A glorious collection of stories from the author of Cold Comfort Farm. The title story tells of a typical Christmas at the farm before the coming of Flora Poste. It is a parody of the worst sort of fa
**NOW THE WINNER OF THE 2022 BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR AND TWO 2022 BAFTA AWARDS**Discover Thomas Savage's dark poetic tale of a small town in early 20th century America. Phil and George are brothers, more than partners, joint owners of the biggest ranch in their Montana valley. Phil is the bright one, George the plodder. Phil is tall and angular; George is stocky and silent.Phil is a brilliant chess player, a voracious reader, an eloquent storyteller; George learns slowly, and devotes himself to the business. Phil is a vicious sadist, with a seething contempt for weakness to match his thirst for dominance; George has a gentle, loving soul. They sleep in the room they shared as boys, and so it has been for forty years.When George unexpectedly marries a young widow and brings her to live at the ranch, Phil begins an relentless campaign to destroy his brother's new wife. But he reckons without an unlikely protector. From its visceral first paragraph to its devastating twist of an ending, The P
During a vicious persecution of the clergy in Mexico, a worldly priest, the 'whisky priest', is on the run. With the police closing in, his routes of escape are being shut off, his chances getting few
Winter holidays can be just as fun as summer with the Swallows and Amazons! "'You know what it's like. Dark at teatime and sleeping indoors: nothing ever happens in the winter holidays.'" Or so Nancy
The Ds can't wait to go and stay with Nancy and Peggy in the Lake District during the summer holidays. But when the Amazons' dreadful Great Aunt invites herself to stay too, the summer is threatened w
The Swallows, Amazons and Ds are united again for Arthur Ransome's final story in the series.Flat on his front, binoculars to his eyes, alone at dusk, Dick makes a remarkable discovery: two rare birds
On the evening of Good Friday in the year 1300, Dante finds himself lost in a dark and menacing wood. The ghost of Virgil offers to lead him to safety but the path lies through the terrifying kingdom
What could be more relaxing than a refreshing holiday on the river with your two best friends and faithful canine companion, Montmorency? However, as J. discovers, there is more to life on the waves
'I started to write short pieces when I was living in a room too small to write a novel in.' So says Angela Carter of this collection, written during a period living in Toyko. These exotic, sensuous stories represent Carter's first major achievement in the short story form. Lush imaginary forests, a murderous puppet show and an expressionistic vision of Japan: each one instantly conjures an atmosphere, dark and luminous in turn, and from the recognisably daring imagination of one of the great twentieth-century stylists.
When a twist of fate delivers an ambitious young medical student to the court of King Charles II, he is suddenly thrust into a vibrant world of luxury and opulence. Blessed with a quick wit and sparkl
A bold new translation of Euripedes’s shockingly modern classic work by Forward Prize-winning poet, Robin Robertson.Medea has been abandoned by her husband. Jason, for whom she has sacrificed so much,
In this vivid portrait of one day in a woman's life, Clarissa Dalloway is preoccupied with the last-minute details of a party she is to give that evening. As she readies her house she is flooded with
Bob Slocum is anxious, bored and fearful of his job. So why is it he wants nothing more than the chance to speak at the next company convention? In this darkly satirical book, Joseph Heller takes us f
How do you remember the summers of your childhood? For Laurie Lee they were flower-crested, heady, endless days. Here is an evocation of summer like no other - a remote valley filled with the scent of
What's the worst another drink could do? In this dispiritedly sobering book, John Cheever pours out our most sociable of vices, and hands it to us in a highball. From the calculating teenager who raid
How to be a good father? Children's birthday parties, unsuccessful family holidays, humiliating antenatal music classics: the trials of parenthood are all found in Knausgaard's compelling and honest a
Dick and Dorothea - also known as The Ds - arrive in Norfolk all ready to learn how to sail. They couldn't hope for a better teacher than Tom Dudgeon. But Tom is in a spot of trouble. After seeing the
Can you imagine finding gold? That's just what the Swallows and Amazons and Dick and Dorothea decide to hunt for in the hills high above the lake. But it's a hot and dry summer and water is in scarce
When the wind on the moon blew straight into Dinah and Dorinda's hearts it meant that they couldn't help but behave badly for a whole year. Transformed into kangaroos, they terrorise the sleepy town o
