Modern Classics

It is the final years of the 18th century, but a world which few would recognise. The people of Europe shelter in small islands of safety, havens from the enchanted wilderness - the strange boundless forests people call the Tumble. It is across this demon-haunted landscape that the low-born officer Taliesin must lead his men, caught up in the deadliest of intrigues while fighting wars for a noble class which despises him. With vicious murderers from the worst gutters in the Realm marching behind him, and the forces of the most powerful nations of the mainland arrayed against him, the odds ...

It is 1797, and the African kingdom of Segu, born of blood and violence, is at the height of its power. Yet Dousika Traore, the king's most trusted advisor, feels nothing but dread. Change is coming. From the East, a new religion, Islam. From the West, the slave trade. These forces will tear his country, his village and the lives of his beloved sons apart, in Maryse Condé's glittering epic.

This volume pays tribute to the work of 20 poets whose careers were profoundly influenced by the First World War - "the war to end all wars".

This collection of letters forms a fascinating day-by-day account of Steinbeck's writing of East of Eden, his longest and most ambitious novel. The letters, ranging over many subjects - textual discussion, trial flights of workmanship, family matters - provide an illuminating perspective on Steinbeck, the creative genius, and a private glimpse of Steinbeck, the man.

Shirley Jackson skewered the trials of domestic life in 1950s America with wry wit and uncanny precision. In this sequel to Life Among the Savages, her four offspring have now grown into fully fledged demons. As their house starts to burst at the seams, the Jackson clan somehow manage (without really planning it) to move into a larger home, only to take the chaos - absent furniture, vanishing children, misbehaving refrigerators, an avalanche of books - right along with them.

This is a story from the Canterbury Tales II: Modern Verse Translation collection.

An inventive, satiric modern retelling of the classic fairy tale provides an incisive and biting commentary on the absurdities and complexities of modern life.

Somerset Maugham's success as a writer enabled him to indulge his adventurous love of travel, and he recorded the sights and sounds of his wide-ranging journeys with a unique urbane, wry style. The Gentleman in the Parlour is an account of the author's trip through what was then Burma and Siam, ending in Haiphong, Vietnam. Whether by river to Mandalay, on horse through the mountains and forests of the Shan States to Bangkok, or onwards by sea, Maugham's vivid descriptions bring a lost world to life.

Desperate in his search of the secret of life, young Dr Victor Frankenstein attempts to construct and then bring to life a previously inanimate creature. He succeeds, yet immediately finds himself horrified and repulsed by the fruit of his long-lasting labors and, as a result, abandons the creature without a word. This action begins a series of tragic events in the life of the scientist, as the enraged monster begins his quest to fill every minute of Dr. Frankenstein's life with terror, dread and misery.

Originally appearing in 1922, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams captured generations of hearts. But times have changed. In order to connect with a new generation, this beloved tale must change too. Not everything is different though. In this updated edition, we still learn about the magic of love as one little stuffed animal is transformed.

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on January 1, 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821.

With methods so powerful they can conquer an adversary’s spirit, you can use Master Tzu’s strategies to overcome any challenge, from warfare to self-defense to business negotiations. This book starts with the classic 1910 translation of The Art of War, adds modern and historical insight, and demonstrates how to put the master’s timeless wisdom to use in your everyday life. In this fashion, The Art of War becomes accessible for the modern mind, simultaneously entertaining, enlightening, and practical.

Der Geschmack einer Madeleine, das Licht einer Laterna Magica, der Duft der Weißdornhecke: Schlüsselerlebnisse, die im Kopf des Erzählers Marcel unwillkürlich Erinnerungen hervorrufen. Kunstfertig und detailgetreu entsteht das Panorama des alten Combray und der Stadt Paris mit ihren Salons und Bällen. Kurz: einer Zeit, die verloren und doch gegenwärtig scheint.

Sitting in his cramped basement room in Brixton, Battersby dreams of money, women, a T-bone steak - and a place to call his own. So he and a group of friends decide to save up and buy a house together. But amid grasping landlords, the temptations of spending money and the less-than-welcoming attitude of the Mother Country, can this motley group of hustlers and schemers, Trinidadians and Jamaicans, men and women make their dreams a reality?

The nuns who enter a medieval Norfolk convent are told to renounce the world, but the world still finds ways to trouble them, whether it is through fire, floods, pestilence, a collapsing spire, jealous rivalries, a priest with a secret or a plague of caterpillars. As we follow their daily lives over three centuries, this masterpiece of historical fiction recreates a world run by women.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Last Witnesses, by Svetlana Alexievich, read by Julia Emelin, Yelena Shmulenson and Allen Lewis Rickman. What did it mean to grow up in the Soviet Union during the Second World War? In the late 1970s, Svetlana Alexievich started interviewing people who had experienced war as children, the generation that survived and had to live with the trauma that would forever change the course of the Russian nation.

Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, a collection of narratives written between 1387 and 1400, tells of a group of 30 people from all layers of society who pass the time along their pilgrimage to Canterbury by telling stories to one another, their interaction mediated (at times) by the affable host - Chaucer himself. Naxos AudioBooks’ third volume presents the tales of six people, here in an unabridged modern verse translation (by Frank Ernest Hill, 1935).

Ever miss a prime opportunity for a snappy comeback or a perfect putdown? We all have, kicking ourselves later when we think of what we could have said. The well-aimed insult was never in better shape than when Shakespeare mastered the art of defining dramatic conflict with rapier wit rather than swordplay.

The First World War shook loose the foundations not only of political structures, but also artistic conventions. New styles of poetry emerged which challenged not just the traditional presentation of poetry, but even the structure and function of language itself. This volume pays tribute to the pioneers who redefined the poetic landscape in this challenging period.

In this hilarious, inspiring and provocative series of essays, Kingsley Amis introduces every listener to the wonders and value of science fiction writing. From the extraordinary ideas, but sexless science, of Jules Verne to the power of H. G. Wells's terrifying storytelling; from the brilliance of bad science fiction writing to the potency of their important ideas; from a portrait of the average SF listener to Amis's sad prediction that this genre will never make it in film or television, New Maps of Hell is a warm and witty exploration of a world many may be yet to discover.