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Poor Folk and Other Stories
By Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 1988
With their penetrating psychological insight and their emphasis on human dignity, respect and forgiveness, Dostoyevsky's early short stories contain the…
seeds of the themes that came to his major novels. Poor Folk, the author's first great literary triumph, is the story of a tragic relationship between an impoverished copy clerk and a young seamstress, told through their passionate letters to each other. In The Landlady Dostoyevsky portrays a dreamer hero who is captivated by a curious couple and becomes their lodger. Mr Prokharchin, inspired by a true story, is a sly comedy centring on an eccentric miser, and Polzunkov is a powerful character sketch which, in common with the other tales in this volume, questions the very nature of existence.The Pleasure Garden
By Leon Garfield. 1976
Eastward in Clerkenwell lies the Mulberry Pleasure Garden: six acres of leafy walks, colonnades and pavillions. In this bosky setting…
parade a variety of characters of awesome granduer, innocence and evil - and all are subject to a ring of blackmail terror.The Player's Curse: A Bella Wallis Mystery (Bella Wallis Victorian Mysteries #3)
By Brian Thompson. 2010
Bella Wallis – respectable society widow with a secret identity as a writer of sensationalist novels – is now happily…
engaged to the love of her life, Philip Westland. But Westland’s shadowy job, working for the British government, continually takes him abroad and away from the charismatic, impatient Bella. And then there is the matter of Westland’s sister’s incarceration in a French nunnery, a mystery about which he refuses to say a word.Bella is convinced that their future together can only be resolved by getting to the bottom of his secret. The resulting quest will take her from the Oval, and a vicious curse laid on champion batsman W.G Grace, to the desolate moors of Yorkshire, on the trail of some decidedly dangerous women and a surprisingly chatty hermit…Pigface
By Catherine Robinson. 2015
Noah is pretty happy at school - he's in a friendly class, he's got a best mate, Jack, and he's…
one of the youngest to be picked for the school football team. Then a broken leg keeps him off school for several weeks and on his return there's been a mysterious change of atmosphere. A new boy, Basil, has joined the class and everyone is fascinated by him. The only person who seems to be immune to Basil's charms is class-joke, Bertie, known as Pigface. Try as he might, Noah just can't slip back into his normal place - it seems to have been usurped by Basil. His only choice of partner in class, at lunch, in Games and at break is Pigface. Forced to sample life as an outsider, Noah has a choice - make a desperate effort to get back into the 'inner circle' or get to see life from Pigface's alternative viewpoint.Pentatonic: A Story of Music (Penguin Specials)
By Jonathan Coe. 2012
Jonathan Coe's Pentatonic is a daring and original story about family and memory inspired by music.When a family celebrates the…
prize-giving day at their daughter's secondary school, thoughts turn to their own childhoods. The father remembers his living room piano recital, recorded on a well-worn cassette tape. The mother remembers her own father's war tragedy. As the father searches for the physical reminder of his past and the mother longs to forget her own, they confront the breakdown of their marriage in the present.In Pentatonic, Jonathan Coe movingly explores the memories that unite us and the experiences that drive us apart. The story is simultaneously available as a digital download with the piece of music which originally inspired the story.Praise for Jonathan Coe:'Probably the best English novelist of his generation' Nick Hornby'Coe has huge powers of observation and enormous literary panache' Sunday Times 'Jonathan Coe's a fine writer who seems to try something new with every book' David Nicholls Jonathan Coe was born in Birmingham in 1961. He is the author of eight bestselling novels including What a Carve Up! and The Rotters' Club, and a biography of the novelist B. S. Johnson, Like a Fiery Elephant, which won the 2005 Samuel Johnson Prize for best non-fiction book of the year.The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
By Haruki Murakami and Jay Rubin. 1966
This fantastically varied and exciting collection celebrates the great Japanese short story, from its modern origins in the nineteenth century…
to the remarkable works being written today. Short story writers already well-known to English-language readers are all included here - Tanizaki, Akutagawa, Murakami, Mishima, Kawabata - but also many surprising new finds. From Yuko Tsushima's 'Flames' to Yuten Sawanishi's 'Filling Up with Sugar', from Shin'ichi Hoshi's 'Shoulder-Top Secretary' to Banana Yoshimoto's 'Bee Honey', The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories is filled with fear, charm, beauty and comedy.Curated by Jay Rubin, who has himself freshly translated several of the stories, and introduced by Haruki Murakami, this book will be a revelation to its readers.The Penguin Book of French Short Stories: From Colette to Marie NDiaye
By Patrick McGuinness. 1998
'Beautiful and deep ... a sumptuous treat for any book lover' The Independent'Food for short story lovers everywhere' Irish Times*A…
major celebration of the French short story and Spectator Book of the Year*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. The second volume takes the reader through the tumultuous twentieth century in the company of writers including Simone de Beauvoir and Maryse Condé, Patrick Modiano and Virginie Despentes, covering world wars, revolutions, and the horrors of the motorway service station. Along the way we meet electronic brains, she-wolves, a sadistic Cinderella, ancestors, infidels, dissatisfied housewives and lonely ambassadors, all clamouring to be heard. Funny, devastating and fresh at every turn, this is the place to start for lovers of French literature, new and old.Edited and with an introduction by Patrick McGuinness, academic, writer and translator.'Beautiful and deep ... a sumptuous treat for any book lover' The Independent'Food for short story lovers everywhere' Irish Times*A…
major celebration of the French short story and Spectator Book of the Year*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. The first volume spans four hundred years, taking the reader from the sixteenth century to the 'golden age' of the fin de siècle. Its pages are populated by lovers, phantoms, cardinals, labourers, enchanted statues, gentleman burglars, retired bureaucrats, panthers and parrots, in a cacophony of styles and voices. From the affairs of Madame de Lafayette to the polemic realism of Victor Hugo, the supernatural mystery of Guy de Maupassant to the dark sensuality of Rachilde, this is the place to start for lovers of French literature, new and old.Edited and with an introduction by Patrick McGuinness, academic, writer and translator.The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories: From Hans Christian Andersen to Angela Carter
By Hans Christian Andersen and Angela Carter. 2004
The perfect gift this Christmas season: a generous selection of some of the greatest festive stories of all timeThis is…
a collection of the most magical, moving, chilling and surprising Christmas stories from around the world, taking us from frozen Nordic woods to glittering Paris, a New York speakeasy to an English country house, bustling Lagos to midnight mass in Rio, and even outer space. Here are classic tales from writers including Truman Capote, Shirley Jackson, Dylan Thomas, Saki and Chekhov, as well as little-known treasures such as Italo Calvino's wry sideways look at Christmas consumerism, Wolfdietrich Schnurre's story of festive ingenuity in Berlin, Selma Lagerlof's enchanted forest in Sweden, and Irène Nemerovsky's dark family portrait. Featuring santas, ghosts, trolls, unexpected guests, curmudgeons and miracles, here is Christmas as imagined by some of the greatest short story writers of all time.A gripping thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from Sunday Times bestselling author Simon Kernick,…
the UK's answer to Harlan Coben."Pace, pace pace is what Kernick does best" - DAILY MIRROR"Delights, excites and stimulates, and the only reason you consume it so quickly is because it's so damn good" - GQ"Fast moving and a gripping race to the dénouement." -- ***** Reader review"Great read, Simon Kendrick is a fantastic writer, kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through this book, couldn't wait to read every page." -- ***** Reader review"Completely compelling" -- ***** Reader review**************************************************************TWO COPS. ONE CITY. NO MERCY.Dennis Milne is a former cop and part-time assassin. He kills the bad guys - people who, in his opinion, deserve to die. Now he's in Manila, waiting for his next target: a young woman who's made some deadly enemies.DI Tina Boyd is in Manila hunting down the man responsible for the death of her lover. She knows he's dangerous. She knows he's ruthless. But she's determined to bring him to justice - even if it kills her.Two cops with pasts that haunt them - and a present that could see them both dead.They are about to meet.And when they do, it's payback time.A Pattern Of Roses
By K M Peyton. 1972
When Tim finds a strange old drawing hidden up the chimney in his crumbling new home, he notices it's signed…
by someone with the initials T. R. I. - the same initials as his own. In the local churchyard, Tim stumbles across Tom Inskip's gravestone, and begins to investigate his early death. But the deeper Tim delves into the past, the more Tom seems to come to life. Is he sending a message? Or is it a warning?Part of the Spell
By Rachel Heath. 2012
In a small English town, everyone is silently struggling to be the person they think they should be. Tacita is…
pretending to ignore her husband's affair; Theresa is determined to stay so busy she won’t have time to feel guilty; and Stella just wants everything to stay the same. But when Sheila, a widow, mother and grandmother, disappears from the town, their private lives start to collide and change ..."This is an anthology to contemplate, revisit and relish" - LoveReading4Kids'It's time we told our story too. The melanin speaks…
for itself.' - George the PoetPart of a Story That Started Before Me is an extraordinary new collection of poems chosen by acclaimed spoken-word performer and social commentator George the Poet.Taking readers on a thought-provoking poetical journey through Black British history, the anthology brings together some of the most exciting wordsmiths from across the diaspora and fascinating era-by-era notes from historian Dr Christienna Fryar.From Africans in Roman Britannia to the first Black actor to play Othello on stage, from Malcolm X's visit to the West Midlands to highlighting an organizer of the UK's first Gay Pride, this important collection reveals unsun people and events from our past to recognize the intrinsic impact they've had on Britain today.Featuring: Abi Simms, Adesayo Talabi, AFLO. the poet, Amina Jama, Anu Balofin, Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Becksy Becks, Benjamin Zephaniah, Bridget Minamore, Cara Thompson, Casey Bailey, Deanna Rodger, Derek Walcott, Dorothea Smartt, Dzifa Benson, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Eno Mfon, Evan the Poet, Fred D'Aguiar, FULAANI onda 3s, George The Poet, Grace Nichols, Henry Stone, Highwater Ell aka Elliott Henry, Ife Grillo, Inua Ellams, Irenosen Okojie, Isaiah Hull, Jade LB, Jeffrey Boakye, Jenny Mitchell, Jeremiah Brown, John Agard, Joseph Coelho, Jude Yawson, Kat Francois, Keith Jarrett, Kelechi Okafor, M. NourbeSe Philip, Malika Booker, Michael Groce, Miles Chambers, Muneera Pilgrim, Nick Makoha, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, Nile Faure-Bryan, Olaudah Equiano, Olivette Otele, Patience Agbabi, Peter deGraft-Johnson aka The Repeat Beat Poet, Phillis Wheatley, Priss Nash, Rakaya Fetuga, Raymond Antrobus, Reece Williams, Safiya Kamaria Kinshasha, Samuel King, Sophia Thakur, Stretch the Top Boy, Thembe Mvula, Theresa Lola, Tré Ventour, Vanessa Kisuule, Wretch 32 and Zena Edwards.Panic Room
By Robert Goddard. 2018
‘Is this his best yet?...Full of sinister menace and propulsive pace with twisty plotting’ Lee ChildWHAT REALLY LIES WITHIN?High on…
a Cornish cliff sits a vast uninhabited mansion. Uninhabited except for Blake, a young woman of mysterious background, currently acting as housesitter. The house has a panic room. Cunningly concealed, steel lined, impregnable – and apparently closed from within. Even Blake doesn’t know it’s there. She’s too busy being on the run from life, from a story she thinks she’s escaped. But her remote existence is going to be threatened when people come looking for the house’s owner, rogue pharma entrepreneur, Jack Harkness. Soon people with questionable motives will be asking Blake the sort of questions she can’t – or won’t - want to answer.WILL THE PANIC ROOM EVER GIVE UP ITS SECRETS?Over Our Heads
By Andrew Fox. 2015
Over Our Heads: the brilliant debut by Andrew Fox.A young man rushes to the bedside of his ex, knowing the…
baby she's having is not his own. Travelling colleagues experience an eerie moment of truth when a fire starts in their hotel. A misdirected parcel sets off a complex psychodrama involving two men, a woman and a dog ... Andrew Fox's clever, witty, intense and thoroughly entertaining stories capture the passions and befuddlements of the young and rootless, equally dislocated at home and abroad. Set in America and Ireland - and, at times, in jets over the Atlantic - Over Our Heads showcases a brilliant new talent.'The stories are wonderfully crafted and cared-for, the undertones are witty and ironic, but also serious and filled with sympathy' Colm Tóibín, Guardian'Over Our Heads is full of surprises, all of them great' Roddy Doyle, winner of the Booker Prize'Deft, clever, intense - this is a terrific debut from a very gifted new writer' Kevin Barry, winner of the IMPAC prize'Andrew Fox's stories are slivers of power; knowing, watchful and burning with intelligence. Lives half-lived or grasped at; loves longed for and destroyed; the journey of the modern emigrant who goes away in the same daze in which he comes home: these are stories which linger long after they have been read' Belinda McKeon'Fox is skilful at probing the bigger emotions: alienation, loss and nostalgia. His sparse prose is an effective counterpoint to complex feelings. His stories deal with the moments that shape a life: first trysts, the illness of a parent, the graduation of a child. ... Fox knows the hallmark of a good short story: leave the reader wanting more' Financial Times'An impressive and thoroughly enjoyable collection ... Fox lets his characters tramp around their worlds, searching for heaven on earth' Irish Times'Achieves the effect of intimating deep fissures of pain and longing beneath the lightest of surface cracks. Fox's prose is poised and confident, a well-honed tool with which to treat his delicate subject matter' Sunday Times'The best of these stories are very good indeed ... While there are few happy souls in these arresting stories, the reader can find consolation in Fox's supple prose and frequently subtle insights' Irish Independent'A remarkable new talent ... He is able to tread so lightly that we only realise we have been cleverly punched in the solar plexus after we finish the last line' Irish Mail on Sunday (five stars)Outside Chance
By Lyndon Stacey. 2005
Ben Copperfield is a freelance journalist who specialises in all things equine, so when he is called with the news…
that the hot favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup has been kidnapped, just a few weeks before the race, he wastes no time in following the story up. This could be the racing scoop of a lifetime.But as the date of the Gold Cup draws ever closer, it is unclear whether the missing horse is still alive. Where could a valuable racehorse be hidden for so long? And what is the secret from the owner's past that he is keeping from the police? Doggedly chasing the truth, Ben finds himself tested, both physically and psychologically, as he gradually uncovers a tale of prejudice, ambition and heartbreak.Out of Bounds
By Beverley Naidoo. 1997
A collection of short stories - four previously published and three new - linked by the theme of young people…
experiencing personal dilemmas. All are set in South Africa, first under apartheid and then after the first democratic elections. They cover the period from 1950 to 2000 and reflect the lives of a range of young people, black and white, living in what was for many years seen as the world's most openly racist society.Out For Blood: The tense and addictive detective thriller set in Aberdeen (DI Eve Hunter #2)
By Deborah Masson. 2020
DI Eve Hunter is back in the edge-of-your-seat new detective thriller from Deborah Masson, winning author of the Bloody Scotland…
Crime Debut of the Year 2020.A young man, the son of an influential businessman, is discovered dead in his central Aberdeen apartment.Hours later, a teenaged girl with no identification is found hanged in a suspected suicide.As DI Eve Hunter and her team investigate the two cases, they find themselves in a tug-of-war between privilege and poverty; between the elite and those on the fringes of society.Then an unexpected breakthrough leads them to the shocking conclusion: that those in power have been at the top for too long - and now, someone is going to desperate lengths to bring them down...Can they stop someone who is dead set on revenge, no matter the cost?*****READERS ARE OBSESSED WITH THE DI EVE HUNTER SERIES'One of the best books I've ever read!''I loved DI Eve Hunter and her team''Without a doubt the best police procedural I have read in a long time''I cannot wait to see what else is to come in the DI Eve Hunter series''You won't want to stop reading this addictive crime novel''Fantastic characters that you'll fall in love with - I really couldn't put this book down!''Can't wait for the next one . . . and the next one . . . and the next one!''Out For Blood has everything you need in a crime thriller and more' Rebecca Bradley'DI Eve Hunter is truly a force to be reckoned with' David Jackson'This is first-class crime fiction' Marion Todd'Not to be missed, edge-of-the-seat stuff from a genuine rising star' Denzil MeyrickThe Otterbury Incident (A Puffin Book)
By C. Day Lewis. 1948
A reissue of a much-loved adventure which has stood the test of time and is as exciting today as when…
it was first published nearly 70 years ago. It all begins when Nick breaks the classroom window with his football, and the Headmaster says Nick has to pay for the damage. Nick has no more hope of raising the money than of going to the Moon, so that's when rivalling Ted's and Toppy's gangs decide to sign a truce and plan Operation Glazier to get the money for Nick. The plan goes smoothly and soon the money has been collected, but when it goes missing the boys turn detective to try and find the culprit.One False Move
By Robert Goddard. 2019
What value can be put on a human mind?How Joe Roberts does what he does is a mystery. He has…
a brain that seems able to outperform a computer. To a games company like Venstrom that promises big profits if his abilities can be properly exploited. So they send Nicole Nevinson to track him down and make him an offer too good to refuse.But Venstrom aren’t the only people interested in Joe. His current boss, a shady businessman, is already making serious money out of Joe’s talents and isn’t going to let him go without a fight. And then there are other forces, with still darker intentions, who have their own plans for him.Almost before she knows it, Nicole’s crossed an invisible line into a world where the game being played has rules she doesn’t understand and where no-one can help her win.But win she must. Because the battle now isn’t just for Joe’s mind, it’s for Nicole’s life.