Pre-order
1
of
1
Mouse Folk
Series: Brief Encounters
Brief Description
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...
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2400
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Pre-order
Releases
20th
October 2026
(Approx. Date)
Pre-order "Mouse Folk" now to secure your copy from our first shipment
Found a better price? Request a price match
Mouse Folk
$2400
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
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 ape addresses an academy to explain how he became human. A creature digs ever deeper into its burrow, gripped by fear of what might be lurking outside. In these strange and unsettling stories, animals speak plainly about their hopes, fears and fixations.
Includes the stories: Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk, A Report to an Academy, The Burrow, The New Advocate and Investigations of a Dog.
Brief Encounters: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days.
Series: Brief Encounters
View all-
Pre-orderA Gentle Spirit & A Faint Heart
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....Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Pre-order
An Undesirable Friend
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...Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Pre-orderA Parish Chronicle
Experience a brief encounter with HalldΓ³r Laxness, the Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic author, in this rich, rustic and charming novel. An intimate, magical novel about one enduring church in a rural Icelandic valleyβan ode to a quiet way of life now lost to time forever. The resting place of the legendary Viking warrior Egil Skallagrimsson's skull, Mosfell Church is a lonely,...Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Pre-orderApe and Essence
Relish a BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Aldous Huxley, the visionary author, in his dystopian satire. Huxley's dystopian classic is a nightmare vision of the fate of humanity in a post-nuclear world. After a devastating global catastrophe, a group of scientists arrives in a ruined future shaped by fear, ritual, and violence. Humanity has survivedβbut at a terrible cost, and not in...Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Pre-orderA Souvenir of Japan
Embark on a brief encounter with Angela Carter, weird fiction's most influential pioneer, and her transformative stories of finding oneself in the face of another world. Five stories of desire and discovery set in 1970s Japan, from weird fiction's most influential pioneer - Angela Carter. An Englishwoman muses on her affair with a younger Japanese man. A spurned lover seeks...Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Pre-orderBartleby, The Scrivener
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...Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Pre-order
Behind a Mask
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 β 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...Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Pre-order
Bewitched
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 β until a presence makes itself felt. At a country...Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Pre-order
Cain
Experience a brief encounter with JosΓ© Saramago, the Nobel Prize-winning author, in his provocative and philosophical retelling of the biblical story of Cain. Written in the last years of Saramago's life, Cain is a controversial and witty story of a wilful, authoritarian God. After killing his brother, Cain is condemned to wander the earth. As he moves through time, he...Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Pre-order
Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age
A trail-blazing, transportive novella that contains all the energy, history and charm of one man's lifetime, this is Bohumil Hrabal's most unique masterpiece. This ebullient, gallivanting novella encapsulates the world vision of the Czech Republic's best-loved author in one tumbling, breathtaking sentence. An ageing man holds court, spinning a single, unbroken stream of stories about his lifeβloves won and lost,...Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Pre-orderDistant Star
Enjoy a brief encounter with Roberto BolaΓ±o, the 21st century's first, great classic author, and his novella Distant Starβa dark, haunting, yet delightfully magical story of two poets outplaying one another in a sinister endgame of cat-and-mouse. A dazzling, daring tale of poets at the end of the world, Distant Star is Roberto BolaΓ±o's miniature dystopian masterpiece. Alberto Ruiz-Tagle was...Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Pre-order
Down by the Riverside
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,...Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781529986013
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 02 July 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Vintage Classics
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 13.0mm
Width: 130.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 128g
Pages: 160
About the Author
Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was born into a Jewish family in Prague. In 1906 he received a doctorate in jurisprudence, and for many years he worked a tedious job as a civil service lawyer investigating claims at the state Worker's Accident Insurance Institute. He never married, and published only a few slim volumes of stories during his lifetime. Meditation, a collection of sketches, appeared in 1912; The Stoker: A Fragment in 1913; Metamorphosis in 1915; The Judgement in 1916; In the Penal Colony in 1919; and A Country Doctor in 1920. The great novels were not published until after his death from tuberculosis: America, The Trial and The Castle.
Also by Franz Kafka
View all-
Metamorphosis: Popular Penguins
Metamorphosis: Popular Penguins by Franz Kafka is a compelling collection that showcases a selection of Kafka's works which he considered significant and worthy of publication. This volume promises to take readers on a journey through Kafkaβs unique literary landscape, marked by his distinct style and profound thematic concerns. The collection opens with Metamorphosis, Kafka's most celebrated work. It narrates the...Paperback$1500Elsewhere:$1599Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Investigations of a Dog
Investigations of a Dog by Franz Kafka presents a unique and imaginative journey into the mind of a canine philosopher. Through the eyes of a curious and introspective dog, Kafka dissects the intricacies of existence, perception, and the limits of understanding. The narrator, a dog deeply engrossed in the quest for knowledge, embarks on a thoughtful exploration of his world,...Paperback$299Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Metamorphosis
Introducing Little Clothbound Classicsβirresistible, mini editions of short works by the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. One morning, ordinary salesman Gregor Samsa wakes up to find himself transformed into a giant cockroach. Metamorphosis, Kafka's masterpiece of unease and black humour, is one of the twentieth century's most influential works of fiction, and is accompanied here by...Hardback$2300Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Trial: Popular Penguins
The story begins with a startling turn of events: "Somebody must have laid false information against Josef K., for he was arrested one morning without having done anything wrong." From this cryptic and unnerving outset, The Trial: Popular Penguins delves into the nightmarish and absurd world of Josef K., an ordinary bank officer who suddenly finds himself entangled in a...Paperback$1300Elsewhere:$1599Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Castle
The Castle is Kafka's last great, unfinished novelβ the book that hangs over the whole modern era like a nightmare. The Castle tells the story of K., the unwanted Land Surveyor who is never to be admitted to the Castle nor accepted in the village, and yet cannot go home. As he encounters dualities of certainty and doubt, hope and...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Trial
The Trial is Kafka's gripping work of psychological horror. A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a...Paperback$2200Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableBackorderShips mid August -
Metamorphosis and Other Stories
A collection of Kafka's greatest stories, including his famous tale of alienation, now in Penguin Black Classics. This collection of new translations brings together the small proportion of Kafka's works that he himself thought worthy of publication. It includes Metamorphosis, his most famous work, an exploration of horrific transformation and alienation; Meditation, a collection of his earlier studies; The Judgement,...Paperback$2300Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Complete Novels
The Complete Novels of one of the greatest German writers of all time, collected together in one literary masterpiece. Kafka's characters are victims of forces beyond their control, estranged and rootless citizens deceived by authoritarian power. Filled with claustrophobic description and existential profundity, Kafka has been compared to a literary Woody Allen. In The Trial, Joseph K is relentlessly hunted...Paperback$3400Elsewhere:$3700Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Metamorphosis and Other Stories
A PMC reissue of this collection of Kafka's greatest short fiction, translated by Michael Hofmann. A reissue of the Penguin Modern Classics edition, this collection of new translations brings together the small proportion of Kafka's works that he himself thought worthy of publication. It includes Metamorphosis, his most famous work, an exploration of horrific transformation and alienation; Meditation, a collection...Paperback$2300Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Letters to Milena
A window into the desires and hopes of the twentieth-century's most prophetic and important writer. You are the knife I turn inside myself Letters to Milena contains Franz Kafka's letters to his one-time muse, Milena Jesenska, providing an intimate window into the desires and hopes of the twentieth-century's most prophetic and important writer. Kafka first made the acquaintance of Milena...Paperback$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Complete Short Stories
The Complete Short Stories by Franz Kafka showcases the brilliance of the 20th century's greatest visionary. This collection is universally acknowledged as highlighting Kafkaβs profound impact on literature and modern thought. As W. H. Auden famously stated, "Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man." His works encapsulate the existential challenges of contemporary life,...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka's 1915 novella of unexplained horror and nightmarish transformation, became a worldwide classic and remains, a century later, one of the most widely read works of fiction in the world. It is the story of travelling salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himself transformed into a monstrous insect. This hugely influential work inspired George...Paperback$2100Elsewhere:$2299Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
More from General Fiction
View all-
The Wedding People
'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people β but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...Paperback$2399Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Theo of Golden
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.' One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came fromβ¦His name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance β...Paperback$2899Elsewhere:$3499Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Score
Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession... Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Score now for the perfect friends with benefits romance! He knows how to score, on and off the ice... Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn't have...Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Mistake
Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Mistake now for the perfect second chance romance! He's a player in more ways than one . . . College junior John Logan can get any girl he wants....Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Goal
Welcome to Briar U!Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy!Read The Goal now for the perfect forced proximity romance! She's good at achieving her goals . . . College senior Sabrina James has her whole future planned out: graduate from college, kick...Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Legacy
Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from the Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Legacy now for the much-anticipated answer to the question: Where are they now? Four stories. Four couples. Three years of real life after graduation . . . A wedding....Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseOn Mystic Lake
One of the greatest storytellers of our time - Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing Annie Colwater's only child has just left home for school in England. On that same day, her husband of twenty years confesses that he's in love with a younger woman. Left alone in the beautiful California house which was once a home, Annie...Paperback$3100Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseLand
Inspired by the mapping of Ireland in the mid nineteenth century, Land, theΒ new novel from the author of Hamnet, is at once intimate and epic: a portrait of a family navigating a legacy of upheaval and loss with love and hope. On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, TomΓ‘s and his reluctant son,Β Liam, are working for the great...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Signed BookplateNew ReleaseLight Wielder
THE EPIC CONCLUSION TO METAL SLINGER, AKA THE BOOK WITH THE PLOT TWIST THAT BROKE THE INTERNET Sail the seas. Master the blade. Protect your heart. What would you do to have it all? READERS ARE GOING WILD FOR *METAL SLINGER* βThe BEST plot twist to ever grace my Kindleβ βββββ βThe author is a mastermind. Romantasy is back!!!!β βββββ...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set
The Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set by Brandon Sanderson is a landmark fantasy series that has captivated readers worldwide. Renowned for its innovative magic system, intricate world-building, and compelling characters, this trilogy is a must-have for any fantasy enthusiast. Immerse yourself in a world shrouded in ash, where a once-hopeful land is ruled by the tyrannical Dark Lord, known as the...Set$6499Elsewhere:$7500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Project Hail Mary
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING NOVEL A BARACK OBAMA READING PICK A lone astronaut. An impossible mission. An ally he never imagined. 'The most enjoyable hard SF I have read in years' GUARDIAN 'Weir's finest work to date... This is the one book I read last year that I am certain I can recommend to anyone, no matter who, and know...Paperback$2099Elsewhere:$2800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, the SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of The Martian, offers a gripping new adventure in hard science fiction. With endorsement from notable figures such as Barack Obama and a slew of five-star reviews, this novel promises a thrilling and intellectually stimulating journey. Ryland Grace, a lone astronaut, finds himself on a...Paperback$2399Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
General Fiction lists from the team
Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
Hannah's listGeneral Fiction
Gothic Reads for Dark Nights
With the advent of movie adaptations like Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein, it looks like pop culture is seeing a revival of the...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Shirl's listGeneral Fiction
Shirl's Top 10 Most Recommended Books
These are my Top 10 books that I always recommend to my friends and whΔnau when they ask for recommendations for getting...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
Books to Escape a Reading Slump
A reading slump can be a frustrating feeling and hard to break out of, but we've gathered together a list of crowd...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![Star Shipped]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
Lizzy's Pride Fiction Picks!
June marks Global Pride Month so in case you're looking for your next great fiction read, here's a list of some of...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listGeneral Fiction
Readersβ Top 100 Novels of All Time - from The Guardian
There was some controversy when The Guardian released their critics and authors list of the top 100 novels of all time, but...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Shirl's listGeneral Fiction
Shirl's Favourite Books of 2026
The first half of 2026 has been packed with brilliant books, making it hard to choose favourites but here are a few...View the list
