In 1935 Italy declared war on Abyssinia and Evelyn Waugh was sent to Addis Ababa to cover the conflict. His acerbic account of the intrigue and political machinations leading up to the crisis is coupl
This collection of writings is famous for giving us the phrase 'Freudian slip'. It also builds up a strong social history of Vienna and the middle-class social milieu of Freud and his patients. Throug
An autobiography is about growing up in Egypt. It is also an investigation into childhood perception in which the author uses herself and her memories as an insight into how children see and know. It
Bellow was America's writer, and in this superb collection of nonfiction essays he demonstated his vigilance of and loyalty to his country over a span of 45 years. From his earliest piece, a war repor
Dr Philip Wild, a man of brilliance, wit, fortune and tremendous bulk, is used to suffering humiliations at the hands of his wife, the younger, slender, and rudely promiscuous Flora. But in a novel, a
The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry features the work of the greatest Irish poets, from the monks of the ancient monasteries to the Nobel laureates W.B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney, from Jonathan Swift and O
Every Thursday morning in a living room in Iran, over tea and pastries, the author and other women meet in secret to discuss forbidden works of Western literature. This book tells how they lose themse
Twenty years ago, Anthony Galton vanished, along with his streetwise bride and several thousand dollars of the Galton fortune. Now his dying mother wants him found, and Lew Archer is on the case: is A
Gives an account of the author's journey by rail through Asia. This work describes the many places, cultures, sights and sounds he experienced and the fascinating people he met. It also shows how he i
When two young couples meet for the first time during the Great Depression, they quickly find they have much in common: Charity Lang and Sally Morgan are both pregnant, while their husbands Sid and La
A moving story of a Maori community's fight for survival, from one of New Zealand's most prominent and celebrated authorsOn the remote coast of New Zealand, at the curve that binds the land and the s
It is a beleaguered and betrayed Secret Service that has been put in the care of George Smiley. A mole has been uncovered at the organisation's highest levels - and its agents across the world put in
'It is hard to know how it could possibly be bettered' - Daily TelegraphThe prose poem has proven one of the most innovative and versatile poetic forms of recent years. In the century-and-a-half since
A darkly funny account of family life from the author of The Haunting of Hill House and The Lottery'Sometimes, in my capacity as a mother, I find myself sitting open-mouthed and terrified before my ow
'She understands Karma, she says: "What I do, I reap"'Her name means sadness, yet Tristessa, a prostitute and morphine addict, lives without cares in her shabby room with a menagerie of pets and an al
A haunting and deeply personal portrait of family tragedy from the much-loved author of The Catcher in the RyeBuddy Glass is the second-eldest son in the eccentric and enchanting Glass family. He is o
'Ring for your maid, and when she comes in we'll pounce upon her and tear off her face. I'll wear her face tonight instead of mine.' These dreamlike, carnivalesque fables by one of the leading lights
Both a fast-paced story of social unrest and strike, and the tale of one young man's struggle for identity, IN DUBIOUS BATTLE is a novel about the apocalyptic violence that breaks out when the masses
This Book is Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2006 and winner of the 2006. Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger, The History of Love explores the lasting power of the written word and the lasti
'Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was a groan of mortal terror ... the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul.'Stories about murder, mystery and madness, portraying t
An extraordinary novel of love and ambition set in late Victorian London.'Marriage rarely means happiness, either for man or woman; if it be not too grievous to be borne, one must thank the fates and
Marlow, a seaman, tells of a journey up the Congo. His goal is the troubled European and ivory trader Kurtz. Worshipped and feared by invaders as well as natives, Kurtz has become a godlike figure, hi
Chuang Tzu examines the nature of existence in these dialogues and essays, from the battle to grasp the purpose of life to the search for knowledge. A collection of some of the most absorbing and char
John Berger broke new ground with his penetrating writings on life, art and how we see the world around us. Here he explores how the ancient relationship between man and nature has been broken in the
Contains stories, such as "Auntie Toothache" and "The Shadow", in which a man's shadow slyly takes over his life. In this book, the author conjures up a world of icy queens, match girls and tin soldie
The US government and big business teamed up to build dams and bridges across the American West. A band of individuals teamed up to prevent it happening. In this chaotic comedy their aim is to dismant
One of Spain's greatest and most well-loved poets, Lorca is admired for the emotional intensity and dark brilliance of his work. From the playful "Suites" to his dark vision of urban life, "Poet in Ne
Brought up in a stifling, emotionless home in the north of England, Clara finds freedom when she wins a scholarship and travels to London. There, she meets Clelia and the rest of the Denham family: br
Elie Wiesel was fifteen years old when he and his family were deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. After the war, Wiesel studied in Paris and later became a journalist. During an interview with the dis
Asher Lev is a gifted loner, the artist who painted the sensational "Brooklyn Crucifixion". Into it he poured all the anguish and torment a Jew can feel when torn between the faith of his fathers and
An outrageous hybrid of pulp science fiction, obscene experimental poetry, and manifesto for revolution, this book is a last chance antidote to the virus of lies spread by the ad men and con men of th
'The piteousness of his little soft shroud of hair falling down his brow and swept aside by the hand over blue serious eyes' Described by Kerouac as 'my most serious sad and true book', Visions of Ger
A recently divorced actor and a no less lonely woman meet by chance in a New York diner. The city - its bars, its cheap motels and its rented rooms - becomes the cinematic setting of the couple's esca
"What a villain you are ... a villain and a poor weak silly fool. She was too good for you" Engaged to the ambitious and self-serving Adolphus Crosbie, Lily Dale is devastated when he jilts
'I gained his secret and we were both lost for ever' Mary Shelley's dark story of a bereaved man's disturbing passion for his daughter was suppressed by her own father, and not published for over a ce
This book is short-listed for both the Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award, and published here as a Penguin Essential for the first time. Nine-year-old Suleiman is just awakening to the
The Penguin English Library Edition of The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells 'That black figure, with its eyes of fire, struck down through all my adult thoughts and feelings, and for a moment th
Three men and a dog decide to head for a restful vacation on the Thames. Anticipating peace and leisure, they encounter, in fact, the joys of roughing it, of getting their boat stuck in locks, of bein
'I suppose it was conceited of me. But it was fun. And I felt like getting a bit of my own back on some of the people who'd conned and flattered me into wasting all those years.'
The Sun is about to go Nova. Earth and Moon have ceased their axial rotation and present one face continuously to the sun. The bright side of Earth is covered with carnivorous forest. This is the Age
