Classic General Fiction

Out of the Past "Come inside, my bonny witch-finder. Here is shelter for thee..." A tale of callous murder and deranged revenge rings out from fifteenth-century Italy. A witch-finder's great triumph is also the herald of his own doom in Civil War Britain. A prisoner's fate at the hands of the Inquisition in sixteenth-century Mexico leads to an encounter with...

Family is everything... I always knew my father was a cold, heartless bastard. But the moment he took Elle Castlemaine and her pathetic daughter into our home, barely a month after our mum died, he unleashed something savage inside me. I didn't care they lost their home. Didn't care their father was behind bars. Didn't care he betrayed the notorious...

Imagine a world where seductive male sirens lure brave heroines to their death, where Icara and her mother fly too close to the sun, and where beautiful men are forced to wed underworld queens... For thousands of years, Greek Myths have been told and retold. In these stories, brutality and bravery are reserved for men, while women are wicked witches...

Celebrating 90 Years of Penguin Michael Joseph publishing with the Mermaid collection - Lettice Cooper's Fenny with a foreword by Jennie Godfrey. Yorkshire teacher Ellen Fenwick has never been abroad. But when her mother dies, this young woman finds herself taking a position as governess to an English girl in Florence in the summer of 1933. Little does Ellen realise...

What fits the character of Dracula best, “Edgelord,” or “Wears: Invisalign”? Is Jay Gatsby more of a “Clout Chaser” or does he have a “Strong drip game”? Compete for the characters you know and love and show your literary prowess, with Prose & Cons: A Literary Card Game! Micki Myers’s Prose & Cons is a literary card game like Cards...

The aristocratic Yevgeny Onegin has come into his inheritance, leaving the glamour of St Petersburg's social life to take up residence at his uncle's country estate. Master of the nonchalant bow, the aristocratic Onegin is the very model of a social butterfly - a fickle dandy, liked by all for his wit and easy ways. When the shy and passionate...

Now a major film starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, set for release in Australian cinemas on Thursday, February 12, 2026. One wild, snowy night on the Yorkshire moors, a gentleman asks about Wuthering Heights, the remote farmhouse inhabited by his mysterious landlord. He is told about the tragic romance of the beautiful, headstrong Cathy and the orphan Heathcliff, who...

No writer chronicles the battles of misfits, underdogs and renegades like Elmore Leonard ... Valdez is Coming is a stunning tale of morality and justice in which a simple, honest man is transformed into a killer - and begins a long journey of revenge against those who scarred his soul for ever. Elmore Leonard's Western novels stand as some of...

Tough guy Jack Ryan goes looking for a missing lowlife and finds himself in a whole lot of trouble... Motor city process server and ex-thug Jack Ryan is very good at finding people - especially people who don't want to be found. Now he's being offered large bucks to locate a lost lowlife named Robert Leary, a.k.a. Bobby Lear. But...

Dogs may be man's best friend, but every friendship is different. Prepare to meet Nicholas, a gregarious Airedale whose arrival in a moneyed Long Island home unleashes complete and total chaos throughout the neighbourhood. Verdun Belle, the lady of the title, is a silky-eared spaniel whose loyalty - and litter of puppies - rallies an entire American regiment fighting on...

Discover your new favourite forgotten female classics with the Mermaid collection - No 5- Nina Bawden's Tortoise by Candlelight with a foreword by Eve Chase Fourteen-year-old Emmie Bean loves her family. But she worries about them too. Her mother is gone (no one will say where). Her father drinks instead of writing. Her younger brother Oliver has started stealing. And...

A special centenary clothbound edition of Harper Lee's bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. 'Someone rare has written this very fine novel, a writer with the liveliest sense of life and the warmest, most authentic humor' TRUMAN CAPOTE One of the greatest American novels ever written, now available in a special clothbound edition to mark the centenary of...

She didn't want men to be in love with her. She wanted power and a dangerous gamble and the fun of winning and putting herself over as a sweet saviour, till at last she came to believe it herself.Lorna Blake is a woman able to create her own reality: a swindler with nerves of steel, gifted manipulator and devoted single...

In 1950s Japan, Doctor Suguro is carrying on a humdrum practice in a small town still recovering from the war. A quiet, withdrawn individual, he has a horrific secret in his past: during the war he participated in an experimental operation on a downed American airman, carrying out a vivisection which led to his agonising death.As we move from the...

A landmark anthology, staking a new claim for Bengali literature in English The prose short story arrived in Bengal in the wake of British colonizers, and Bengali writers quickly made the form their own. By the twentieth century a profusion of literary magazines and journals meant they were being avidly read by millions. Writers responded to this hunger for words...

The greatest of all epics, soon to be a major motion picture directed by Christopher Nolan. Every book lover knows there are certain stories that transcend time, and Homer's The Odyssey stands tall among literature's greatest treasures. This isn't just another ancient epic gathering dust on your shelf—it's a masterfully crafted adventure that speaks to the wanderer in all of...

Detroit comes to the Holy Land as a mixed bag of gangsters arrive looking for revenge Al Rosen was doing just fine, hiding out in Israel - until he decided to play Good Samaritan and rescue some elderly tourists from a hotel fire. Now his picture's been published in the press, and the guys he's been hiding from know exactly...

A beautiful deluxe gift edition of Conan Doyle's iconic Sherlock Holmes mystery with foiled covers, marbled endpapers, sprayed edges, beautiful paper and finished with a silk ribbon. A beautiful deluxe gift edition of Conan Doyle's iconic Sherlock Holmes mystery with foiled covers, marbled endpapers, sprayed edges, beautiful paper and finished with a silk ribbon. The Baskerville family curse tells of...

A trio of Simenon's finest psychological novels from the 1960s, including- The Hand, Betty and The Blue Room Amidst the fury of a relentless snowstorm, the loyalties of two friends are put to the ultimate test, with fatal consequences. In the shadows of 1960s Paris, a woman on the brink of despair is offered a chance at redemption. But as...

Since its first publication in 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby has mesmerized readers with its dazzling portrayal of the Jazz Age, its haunting exploration of love and ambition, and its piercing critique of the American Dream. Now, this enduring classic is presented in a deluxe keepsake edition designed to be as captivating as the story itself, featuring: A...

Delight in the fantasy world of The Brothers Grimm with these 59 of their best-loved bedtime stories for children (and adults!) worldwide, in an elegantly designed hardcover edition. Originally collected by the Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, these German linguists and cultural researchers gathered legendary folklore and aimed to share the stories exactly as they heard them. The Essential Grimm's Fairy...

'Look Caithleen, will you give up the nonsense? We're eighteen and we're bored to death.' Baba lit a cigarette and puffed vigorously. She went on 'We want to live. Drink gin. Squeeze into the front of big cars and drive up outside big hotels. We want to go places.'Caithleen is a romantic: she dreams of finding a handsome man who...

Uncover a thrilling tale of unforgettable characters and gripping plot twists with this handsome gift edition of the narrative masterpiece by Alexandre Dumas.The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is a timeless tale of betrayal, revenge, and redemption that has captivated readers for generations. Set in the early 19th century, this epic adventure follows Edmond Dantès, a young and...

Discover your new favourite forgotten female classics with the Mermaid collection - No 6- Kathleen Farrell's The Cost of Living with a foreword by Jane Fallon Idealistic Alexandra is throwing a party to meet a more glamorous crowd. Marianne, more sardonic, worries it'll be the usual sort. The party is in Alexandra's attic flat. Marianne will contribute a few bottles...

Rediscover the legendary detective and his loyal companion with this gorgeous heirloom edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Containing every known Sherlock Holmes tale ever written, this elegantly designed edition brings the world's greatest detective to life. From Holmes's first appearance in "A Study in Scarlet" (1887) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901-1902), through the collection of stories in The Case-Book...

Celebrate the timeless wit and romance of Jane Austen with this beautifully bound deluxe edition, featuring all seven beloved novels in one elegant collector's volume.Jane Austen revolutionized the literary romance, using it as a platform from which to address issues of gender politics and class consciousness among the British middle class of the late eighteenth century. Bound in a heat-stamped,...

Are you looking to join a book club, but short on time to read every book? This rich and diverse selection of unforgettable writing is carefully curated for a ten-minute hit of literary wonder. An anthology with a twist, the featured books cover all periods, forms and genres, offering instantly appealing reading material on every emotion from joy to terror....

A gorgeous new clothbound edition of Soseki's cherished novel, with an introduction by Murakami 'Even bigger than Japan is the inside of your head. Don't ever surrender yourself - not to Japan, not to anything' Soseki's work of gentle humour and doomed innocence depicts twenty-three-year-old Sanshiro, a recent graduate from a provincial college, as he begins university life in the...

Discover your new favourite forgotten female classics with the Mermaid collection - No 8- Clemence Dane's Regiment of Women Miss Clare Hartill, teacher at a girls' boarding school, has a bewitching ability to get her own way, whether it is among the staff or the pupils who'll do anything to please her. When nineteen-year-old Alwynne Durand is hired, Clare takes...

A moving reimagining of the man at the heart of Operation Mincemeat, brilliantly told by the celebrated wartime statesman, historian and author William Maryngton has one dream in life- to fight for his country, as his father did. Yet, by the time Armistice is reached in 1918, he is too young to fulfil his greatest wish. As time passes, Willie...

A gorgeous pocket-sized special edition bound in real cloth with sprayed edges and a ribbon marker to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth. The designs in this collectable series are inspired by Jane Austen's life and work. Northanger Abbey tells the story of Catherine Morland, a naive young woman whose perceptions of the world around her are greatly...

On board the whaling ship Pequod a crew of wise men and fools, renegades and seeming phantoms is hurled through treacherous seas by crazed Captain Ahab, a man hell-bent on hunting down the mythic White Whale. Melville transforms the little world of the whale ship into a crucible where mankind's fears, faith and frailties are pitted against a relentless fate....

'One of the tragicomic classics of the AIDS era' The Nation Mimi Smithers, forty-something housewife and aesthete manquee, has moved with her Union Carbide husband from Tehran to Westchester. Life takes an unexpected turn when she meets Joel, a dazzlingly handsome porn star. Soon she tumbles down the rabbit hole of Manhattan and Fire Island society, helping glamorous Joel with...

A new edition of Tolkien’s famous illustrated Letters from Father Christmas to his children is presented in a stunning hardback format, complete with full colour illustrations. This classic festive book of Tolkien’s amazing Father Christmas letters written to his children between the 1920s and the 1940s has been reworked into a new hardback edition to match other beloved Tolkien titles....

A nail-biting, tough-talking classic western from the author of GET SHORTY and JACKIE BROWN. In Last Stand at Sabre River, a Civil War veteran returns home to find a Yankee's private army living on his land, while another enemy waits to strike... Paul Cable has fought - and lost - for the Confederacy but when he returns home he finds...

A short, claustrophobic, shattering novel about a woman unable to act to save a teenager in her care, by the mistress of sustained dread, Marlen Haushofer. Claustrophobic and shattering, this is the story of one ordinary woman unable to save a teenager in her care. It is the story of Stella... Stella is a friend's nineteen-year-old daughter who has come...

In early 20th-century Japan, a lone hiker falls through a hole in the ground into Kappaland. This is a place ruled by amphibious creatures who share characteristics with tigers and turtles, but who, for all their strangeness, shed light on the human condition. In Kappaland children choose whether or not to be born, intellectuals think nothing of drinking themselves to...

Featuring enchanting cover art from artist Laci Fowler, this exquisite collector's edition of Jane Eyre invites readers to relive Charlotte Brontë's timeless tale of love, independence, and haunting secrets.This deluxe painted edition is perfect for book collectors, Charlotte Brontë enthusiasts, and fans of Gothic romance and classic literature. Whether purchased as a gift or to treasure yourself, this edition features:...

A classic Western from one of the masters of the genre. A remote stage-coach station is closing down and a small group of travellers are thrown together on the last wagon out- the mysterious Doctor Favor and his wife, a traumatised girl, a brutal stranger called Braden, the station manager, the sharp-eyed young narrator and John Russell, known simply as...

Caroline Blackwood's masterpiece, shortlisted for the 1977 Booker Prize - a gothic family drama in miniatureIn her gloomy mausoleum of a home, the terrifying matriarch Great Granny Webster spends her days sitting bolt upright in a Victorian chair, entirely alone except for her one-eyed maid - and her orphaned great-granddaughter, sent to stay for the sea air. She presides over...

'Tomorrow, I'll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.' Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell's magnificent historical epic is an unforgettable tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and a people forever changed. Above all, it is the story of beautiful, ruthless Scarlett O'Hara...

A brilliant story of revenge and counter-revenge in Atlantic City After being shot by a mugger, Lt Vincent Mora is convalescing in Puerto Rico. There he meets Iris, a beautiful young woman who is bored and frustrated, looking for excitement and a new life. Then she is offered a job as a 'hostess' at a casino in Atlantic city by...

One of BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World, Frankenstein is the most famous novel by Mary Shelley: a dark parable of science misused. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but wayward scientist, builds a human from dead flesh. Horrified at what he has done, he abandons his creation. The hideous creature learns language and becomes civilized but society rejects him. Spurned,...

​​When Hitler launches an invasion of the Netherlands,​​ Karel ​is almost killed in an air raid and falls in love for the first time, with a Jewish girl. But the bliss this passion brings is short lived, as his new love and her mother are forced to flee for their lives before the Nazi advance...Inspired partly by Kouwenaar's own experiences...

The special edition hardback of Agatha Christie’s disturbing 1960s mystery thriller, with a gorgeous new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers. Gipsy’s Acre was a truly beautiful upland site with views out to sea – and in Michael Rogers it stirred a child-like fantasy.There, amongst the dark fir trees, he planned...

Oft-copied but never bettered, Jane Austen's Emma is a remarkable comedy of manners that follows the charming but insensitive Emma Woodhouse as she sets out on an ill-fated career of match-making in the little town of Highbury. Taking the pretty but dreary Harriet Smith as her subject, Emma creates misunderstandings and chaos as she tries to find Harriet a suitor,...

Classic Horror Stories is a spine-chilling anthology that celebrates the thrilling pleasure and rich literary legacy of horror writing. From the sinister imagination of Edgar Allan Poe to the supernatural suspense of H. G. Wells, this collection of stories explores a range of eerie experiences. There are hauntings, monsters, and plenty of often inexplicable and always terrifying dramas. The classic...

'As gritty and hard-driving a thriller as you'll find . . . The action never stops, the language sings and stings' Washington Post Clement Mansell knows how easy it is to get away with murder. The crazed killer is back on the Detroit streets—thanks to some nifty courtroom moves by his lawyer—and this time he's feeling invincible enough to execute...

Berlin, 1920s: a beacon of culture and hedonism, but a political mess. The streets are crowded with war veterans, beggars, prostitutes, and madmen, desperately chasing any means to secure a few marks or a roof over their heads. Come nighttime, a rag-tag group descends on the Jolly Huntsman pub to dance and drown their cares in all the schnapps they...

A riveting, funny coming-of-age story — the second volume in Pirkko Saisio's award-winning Helsinki trilogy. Teenaged Pirkko can't decide which she hates most — God, her communist father, or her growing breasts. Grandpa has moved into the room long promised to her, and Mother, overworked and distant, tries to keep the peace between her headstrong daughter and husband. It's 1960s...

Hans, an esteemed surgeon, has just returned from the hellish battlefields of the First World War. But everything in his home feels alien—even his wife Grete. As he tries to regain a sense of normality, he is haunted by nightmarish visions and a profound sense of dissociation. Has the war turned him into someone else? Or has another man wormed...

Published in 1945, George Orwell's famous allegorical story Animal Farm is a satire about the corrupting effects of power, reflecting Orwell's views on the failures of communism. Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover....

The characters are so carefully and believably crafted and the pace of the storytelling in her writing never slows, making this latest novel in the series another fantastic page turner. Freedom may be within their grasp... As the devastation of the potato blight continues, Cormac and Bridget grapple with their dual roles at Bewley Hall in England and Oakleigh Manor...

'I just love these characters...they truly feel like people I know.' Lisa Boyle, author of the Paddy Series An extraordinary bequest alters their fate... In the winter of 1846, Cormac and Bridget receive two letters that will change their lives forever. Lord Bewley has died and left Bewley Hall to Cormac, while potato blight has struck the Oakleigh Estate, driving...

‘There's something that happens at the end of every Susie Murphy book that I read; I absolutely cannot wait for the next one.’ Kelsey Gietl, author of the War Across Waters duology They'll do anything to protect their children... Having taken matters into her own hands, a triumphant Emily is travelling towards a brighter future. The only thorn in her...

Susie Murphy...is an absolute HIT...This is another excellent installment to a beautiful series. - The Lit Bitch, book reviewer Their choices have shackled her dreams... It's 1836, and Bridget and Cormac have arrived, full of hope, to the city of Boston with their growing family. However, as they adjust to domestic life together for the first time, they face anti-Irish...

EDITORS' CHOICE, HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY 'This series keeps getting better... Once I started reading this book, it was so hard to stop... Such evocative writing.' - Elizabeth Bell, author of the Lazare Family Saga His past could destroy their future... Having escaped capture in London, Bridget and Cormac flee to Ireland with their daughter, Emily. Their homecoming is bittersweet as...

A book that you can't stop reading because you want to see how it ends, and yet you never want it to end...Susie Murphy is becoming one of my favourite authors. — Ashley O'Melia, author and freelance writer They never thought they'd see each other again... Trapped in a loveless marriage far from home, Bridget does what she can to...

I am completely blown away by this series...Simply outstanding. Book Reviews for U, book reviewer This single paperback volume contains the first, second, and third books in Susie Murphy's historical fiction series A Matter of Class. Society said they shouldn't fall in love... A Class Apart: It's 1828, and Ireland is in turmoil as Irish tenants protest against their upper-class...

A new selection of lyrically haunting 1960s short stories from a Japanese literary icon. A writer is seized by apocalyptic visions, a trio of beatniks dance to modern jazz in the ruins of an abandoned church, and a séance brings forth the reproachful spirits of the military dead. In Voices of the Fallen Heroes, stark autobiography contrasts with pure horror,...

One of the greatest works of twentieth-century European literature, in the definitive English translation. It is summertime in the Swiss Alps. Hans Castorp, an ordinary young man, has arrived at an exclusive sanitorium for a brief visit to his convalescent cousin. Once there, time will lose its familiar contours, as Hans himself falls ill and loses himself in a landscape...

Sororicidal didn't so much move me as arrest me. It stopped me in my tracks. A far more powerful thing. - Angela O'Keeffe A punk-gothic historical novel in which sisterhood is the defining experience of two women's lives - and also the potential death of them. Well-born Mary and Margot are raised on a vineyard estate above Adelaide in the...

A major hardcover compendium of poetry and fiction by the legendary Black American poet of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes. One of the most important writers to emerge from the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes may be best known as a poet, but he was also a brilliant storyteller, blending elements of blues and jazz, speech and song, into a triumphant...

The spellbinding debut novel that launched the career of one of the greatest Italian writers of the twentieth century. Elisa—orphaned as a child, raised by a 'fallen woman', fed by fairy tales—has lived in an outlandish imaginary world for years. When her guardian dies, she feels compelled to confront her family's tortured and dramatic past, weaving the tale of her...

A love so forbidden, it would shake the heavens ...My father called them messengers.He once told me they walked among us, and that somewhere in this dark and godless city, there shined a faint sliver of hope. I had only to look for the signs.Well, I've spent my whole life investigating the inexplicable, and all I've found are the unsettling...

From one of Denmark's most revered authors, a startlingly original novel about a migrant's fate, told across several generations of women. This is the story of a young woman who is spirited away to St. Petersburg from Copenhagen by a lovestruck admirer. When she dies after the Russian Revolution, her ashes are carried back to Denmark, igniting a chain reaction...

The story of a brave, seafaring cat who, in the company of Matthew Flinders, circumnavigated the globe in the years 1799–1804. To the memory of Trim, the best and most illustrious of his race, the most affectionate of friends, faithful of servants, and best of creatures. He made a tour of the globe and a voyage to Australia, which he...

It matters not who you are born to but where you are made. It is 1597 and Kit Skevy and Mariner Elgin have just robbed the wrong grave. 'Vividly told, with powerfully drawn characters, this tale of obsession and betrayal set in the dark world of Tudor alchemy will cast its spell over historical fiction fans.' Heat It is 1597...

'A story? No. No stories, never again...' The short story has a rich tradition in French literature. This feast of an anthology celebrates its most famous practitioners, as well as newly translated writers ready for rediscovery. Here are fables, puzzles, fairy tales, war stories and family histories, testing and expanding the boundaries of the form. They are stories about the...

A mysterious news signal reports cosmic doom from an otherworldly location. X-ray evidence suggests the impossible truth that a sculptor is becoming one with his creation. A gramophone channels the venomous words of a churlish spirit and its cruel vengeance. The ground-breaking new technologies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries delivered their users into a world of unfathomable miracles and...

The second in a series of republished classic literature, The Ghost Stories of M. R. James collects the tales that best illustrate his quiet mastery of the ghost story form. Running through each of these stories is a slowly escalating sense of unease and dread, which ultimately shifts into the wildly uncanny. James' characters exist in a world of ancient...

The sea that night sang rather than chanted; all along the far-running shore a rising tide dropped thick foam, and the waves, white-crested, came steadily in with the swing of a deliberate purpose. From foreboding cliffs and lonely lighthouses to rumbling shingles and silted estuaries, the coasts of the British Isles have stoked the imaginations of storytellers for millennia, lending...

A beautiful boxed set of the major works by the three great Stoic philosophers, designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith 'Perfection of character is this- to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence.' This collection presents the greatest works by the three major Stoic philosophers, in beautiful hardback editions designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith. Meditations,...

Do you know your Dashwoods from your Darcys? Why was Northanger Abbey such a disappointment to Catherine? Jane had an aunt whose name is also a type of cheese...but what is it? Regale with all things Regency and put your knowledge to the test with 52 trivia and game cards, each one featuring a multiple-choice trivia question, charade, game or...

Estella is a haunting and darkly beautiful retelling of Dickens's Great Expectations,' says Karen Brooks, author. The icily enigmatic anti-hero of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations tells her own story and changes the ending in this beguiling feminist take on a classic for readers of Pip Williams and Karen Brooks. At just three years of age, Estella is taken from her...

Classic fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm with a creatively embroidered cover. This creatively designed edition of Brothers Grimm: 101 Fairy Tales includes cherished favourites such as “Sleeping Beauty,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “Little Red Cap,” and many more in their original versions. These are the stories of characters we’ve known since childhood: Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella. But the works originally...

A new edition of the collected letters of P.G. Wodehouse, complete with a refreshed cover look, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Britain's best-loved comic author. Charming, witty, and profound, this stylish 50th anniversary hardback edition of A Life in Letters is the perfect addition to any Wodehouse-lover's bookcase. 'The letters, gossipy in the kindliest, most amused/bemused...

Do you know your dormice from your dodo birds? Exactly how tall is the Caterpillar? What does the liquid in the bottle labelled 'Drink Me' taste of? Tumble down the rabbit hole and put your knowledge to the test with 52 trivia and game cards. Each one features a multiple-choice trivia question, charade, game or challenge about the people and...

"They ended as all great passions do-by a misunderstanding." A French soldier escapes captivity and stumbles into something stranger than war: solitude, survival, and a wild intimacy with a panther in the sands of Egypt. What begins in fear turns to ritual, fascination, and a bond as mysterious as it is fatal. Balzac's tale is swift, elemental, and aching with...

Feeling alone and abandoned by everyone, a young man and self-confessed dreamer decides to take to the streets of St Petersburg during one of its long summer nights. As he roams around the empty city, he chances upon a weeping girl, whom he approaches and rescues from the unwanted attentions of an importunate gentleman. The two agree to meet again...