Classic Fiction

A beautiful and merciless novel about the tyranny of the family—and a highly acclaimed bestseller in Italy. On that day, ten years ago, I saw my parents for the last time. Since then I've changed phone numbers, houses, continents, I've erected an impregnable wall and put an ocean between us. They've been the best ten years of my life. A...

A riveting thriller about an ordinary man's quest for extraordinary vengeance. Charlie Heller is a CIA cryptographer, a quiet man in a back-room job. He's not a spy, let alone an assassin. But when his beloved fiancée is murdered by terrorists and his employers refuse to pursue her killers, Heller decides to take matters into his own hands. Pursuing the...

Enjoy a BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Gertrude Stein, Modernism's great pioneer, and her charmingly mundane, magical collection of everyday, yet otherworldly observations in Tender Buttons. A magical portrait of the mundane and everyday, made otherworldly in Gertrude Stein's one-of-a-kind prose poetry. Objects. Food. And, Rooms. Together these three subjects make up Tender Buttons, Gertrude Stein's beautifully strange, everyday poetic observations about...

The first original novel set in the blockbuster Something Is Killing the Children universe: supernatural horror from a globally successful franchise and two award-winning authors. Welcome to the dark. It has very sharp teeth. Based on the internationally bestselling comic series, with millions of copies in print, the first full-length novel from the terrifying world of Something Is Killing the...

Radical, ruthless – and razor-sharp. Welcome to the brutal, revolutionary crime thrillers of Jean-Patrick Manchette, reissued by Vintage Classics in a major new celebratory series. Eugène Tarpon is back to sleeping in his office and waiting for a job that pays. Then he gets a call from an old contact in the police. A distant relative of his – a...

A new selection of six short stories by one of Japan's most iconic twentieth-century writers. An adolescent girl narrates her day in an existential masterpiece that explores what it means to be a forming person in a fomenting society. A woman writes a farewell note to her husband, an artist who has driven her away with his counterfeit profundity and...

Relish a BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Christopher Isherwood, the master chronicler of 1930s Berlin, with this dazzling tale of glamour and decadence, poverty and ambition. Sally Bowles is the dazzling centrepiece of Goodbye to Berlin, distilling Isherwood's genius into the tale of one bawdy, brilliant woman. 1930s Berlin is a realm of glamour and sleaze, repression and excess, threatened by a...

Essential reading for mystery fans: the first masterpiece by the doyenne of American noir. Sailor, former henchman and trouble-accruing gangster, travels from Chicago to Santa Fe, New Mexico, looking for revenge and for money. But it's hard to make a dishonest buck when everything seems to be against him. It is Fiesta, it is hot, thousands of people are crowding...

Published to coincide with the new Netflix TV series, adapted by Dolly Alderton and starring Emma Corrin and Jack Lowden: the nation's favourite novel, introduced by the beloved, bestselling author of Everything I Know About Love and Good Material. Pride and Prejudice begins with a timeless encounter: "No sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that...

Experience a BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Dylan Thomas, the Welsh poet of fire and music, in these lyrical, bittersweet stories of youth and memory. Dylan Thomas's vivid, affectionate portrait of youth - and the journey towards finding one's own artistic voice. A boy grows up in a small Welsh town, moving through school, family life, and first encounters with the wider...

Experience a BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Nella Larsen and her devastating masterpiece of two women navigating a friendship in a racially divided world. The classic 1920s story of a friendship torn apart, Passing is Nella Larsen's devastating masterpiece. Irene Redfield is living a life of careful balance in Harlem when a chance encounter draws her back into the orbit of Clare...

Embark on a BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Ursula K. Le Guin and her novella Paradises Lost – the epic tale of a young friendship forged in space, about to take a new and unexpected course. Ursula K. Le Guin's beautifully realised space epic of two young friends finding their lives steer a new and unexpected course. As the spaceship Discovery makes...

A cross-country train journey where everyone is a suspect. An investigator with a love of puzzles. A Golden Age classic, perfect for summer. First published in 1937, a Golden Age classic murder mystery set on a cross-country train. Obelists En Route is a highly ingenious, entertaining and unusual tale - Daily Herald. The luxurious Transcontinental Express, a locomotive journeying coast-to-coast...

Obelists At Sea by C. Daly King is a forgotten Golden Age classic—a puzzling murder mystery set aboard a luxury transatlantic liner, making it the perfect holiday read. A forgotten Golden Age classic, set aboard a luxury transatlantic cruise liner—the perfect holiday read! 'Unusually puzzling ... highly enthralling' - New York Times The lights go off aboard the luxury transatlantic...

Radical, ruthless - and razor-sharp. Welcome to the brutal, revolutionary crime thrillers of Jean-Patrick Manchette, reissued by Vintage Classics in a major new celebratory series. Ex-cop, ex-idealist, and man in free fall, Eugène Tarpon has been kicked off the force for killing a protester. Now he's holed up in a dingy Les Halles office, drinking too much and waiting for...

A new translation by David Bellos of the last great novel by France's greatest novelist. In the turmoil of the French Revolution, the year 1793 represented the peak of bloody revolutionary violence. Victor Hugo plunges into this tumultuous period with a story of courage and betrayal across the political classes. As the revolution rages, three characters—a nobleman turned revolutionary, a...

A profound exploration of colonialism, from one of the Caribbean's most powerful literary voices. A powerful reimagining of the age of European exploration, Natives of My Person tells the story of a nameless Commandant who sets sail under imperial orders—somewhere between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries—to locate the fabled island of San Cristobal, a place shrouded in myth and promise....

Relish a brief encounter with Franz Kafka, the great chronicler of anxiety and estrangement, in this collection of uncanny animal tales led by his masterpiece, Josephine the Singer, or The Mouse Folk. Five of Franz Kafka's most compelling short animal stories, where fable, dark humour and unease collide. A community gathers to listen to the singing of a mouse. An...

A bestseller in France, this is the first English translation of Albert Camus and Maria Casarès' fascinating, impassioned letters. You and I met and fell in love passionately, impatiently, dangerously. I regret nothing and I feel that these last days I've lived are enough to justify a life. - Albert Camus to Maria Casarès, 1st July 1944 Their affair began...

Experience a BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Jane Austen, the most elegant satirist of manners, in her wickedly sharp novella of seduction, wit, and deceit. Outrageous, and wickedly funny, Lady Susan introduces Jane Austen at her most scandalous. Recently widowed and dangerously charming, Lady Susan Vernon arrives among her relatives determined to secure her own advantage. Through a flurry of letters, alliances...

A dazzling tapestry of myth, fantasy and folk tale from Argentina's great writer of speculative fiction, in a translation by Ursula K. Le Guin. In city squares and golden palaces, a series of storytellers recount the history of the greatest Empire that never was: a history in which orphans rise from the underworld to the throne, mad emperors raze cities,...

A collection of fourteen Golden Age Christmas-themed mysteries, from the masters of the genre, for fans of classic, cosy, and seasonal crime and the British Library Crime Classics series. Curl up by the fire this Christmas with the masters of cosy and seasonal crime fiction - the perfect stocking-filler for fans of Agatha Christie and the British Library Crime Classics!...

Crime strikes in the world of books... A collection of fourteen puzzling murder mysteries, all set in the world of books, from the masters of the genre. Perfect for cosy crime fans and book lovers alike. In this collection of Golden Age Bibliomysteries, crime strikes in the world of books... 'If much of the action is set in a bookshop...

Relish a brief encounter with Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Africa's foremost voice of resistance, in this fierce collection of stories about defiance, sacrifice, and survival. Ngugi wa Thiong'o's stories of rebellion and sacrifice, where ordinary lives burn with extraordinary courage. In these tales of rebellion and sacrifice, ordinary lives burn with extraordinary courage. From fighters taking up arms against colonial rule...

Relish a brief encounter with Bram Stoker, master of Gothic horror, in this chilling tale and other stories that serve as a doorway into the dark world of Dracula. Step into the night where tombs lie open and wolves prowl under a cursed moon. A solitary traveller strays from the road on the eve of Walpurgis Night. Snow closes in,...

Relish a BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Richard Wright, trailblazing voice of African American literature, in this devastating story of survival, love and betrayal during a Southern flood. A flood brings not only rising waters but the full force of a brutal, racist world. With the Mississippi flooding, a Black farmer struggles to get his pregnant wife to safety. In the chaos,...

A cosy murder mystery in which a cat helps solve the crime, this forgotten Golden Age classic is perfect for readers of the British Library Crime Classics series. Blood on the Cat is a cosy murder mystery in which a cat helps solve the crime. This is a forgotten Golden Age classic. Expert sleuthing - The Saturday Review Bennet Farr...

Experience a BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Edith Wharton, grande dame of American letters, in these spectral tales of longing, loss, and the uncanny. Edith Wharton's ghost stories whisper of passion, exile, and the things we cannot forget. In an old Dorset house, a couple settle into a life of quiet comfort — until a presence makes itself felt. At a country...

Experience a BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Louisa May Alcott, beloved chronicler of girlhood, in this surprisingly dark, subversive novella of deception and desire. This is Alcott as you have never seen her before – gothic, and gloriously unsettling. A young governess arrives at a grand country house and quickly wins the confidence of its family. Humble and modest, Jean Muir seems...

Enjoy a brief encounter with Herman Melville, the great, epic storyteller of Modern America, and his enduring tale of a man who takes refusing to conform to its extreme limits. Herman Melville's enduringly comic and affecting tale of a man who takes quiet quitting to its extreme. A new clerk in a Wall Street lawyer's office causes dismay and confusion...

Enjoy a BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Natsume Soseki, Japan's greatest modern novelist, in this sly, comic tale of cats, humans, and the absurdities of friendship. From Japan's most famous, classic novelist comes a remarkable gem of wit, irony, and feline observation. A stray kitten, catapulted to literary fame, loudly observes the world of Meiji Japan in all its absurdity. But he's...

Powys' great visionary novel at last in Penguin Modern Classics One of the great cult novels, a book that can be read and re-read throughout a lifetime, A Glastonbury Romance is John Cowper Powys' masterpiece. Set in a beautifully imagined fictional version of the West Country, the novel inhabits a twentieth century under siege from older and stranger forces. An...

Experience a brief encounter with Fyodor Dostoevsky, titan of Russian literature, in these two searing novellas of love, despair, and the weight of the human soul. Two of Dostoevsky's most powerful novellas of obsession, cruelty, and the fragility of the heart. A pawnbroker paces beside his young wife's body, attempting to piece together the circumstances that led to her suicide....

Push, pull and slide the moving mechanisms to meet all your favourite characters from the deep dark wood in this brilliant board book based on the bestselling classic picture book, The Gruffalo's Child, and bring the story to life! One wild and windy night the Gruffalo's Child disobeys her father's warnings and ventures out into the snow. After all, the...

In Edgar Rice Burroughs' timeless tale, Civil War veteran John Carter finds himself on the planet Barsoom, where he's taken prisoner. Amidst danger and unexpected affection for a captive princess, Carter navigates uncharted territory. This futuristic saga of adventure, romance, and conflict has left an indelible mark on fantasy and science fiction literature, inspiring generations of authors including Arthur C....

One of the greatest detective stories of all time from the pen of the genre's most accomplished writer. In The Maltese Falcon, private detective Sam Spade is hired by Miss Wonderley to find her missing sister. But not all is as it seems. Soon, his partner has been shot, his employer has turned treacherous, and he is engaged in a...

Step in on the mat with The Cat in the Hat in this beautiful clothbound edition of Dr. Seuss's classic story, perfect for fans young and old. Enjoy the classic story of the Cat in the Hat in a brand new hardback edition to treasure, a tale that continues to captivate readers of all ages! Featuring a stunning clothbound cover...

This beautifully illustrated treasury celebrates Winnie the Pooh’s most endearing qualities, like his generous heart and his ability to turn even the biggest mishap into something wonderful. Perfect for reading aloud at bedtime or any time, this collection of stories reminds us that even the a very small bear – with the a very big heart – can help make...

Join Pooh’s 100th Anniversary Celebrations with this Centenary Story Collection!This gorgeously gold-foiled authorised sequel was written by Jane Riordan and features beautiful images by Andrew Grey. Celebrate 100 years of Winnie-the-Pooh in 2026!This very special sequel story collection has been created to celebrate Winnie-the-Pooh’s centenary anniversary in 2026, one hundred years after Winnie-the-Pooh was first published in 1926.‘It’s going to...

Their arrival could mean the end of everything...The remote, isolated village of Withered Hill is rocked by unexpected visitors, a film crew hoping to make a low-budget horror movie.Despite the villagers' misgivings, the small crew insists on staying, desiring to put their plans for the film Twisted Pike into action.They are not in Withered Hill by accident. But they are...

In the footsteps of Doomed to Die: An A-Z of Deaths in Tolkien, and inspired by the works of Edmund Gorey, this insightful parody breathes life into Shakespeare with an illustrated ABC of the Bard's more gruesome deaths. ‘Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay; The worst is death, and death will have his day.’ RICHARD IIUniversally regarded as the greatest writer...

Agatha Christie’s most daring crime mystery – an early and particularly brilliant outing of Hercule Poirot, ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’, with its legendary twist, changed the detective fiction genre for ever. Poor Roger Ackroyd. He knew the woman he loved had been harbouring guilty secret. And then, yesterday, she killed herself.But guilty secrets rarely stay secret. Who had been...

Who is the monster at the end of this book? Follow Grover as he implores you, dear reader, not to turn the pages so that neither of you will ever get to the end of the book – there’s a monster there! ORIGINAL SESAME STREET ILLUSTRATIONS: Every page turn is an entertaining surprise, with full-colour, original illustrations of classic and beloved Sesame...

Curl up by the fireside with an enchanting collection of Christmas stories from Britain’s best-loved children’s author, Michael Morpurgo. Lose yourself in faraway lands and unexpected adventures with five festive tales from the author who gave us War Horse. In Grandpa Christmas, a grandparent’s wish for a better world delivers a vital and timely message about caring for our planet.The...

The Sunday Times Thriller of the MonthBirds, Strangers and Psychos is a thrilling anthology that brings together the biggest names in mystery and crime fiction to pay homage to Alfred Hitchcock, the legendary filmmaker whose name is synonymous with suspense. Acclaimed editor Maxim Jakubowski curates 24 original short stories, each inspired by the mood, tension, and style that defined Hitchcock's...

In this beautifully illustrated sequel to the much-loved classic The Monster at the End of This Book, Grover, now with pal Elmo by his side, has heard that there’s something lurking on the last page of the book. Grover tries his best in all sorts of hilarious ways to stop the reader from turning the pages. But, Elmo, curious as...

In Fyodor Dostoevsky's White Nights, a young man grapples with profound feelings of isolation and solitude in the bustling city of Saint Petersburg. Amidst his desolation, he encounters a captivating young woman with whom he forms a deep emotional connection. As their bond intensifies, the young man finds himself entranced by the allure of love, yet his affection remains unreciprocated....

This beloved classic, first published forty years ago, is now available with brand-new, exquisite illustrations by Caldecott Honor artist Fred Marcellino. Simple yet stunningly beautiful art brings to life Louis, a trumpeter swan who came into the world lacking a voice, and his story of determination and love. Young and old will cherish this new edition of a treasured classic...

"A thing of beauty... A wildly funny, infinitely wise, near to tragic tale of man against the big god machine." --Houston Chronicle A special 50th anniversary edition of Edward Abbey's classic tale of rebellion, camaraderie, and environmental justice. A prescient, comic masterpiece of destructive mayhem and outrageous civil disobedience that speaks to us today—with a new introduction by the real-life...

The Great Jazz Age Novel The 1925 Original Version, with Classroom History The Great Gatsby is considered F. Scott Fitzgerald's magnum opus, exploring themes of decadence, idealism, social stigmas, patriarchal norms, and the deleterious effects of unencumbered wealth in a capitalistic society. Set against the backdrop of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties, it serves as a cautionary tale,...

Drawing on critical insights from the history of emotion and Shakespearean emotion studies, this Element offers a pedagogy rooted in a historicist approach as a stimulating alternative to the teaching of Shakespeare's emotions as universally and transhistorically relatable. It seeks to provide a roadmap – by way of contextual and analytical frameworks and suggested learning activities – for teaching students...

Perfect for fans of The Song of Achilles and from the award-winning author of The Witch of Colchis comes a profoundly moving story of two women on the shores of Ithaca, in the shadows of a legendary war, who must face their own battle - one of sisterhood, survival, and a forbidden love that could destroy them both. One summer...

Welcome to Sutton Asylum Warning! You are about to enter Sutton Asylum, home of the Ashford twins and others like them. These individuals should never be allowed back into society. They are a danger to the public. They are a danger to other patients, staff, and visitors. They are sick and can never be cured, only ever contained. Enter at...

"Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None gets a wicked update." --Publishers Weekly Three courses. Seven guests. One card. It's a deadly evening they'll never forget. Seven strangers meet for an anonymously hosted dinner party. As the evening winds down, seven cards appear, one in front of each of the guests. On the card is a number - the age...

A master of narrative momentum and suspense, Zane Grey sweeps readers into his stories and makes them feel that things are out of control, that boundaries are being burst. In Riders of the Purple Sage, the most famous novel of the American West, Grey creates a hero of epic proportions, a villain of legendary evil and a world in which...

The multi-million copy bestseller that has enthralled generations of readers. A haunting tale of obsessive love. A mesmerizing psychological thriller. In Monte Carlo, our unnamed heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only...

Questing after Pancho Villa's revolutionary forces, Ambrose Bierce rode into Mexico in 1913 and was never seen again. He left behind him The Devil's Dictionary and a remarkable body of short fiction. This new collection gathers some of Bierce's finest stories, including the celebrated Civil War fictions 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' and 'Chickamauga', his macabre masterpieces, and his...

THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A festive mystery perfect for fans of Murder on the Christmas Express and Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas A village of secrets. Yorkshire, 1952. Christmas is fast approaching when a dead stranger is found lodged up the chimney of Holly House in the snow-covered village of Elderby. Is he a simple thief, or...

Six down-on-their-luck people with links to the world of crime writing have been invited to play a game this Christmas by the mysterious Midwinter Trust. The challenge seems simple but exciting: Solve the murder of a fictional crime writer in a remote but wonderfully atmospheric village in north Yorkshire to win a prize that will change your fortunes for good....

Winner of the Literary Titan Gold Book Award and the International Impact Book Award for Outstanding Literary Achievement in Contemporary Fiction: Supernatural Suspense! In La Llorona: The Awakening, award-winning novelist Mary Romasanta reimagines one of Latin America's most enduring legends through the lens of psychological suspense, grief, and modern technology. The house is quiet now. Mi-Ra is drowning in sorrow....

A radical outsider, a fearless heroine and a society under scrutiny Volume II of a three-volume edition In this second volume of Robert Bage’s Hermsprong; or, Man as He Is Not, social comedy deepens into moral confrontation. As Hermsprong’s plain speaking continues to unsettle rank and pretension, the tensions between principle and power grow sharper. Private affections and public authority...

Aspiring mycologist Sydney Denik is getting a second chance. When a dream opportunity presents itself with a prestigious foundation doing promising Alzheimer's research, Sydney leaves the shambles of her old life to join a dozen other grad students at an isolated lodge hidden away in a remote, fog-shrouded inlet on Vancouver Island. But the Madrona Foundation harbours more than brilliant...

Gothic Dementia: Troubled Minds in Gothic Timelines introduces Gothic studies as a valuable lens through which to critically consider how we think about dementia. It argues that the Gothic's foundational narrative techniques can model approaches to similar dementia symptoms, such as chronological confusion, fragmentation, cyclical storytelling, repetition, unreliable narrators, unstable identities, uncanny behaviours, and Otherness. If we can navigate these...

The last of the four novels Jean Rhys wrote in interwar Paris, Good Morning, Midnight is the culmination of a searing literary arc, which established Rhys as an astute observer of human tragedy. Her everywoman heroine, Sasha, must confront the loves—and losses—of her past in this mesmerizing and formally daring psychological portrait.

Sergeant Hamish Macbeth returns to protect his sleepy Scottish village of Lochdubh in the latest mystery in M.C. Beaton's beloved, New York Times bestselling series. It is February and the Scottish Highlands village of Lochdubh is dealing with heavy snow and freezing temperatures. Sergeant Hamish Macbeth can handle the weather, but with a surprise influx of high-society visitors for a...

When the world feels big and the night feels long, Charlie looks to the moon. As a gentle golden dog and a thoughtful little boy share quiet evenings together, the moon watches over them both—reminding them that bravery doesn't mean never being scared, but knowing you're never alone. Charlie and the Moon is a soothing bedtime story about comfort, courage,...

"I'm in your blood, and you are in mine..." The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy's twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband's grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a...

Bloodlust by Sandra Brown is a gripping suspense novel where a detective seeks justice for his murdered wife with the help of a psychotherapist, all while battling an undeniable attraction to her. Sandra Brown, a New York Times bestselling author, creates a captivating tale of desire and danger. "Brown is at the top of her game with this one." --Library...

"These apparently motiveless crimes are always the worst," said the inspector dolefully. Charity Buntington's husband describes his wife as the most lovely and inoffensive person, whom nobody would want to hurt. But someone enters their home in broad daylight, strangles her, then cuts off and takes away her right forefinger. Inspector Hopkins asks Sherlock Holmes to help him investigate the...

Amelia Bedelia makes her chapter book debut! In Amelia Bedelia Means Business, the first book in the new chapter book series, young Amelia Bedelia will do almost anything for a shiny new bicycle. Her parents say they’ll split the cost with her, and that means Amelia Bedelia needs to put the pedal to the metal and earn some dough! With...

“One of [Le Guin's] most radical novels... A study in what a complete and utter rejection of capitalism and patriarchy might look like—for society and for the art of storytelling.” —The Millions Ursula K. Le Guin's magnificent work of imagination, a visionary, genre-crossing story about a future utopian community on the Northern California coast, hailed as “masterly” (Newsweek), “hypnotic” (People),...

The puzzling murder of a beloved teacher leaves Detroit homicide detective Sam Roma searching for answers. To her chagrin, not only does Sam have a murder to solve, she's been assigned a new homicide investigator, Tom Green, who comes with his own set of problems and challenges. As Tom makes a series of rookie mistakes, Sam wonders if she's up...

He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. Catherine and Heathcliff's, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father, passionate but doomed love forms the core of this extraordinary tale. Catherine's brother Hindley's hatred and humiliation of Heathcliff leads to tragedy when Catherine marries another and Heathcliff returns newly wealthy to enact...

When Mr. Earnshaw, master of Wuthering Heights, returns from a trip with an unkempt orphan in tow, he announces that the child, Heathcliff, is now a member of the family. While young Catherine Earnshaw becomes close with Heathcliff, her older brother, Hindley, sinks into bitter resentment. As Catherine and Heathcliff mature, and their affection blossoms into desire, Hindley's resentment boils...

"I invent the most hopeless sounding plots; very often they are based on something I've read in a newspaper. And people say, 'Oh, this is all nonsense'—and then the Russians come along in Germany and shoot people with potassium cyanide pistols." Between them, Ian Fleming and Georges Simenon created two of the best-known heroes of modern fiction. In this illuminating...

Only UK edition in print First published in 1939, a few years before his most influential works in theatre and philosophy, The Wall was Sartre’s first and only collection of short fiction. The title piece tells the story of a prisoner during the Spanish Civil War, on the eve of his execution by a firing squad, who is told he...

Spellbinding . . . Probably her best fiction - Sunday Times The soldier returns from the front to the three women who love him. His wife, Kitty, with her cold, moonlight beauty, and his devoted cousin Jenny wait in their exquisite home on the crest of the Harrow-weald. Margaret Allington, his first and long-forgotten love, is nearby in the dreary...

Here is a generous portion of the work of a swiftly passing lifetime. Bountiful is the deserving page, Joy Williams writes in her introduction to this astonishing selection of Brad Watson's published and unpublished stories: excellent, assured, funny, startling, heartbreaking, wild, full of freakish flair and melancholy realism—stories that give us a glimpse of ourselves so surprising, so varied yet...

A brilliant portrait of one of the most ruthlessly charming heroes in literature, The Red and the Black chronicles the rise and fall of Julian Sorel. Born into the peasantry, Sorel connives his way into the highest Parisian aristocratic circles. But his powers of seduction lead to his downfall when he commits a crime of passion.

It had taken, at most, three seconds for the elevator to pass downwards from the sixteenth to the twelfth... Mr Meldrum had ceased to be, and something hideously different took his place. A man convinced that he has developed a phantom beak edges towards a terrible metamorphosis. Interlopers dismissing the superstitions of hare-women in the countryside pay for their scepticism...