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The Memoir of an Anti-Hero (Penguin Modern Classics)
By Kornel Filipowicz. 1961
The Second World War. Poland. Our narrator has no intention of being a hero. He plans to survive this war,…
whatever it takes.Meticulously he recounts his experiences: the slow unravelling of national events as well as uncomfortable personal encounters on the street, in the café, at the office, in his love affairs. He is intimate but reserved; conversational but careful; reflective but determined. As he becomes increasingly and chillingly alienated from other people, the reader is drawn into complicit acquiescence. We are forced to consider what it means to be heroic and how we ourselves would behave in the same circumstances.Written in 1961, this is the masterpiece of one of the great Polish writers of the twentieth century.Martini Henry
By Sara Crowe. 2016
Life isn’t an exact science. Things can be troublesome. Like pregnant step-mothers, the ins-and-outs of French existentialism . . .…
having an unexceptional name. In 1988, seventeen-year-old Sue Bowl has a diary, big dreams and £4.73. What she wants most of all is to make it as a writer, as well as stop her decadent aunt Coral spending money she doesn't have. Living in their crumbling ancestral home should provide plenty of inspiration, but between falling in love, hunting for missing heirlooms and internship applications, things keep getting in the way.So when a young literary professor moves in and catches Sue's eye, life begins to take an unexpected turn . . .From the author of Campari for Breakfast, a witty and enchanting novel about what happens after you think you’ve grown up and fallen in love, perfect for fans of I Capture the Castle, Love, Nina and Where’d You Go Bernadette.The potent and murky impulses of desire, greed, obsession and fear combine with deadly results in this compelling psychological thriller…
from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. Perfect for readers of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon. 'A fine novel of suspense' -- Financial Times'Rendell's psychological insights are so absorbing, it's easy to forget what a superb plotter she is' -- The Times'Ruth Rendell's books are not only whodunits but whydunits, uncovering the motive roots of murder' -- Mail on Sunday'Pretty much perfect' -- ***** Reader review'Had me glued from start to finish' -- ***** Reader review 'Loved this book, a real page turner with a really good end!' -- ***** Reader review'A superb work which, as always, keeps you gripped from beginning to end!!' -- ***** Reader review*********************************************************************************************Alan Groombridge is trapped. Husband to a woman he doesn't like, father to two children he never wanted, and manager of a tiny branch of the Anglian-Victoria bank, he is doomed to a life of domestic boredom and tedious routine.All that keeps him afloat is his one fantasy: stealing enough of the bank's money to allow him just one year of freedom - one year in which to live a different sort of life.But one day the bank is robbed, the manager and cashier disappear and what was once a place of dull and dreary repetition becomes the scene of a brutal, chilling nightmare that might never end...From the pen of prizewinning author Tom Harper, this is a high-octane adventure thriller in the bestselling tradition of The…
Da Vinci Code. With a lingering sense of tension and unease coupled with all-out action and a plethora of twists and turns, it is perfect for fans of Dan Brown, Clive Cussler and Scott Mariani.'In the tradition of The Da Vinci Code, a page-turner of a novel. Like Dan Brown, Tom Harper knows how to ratchet up the tension.' -- Choice'Be warned, you could become so hooked by this big adventure thriller that the tide will be lapping round your deckchair before you notice' - Peterborough Evening Telegraph'Brilliant storytelling linking the past to the present! The level of detail and historical and geographical information is amazing.... highly recommended' -- ***** Reader review'A story that keeps you guessing and reading. It is hard to put down until the very last page.' -- ***** Reader review'A gripping yarn' -- ***** Reader review'So far everyone I know who has read this has done so in one sitting, some doing all-nighters to manage it.' -- ***** Reader review**************************************************************************EIGHT CENTURIES OF DECEIT HIDE A DEADLY SECRETDeep in the heart of London, the Monsalvat Bank is small, secretive and fabulously wealthy. When Ellie Stanton, an impoverished graduate student, is unexpectedly invited to join the firm, the offer looks too good to turn down.But the bank is more than it seems. Soon Ellie realises that her life belongs to her employers - and they're watching her every move. For buried in their medieval vaults lies a closely-guarded treasure of immeasurable power - one inextricably bound up with Ellie's own history.Now Ellie is in a race against time, hunted by the bank and pursued by her past. Her only hope of escape is to unearth the secret hidden in the vault. But getting in is only the beginning...The Magpie Society: Two for Joy (The Magpie Society #2)
By Zoe Sugg, Amy McCulloch. 2021
THE CHILLING CONCLUSION TO #1 BESTSELLING SERIES THE MAGPIE SOCIETYA DEADLY DISAPPEARANCEA RACE AGAINST TIMEAnd, at the eleventh hour .…
. .A SHOCKING REVELATIONAudrey and Ivy, determined to bring their fellow student Lola Radcliffe's killer to justice, find themselves in the middle of another mystery when a friend disappears in suspicious circumstances.Their only clue is a mysterious card left by the enigmatic Magpie Society. With time running out and the police baffled, Audrey and Ivy must delve deeper than ever into the dark secrets that their school is hiding.But someone is playing a deadly game. And to beat them, Audrey and Ivy have to start rewriting the rules...Praise for One for Sorrow:'The perfect read for teens' - Glamour UK'A nail-biting page turner written with cinematic sparkle, depth, and a heap of charm.' - Jennifer Niven, #1 bestselling author of All the Bright Places'A thoroughly modern (and deliciously gothic) murder mystery - think Serial at Malory Towers' - Katie Lowe, author of The FuriesThe Law and the Lady
By Wilkie Collins. 1998
Despite the grave misgivings of both their families, Valeria Brinton and Eustace Woodville are married. But before long the new…
bride begins to suspect a dark secret in her husband's past and when she discovers that he has been living under a false name, she determines to find out why he is concealing his true identity from her. Soon she must endure an even greater shock: the revelation that her husband has been on trial for poisoning his first wife. Convinced of his innocence, Valeria is prepared to do anything to clear her husband's name, and in so doing upturns the conventions of polite nineteenth century society.The Magpie Society: One for Sorrow (The Magpie Society #1)
By Amy McCulloch, Zoe Sugg. 2020
"A nail-biting page turner written with cinematic sparkle" - Jennifer Niven, bestselling author of All The Bright Places "Think Serial…
at Malory Towers" - Katie Lowe, author of The FuriesWelcome to the Magpie Society...Tragedy has struck Illumen Hall, a prestigious boarding school of tradition and achievement. The body of student Lola Radcliffe is discovered on the beach, and on her back someone has tattooed an elaborate magpie.For new student Audrey, it's just another strange and unsettling thing about her new surroundings. For her roommate Ivy, the death of her friend Lola is something she's desperate to get past - and Audrey's presence isn't helping. But the two girls are thrown together when a mysterious podcast airs, with a sinister headline: I KNOW WHO KILLED LOLA. AND ONE OF YOU IS NEXT.This edition includes the spine-chilling first chapter of THE MAGPIE SOCIETY: TWO FOR JOY.Marriage: Vintage Minis (Vintage Minis)
By Jane Austen. 2018
Why do we set so much store by marriage? Jane Austen was fascinated by this question, subjecting it to her…
forensic eye and wonderfully ironic wit again and again. Here are stolen glances and nervous advances, meddling parents and self-important cousins, society whisperings and the fluttering hearts of young lovers. All of them have their own views and expectations of marriage, and Austen’s are the wisest of all. Selected from the novels Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion by Jane Austen. VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS. A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us humanLittle Dorrit
By Charles Dickens. 2012
Amy Dorrit (known as Little Dorrit) was born in the Marshalsea debtors' prison in London. She has lived there with…
her father and two elder siblings for all of her twenty-two years, only leaving to work each day as a seamstress for the forbidding Mrs Clennam. But Amy's fortunes are about to change: the arrival of Mrs Clennam's son Arthur, back from working in China, heralds the beginning of stunning revelations not just about Amy but also about Arthur himself.Mansfield Park
By Jane Austen. 2008
Fanny Price's rich relatives offer her a home at Mansfield Park so that she can be properly brought up. However,…
Fanny's childhood is a lonely one as she is never allowed to forget her place. Her only ally is her cousin Edmund. But when the glamorous and exciting Henry and Mary Crawford arrive in the area, Edmund starts to grow close to Mary and Fanny finds herself dealing with feelings she has never experienced before.'Full of the energies of discord - sibling rivalry, greed, ambition, illicit sexual passion and vanity' Margaret DrabbleThe Mayor of Casterbridge
By Thomas Hardy. 2010
'A tale of true tragedy - a man of potential brought down by his own fatal flaw - wonderfully vivid…
and strong' Joanna TrollopeThe Mayor of Casterbridge is a man haunted by his past. In his youth he betrayed his wife and baby daughter in a shocking incident that led him to swear never to touch alcohol again for twenty-one years. He has since risen from his humble origins to become a respected pillar of the community in Casterbridge, but his secrets cannot stay hidden forever and he has many hard lessons left to learn. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY LUCY HUGHES-HALLETTThe Last Lullaby: Hammarby Book 3 (Hammarby Thrillers #3)
By Carin Gerhardsen. 2010
'Carin Gerhardsen writes so vividly, like she is painting with words, gripping your heart and soul' Peter James. Discover one…
of the best Scandinavian crime series since Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole.***It's the call every officer dreads.Stockholm Criminal Investigator Conny Sjöberg finds a mother and her two young children lying peacefully in bed, their throats coldly and efficiently cut and no signs of a struggle.As Conny and his team get to work they draw a blank on both motive and suspect for these cruel, senseless murders. The only lead they have is a mysterious benefactor of the family - who eludes their every search.Distracted and hampered by the mysterious disappearance of one of their officers, Conny's squad struggles on - until an astonishing discovery turns the case upside down and threatens to tear his team apart . . .Praise for Carin Gerhardsen:'The pages turn themselves, right up to the startling final twist' John Verdon'Fast paced and addictive' Barry ForshawMatisse's War
By Peter Everett. 1996
At seventy, Henri Matisse is a trim, clean old gentleman with a passion for naked women. He is UN MONSTRE…
SACRE who depicts with passion and conviction only what he takes pleasure in, only what he chooses to see. He is art personified. If there were no Matisse there would be no art as such. . . . He has purged everything from his painting except anxieties concerning structure and colour; his struggle is with these alone! MATISSE'S WAR is a minutely researched yet fictional account of Matisse's life during the years 1939-1945. It is also a superb portrait of the lives of the major French artists and writers under the German occupation. Louis Aragon, Malraux, Picasso and Bonnard all appear prominently in the narrative.Little Aunt Crane
By Geling Yan. 2008
In the last days of World War II, the Japanese occupation of Manchuria has collapsed. As the Chinese move in,…
the elders of the Japanese settler village of Sakito decide to preserve their honour by killing all the villagers in an act of mass suicide. Only 16-year-old Tatsuru escapes. But Tatsuru's trials have just begun. As she flees, she falls into the hands of human traffickers. She is sold to a wealthy Chinese family, where she becomes Duohe - the clandestine second wife to the only son, and the secret bearer of his children. Against all odds, Duohe forms an unlikely friendship with the first wife Xiaohuan, united by the unshakeable bonds of motherhood and family. Spanning several tumultuous decades of Mao’s rule, Little Aunt Crane is a novel about love, bravery and survival, and how humanity endures in the most unlikely of circumstances.The Man Who Planted Trees
By Jean Giono. 2019
‘A book for children from 8 to 80. I love the humanity of this story and how one man’s efforts…
can change the future for so many. It’s a real message of hope.’ Michael MorpurgoDiscover this beloved masterpiece of nature writing that is a hymn to creation and to the power of the individual to do their bit to change the world for the better.In 1910, while hiking through the wild lavender in a wind-swept, desolate valley in Provence, a man comes across a shepherd called Elzéard Bouffier. Staying with him, he watches Elzéard sorting and then planting hundreds of acorns as he walks through the wilderness. Ten years later, after surviving the First World War, he visits the shepherd again and sees the young forest he has created spreading slowly over the valley. Elzéard’s solitary, silent work continues and the narrator returns year after year to see the miracle he is gradually creating: a verdant, green landscape that is a testament to one man’s creative instinct.A beautiful story of hope, survival and selflessness, The Man Who Planted Trees resonates as strongly with readers today as when it was first published.'A charming and brilliantly entertaining novel... shot through with the light-hearted Nesbit touch' Penelope Lively, from the introduction"When did two…
girls of our age have such a chance as we've got - to have a lark entirely on our own? No chaperone, no rules, no...""No present income or future prospects," said Lucilla.It's 1919 and Jane and her cousin Lucilla leave school to find that their guardian has gambled away their money, leaving them with only a small cottage in the English countryside. In an attempt to earn their living, the orphaned cousins embark on a series of misadventures - cutting flowers from their front garden and selling them to passers-by, inviting paying guests who disappear without paying - all the while endeavouring to stave off the attentions of male admirers, in a bid to secure their independence.'To come upon any Nesbit today, hitherto unread... is like receiving a letter from a friend whom you have believed dead' New York Times'A wry, charming delight of a book' The PoolThe Malice of Waves (The Sea Detective #3)
By Mark Douglas-Home. 2016
The gripping and atmospheric mystery about one boy's disappearance from an isolated but bleakly beautiful island on the edge of…
the Atlantic Ocean . . .'A fine series of detective novels' SUNDAY TIMES 'CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH'________Five years ago, fourteen-year-old Max Wheeler disappeared from Priest's Island.It's a close-knit local community. There are no secrets.Except what happened to Max.None of the police or private investigations have shed any light on what happened.But there is one man who is yet to take on the case: The Sea Detective.Cal McGill is an oceanographer and unique investigator who uses his knowledge of tides, winds and currents to solve mysteries no-one else can.But Cal is an unwelcome stranger who must navigate the tensions between Max's inconsolable father, the broken family he has neglected, and the embittered locals, resentful after years of suspicion.As Cal arrives, a violent storm approaches, threatening to completely cut off the island, with a possible murderer at large . . .________'The Malice of Waves is the first novel literally to give me nightmares . . . for a crime novel that's surely a mark of distinction' Herald'Really good stuff, full of atmosphere, and accomplished in both prose and plot' Morning StarPraise for Mark Douglas-Home:'A first-class mystery - perplexing and at times disturbing' i'Intelligence, imagination and lucid writing' The Times'I'm completely addicted to this series' Dermot O'LearyLady Susan (Penguin Little Black Classics)
By Jane Austen. 2016
'Of what a mistake were you guilty in marrying a Man of his age! - just old enough to be…
formal, ungovernable and to have the Gout - too old to be agreable, and too young to die.'The scheming and unscrupulous Lady Susan is unlike any Austen heroine you've met in this fascinating early novella.One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.Lime's Photograph
By Leif Davidsen. 1998
Peter Lime is trained to hunt down his prey and catch them on film. But now he is the one…
being hunted. Whose prey has he become? And what is it that he has that these people will kill to get? Lime is a Danish paparazzo, living in Madrid. For more than 20 years he has stalked and captured the rich and famous on film, making vast sums of money from exposing their secrets - the more salacious the image, the bigger the fee. But lately he's been thinking of giving it up. His wife and child have changed his life, and now he dreams of doing a job that his daughter can be proud of. Then he goes on a routine assignment, snapping a Spanish minister out sailing with his mistress, and suddenly his world is turned upside down. When a fire destroys his home, but not all of his photographs, Lime sets out to discover a motive and finds himself drawn into the complex and terrifying web of international terrorism.The Luck of the Vails
By E F Benson. 2013
A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERYWH Auden, Nancy Mitford and Noel Coward were among his fans... But have you discovered E. F.…
Benson yet?In a Holbein portrait above the grand old fireplace, Francis Vail, second baronet, brandishes a beautiful golden goblet, encrusted with pearls, rubies and emeralds. But this treasure, the Luck of the Vails, has since brought the family nothing but ruin and death.On the eve of his twenty-first birthday, Harry Vail discovers the Luck hidden in the attic of his ancestral home, the family curse is reawoken, and a tale of madness, avarice and murder unfolds.Murder mystery... Ghost story... Whodunnit. This is a classic detective story from the author of Mapp and Lucia. Crime fiction at its best.