Antonia White

One of the most enchanting books about cats ever written, Minka and Curdy describes the adventures – and misadventures – of two very different kittens. Victoria, a real tyrant of a cat, spent so many years training her owner to be the ideal hostess that Mrs Bell feels it would be disrespectful to replace that formidable creature. But her resolve...

Frost in May is the unsurpassed novel of convent school life. This story of a clash between a determined young girl and an authoritarian regime is both perceptive and painfully emotional, convincing in every detail. - Hermione Lee, Observer With a new introduction by Tessa Hadley Nanda Gray, the daughter of a Catholic convert, is nine when she is sent...