Classic fiction

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  • Bartleby, the Scrivener

    £9.99

    Herman Melville’s enduringly comic and affecting tale of a man who takes quiet quitting to extreme limits. A new office clerk in a Wall Street lawyer’s office is the cause for quiet dismay when he refuses to do his job. But how to deal with Bartleby, The Scrivener, especially when he refuses to leave the office altogether.

  • Young at the Time

    £9.99

    From one of the greatest Chinese authors of the twentieth century, these delicate stories illuminate the most intimate matters of the human heart. Since childhood, Ruliang has had the peculiar habit of sketching a certain profile in the margins of his books. He has mapped out this same face, over and over again, without knowing why – until he meets Cythnia. As brief and evocative as sketches themselves, these five stories of lost loves, nostalgia and migration reveal a master of feeling at the peak of her powers.

  • Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog

    £9.99

    The poetry of Dylan Thomas has long been heralded as amongst the greatest of the Modern period, and along with his play, ‘Under Milk Wood’, his books are amongst the best-loved works in the literary canon. First published in 1940, at the height of his fame, this is a collection of short autobiographical stories that paint fascinating and humorous portraits of life in rural Wales, and pre-empt characters and traits that echo throughout his later work. Now rightly considered one of the most important volumes in his oeuvre, this book is the key to unlocking the great poet’s work.

  • Masks

    £9.99

    Masks is Enchi’s elegant, seductive story of sexual deception, revenge, and the haunting legacy of the past.Ibuki loves widow Yasuko, who is young, charming and sparkling with intelligence. His friend, Mikame, desires her too but that is not the difficulty. What troubles Ibuki is the curious bond that has grown between Yasuko and her mother-in-law, a beautiful, cultivated yet jealous woman, who is manipulating the relationship between Yasuko and the two men who love her.

  • Down by the Riverside

    £9.99

    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, a single desperate decision sets off a chain of events that cannot be undone. This novel is Richard Wright’s unflinching novella of race, power and consequence. Starkly told and painfully resonant, it captures how quickly the world can turn – and who is forced to pay the price.

  • The Invisible Girl

    £9.99

    Three supernatural tales of longing and loss from the grand-dame of Gothic fiction, Mary Shelly When a storm drives their boat toward the rocks, a group of sailors are saved by the light of a ruined tower. The locals speak of the Invisible Girl who haunts it – a lost, wandering soul. But the truth, as Mary Shelley unveils, is more disturbing, and far more human than any ghost story.

  • Bewitched

    £9.99

    From bleak New England farms to glittering drawing rooms, Wharton summons hauntings that speak less of horror than of human yearning. This collection includes some of her most powerful supernatural tales, written with elegance and chill.

  • Behind a Mask

    £9.99

    Jean Muir arrives at the wealthy Coventry household as a humble governess. But beneath her meek exterior lies a woman of steely ambition and dangerous cunning. What begins as a tale of domestic harmony turns swiftly into a drama of seduction, betrayal, and psychological gamesmanship.

  • The Image of Her

    £9.99

    She’s living a perfect life – so why does Laurence feel so torn?Weekends in the country, weekdays in Paris – Laurence’s life features all the trappings of 1960s French bourgeoisie. She has money, a handsome husband, two daughters and a lover. She also has a successful career as an advertising copywriter, though her mind writes copy while she’s at home, and dreams of domesticity in the office.All her life she has strived to meet the expectations of others. But when her 10-year-old daughter, Catherine, starts to vocalise her despair about the unfairness of the world, Laurence must finally grapple with a life that prizes image over truth.Slim but powerful, this is a classic story of womanhood and its oppressors, parents and their children, and the quest for personal truth – by the iconic feminist Simone de Beauvoir.’The best book I’ve read so far this year’ The Times’Beautifully written, what surprises is how very modern this feminist rite

  • The 39 Steps

    £10.99

    John Buchan’s famous 1951 novel of espionage and intrigue.

  • The Girls

    £9.99

    In their lovely old Cotswolds village, Janet and Susan are known to all the other villagers as ‘the girls’ – a fixture. Partners in love and work, co-proprietors of a picturesque shop specialising in the work of local artisans and farmers, they lead an enviable, enviably settled life. So it’s no catastrophe when Sue, the younger of the two, feels the need to take a month to travel on her own, leaving Jan alone to run their stall at the Inland Waterways Rally Craft Fair. Nor is it any real threat when a kindly gay man named Alan lends Jan a hand in Sue’s absence, or when the two wind up sharing some wine and even a bunk for the night. If Jan turns out to be pregnant some weeks after Sue’s return to the nest, what’s that but cause for joy? And when Alan happens to come visiting, by and by, finding the delighted girls raising a beautiful baby boy, who can blame him for wanting to share in a small part of their bliss?

  • The Chateau

    £10.99

    It is 1948 and a young American couple arrive in France for a holiday, full of anticipation and enthusiasm. But the countryside and people are war-battered, and their reception at the Chateau Beaumesnil is not all the open-hearted Americans could wish for.

  • These Wicked Devices

    £9.99

    THE HOLY CITY IS NO PLACE FOR MERCY

    'Matthew Plampin should rank with the best' Sunday Times

    'Plampin is heartbreakingly good' The Times

    'Gripping, immersive, at times very funny and beautifully written, this is historical fiction of the highest quality' Elizabeth Fremantle

  • Classic Summer Stories

    £10.99

    A collection of short stories inspired by the most vibrant season of the year.

  • New York

    £10.99

    A literary anthology celebrating New York in all its contrasts and vibrancy.

  • I’ll Take the Fire

    £16.99

    Mia and Inés: two girls enveloped in love, trapped by social conventions of Casablanca at the dawn of the 21st century and silenced by the political ‘truths’ that envelop their lives. Mia – the older sister, a warrior and a pariah, her sexuality a matter of scorn, a truth to be erased. Inés – the little sister, a woman trying to carve out an identity in a Paris that derides and erases her with no way back to Morocco, a homeland her father has warned her never to return for her own sake. As these sisters struggle to find a home, a place of safety and love that holds rather than binds, this story of their lives becomes a battle for their hearts and souls.