Series: Virago Modern Classics

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again..." In Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier weaves a suspenseful and atmospheric tale that captures the reader from its very first line. As a young and inexperienced lady's companion, the unnamed heroine's life is marked by yearning and meekness. Her mundane existence takes an unexpected turn on a trip to the South of...

An Angel at My Table by Janet Frame is a poignant and compelling autobiography that traces the extraordinary journey of one of New Zealand's most acclaimed authors. The narrative begins with her enchanting childhood, unfolding the wonders and curiosities of her early years. As Frame grows, she faces the dark and harrowing experiences of being misdiagnosed with schizophrenia, resulting in...

A BESTSELLING NOVEL AND MAJOR FILM STARRING MERYL STREEP AND JACK NICHOLSON 'I have bought more copies of this book to give to people, in a frenzy of enthusiasm, than any other . . . Heartburn is the perfect, bittersweet, sobbingly funny, all-too-true confessional novel' - NIGELLA LAWSON 'A perfect example of Ephron's gift for turning tragedy into comedy' -...

Before Jackie Collins, Candace Bushnell and Lena Dunham, Jacqueline Susann held the world rapt with her tales of the private passions of Hollywood starlets, high-powered industrialists and the jet-set. Valley of the Dolls took the world by storm when it was first published, fifty years ago. Never had a book been so frank about sex, drugs and show business. It...

By the author of Black Narcissus and The River '[Godden's] distinctive, poised and unsentimental books have never lost a shred of their almost hypnotic appeal' — ROSIE THOMAS, GUARDIAN 'One of our best and most captivating novelists' — PHILIP HENSHER '[Godden has] a genius for storytelling' — EVENING STANDARD 'All horses can walk - some badly, some well, but to...

INTRODUCED BY LAUREN GROFF 'Rumer Godden's novels have a timeless shimmer' GUARDIAN 'One hundred years after her birth, Rumer Godden's novels still pulse with life' MATTHEW DENNISON, TELEGRAPH 'Her craftsmanship is always sure' NEW YORK TIMES 'The motto was Pax but the word was set in a circle of thorns. Peace, but what a strange peace, made of unremitting toil...

Someone has dug up the private garden in the Square and taken buckets of dirt, and Miss Angela Chesney of the Garden Committee is sure that a gang of boys from Catford Street must be to blame. Angela's sister, Olivia, isn't so sure. She wonders why the neighbourhood children—the 'sparrows' she sometimes watches from her window—have to be locked out...

One of the most loved and enduring wartime novels, Carrie's War is a modern classic. WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY MICHAEL MORPURGO AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALAN MARKS 'A touching, utterly convincing book' JACQUELINE WILSON 'Poignant and realistic... Carrie's War captures the true reality of war for a child, and it doesn't sentimentalise war' SHIRLEY HUGHES, GUARDIAN 'I did a dreadful...

NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM starring Lily James, Armie Hammer, Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily Collins. 'The moment I finished this story, I turned to page one and started it over again' Malorie Blackman 'Excellent entertainment . . . du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings' Stephen King Rebecca is a masterpiece in which...

Classic Noel Streatfeild at her warm-hearted best. I absolutely loved it – Hilary McKay, author of The Skylarks' War Such rewarding reading – Daily Telegraph There are stories for every reader in this delightful collection - exciting crime-solving adventures; nervous young actors in the spotlight for the first time; unforgettable holidays and unlikely friendships. Featuring beautiful illustrations by Peter Bailey...

I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship. The four March sisters couldn't be more different: Meg, the eldest, is dutiful and patient; Jo is adventurous, with dreams of being a great writer; shy, musical Beth is the peacemaker; and headstrong Amy likes the finer things in life. They may not always get...

BY THE AUTHOR OF BALLET SHOESwith beautiful illustrations by Edward Ardizzone'A joyous, sunlight book. For me, the best Noel Streatfeild of all' HILARY MCKAY'"You have a whole wing of the house to yourselves. The glorious world outside to play in. All that the earth brings forth to feed you, and you stand there asking foolish questions until my head reels....

By the bestselling author of Black Narcissus and The River 'One of our best and most captivating novelists' - Philip Hensher Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy is about growth, choice, struggle, and the freedom of the soul - Joan Chittister '[Godden's] distinctive, poised and unsentimental books have never lost a shred of their almost hypnotic appeal' - Rosie Thomas,...

For as long as she could remember, Jane Stuart and her mother lived with her grandmother in a dreary mansion in Toronto. Jane always believed her father was dead—until she accidentally learned he was alive and well and living on Prince Edward Island. When Jane spends the summer at his cottage on Lantern Hill, doing all the wonderful things Grandmother...

Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery tells the story of Emily Starr, who has never known what it is to be unloved. But when her father dies, she is left in the care of her mother's family. Emily is a stranger to the proud Murrays, none of whom think they can cope with such a heartbroken, headstrong girl....

'Mothers can forgive anything! Tell me all, and be sure that I will never let you go, though the whole world should turn from you.' It has been ten years since Jo and her husband founded their school for orphans. The first of Jo's Boys are now young men, making their way in the world. Nat is a musician, touring...

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont is, for me, her masterpiece - Robert McCrum, Guardian, 'The Best 100 Novels' An author of great subtlety, great compassion and great depth - SARAH WATERS Jane Austen, Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth Bowen - soul-sisters all - ANNE TYLER On a rainy Sunday in January, the recently widowed Mrs Palfrey arrives at the Claremont Hotel where...

Contrary to what many of you might imagine, a career in letters is not without its drawbacks - chief among them the unpleasant fact that one is frequently called upon to actually sit down and write. Acerbic, wisecracking and hilarious, this is the definitive essay collection from the New York legend and satirist. Lebowitz turns her trademark caustic wit to...

'I love her books - particularly the Five Children and It sequence' - Neil Gaiman Digging in the gravel pit on a hot summer's day, five children discover 'it': a grumpy creature with eyes like a snail's, ears like a bat's, and a tubby body all covered in fur. 'It' is a Psammead, an ancient sand-fairy who has the power...

The Restoration Court knows Lady Dona St Columb to be ripe for any folly, any outrage that will alter the tedium of her days. But there is another, secret Dona who longs for a life of honest love and sweetness, even if it is spiced with danger. It is this Dona who flees the stews of London for remote Navron,...

Emily's Quest follows the journey of Emily, who knows she's destined to be a great writer. She also believes that she and her childhood sweetheart, Teddy Kent, are meant to conquer the world together. However, when Teddy leaves home to study at the School of Design in Montreal to pursue his dream of becoming an artist, Emily's world falls apart....

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE 'A literary masterpiece for all ages . . . a tale of growing up, of love and laughter, of tragedy and loss and grief - a tale that is so compelling that it turns the page for you: The Yearling leaves you tearful, breathless, exhilarated' - MICHAEL MORPURGO 'An unsentimental, stone-cold classic that should be...

One of the most remarkable British writers of the twentieth century With brilliant dialogue and intense passages of elation and despair, The Weather In The Streets takes you on the rollercoaster of their relationship — Esther Freud, Sunday Telegraph Lehmann legitimised a type of writing that took on deep personal themes — English Pen The first writer to filter her...

This second instalment in the story of the legendary hero begins with Theseus' triumphant return from Crete after slaying the Minotaur. Having freed the city of Athens from the onerous tribute demanded by the ruler of Knossos — the sacrifice of noble youths and maidens to the appetite of the Labyrinth's monster — Theseus has returned home to find his...

ANNE LISTER IS THE INSPIRATION FOR GENTLEMAN JACK, A NEW BBC/HBO SERIES BY SALLY WAINWRIGHT, STARRING SURANNE JONES. 'Engaging, revealing, at times simply astonishing: Anne Lister's diaries are an indispensable read for anyone interested in the history of gender, sexuality, and the intimate lives of women' — SARAH WATERS 'The Lister diaries are the Dead Sea Scrolls of lesbian history;...

The idea for this famous story came to du Maurier one day when she was walking across to Menabilly Barton farm from the house. She saw a farmer busily ploughing a field whilst above him the seagulls were diving and wheeling. She developed an idea about the birds becoming hostile and attacking him. In her story, the birds become hostile...

'One of the greatest historical novels ever written' SARAH WATERS 'I love to find queer representation in historical fiction... Renault's eye for intimacy is amazing' DOUGLAS STUART 'Fierce, complex and eloquent' MADELINE MILLER 'Mary Renault is a shining light' HILARY MANTEL * A groundbreaking queer classic and powerful reimagining of the last years of Alexander the Great, told through the...

It was jealousy that kept David from sleeping, drove him from a tousled bed out of the dark and silent boarding house to walk the streets... David Kelsey has an unswerving conviction that life is going to work out for him - if he can just fix the 'Situation'. His one true love, the brilliant, beautiful Annabelle, has married another...

The second book in the Anne Shirley series. 'Having adventures comes natural to some people,' said Anne serenely. 'You just have a gift for them or you haven't.' Five years ago, Anne arrived at Avonlea a skinny orphan without a friend in the world; now it would be impossible to imagine Green Gables without her. Anne's high spirits and warm...

Successful lady novelist Laura Morland and her boisterous young son Tony set off to spend Christmas at her country home in the sleepy surrounds of High Rising. But Laura's wealthy friend and neighbour George Knox has taken on a scheming secretary whose designs on marriage to her employer threaten the delicate social fabric of the village. Can clever, practical Laura...

Giving a party was not as simple as going to one. You could always leave someone else's party. You were stuck with your own. Dolls - red or black; capsules or tablets; washed down with vodka or swallowed straight. For Anne, Neely and Jennifer, it doesn't matter, as long as the pill bottle is within easy reach. These three starlets...

‘All my sense of the ancient world – its values, its style, the scent of its wars and passions – comes from Mary Renault. Her Theseus novels are perhaps the most exciting of her Greek fictions, and The Last of the Wine the most moving. I turned to writing historical fiction because of something I learned from Renault: that it...

From the time she was born, she had been hemmed into an ever-narrowing space, until now she was very nearly walled in... New York City, 1940s. In a crumbling tenement in Harlem, Lutie Johnson is determined to build a new life for herself and her eight-year-old boy, Bub. Having left her unreliable husband, Lutie believes that with hard work and...

'Mary Renault's portraits of the ancient world are fierce, complex and eloquent, infused at every turn with her life-long passion for the Classics' - Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe. The true parentage of Theseus, grandson of the King of Troizon, has always been shrouded in mystery. Rumours swirl that his father is Poseidon himself. But when he learns the...

FROM A BESTSELLING AUTHOR With a new introduction by Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage 'The prose is clear, the plot is page-turning, the characters are utterly believable' — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 'The first book by a black woman to sell more than a million copies' — New York Times 'My favourite type of novel, literary with an astonishing...

In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, 18-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital to be treated for depression. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital renowned for its famous clientele - Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor...

'Juicy, shocking, witty, and almost continually brilliant' COSMOPOLITAN 'A brilliant novel: honest, engaging and sharp as a tack' SARAH WATERS 'Lively, vivid and exceedingly entertaining' SUNDAY TIMES Not one of them, if she could help it, was going to marry a broker or a banker or a cold-fish corporation lawyer... New York, 1930. Eight Vassar graduates meet in New York...

The third book in the Anne Shirley series. Anne of the Island sees Anne leaving childhood behind as she moves from Green Gables to attend Richmond College. Her new life brings both adventures and tragedy, as well as new friends, including the handsome Roy Gardner. But her childhood friend Gilbert Blythe is also in Redmond, and his feelings for Anne...

By the New York Times bestselling author of The Group 'A jagged diamond of a book' Observer 'A woman of intellect and style' Celia McGee, New York Times 'Timeless, brilliant and frighteningly insightful' Daily Mail Told through six interlinked stories, this is a dazzling, fractured portrait of 1930s New York, and of the witty, bohemian heroine at the novel's heart....

FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE AND NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST, GRACE PALEY 'Grace Paley's is exceptional' KASIA BODDY, GUARDIAN 'Her unladylike gutsiness and friendliness are nonpareil' EDMUND WHITE, OBSERVER 'They are stories full of the stories we all tell and live by, tall stories as well as short' SALMAN RUSHDIE Here are all Grace Paley's classic stories in one volume. From...

A COMING-OF-AGE TALE OF ADVENTURE AND LOVE, FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA 'She wrote exciting plots . . . a writer of fearless originality' GUARDIAN 'One of the last century's most original literary talents' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Amazingly vivid' SATURDAY REVIEW 'The iron of the bridge felt hot under my hand. The sun had been upon it all day. Gripping...

Injured at Dunkirk, Laurie Odell, a young corporal, is recovering at a rural veterans' hospital. There he meets Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly. The men find solace in each other's friendship, which slowly develops into a covert, chaste romance. Then Ralph Lanyon appears, a mentor from Laurie's school days and now a naval officer. Through him, Laurie...

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...

Remember you must die. Dame Lettie Colston is the first of her circle to receive insinuating anonymous phone calls. Neither she, nor her friends, wish to be reminded of their mortality, and their geriatric feathers are thoroughly ruffled. As the caller's activities become more widespread, old secrets are dusted off, exposing past and present duplicities, self-deception, and blackmail. Nobody is...

'Wicked, wayward or otherwise, Carter's classic collection is a very erudite expression of girl power' - MINA HOLLAND, GUARDIAN 'One of the century's greatest writers' - SUNDAY TIMES This bestselling collection of stories extols the female virtues of discontent, sexual disruptiveness and bad manners. These are subversive tales by Ama Ata Aidoo, Jane Bowles, Angela Carter, Colette, Bessie Head, Jamaica...

THE PITCH-BLACK REDISCOVERED CLASSIC OF 2024 From the Booker-shortlisted author of Great Granny Webster, this twisted modern classic is perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson and Celia Dale. 'One of the greatest, darkest writers who ever lived' — Virginia Feito 'This chillingly profound story drips with classy darkness... a one-way descent into the abyss' — Janice Hallett 'A dark masterpiece'...

Dick Young is lent a house in Cornwall by his friend Professor Magnus Lane. During his stay, he agrees to serve as a guinea pig for a new drug that Magnus has discovered in his biochemical researches. The effect of this drug is to transport Dick from the house at Kilmarth to the Cornwall of the 14th century. There, in...

With a new introduction by Robert Jones, Jr, author of The New York Times bestselling novel, The Prophets 'Gloria Naylor is a brilliant word-worker and a breathtaking story-teller. Mama Day is her masterpiece' Tayari Jones 'A sweeping, ambitious, gorgeous novel - takes you by the throat and refuses to let go. Mama Day is a stone-cold masterpiece' Carmen Maria Machado...

40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, WITH A FOREWORD BY STANLEY TUCCI 'I have bought more copies of this book to give to people, in a frenzy of enthusiasm, than any other... Heartburn is the perfect, bittersweet, sobbingly funny, all-too-true confessional novel' — NIGELLA LAWSON 'I kept a copy of Nora Ephron's Heartburn next to me as a reminder of how to be...

Cornwall, 1900s. Plyn Boat Yard is a hive of activity, and Janet Coombe longs to share in the excitement of seafaring: to travel, to have adventures, to know freedom. But constrained by the times, instead she marries her cousin Thomas, a boat builder, and settles down to raise a family. Janet's loving spirit—the passionate yearning for adventure and for love—is...

The debut novel from Elizabeth Taylor - shortlisted for the Booker Prize Mrs Lippincote's house, with its mahogany furniture and yellowing photographs, stands as a reminder of all the certainties that have vanished with the advent of war. Temporarily, this is home for Julia, who has joined her husband Roddy at the behest of the RAF. Although she can accept...

Her mother's dying request obliges Mary Yellan to make a grim journey across bleak Cornish moorland to Jamaica Inn, the home of her Aunt Patience and her overbearing husband, Joss Merlyn. With the coachman's warning echoing in her mind and affected by the inn's brooding power, Mary is thwarted in her intention to help her aunt. She finds herself drawn...

Based on the author's own experiences, The Yellow Wallpaper is the chilling tale of a woman driven to the brink of insanity by the "rest cure" prescribed after the birth of her child. Isolated in a crumbling colonial mansion, in a room with bars on the windows, the tortuous pattern of the yellow wallpaper winds its way into the recesses...

The Alexander Trilogy contains some of Renault's finest writing. Lyrical, wise, compelling: the novels are a wonderful imaginative feat' SARAH WATERS In the final novel of her stunning trilogy, Mary Renault vividly imagines the life of Alexander the Great, the charismatic leader whose drive and ambition created a legend. Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three, leaving behind...

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA 'Daphne du Maurier has no rival' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'du Maurier is a magician, a virtuoso' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'A storyteller of cunning and genius' SALLY BEAUMAN 'I tell you your mine will be in ruins and your home destroyed and your children forgotten . . . but this hill will be standing still to confound...

Cover design by Orla Kiely Mildred Lathbury is one of those excellent women who is often taken for granted. She is a godsend, capable of dealing with most of the stock situations of life - birth, marriage, death, the successful jumble sales, the garden fete spoilt by bad weather. As such, though, she often gets herself embroiled in other people’s...

No novel about any Black woman could ever be the same after this' TONI MORRISON I dreamed with my eyes open. All the Corregidora women with narrow waists and high cheekbones and wide hips. All the Corregidora women dancing. Blues singer Ursa is consumed by her hatred of Corregidora, the nineteenth-century slave master who fathered both her mother and grandmother....

While I waited for sleep I retraced the road which brought me to you. Unbelievably it only took six months, equinox to equinox. This dazzling rediscovered classic, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1973, is a heady, witty and seductive exploration of female sexuality—perfect for fans of Iris Murdoch and Brigid Brophy. 'Funny and brave and moving and absolutely bonkers....

INTRODUCED BY MAGGIE O'FARRELL 'A great work of literature, the product of a questing, burning intellect' — MAGGIE O'FARRELL 'Even if the themes being explored might seem irrelevant . . . this is not the case' — GUARDIAN 'I loved the unnerving, sarcastic tone, the creepy ending' — PARIS REVIEW Based on the author's own experiences, The Yellow Wallpaper is...

DISCOVER THE DU MAURIER DARK ROMANCE COLLECTION 'A great gothic writer' — KATE MOSSE 'A writer of fearless originality' — GUARDIAN 'The indisputable queen of the sophisticated literary thriller and historical romance' — LAURA SHEPPERSON 'She is in a league of her own... majestic, terrifying and beautiful' — CAMILLA GRUDOVA 'Feared and hated by friend and foe. The King's General...

'Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning-point in one's own experience' - Elizabeth Bowen, author of The Heat of the Day Intelligent and haunting, with echoes of Brief Encounter, this is a love story by one of the best British writers of the 20th century. During summer games of hide and seek, Harriet falls...

DISCOVER THE DU MAURIER DARK ROMANCE COLLECTION Du Maurier is mistress of the sleight of hand in fiction . . . brilliantly, marvellously chilling - MAGGIE O'FARRELL Moody and unnerving – GILLIAN FLYNN Sinuous and undeniably feral – JULIE MYERSON * Every day, haunted still by doubt, I ask myself a question which I cannot answer. Was Rachel innocent or...

Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive. Damage, Josephine Hart's debut novel, is an international bestseller filmed with Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche. This novel now takes its proper place as a Virago Modern Classic. It is one of the most chilling explorations of physical passion and dark, obsessive love ever written. A remarkable first novel of awesome...

'I love her books - particularly the FIVE CHILDREN AND IT sequence' - Neil GaimanTHIS IS THE SECOND BOOK IN THE PSAMMEAD TRILOGY, FOLLOWING FIVE CHILDREN AND IT'For the egg was now red-hot, and inside it something was moving. Next moment there was a soft cracking sound; the egg burst in two, and out of it came a flame-coloured bird...'When...

Rumer Godden's stunning classic novel of devotion, faith and madness You have to be very strong to live close to God or a mountain, or you'll turn a little mad . . . High in the Himalayas, the mountaintop palace shines like a jewel. Built for the General's harem, laughter and music once floated out over the gorge. Now it...

'The mystery element kept me turning the pages but it was the superb characterisation that made the story stay with me. It taught me that it's never too late to remake yourself into someone better' MALORIE BLACKMAN, TELEGRAPH 'The Secret Garden should be on every child's bookshelf' THE TIMES 'There is an old-fashioned tenderness and joy to it; the sense...

The extraordinary true story of how one young girl escaped the Holocaust 'It holds you with the same intensity as The Diary of Anne Frank and leaves you heart-broken, illuminated, and amazed at the capacity for courage' GUARDIAN * 'I never realised that there could be such suffering in the world, and that anyone could live through it' - from...

The Alexander Trilogy contains some of Renault's finest writing. Lyrical, wise, compelling: the novels are a wonderful imaginative feat - SARAH WATERS The heavens say it begins with the death of the King . . . Alexander the Great, conqueror of an empire stretching from Greece to Egypt to India, is dead at the age of thirty-three. His only direct...

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF BLACK NARCISSUS AND THE RIVER 'One of our best and most captivating novelists' PHILIP HENSHER '[Godden has] a genius for storytelling' EVENING STANDARD 'Her prose is pure, delicate, and gently witty' NEW YORK TIMES 'Descriptions of the Italian setting are gorgeous but the real strength is the childlike perspective' DAILY MAIL When their mother leaves...

Mary Renault is a shining light - HILARY MANTEL Mary Renault's portraits of the ancient world are fierce, complex and eloquent - MADELINE MILLER The sequel to The King Must Die. The Bull from the Sea continues the story of the hero Theseus after his return from Crete. Having freed the city of Athens from the terrible tribute demanded by...

The bestselling author of The Talented Mr Ripley, Carol and Strangers on a Train 'The No.1 Greatest Crime Writer' The Times 'The original, the best, the gloriously twisted Queen of Suspense' Mark Billingham 'No one has created psychological suspense more densely and deliciously satisfying' Vogue 'Dear Sir, I suppose you are pretty pleased with yourself? Superior to everyone, you think....

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA 'Wickedly readable . . . every woman instinctively wants to read her' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'A tale of dramatic longings . . . unexpected and fun' MARGARET DRABBLE * It was Charles who called us the parasites . . . No one would choose the Delaneys as their ideal guests. Vain Maria,...

'The Alexander Trilogy contains some of Renault's finest writing. Lyrical, wise, compelling: the novels are a wonderful imaginative feat' SARAH WATERS 'The Alexandriad is one of the twentieth century's most unexpectedly original works of art' GORE VIDAL In the first novel of her stunning trilogy, Mary Renault vividly imagines the life of Alexander the Great, the charismatic leader whose drive...

DISCOVER THE DU MAURIER DARK ROMANCE COLLECTION Rebecca has woven its way into the fabric of our culture with all the troubling power of myth or dream. A stunning book – SARAH WATERS It's the book every writer wishes they'd written – CLARE MACKINTOSH The greatest psychological thriller of all time – ERIN KELLY * He did not belong to...

'One of the greatest historical novels ever written' - SARAH WATERS 'I love to find queer representation in historical fiction. . . Renault's eye for intimacy is amazing' - DOUGLAS STUART 'Fierce, complex and eloquent' - MADELINE MILLER 'Mary Renault is a shining light' - HILARY MANTEL A groundbreaking queer classic and powerful reimagining of the last years of Alexander...

Mary Renault's portraits of the ancient world are fierce, complex and eloquent, infused at every turn with her life-long passion for the Classics — Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe. The true parentage of Theseus, grandson of the King of Troizon, has always been shrouded in mystery. Rumours swirl that his father is Poseidon himself. But when he learns the...

The Alexander Trilogy contains some of Renault's finest writing. Lyrical, wise, compelling: the novels are a wonderful imaginative feat - SARAH WATERS The Alexandriad is one of the twentieth century's most unexpectedly original works of art - GORE VIDAL In the first novel of her stunning trilogy, Mary Renault vividly imagines the life of Alexander the Great, the charismatic leader...

By chance, two men—one English, the other French—meet in a provincial railway station. Their physical resemblance is uncanny, and they spend the next few hours talking and drinking until at last John, the Englishman, falls into a drunken stupour. It's to be his last carefree moment, for when he wakes, his French companion has stolen his identity and disappeared. So...

Growing up in Edwardian south London, Alice Rowlands longs for romance and excitement, for a release from a life that is dreary, restrictive and lonely. Her father, a vet, is harsh and domineering; his new girlfriend brash and lascivious. Alice seeks refuge in memories and fantasies, in her rapturous longing for Nicholas, a handsome young sailor, and in the blossoming...

Discover Caroline Blackwood's darkly brilliant debut - a perfect rediscovered classic for fans of Shirley Jackson and Ottessa Moshfegh 'A bracingly nasty book . . . Splendid, dark, often very funny' MEGAN NOLAN, Telegraph A lavish Upper West Side apartment is the site of a familial cold war about to enter a phase of dangerous escalation. J is a lonely...