Rankin you will love this book.Barbara Vine is the pen-name of Ruth Rendell. She has written fifteen novels using this pseudonym, including A Fatal Inversion and King Solomon's Carpet which both won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award. Her other books include: A Dark Adapted Eye; The House of Stairs; Gallowglass; Asta's Book; No Night Is Too Long; In the Time of His Prosperity; The Brimstone Wedding; The Chimney Sweeper's Boy; Grasshopper; The Blood Doctor; The Minotaur; The Birthday Present and The Child's Child.

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A ground-breaking argument for better treatment of mental health from Richard Layard (author of Happiness) and David M. Clark.Britain has become a world leader in providing psychological therapies thanks to the work of Richard Layard and David Clark. But, even so, in Britain and worldwide the majority of people who need help still don't get treatment. This is both unjust and a false economy.This book argues for change. It shows that mental ill-health causes more of the suffering in our society than physical illness, poverty or unemployment. Moreover, greater spending on helping people to recover from mental health problems - and stay well - would generate massive savings to national economies, as those who suffer from depression and anxiety disorders account for nearly a half of all disability and are predominantly of working age. Modern talking therapies, such as CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), are highly effective, and if more sufferers got these treatments, lives would be turned around and the cost would be fully covered by the huge savings.Thrive explores the new effective solutions to the misery and injustice caused by mental illness. It describes how successful psychological treatments have been developed and explains what works best for whom. It also urges us to do all we can to prevent these problems in the first place, through better schools and a better society. And, most importantly, it offers real hope.'This book is an inspiring success story and a stirring call to further action. Its message is as compelling as it is important: the social costs of mental illness are terribly high and the costs of effective treatments are surprisingly low' Daniel Kahneman'Extremely easy and pleasurable to read. It's the most comprehensive, humane and generous study of mental illness that I've come across' Melvyn Bragg'Remarkable . . . presents the issues in a style that easy for the professional, the general public, and policy makers to understand' Aaron T Beck'Professors Layard and Clark (the Dream Team of British Social Science) make a compelling case for a massive injection of resources into the treatment and prevention of mental illness. This is simply the best book on public policy and mental health ever written' Martin SeligmanRICHARD LAYARD is one of the world's leading labour economists, and in 2008 received the IZA International Prize for Labour Economics. A member of the House of Lords, he has done much to raise the public profile of mental health. His 2005 book Happiness has been translated into 20 languages.DAVID M. CLARK, Professor of Psychology at Oxford, is one of the world's leading experts on CBT, responsible for much progress in treatment methods. With Richard Layard, he was the main driver behind the UK's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme.

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'They didn't seem to take much interest in my private parts which to tell the truth were nothing to write home about, I didn't take much interest in them myself.'From the master of the absurd, these two stories of an unnamed vagrant contending with decay and death combine bleakness with the blackest of humour. Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.

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'His artistry is supreme' John Banville Certain details of the case were etched more sharply than others in Maigret's memory. Even years later he could recall the particular taste and smell of the rain shower in Rue Caulaincourt as keenly as a childhood memory. At a dinner party, Maigret recounts an old case in which Adrien Josset is found guilty and executed for the murder of his wife, Christine. As the case develops under the controlling hand of the magistrate, all clues point to Josset's guilt yet Maigret is left unconvinced following his one interview with him. Years after the case, Maigret still doubts the true identity of the murderer.This novel has been published in a previous translation as Maigret Has Doubts.'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian

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New from Dave Eggers, National Book Award finalist A Hologram for the King.In a rising Saudi Arabian city, far from weary, recession-scarred America, a struggling businessman pursues a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter's college tuition, and finally do something great. In A Hologram for the King, Dave Eggers takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of the global economy's gale-force winds. This taut, richly layered, and elegiac novel is a powerful evocation of our contemporary moment - and a moving story of how we got here.Praise for A Hologram for the King: 'Absorbing . . . modest and equally satisfying: the writing of a comic but deeply affecting tale about one man's travails that also provides a bright, digital snapshot of our times' Michiko Kakutani, New York Times'A fascinating novel' New Yorker'A spare but moving elegy for the American century' Publishers Weekly'Eggers understands the pressures of American downward-mobility, and in the protagonist of his novel, Alan Clay, has created an Everyman, a post-modern Willy Loman . . . The novel operates on a grand and global scale, but it also is intimate' Chicago Tribune'Completely engrossing' Fortune'Eggers can do fiction as well as he likes' Los Angeles TimesDave Eggers is the author of six previous books: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, How We Are Hungry, You Shall Know Our Velocity, What is the What, The Wild Things and Zeitoun. Zeitoun was the winner of the American Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and What is the What was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award and won France's Prix Médicis. Eggers is the founder and editor of McSweeney's, an independent publishing house based in San Francisco. A native of Chicago, he lives in Northern California with his wife and two children.

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An omnibus comprising Raymond Chandler's three Philip Marlowe novels, THE LADY IN THE LAKE, THE HIGH WINDOW and THE LITTLE SISTER.

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'Lively . . . a joy to read' - The TimesShortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prizeFrom the bestselling author of A Short History of Tractors in UkrainianNorth London in the twenty-first century: a place where a son will swiftly adopt an old lady and take her home from hospital to impersonate his dear departed mother, rather than lose the council flat.A time of golden job opportunities, though you might have to dress up as a coffee bean or work as an intern at an undertaker or put up with champagne and posh French dinners while your boss hits on you.A place rich in language - whether it's Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian, Swahili or buxom housing officers talking managementese.A place where husbands go absent without leave and councillors sacrifice cherry orchards at the altar of new builds.Marina Lewycka is back in this hilarious, farcical, tender novel of modern issues and manners.

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Raised in a desperately poor village during the height of China's Cultural Revolution, Li Cunxin's childhood revolved around the commune, his family and Chairman Mao's Little Red Book. Until, that is, Madame Mao's cultural delegates came in search of young peasants to study ballet at the academy in Beijing and he was thrust into a completely unfamiliar world. When a trip to Texas as part of a rare cultural exchange opened his eyes to life and love beyond China's borders, he defected to the United States in an extraordinary and dramatic tale of Cold War intrigue. Told in his own distinctive voice, this is Li's inspirational story of how he came to be Mao's last dancer, and one of the world's greatest ballet dancers.

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Although best remembered today for his novels, Thomas Hardy thought of himself as a poet forced by circumstance to write fiction for a living. This generous selection of nearly two hundred poems includes such familiar pieces as "During Wind and Rain," "Channel Firing," "Afterwards," "The Darkling Thrush," and "The Oxen," but it will also acquaint readers with many less-celebrated works, among them "To Lizbie Browne," "After the Last Breath," "My Spirit Will Not Haunt the Mound," "The Haunter," "Old Furniture," "A Procession of Dead Days," "The Harbour Bridge," "At a Country Fair," "Last Love-Word," "Waiting Both," and "Proud Songsters." With an introduction and annotations by Robert Mezey, this Penguin Classics edition will help readers to recognize Hardy as one of the greatest English poets of this century.

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Setting out to make his fortune in a far-off country, a young traveller discovers the remote and beautiful land of Erewhon and is given a home among its extraordinarily handsome citizens. But their visitor soon discovers that this seemingly ideal community has its faults - here crime is treated indulgently as a malady to be cured, while illness, poverty and misfortune are cruelly punished, and all machines have been superstitiously destroyed after a bizarre prophecy. Can he survive in a world where morality is turned upside down? Inspired by Samuel Butler's years in colonial New Zealand and by his reading of Darwin's Origin of Species, Erewhon (1872) is a highly original, irreverent and humorous satire on conventional virtues, religious hypocrisy and the unthinking acceptance of beliefs.

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After the restoration of King Charles II to the British throne in 1660, dramatists experienced new freedom in an age that broke from the strict morality of puritan rule and in which elegance and wit became the chief virtues. Irreverent, licentious and cynical, the three plays collected here hold up a mirror to this dazzling era and satirize the gulf between appearances and reality. In Etherege's The Man of Mode (1676), the womanizing Dorimant meets his match when he falls in love with the unpretentious Harriet, while Wycherley's The Country Wife (c. 1675) depicts the rakish Horner who fakes impotence to fool trusting husbands into giving him easy access to their wives. And in Congreve's Love for Love (1695), the extravagant Valentine can only win his beloved Angelica if he loses his inheritance.

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The exquisitely-researched standalone prequel series to Dorothy Dunnett's revered Lymond Chronicles, following the ancestors of Francis Crawford of Lymond in Continental Europe.Spring of the Ram is Book Two in The House of Niccolo series.----------------------------- 'Catherine de Charetty, having chosen a lover just after the Feast of Exaltation of the Holy Cross, was much put out to learn that, at nearly thirteen, she did not possess all the required qualifications . . .'Yet her secret suitor, Pagano Doria, claims he will wait and spirits her away from Bruges, first to Florence and then eastwards. On their trail is Nicholas vander Poele, her step-father, conducting his own journey to the fabled city of Trebizond, a Byzantine outpost on the Black Sea.Known as the treasure-house of the East, Trebizond in 1461 is the ideal location for Nicholas to open the House of Niccolo's new trading post. However, the city's riches are threated by a Turkish army while rival merchant families seek to thwart Nicholas' ambitions.Not least among them is Doria himself, harbouring a plan involving young Catherine to rain ruin on the head of House Niccolo. . .'A sorceress of the genre' Daily Mail

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ARE YOU READY TO ENTER THE HALF BURNT HOUSE? . . .The spine-tingling new thriller from the internationally bestselling author of Richard & Judy pick THE WHISPER MAN'The Half Burnt House is Alex North at his best - a writer who can terrify you on one page and break your heart on the next' STEVE CAVANAGH'One of those books that made me wish I'd written it. North wields suspense like a blade. Breath-taking and terrifying' HELEN FIELDS'Dark, gripping, and twisty' CLARIE MCGOWAN'Endlessly intriguing' NEW YORK TIMES____________Katie Shaw always looked after her younger brother Chris - until she left him alone one carefree afternoon and he was savagely attacked. He hasn't spoken to her since.Now a mother, Katie vows not to repeat her mistakes. Carelessness cost her one family, and she won't let it destroy another.Then she receives a call from the police.They're investigating a particularly brutal murder, in a half-ruined house that once belonged to a notorious local serial killer. The case has thrown up many unsettling questions, but only one prime suspect: Chris.The detective wants Katie's help finding him, but she has only one thing on her mind: proving her brother's innocence, and finally making up for her negligence all those years ago. But soon it becomes clear that the killer isn't finished yet.Which means that even as she attempts to save her old family, Katie is placing her new one in deadly peril . . .____________'North's poetic way with even the most grotesque of situations is always a joy. The Half Burnt House is his best yet. I love it' ALEX MARWOOD'Thrilling, moving and utterly gripping; The Half Burnt House is a triumph' WILLIAM RYAN'A masterfully creepy, atmospheric rush of a read that will linger with you long after you've finished the last page' NEIL BROADFOOT

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A history of the Spanish Empire traces the period between the capture of Moorish Granada and Columbus's 1492 voyage and Spain's expansion into multiple continents through the eighteenth century, noting the empire's reliance on the cooperation of non-Castilians and its vast diversity of resources and

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