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The bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel delivers a “provocative, enthralling, bang up-to-the-minute” thriller (Daily Mail). It all starts with a prize. The Price family wins a holiday trip to Florida and gets their photo in the paper. They're all there, the picture-perfect family in front of their gorgeous home. But it's awkward, adolescent, seventeen-year-old Hannah who catches someone's eye. And only days later, she's gone. Val and Morris Price try not to panic when Hannah doesn't return from Camden Market on Sunday night. After all, she is a teenager. But when Hannah still hasn't shown up on Monday, they start to think the worst—then the ransom note comes with a demand for £500,000 and no police. After days of tallying assets and scrambling for money, Val makes the drop. Hannah comes home. Only what should be the end of a nightmare is just the beginning... The Prices'have lost their business and their home. Their sudden change in fortune takes its toll, and family bonds slowly begin to disintegrate. Meanwhile, the desperate couple who kidnapped Hannah embark on a life of luxury that only fuels their twisted love. But what goes up must come down... with a crash. “A neat plot... [with] dark flashes of hubris and nemesis.” —The Guardian “Moggach's subject is the rickety edifice we call the family, which she comes at armed with both a wrecking ball and an insatiable curiosity to note the particular way it collapses.” —The Independent “Deborah Moggach is a delight to read—her characters are wonderfully alive, and their stories grip us unequivocally.... The novel is enjoyable from first to last.” —The Daily Telegraph “It is characterisation at which Moggach excels. Her gift is to perceive and describe our confusions about life... and to write with feeling about the continual quest for love and happiness that is part of the human condition.” —The Sunday Times

“[A] social comedy with some brilliant people observations about ageing and a devilish plot twist” from the author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (The Times, London). After their elderly father's fall, Phoebe and her brother, Robert, couldn't be happier with his new caregiver, Mandy. She came to them with great recommendations and has given the brilliant, yet lonely, widower a new lease on life—though he is gossiping about the locals'love affairs instead of debating science and politics. But Phoebe and Robert soon become suspicious of Mandy—her rummaging about in their father's papers, her strange inheritance from a former client, her habit of speaking her mind no matter the consequences. Then Robert discovers that their father has changed his will. Suddenly Mandy seems more devil than angel... For the first time in years, Phoebe and Robert are bonding over something—even if it is their mutual distrust of Mandy. And what happens next will make the siblings question everything they thought they knew about their parents—and themselves. “Moggach addresses an all too common nightmare with ruthless honesty and sublime wit—The Carer is one of the funniest novels I have read for ages.” —The Times (London) “Unputdownable, fun and tender with characters that jump off the page. Perfection.” —Marian Keyes, international-bestselling author of Again, Rachel “Joyous... a sustained satire on smug middle-class mores.” —Daily Mail “The most endearing of humorists, Deborah Moggach casts a penetrating eye on our foibles and fantasies. Neither ageing, nor death—as The Carer so beautifully demonstrates—can resist her comic scrutiny.” —Lisa Appignanesi, award-winning author of Mad, Bad, and Sad

Three touching contemporary British novels of love, loss, and humor from the international bestselling “virtuoso” (The Times, London). Jumping the Queue: This masterpiece of wit, humor, and psychological suspense tells the story of a middle-aged widow who has had it with life. She puts her papers in order, gives away her pet goose, packs a picnic lunch, and heads to the beach to drown herself—only to meet a criminal on the run who has the same idea. Together they set out on adventure in this novel about the hidden costs of love and death. The Camomile Lawn: In this international bestseller, several cousins reunite after forty years to lay one of their own to rest. Together they recall their last carefree summer—and one hot August night in 1939 before the war began. They also reflect on the chaos that followed... and how it changed their lives forever. Harnessing Peacocks: Single mother Hebe juggles numerous lovers while working as a manor house chef to pay for her son's schooling. When her two worlds collide, a secret from the past leads to a final showdown with a man who's in search for his lost love in this captivating and sensual novel.

A boy returns home from seminary to a family on the verge of collapse For almost seven years, Mrs. Fury has done nothing but think of Peter. Of her five children, he is the youngest, her darling boy whose future she planned out long ago. It was for Peter that she took one child out of college and married another off—for Peter that she sent a third to work at sea. She has sacrificed everything so that Peter could return to Ireland to study for the priesthood. He is to be the family's salvation—but after seven years in seminary, Peter has failed. Mrs. Fury receives two telegrams: One telling her that Peter is coming home, the other bearing the news that her eldest son, Anthony, has fallen from his ship's mast and is in a hospital in New York. With two slips of paper, Mrs. Fury's hopes for the future are dashed. But this Irishwoman is strong as iron, and she will do whatever it takes to keep her family together—if only for Peter's sake. The Furys is the first book of James Hanley's acclaimed Furys Saga.

In this comic novel by a Pulitzer Prize–winning author, a bachelor on a transatlantic cruise meets a group of runaway children who change his life forever. Martin Boyne is a cautious man of forty-six. The bachelor has been nursing a relationship with a widow for five years, and now he is crossing the Atlantic to be with her. He laments that he never meets interesting people in his travels, but that is about to change... The seven precocious Wheater siblings, traveling with their nanny, are running away from their parents. Their mother and father are always breaking up and reconciling, shuffling the children back and forth, and they have had enough. They simply want to be together... Moved by the children's plight and knowing of their parents, Boyne decides to help them as best he can. It is time to throw caution to the wind, and everyone, including Boyne, just may be better for it...

The story of a Boston heiress who wishes for nothing—except happiness—by a New York Times–bestselling author who “never falters when it comes to storytelling” (Publishers Weekly). Caroline Ames is rich beyond imagining. But after a childhood with a cold, rejecting father, she is irrationally terrified of poverty, seething with hostility, and incapable of giving or receiving love. Those who cross her path tend to find themselves at the very least suffering, if not thoroughly broken.A Prologue to Love introduces three generations of the Ames family during the Gilded Age and the early twentieth century—painting a compassionate portrait of a difficult woman, those who have hurt her, and those she has hurt. It is a vivid, profoundly moving novel that explores the damage that everyday evil can do—and what it takes to overcome it.

Following WWI, an English aristocrat struggles to find peace as he attempts to rebuild his life in this conclusion to the Parade's End Tetralogy. The Great War is over. The ancestral home of Christopher Tietjens has been sold to an American. Christopher and Valentine Wannop now share a cottage with his brother and sister-in-law. A mathematician before the war, Christopher now earns a living selling antique furniture. It seems his world will be forever changed... Set over the course of one summer day, The Last Post follows its characters as they amble through a disorientating new world. Tensions arise for the inhabitants of the cottage. Valentine is pregnant and worried about her unmarried status as well as Christopher's money troubles. Then Christopher's estranged wife schemes to make their lives miserable. With the past haunting their present, the future seems uncertain for Christopher and Valentine. Praise for Parade's End “The finest English novel about the Great War.” —Malcolm Bradbury “There are not many English novels which deserve to be called great: Parade's End is one of them.” —W. H. Auden “The best novel by a British writer.... It is also the finest novel about the First World War. It is also the finest novel about the nature of British society.” —Anthony Burgess “The English prose masterpiece of the time.” —William Carlos Williams

The final novel of “a social satire of epic proportions and one that does not suffer by comparison with Thackeray's Vanity Fair” (The New York Times). From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932 Set against the backdrop of a post–World War I Britain, now rocked by a general strike, Swan Song captures the staunch resilience—and ridiculousness—of the British upper middle class, who view this new national crisis as just a minor inconvenience. As the ever-so-steadfast Winifred Dartie says, “If they could get this little fuss over, the coming season would be most enjoyable.” Especially since Jon Forsyte and his American wife have visited from France. Though eager to pitch in to help his homeland, Jon never expects his return will have such an effect on his former love, Fleur Mont, now married to a member of Parliament and a mother. Even when the strike abates, their reunion sends ripples through their friends and family, including Fleur's father. He knows his daughter wants nothing more than what she doesn't have—and to save her from herself—he sets out to stay one step ahead of her duplicitous heart... “It is such a joy to read a book which is unquestionably a good piece of work, that tells you on the first page that it is going to tell its story gracefully, with technical skill, and with that rare quality of fineness. Swan Song has quite literally greatness—to say more about it would be to spill gilt paint over a calla.” —Chicago Tribune

On a sultry South Carolina island, sunlight teases out the darkest secrets of the heart, in this novel from the author of An Undisturbed Peace. Joe and Abigail Becker, a Jewish couple from Boston, have inherited a house on Sweetgrass Island in South Carolina's Lowcountry. Though they feel like fish out of water, the couple is excited to give the South a try—and maybe even find it a place to finally call home. Their Boston friends are convinced they won't last the summer. But the South works its magic on the Beckers, holding them fast to misty marsh, farmlands, and grand oaks, the sweet twang of banjos and the blues. Even the locals have put aside their usual mistrust of transplants. Joe is convinced that has more to do with Abigail's beauty than with his dubious charms—especially in the case of Billy Euston. A celebrated pit master and womanizer, Billy is transfixed with Abigail at first sight. And though Joe is used to his lovely wife's effect on men, he misjudges their playful flirtations—a tragic mistake that will tear through the island like a hurricane, leaving the broken and the battered in its wake...Praise for Mary Glickman “Mary Glickman is a wonder.” —Pat Conroy, New York Times–bestselling author of Prince of Tides “Mary Glickman gives us a nuanced image of our twentieth-century selves, our society woven into stunning art.” —Carolivia Herron, author of Nappy Hair and Thereafter Johnnie “Religion isn't the only thing that stirs Glickman to fervor: she writes in a high-drama, no-holds-barred style when it comes to romance... [An] entertaining novel about sins of the flesh and the redemptive power of belief.” —Publishers Weekly on Marching to Zion

This “jewel at the heart of English comic literature” chronicles the daily fortunes and misfortunes of a middle-age, middle-class clerk (William Trevor, The Mail on Sunday). Since its original publication in 1892, The Diary of a Nobody has become a much-loved classic. It is a fictional man's dissection of the everyday drama of his life as an office worker in a London firm. With dry wit, the authors step into the character of Charles Pooter as he navigates work life with not-so-respectful young coworkers and family life with his charming wife, Carrie, and impetuous son, Lupin. From home repairs gone wrong (painting the tub red), to the comings and goings of his friends Cummings and Gowings, Pooter painstakingly shares intimate details of his existence, with the (not completely absurd) hope of maybe someday having his memoir published. An ongoing tally of the good jokes he makes shares space with descriptions of grievous insults to his person, party mishaps, the annoying behavior of everyone around him, and Lupin's on-again off-again employment and engagement status. The Diary of a Nobody gives everyone a reason to laugh—and recognize themselves in Pooter's droll prose. “The funniest book in the world.” —Evelyn Waugh, author of Brideshead Revisited “There's a universality about Pooter that touches everybody... [he] fits into the tradition of absurd humour that the British do well, which started with Jonathan Swift and runs through Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear to Monty Python.” —Jasper Fforde, Time Out “Pooter himself is as gentle as you could wish, a wonderful character, genuinely lovable. The book is beautifully constructed.” —Andrew Davies, The Herald

The author of Mermaids reunites the unforgettable women of the Flax family decades later: “Its plot twists will make you laugh—after you wipe away tears.” —Sally Koslow, author of The Real Mrs. Tobias Now in her early forties with a grown son and two grandchildren, Charlotte Flax has never forgotten the year she spent as a teenager in Grove, Massachusetts, with her mother and little sister. When she finds out that their old house there, one of the many the family occupied over the years, is available for rent, Charlotte moves in and plans a birthday party for her flighty-as-ever mother. Some things have changed—the nearby convent has given way to real estate interests. Some things have not—Charlotte still has feelings about Joe, her first love. This upcoming reunion will stir up a lot of memories—and some trouble—and test the ability of relationships to survive over time... “Patty Dann, through Charlotte's unique voice, propels us back into the careening lives of the Flax women. Funny, sad, chaotic, mysterious, moving, searching, they are above all a family.” —Richard Benjamin, director of MermaidsPraise for Mermaids and the novels of Patty Dann “Dann gives us a magnificent voice in the young Charlotte... Both hilarious and tragic... a radiant debut.” —The New York Times Book Review “A marvel... brilliant.” —Elinor Lipman, author of Good Riddance “Poignant.” —Sheila Kohler, author of Once We Were Sisters and Cracks “Both of [the sisters'] characters are sharply etched and recognizable.” —Publishers Weekly

A teenager follows along as her mother moves from town to town—and man to man—in this coming-of-age novel: “Both hilarious and tragic... a radiant debut.” —The New York Times Book Review The inspiration for the cult-classic film starring Winona Ryder, Christina Ricci, and Cher, this novel is narrated by Charlotte Flax, a fourteen-year-old helplessly dragged by her mother from place to place, brief affair to brief affair. When they settle into a quiet New England town in 1963, the teenager yearns to stay put for once. With a convent just steps away from their home, this could be Charlotte's chance to fulfill her dream of becoming a martyred Catholic saint—despite the fact that she's Jewish. At the same time, the young caretaker at the convent is inspiring some unsaintly thoughts... “Patty Dann gives us a magnificent voice in the young Charlotte... Compelling and tender, touching and alive in her search to find some order in the chaos of her life.” —The New York Times Book Review “This is a really funny book about people trying to find something to hang onto in a world that keeps shifting under their feet. Patty Dann guides us through the guerilla war between mother and daughter, through the minefields that lie between being a child and being an adult, in a voice not like any we've heard before.” —John Sayles, director and novelist “Moments of pure gold... An energetic talent.” —Kirkus Reviews “Both of [the sisters'] characters are sharply etched and recognizable.” —Publishers Weekly “Poignant... a quirky charm.” —Booklist

“Disturbing and witty... A deftly-described odyssey that places the battle of the sexes in a new arena” from the author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (The Sunday Times). Meet Desmond Fletcher. At forty-two years old, his marriage has ended and he finds himself all alone in an apartment above an electrical repair shop lent to him by his soon-to-be-ex-wife's brother. With not much else to do besides his job driving coaches, Desmond has a lot of time to think. Mostly about where his life has gone wrong, the women he has failed, and the child he has never known. More than a decade ago, a woman Desmond was seeing became pregnant but wanted nothing to do with marrying him—or any man for that matter. Now, with his life in limbo, Desmond becomes obsessed with finding his son. Hijacking a coach, he travels across England, unearthing clues and following in his son's footsteps—from London to the mountains to the fens. It's a quest that will take Desmond deep into his own heart, where he just might discover what he's really looking for... “Poignant and funny... Deborah Moggach is brilliant at capturing just the right voice for her characters.” —Cosmopolitan “Moggach, for the purposes of this book, has turned herself into a bloke. His monologue throughout strikes me as totally authentic, but not only does Moggach get his lingo right, she thinks through his head, dramatizing his confusion, decency, wit, pain, and determination. This is not just ventriloquism, but empathy so complete as to be phenomenal.” —The Irish Times “Acutely funny and sad.” —The Mail on Sunday

The bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel “illuminates with great compassion how love can so easily go off the rails” (Daily Mail). In the shadow of Heathrow airport, a girl grows up in a family of four with her unaffectionate, absent mother, her precocious younger brother, and her father. Once a traveling fairground worker, her father's been forced to settle down. Now he sits at home, dreaming up schemes to make money, drinking with his friends, raising pigs... It's those pigs that give Heather her nickname. The mean girls at school call her “Porky,” as much as for her animals as for her weight and pink complexion. They don't live in a decrepit bungalow like she does, surrounded by airport traffic and muck. And they don't have a father like she does, one who steals her innocence and makes her grow up too fast. This is Heather's story. It's easier for her to tell a stranger reading a book than her best friend, a counselor, the man who now loves her. Maybe you will understand her attempts to work, to live, to survive, to fly away as far as possible—as if her wings weren't already clipped... “Deborah Moggach conveys with chilling skill the process by which a fundamentally bright, decent child becomes infested by corruption.” —The Spectator “At once eerily exuberant and bleak, this is a compassionate, tough book.” —The Observer “[An] extraordinarily skilful account of a childhood blasted by what is now acknowledged to be a more widespread offence than was previously recognised: incest.” —London Review of Books “Sustain[s] a first-person register so level in its tone of quiet desperation, so careful to avoid blatant shock, as to hold back the tidal wave of revulsion and pity which threatens, but never quite engulfs the reader.” —The Times(London)

“An inquiry into the nature of civilization, of man's impulse to civilize and create,” from the beloved author of O Pioneers! (The New Criterion).After completing his masterwork and garnering a great deal of money for it, history professor Godfrey St. Paul has purchased a new house. But when the time comes to move, he cannot bring himself to do so. Sitting in his comfortable study in his current house near the shore of Lake Michigan—and on the verge of a midlife crisis—he reflects on his past.At fifty-two, he has dedicated himself to his work, his garden, and his wife and two daughters, but despite all of his successes, he is unhappy with the course of his future. He retreats into his memories—his career and fond recollections of Tom Outland, his most outstanding student and once his son-in-law-to-be, who was lost in the Great War. He also thinks of his present and the daunting mystery of what lies ahead. And soon the introspection takes over... “The Professor's House is Cather's masterpiece. It is almost perfectly constructed, peculiarly moving, and completely original.” —A. S. Byatt, The Guardian

In the second volume of the acclaimed novel, the narrator recalls his adolescent discoveries of art and women in Belle Époque France.Following the events of Swann's Way, the nameless narrator shifts his attention to memories of his teenage years. His relationship with the Swann family is altered as his love for Gilberte fizzles out. Two years later, he accompanies his grandmother to the resort town of Balbec on the Normandy coast. There, he encounters figures who will change his life: Robert de Saint-Loup, who becomes his friend; the magnificent painter Elstir; and the new object of his affection, the beautiful Albertine, who causes him to reflect on the nature of love.Although it was originally meant to be published in 1914, Within a BuddingGrove's release was delayed until 1919 due to World War I. The book was awarded the Prix Goncourt, which quickly garnered fame for Proust. It is the second of seven volumes in a saga Edmund White hailed as “the most respected novel of the twentieth century.”Praise for Marcel Proust“Reading Proust... it's a whole world not just a book. Everyone wants to live more than one life and Proust is like ‘here's another one you can live.'” —Francine Prose, New York Times–bestselling author of Mister Monkey“I can think of only one other writer capable of such breadth and humanity: Shakespeare.” —André Aciman, New York Times–bestselling author of Find Me “When I want to restore my faith in literature, I read Proust.... Reading Proust is like watching a galaxy being put together, one particle at a time.” —Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Making of Zombie Wars

In the third volume of the celebrated novel, a writer comes into his own and learns the way of the world in Paris. Continuing the nameless narrator's voyage through his memories after Within a Budding Grove, The Guermantes Way finds him and his family entering Parisian high society. They have moved into a stately old town house owned by the Duke and Duchess de Guermantes in the Fauborg Saint-Germain district of Paris. Daily sightings of the duchess do nothing but fan the flames of the narrator's infatuation with her. So, of course, he falls in love once more. He also continues his journey as a writer, visiting aristocratic and literary salons where, beneath a thin veneer of manners, a battle for political, sexual, and social supremacy rages on... Originally published in two volumes in 1920 and 1921, The Guermantes Way explores the customs of Parisian society in Belle Époque France. Praise for Marcel Proust “Whatever your preference, Proust is a pleasure no serious reader should miss.” —Kirkus Reviews “Reading Proust... it's a whole world not just a book. Everyone wants to live more than one life and Proust is like ‘here's another one you can live.'” —Francine Prose, New York Times–bestselling author of Mister Monkey “I can think of only one other writer capable of such breadth and humanity: Shakespeare.” —André Aciman, New York Times–bestselling author of Find Me “When I want to restore my faith in literature, I read Proust.... Reading Proust is like watching a galaxy being put together, one particle at a time.” —Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Making of Zombie Wars

A middle-aged stockbroker leaves his family to become an artist in this novel inspired by the life of Paul Gauguin from “a notable and original writer” (The New York Times). From the author of The Razor's Edge and Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence tells the story of Charles Strickland, who suddenly deserts his wife and children in order to devote his life to painting. Unpleasant in manner yet strangely charismatic, he makes his way to Paris, Marseilles, and finally Tahiti, producing works of genius that few in his lifetime appreciate—while those he left behind speculate about what drove him to abandon them so abruptly. “A notable and original writer... Mr. Maugham digresses whenever he happens to feel like it, and his digressions never cause him to lose the reader's attention, but instead rather strengthen his hold on it. His comments are sometimes brilliant, always shrewd—often disconcertingly so. He has a way of getting beneath the surface.” —The New York Times

An inspiring novel about a struggling inventor and his family in turn-of-the-century New England.A man sits in his modest, rundown house in Connecticut, missing his wife, who is working overseas as a governess to make money for the family. But he does have the companionship of his son, who supports him in his dreams of success as an inventor.As Christmas draws near, their spirits are low—until the two begin working together on a model of a city, built with simple scraps, that leads them to a new place of hope... This tale, first published in 1907, has become a cherished classic—and makes for a wonderful holiday read about life's truest gifts.

This novel by the author of Sons and Lovers follows three generations of a family in rapidly changing England. One of the Modern Library's 100 best English-language novels of the twentieth century In a story ranging from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth, The Rainbow explores the passions and relationships experienced by each generation of the Brangwen family as the world around them grows more urban and industrialized. Tom Brangwen is a farmer who does not venture beyond the east Midlands and makes his home with a Polish widow named Lydia. Lydia's daughter, Anna, suffers through a troubled marriage. And her daughter, Ursula—whose story continues in Lawrence's sequel, Women in Love—receives an advanced education and finds herself in a society far more sophisticated and fast-paced than that of her forebears. Ursula yearns for something more and seeks to sate a deep hunger in both her body and soul. A daring, sensual novel by the author of Lady Chatterley's Lover and other modern classics, The Rainbow was banned in England for years, and is now considered one of the greatest works of twentieth-century literature.

A young man fights to save his mother and sister—and a group of abused schoolboys—in this novel of hardship and heroism from the great Victorian writer. Suddenly fatherless and penniless, young Nicholas Nickleby can find no help for himself and his family. His uncle Ralph may be rich, but he is neither a kind nor an honorable man—so it is up to Nicholas to take responsibility. His adventures in Victorian England will take Nicholas to a job at a boys'school run by a brutal and dictatorial headmaster, a London slum, and a theater troupe where he works under an assumed name—and into a web of revenge, blackmail, and kidnapping—as he struggles to overcome the evil forces arrayed against him. “The novel has everything... a supporting cast of heroes, villains and eccentrics, set in a London where vast wealth and desperate poverty live cheek-by-jowl.” —The Times

The classic novel about a man torn between his devotion to his mother and his desire for a lover. Cited by the Modern Library as one of the ten best twentieth-century novels in the English language, Sons and Lovers is considered by many to be D. H. Lawrence's masterpiece, with its deep psychological insight into the bond between mother and son, and the difficulties of emotionally separating from a parent. Considered a semiautobiographical work, it follows protagonist Paul Morel as he experiences the loss of his older brother, hostility toward his coal miner father, and a burden of responsibility toward his more genteel mother, who inspires maddening mixed feelings in him. Paul struggles to find room in his life for a meaningful, romantic relationship of his own as he works to hold his family together.

The Whitbread Award–winning author “demonstrates a master's touch” in this tale of an aristocratic Irish family's ruinous path toward modernity (The New York Times). An island estate off the coast of county Cork, Carriglas has been in the Rolleston family for centuries. Sarah Pollexfen, a distant relation of little means, remembers the magical summer she spent there as a child in 1904. But much has changed in Ireland since then. And when Sarah returns nearly thirty years later, she finds Carriglas much changed as well. World War I and the Irish Troubles have taken their toll on the Rollestons. Sarah's cousins, who once seemed to sparkle with beauty and wit, have grown dour and withdrawn. And as Sarah uncovers the tragedies they've endured, she'll also discover the terrible truth about that seemingly idyllic summer in 1904.

The beloved classic novel of an English housewife bravely enduring WWII—the basis for the Academy Award–winning film starring Greer Garson. Winston Churchill once remarked that Mrs. Miniver, the fictional British housewife featured in Jan Struther's newspaper columns about quotidian English life, did more for the Allied cause than a flotilla of battleships. As tensions rose across Europe, Mrs. Miniver's domestic concerns expanded from automobiles and Christmas shopping to include gas masks, keeping calm, and carrying on. An international sensation when it was first published, this novelized collection of those columns won America's heart—and broad public support for entering WWII. Mrs. Miniver's story was so essential to Allied morale that when William Wyler's film adaption was made, President Roosevelt ordered it rushed to theaters.

Three powerful novels from the Man Booker Prize–winning British novelist of This Sporting Life and “an absorbing writer” (The New Yorker). The son of a coal miner who went on to play professionally in the rugby league, British author David Storey drew heavily on his own background for his debut novel, This Sporting Life, which won the 1960 Macmillan Fiction Award and was made into a film with Richard Harris. “The leading novelist of his generation,” Storey was also a playwright and screenwriter, going on to win the Man Booker Prize for his novel, Saville (The Daily Telegraph). The collected fiction gathered here explores madness, romantic obsession, adolescent yearning, and class divisions with Storey's characteristic “understanding of people and society” (The Times Literary Supplement). A Serious Man: Richard Fenchurch has had a long, successful career as a playwright, painter, and novelist. But at sixty-five, he is coming apart at the seams. His married daughter, Harriet, moves him from his squalid London flat to his ancestral mansion. Home again with ghosts all around, Fenchurch ruminates on past loves and choices, while struggling to maintain his freedom and sanity. “This spellbinding giant of a book is dashing, hectic, complex, sometimes almost wickedly aimless and terrifying. It reads like a wild animal flexing its muscles.... An electrifying success.” —The Mail on Sunday A Temporary Life: As his wife wastes away in a hospital, sinking deeper and deeper into a terrifying and incomprehensible madness, Colin Freestone tries to make sense of what his life has become. Having moved to Yvonne's hometown in northern England for her psychiatric care, he teaches art at a second-rate college headed by a nutrition-crazed dean. He makes friends and meets women, but nothing can distract him from the fact that his wife is slowly dying and he is powerless to stop it. “A triumph... bitter, enriching.” —The New York Times A Prodigal Child: Desperate to escape the poverty of his family and his drunken father who works as a farmhand, Bryan goes to live with the childless Fay Corrigan at her posh home in town during the week, while attending a prep school that she pays for. But Bryan soon feels a growing chasm between his new life and the world he left behind. And his mounting jealous-erotic obsession with the much-older Fay leads to actions—and consequences—that will reverberate for years to come. “Quiet but telling drama, intense observation.” —Penelope Lively

Two award-winning novels—including This Sporting Life—from the Man Booker Prize–winning British novelist and “an absorbing writer” (The New Yorker). The son of a coal miner who went on to play professionally in the rugby league, British author David Storey drew heavily on his own background for his debut novel, This Sporting Life, which won the 1960 Macmillan Fiction Award. “The leading novelist of his generation,” Storey was also a playwright and screenwriter, going on to win the Man Booker Prize for his novel, Saville (The Daily Telegraph). The collected fiction gathered here includes This Sporting Life as well as his second novel, focusing on a female protagonist, also from a Yorkshire coal mining town. This Sporting Life: In a bleak Yorkshire mining town, an aggressive rugby league footballer finds fame, fortune, and countless women but cannot outrun the emptiness he feels inside. Storey also wrote the screenplay based on his “impressive first novel” for the award-winning film starring Richard Harris (The New York Times). “Classic... a revelation... Skeptical, belligerent, and acidly ironical.” —Edmund White, The Paris Review Flight Into Camden: Margaret, a miner's daughter, leaves her oppressive family in Yorkshire, hoping to make a new life in London with a married teacher in this “love story written with seriousness and intensity” (The Observer). Storey's second novel, told in Margaret's voice, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award. “A tour de force of domestic oppression... Rises on occasions to a pitch of precise beauty which I can only... describe as poetry.” —The Guardian

Three thought-provoking novels from the Man Booker Prize–winning British novelist of This Sporting Life and “an absorbing writer” (The New Yorker). The son of a coal miner who went on to play professionally in the rugby league, British author David Storey drew heavily on his own background for his debut novel, This Sporting Life, which won the 1960 Macmillan Fiction Award and was made into a film with Richard Harris. “The leading novelist of his generation,” Storey was also a playwright and screenwriter, going on to win the Man Booker Prize for his novel, Saville (The Daily Telegraph). Collected here, Storey's characters range from a seventeen-year-old compulsive note writer to a seventy-year-old suicidal art historian and a middle-aged sports columnist, but they all share a common trait: a profound questioning of life's meaning. Thin-Ice Skater: An angst-ridden seventeen-year-old who shares intimate details of his life in the form of memos written to himself, Rick Audlin first goes to live with his much-older film producer half-brother, Gerry, whose second wife, Martha, a former movie star, has been committed to a mental institution. When Gerry has to go abroad, Rick moves in with his long-estranged other half-brother, James, a failed crime novelist, and is seduced by Clare, James's wife. But Rick begins to realize something else is going on—something that will eventually lead him to a shattering secret in his family. As It Happened: After a failed suicide attempt in front of a moving train, seventy-year-old art historian and professor emeritus Matthew Maddox attends art therapy classes, hoping to find meaning in his life. Although he feels isolated, Maddox does have his champions. Simone, his lover and partner, is returning from an analysts'conference in Vienna. There is also his former mentor, whose wartime past fascinates Maddox; his older sister, Sarah; and his younger brother, Paul—and Eric Taylor, once his most promising student, now a convicted murderer, in whom Maddox sees echoes of his own life. “A novel packed with argument and written with a close attention to the significance of gesture, the thing seen, the sound heard, the thought apprehended.” —The Scotsman Present Times: Former playwright Frank Attercliffe cowrites a sports column about football and lives with his children in relative peace—until the night his wife, who left him three years ago for a car dealer, returns home and announces she wants to move back in. Just one catch—she wants Frank to move out. “I enjoyed this book for its savagery, its stoically enduring hero, its taut, explosive dialogue.” —The Sunday Telegraph

Three lyrical and unforgettable novels from the National Book Award–winning author of The Women of Brewster Place. After winning both the National Book Award and the American Book Award for her now iconic debut novel, The Women of Brewster Place, which was later made into a TV miniseries starring Oprah Winfrey, Gloria Naylor continued to garner acclaim as one of the most original voices in twentieth-century American literature with novels such as Mama Day, Linden Hills, and Bailey's Cafe. Mama Day: On Willow Springs, an island off the coast between Georgia and South Carolina, superstition is more potent than any trappings of the modern world. Here, the formidable Mama Day uses her powers to heal. But her great-niece, Cocoa, can't wait to escape to New York City. When Cocoa returns to the island with her husband, George, darker forces challenge the couple—and their only hope may be the mystical matriarch. Steeped in the folklore of the South and inspired by Shakespeare, Mama Day is one of Naylor's “richest and most complex” novels (Providence Journal). “[A] wonderful novel, full of spirit and sass and wisdom, and completely realized.” —The Washington Post Linden Hills: For its wealthy African American residents, the exclusive neighborhood of Linden Hills is a symbol of making it. But what happens when the dream of material success turns out to be an empty promise? Using Dante's Inferno as a model, Naylor reveals the true cost of success for the lost souls of Linden Hills—a hell of their own making. “Every page contains a brilliant insight, a fine description, some petty and human, some grandiloquent.” —Chicago Tribune Bailey's Cafe: This “moving and memorable” national bestseller is set in post–World War II Brooklyn, on a quiet backstreet, where Bailey's Cafe serves as a crossroads for a broad range of patrons, a place of limbo for tortured souls before they move on—or check out (Boston Globe). “A virtuoso orchestration of survival, suffering, courage and humor.” —The New York Times Book Review

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize: A married woman begins an impulsive affair in Paris in this novel of “brilliant insight” (The Times, London). Sheila Redden, a devoted mother and reserved wife of a busy Belfast surgeon, is awaiting the arrival of her husband at a Paris hotel. In a matter of days, they'll be celebrating a second honeymoon after sixteen years of marriage. But Sheila never could've imagined the chance encounter with Tom, a handsome and attentive American student—or that in one inexplicable moment, she'd abandon everything she knows to disappear into the unknown with an irresistible stranger. It's more than a sexual awakening. It's a chance to see her ordinary life from a distance—her dutiful role as mother and wife, her sacrifices, her lost sense of self, and the realization that she's already been vanishing little by little for quite some time. All the while, Sheila's concerned husband and brother are retracing her steps, following her on a cathartic and devastating journey that's far from over.

Four lyrical and unforgettable tales from one of our “most interesting novelists”—including the New York Times bestseller, Seventh Heaven (Jane Smiley). As Newsweek said of her novel Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman has a “gift for touching ordinary life as if with a wand, to reveal how extraordinary life really is.” Whether in an ancient tribe of female warriors or a sleepy Long Island suburb in the late 1950s, the novels in this collection carve out a piece of that uniquely Hoffmanesque landscape—somewhere between magic and reality, hope and disappointment, the mythical and the mundane—where we are surprised but delighted to rediscover mercy and our humanity. The Foretelling: This young adult New York Times bestseller is the “spare, compelling coming-of-age story” of Rain, born out of sorrow but destined to lead her tribe of Amazon warriors (Kirkus Reviews). Determined to win her mother's love and take her rightful place as the next queen, Rain becomes a brave and skilled fighter. But the dream of a black horse clouds her future, portending death. Peace, mercy, and love are forbidden words in her people's language—can Rain teach her sisters to speak in a new tongue before it's too late? “Alluring... Hoffman's prose eloquently expresses the beliefs and rituals of a lost civilization and offers a sympathetic portrait of a young leader who chooses kindness over cruelty.” —Publishers Weekly White Horses: A “sexually charged... almost hypnotic” story about the fairy-tale fantasies of girlhood and the realities of growing up (Publishers Weekly). When Teresa was a little girl, she dreamed of fearless heroes on white horses, the romantic outlaws who populated the stories her mother told her. As an adult, she is irresistibly drawn to her brother, Silver, even as he recklessly pursues a life of crime and danger, captivated by the belief that he may be the night rider of her dreams. “Haunting... Alice Hoffman is a daring and able writer.” —The New Yorker Angel Landing: An explosion at a nuclear power plant under construction on Angel Landing changes the lives of Natalie, a therapist; her activist boyfriend, Carter; her eccentric aunt Minnie; and the man who walks into her office with an incredible confession to make. “Alice Hoffman's writing at its precise and heartbreaking best.” —The Washington Post Seventh Heaven: In this New York Times bestseller, the arrival of a free-thinking divorced mother, Nora Silk, and her two young sons transforms a Long Island suburb during the summer of 1959, in a novel that's “part American Graffiti, part early Updike” (The New York Times). “Before you know it, you're half in love with the ordinary people who inhabit this book; you're seduced by their susceptibility to the remarkable.” —The New Yorker

“The trouble with trying to read passages from the Adrian Mole diaries aloud is that you find yourself laughing so hard you can't go on” (Kansas City Star). I wish that I could relate that I have found happiness and contentment... but, alas, I cannot—but that is another story... “Probably the most successful comic literary creation of the past two decades” vents his justified rage in these journals once confiscated by authorities—only to be hijacked yet again by a fraudster named Sue Townsend (TheObserver). Though Adrian has finally found the courage to confront her, the literary parasite refuses to put down her Stolichnaya and come to the door. Now a professional turkey-plucker with his dreams of becoming a serious novelist more elusive than ever, and his teenage passions for Pandora all but faded, Adrian Mole has settled with his new wife in a rural pigsty that's spitting distance from his appalling mother and her (fourth, is it?) husband. There are two consolations: He has a son who fears gym class (poor little bird legs!), and he's readying his serial-killer comedy for production. But really, there's little about the twenty-first century that makes Adrian feel secure. Adrian Mole's continuing chronicle of angst has sold more than twenty million copies worldwide, and been adapted for television and staged as a musical—truly “a phenomenon” (The Washington Post).

The final chapter in the beloved chronicles of an angsty Brit begun in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ is “a tour de force by a comic genius” (Daily Mail). Am I turning into one of those middle-aged men who think the country has gone to the dogs and that there has been no decent music since Abba? Hard to believe! Adrian Mole is pushing forty, a beleaguered bookseller looking back through the wistful eyes of an unrecognized intellectual and, admittedly, pretty much of an Everyman. But he's also looking forward, despite a few things: His five-year-old daughter is showing alarming Stalinist traits; his son is fighting the Taliban and he's worried sick; his unfaithful wife is keeping a diary of her own and it's all rather heartbreaking; frequent urination has made him fear trouble “down there;” and his mother is penning a misery memoir that is one gross slog of a lie (born an aristocrat in a Norfolk potato field, indeed!). Then one day he receives a phone call out of the blue from the great and only love his life: Pandora Braithwaite. “Do you think of me?” she asks. Only ever since he was 13¾... Adrian Mole's epic and hilarious chronicle of angst over a quarter century has sold more than twenty million copies worldwide, and been adapted for television and staged as a musical—truly “a phenomenon” (The Washington Post). This final volume is “like rediscovering an old school friend on Facebook” (Time Out), and “if [it] isn't the best book published this year, I'll eat my bookshelf” (Daily Mail).

The “wickedly satirical, mad, ferociously farcical [and] subversive” angsty Brit of secret diary fame careens into his thirties (Daily Mail). I expect that by tomorrow I will have embellished the story and given myself a heroic status I do not deserve... Right now the truth is harrowing enough for aging, impotent intellectual Adrian Mole: He's soon to be divorced; he hasn't a clue what to do with his semi-stardom as a celebrity chef; his parents have become swingers (with whom is too shocking to go into now); his epic novel is still unpublished; his ex-flame Pandora is running for political office; and his younger sister has rebelled in the most distressingly common ways. But there's one upside: Adrian's son has inherited his mother's unblemished skin. Is it any wonder that at 34¾ Adrian is still punishingly self-aware and willfully deluded about what he's endured and what he's yet to achieve? Struggling somewhere between breakthrough and breakdown, he's telling his diary everything. The result? Adrian's fifth Book of Revelation—and it's “quite possibly, a classic” (Daily Mirror).

An “intimately limned” saga of passion and greed in the decade before the Civil War—from the New York Times–bestselling author of Captains and the Kings (Kirkus Reviews).The Wide House is the story of two cousins from Ireland: Stuart Coleman, a shopkeeper who dreams of building a big white house and raising a family, and Janie Cauder, a young widow with four children, only one of whom she truly adores. When Janie arrives in Grandeville, New York, the two begin a surprising romance—but happiness is not to be their fate. Driven by ambition and haunted by self-doubt, Stuart spurns Janie for the beautiful daughter of a business rival. Janie, meanwhile, takes her disappointment out on her children and pursues new romantic opportunities—to diminishing returns. As the national mood turns increasingly antagonistic to outsiders, Stuart and Janie's inability to love will leave a bitter mark on their lives, and on generations to come. A richly detailed portrait of a fascinating time in American history, The Wide House is a masterwork from an author whose “sheer power” has captivated millions of readers all over the world (The New York Times).

The bestselling author of The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner takes his examination of British working-class rebellion into the 1960s. In his best-known works of fiction, British novelist Alan Sillitoe “powerfully depicted revolt against authority by the young and working class” (The Washington Post). Both The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning were international bestsellers and made into acclaimed films. Following those acknowledged masterpieces, Sillitoe continued to explore rebellion against an oppressive society in three novels linked by anarchist antihero Frank Dawley. In these powerful novels, Sillitoe would continue to prove himself “one of the best English writers” (The New York Times) and “the most quietly eloquent of his cohort of postwar British novelists” (Jonathan Lethem). The Death of William Posters: Frank Dawley has finally quit his soul-crushing factory job in Nottingham, left his alienating marriage, burned his possessions, and sold his car. Now he is hitching a ride to wherever the road will take him. Haunting Frank's physical and existential travels is a ubiquitous inscription painted on nearly every street corner in England: BILL POSTERS WILL BE PROSECUTED. Relentlessly hounded by authorities, whoever William Posters is, he becomes a symbol of the servile proletariat—exactly what Frank hopes to escape. He finds his way from England to Spain to Morocco—and into the beds of several married women along the way. Finally, in Algeria, he meets a revolutionary American, whom he joins in a high-stakes gunrunning mission. A Tree on Fire: Jewish dilettante Myra Bassingfield is returning to England from Gibraltar with her four-week-old son. The child's father, Frank Dawley, has disappeared into the African desert, where he is fighting for Algerian independence against French troops. Greeting Myra is Frank's friend, Albert Handley, an idealistic painter living in a chaotic home with a large family. But after Albert's brother burns down the house, the Handley brood moves in with Myra in Buckinghamshire. By the time Frank finally returns to England, they have formed a commune—a domestic cell of protest that may just plant the seeds of a new revolution. The Flame of Life: Collective cohabitation soon reveals its downfalls within the commune that has set up camp at the home of wealthy Myra Bassingfield. Painter Albert Handley is pursuing a whirlwind existence of art, sex, and chaotic domestic life. Frank Dawley, returned from gunrunning in Algeria, has brought his wife and two kids from Nottingham to live in the Buckinghamshire kibbutz. And when a young Spanish anarchist arrives with assassination on her mind, her trunk full of notebooks may condemn Frank for a sin committed in the African desert. As the community begins to unravel, the very notion of revolution comes under scrutiny.

As his laugh-out-loud secret diary extends into his later teens and young adulthood, everyone's favorite angsty Brit remains “a brilliant comic creation” (The Times, London). Continue to commiserate with “one of literature's most endearing figures”—a sharp-witted, pining, and achingly honest underdog of great expectations and dwindling patience who knows all (or believes he does) and tells all (The Observer). Having endured the agony of adolescence (just), Adrian now careens into his later teens, torturous twenties, and utterly disappointing thirties in these three hilarious sequels by “one of Britain's most celebrated comic writers” (The Guardian). From the not-so-humble origins of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 and ¾, Adrian's chronicle of angst has sold more than twenty million copies worldwide, spawned seven sequels, been adapted for television, and staged as a musical—truly “a phenomenon” (The Washington Post). The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole: What's happening to Adrian Mole? On the one hand, he's entering the cusp of adulthood and burgeoning success as a published poet. On the other, he still lives at home, refuses to part with his threadbare stuffed rabbit, and has lost his job at the library for a shocking act of impudence: He shelved Jane Austen under Light Romance. Even worse, someone named Sue Townsend stole his diaries and published them under her own name. Of course they were bestsellers. Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years: At 23¾ years old, Adrian is now technically an adult and almost prepared. On the upside: He's fallen for a perfectly lovely Nigerian waitress; he's seeing a therapist so as to talk about himself without interruption; and he's added vowels to his experimental novel-in-progress (so much more accessible to the masses!). The downside? Pandora is probably history; a pea-brained rival has been published before him to great acclaim; and worse—Adrian has come to the devastating realization that he may not be uncommon after all. Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years: At 34¾, impotent intellectual Adrian Mole is soon to be divorced; he hasn't a clue what to do with his semi-stardom as a celebrity chef; his parents have become swingers (with whom is too shocking to go into now); his epic novel is still unpublished; his ex-flame Pandora is running for political office; and his younger sister has rebelled in the most distressingly common ways. There is one upside: Adrian's son has inherited his mother's unblemished skin. “Townsend's wit is razor sharp” (Daily Mirror) as she shows us the world through the older and (possibly?) wiser eyes of her “achingly funny anti-hero” (Daily Mail), proving again and again why she's been called “a national treasure” (The New York Times Book Review).

A retired London bank manager is yanked out of the suburbs by his eccentric aunt for a “cheerfully irreverent” romp across Europe (The Guardian). Now that the dullish Henry Pulling has left his job with an agreeable pension and a firm handshake, he plans to spend more time weeding his dahlias. Then, for the first time in fifty years, he sees his aunt Augusta at his mother's funeral. Charging into her seventies with florid abandon, not a day of her life wasted, and her future as bright as her brilliant red hair, Augusta insists that Henry abandon his garden, follow her, and hold on tight. With that, she whisks her nephew out of Brighton and boards the Orient Express bound for Paris and Istanbul, then on to Paraguay, and down the rabbit hole of her past that swarms with swindlers, smugglers, war criminals, and rather unconventional lovers. With each new stop, Henry discovers not only more about his aunt and her secrets but also about himself as well. Pulsing with “the tragic and comic ironies of love, loyalty and belief” Graham Greene's deceptive lark of novel was made into the 1972 film starring Maggie Smith (The Times, London).

Two shocking novels of destructive obsession from a New York Times–bestselling author and “a remarkable talent” (The Washington Post Book World). Sin: Ruth calls herself a malevolent creature, ruled since childhood by hatred and envy for her adopted sister, Elizabeth. She grew up in Elizabeth's shadow, always falling short of her goodness and generosity, constantly resenting her very presence in the family. As they grow older, Ruth sets out to destroy her without guilt or hesitation. Ruth will strike Elizabeth where she's most vulnerable: She will steal her husband and send her collapsing into ruin. Written in Hart's concise, striking prose, Sin is a powerful and compulsively readable exploration of hate—and the destruction and tragedy it begets. “The reader looks on with mingled shock and fascination... a tour de force.” —The New York Times Damage: Hart's debut novel, a New York Times bestseller, is “a taut, sinister tale” of a man's desperate obsession and scandalous love affair (Vanity Fair). He is a man who appears to have everything: wealth, a beautiful wife and children, and a prestigious political career in Parliament. But his life lacks passion, and his aching emptiness drives him to an all-consuming—and ultimately catastrophic—relationship with his son's fiancée. “A passionate, elegant, ruthless story.” —Iris Murdoch “Damage is a masterpiece.” —The Washington Post

From the National Book Award–winning author of A Wrinkle in Time, three poignant novels exploring the power of love, family, and secrets. The Other Side of the Sun: In this atmospheric novel of suspense set in the turn-of-the-century South, a nineteen-year-old British newlywed must stay with her American husband's family on their South Carolina estate when he is called away on a diplomatic mission. She soon discovers her in-laws are not who they appear to be—as she stirs up dark secrets that were meant to remain buried. A Live Coal in the Sea: After her teenage granddaughter poses a troubling question, Dr. Camilla Dickinson must confront the painful history she's long kept hidden as she relates a complex saga involving her beautiful, adulterous mother; her troubled son; and the difficult choices that have affected three generations. “[A] haunting domestic drama.” —Publishers Weekly A Winter's Love: Emily Bowen's marriage is hanging by a thread after hardships befall her family. During their sabbatical in Switzerland, a man from her past returns, offering the affection she craves, and Emily must decide if she's willing to sacrifice the life she's built for an unseen future. “A convincing story of mixed loyalties and divided affections.” —Kirkus Reviews

Three touching contemporary British novels of love, romance, and humor from the “high-spirited and inventive” international bestselling author (The Daily Telegraph). The Vacillations of Poppy Carew: Poppy embarks on an exhilarating journey of self-discovery after inheriting her father's fortune. Traveling from England to Africa and back again, she must choose her future from a band of eccentric suitors. Not That Sort of Girl: Rose falls in love with penniless Mylo but trades love for security by marrying wealthy Ned. Although Rose vows to never leave Ned, Mylo is never far from her thoughts. As time carries on she wonders what she'd risk to be with man she loves... Second Fiddle: Forty-ish and fiercely independent, Laura is used to manipulating artistic men, but things change when she meets Claud, a twenty-three-year-old struggling writer. Haunted by a secret that prevents her from committing to a man, Laura must soon confront the one thing she never expected: falling in love.

From the Man Booker Prize–winning author of The Sea, the Sea and “one of the most significant novelists of her generation” (The Guardian). A “consummate storyteller,” British author Iris Murdoch grappled with questions of morality as well as the nature of love in novels that are every bit as entertaining as they are thought provoking (The Independent). Over the span of her career, the “prodigiously inventive” Murdoch was the recipient of the Man Booker Prize, the Whitbread Literary Award, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (The New York Times). A Word Child: Twenty years ago, Hilary Burde was one of the most promising scholars at Oxford, a student with a rare talent for linguistics and an unquenchable drive—until the accident. Now, forty-one and a decidedly ordinary failure, Hilary finds his quietly angry routine shattered when his old professor reappears—a man whose own demons are tied to Hilary's and the tragedy from years ago. As the two men begin to circle each other again, digging up old wrongs and seeking forgiveness for long-buried ills, they find themselves on a path that will either grant them both redemption or end in their mutual destruction. “Marvelous... riveting... fine and elegant.” —Los Angeles Times An Unofficial Rose: Hugh Peronett's life is tinged with regret: Twenty-five years ago, he ended an affair with Emma Sands, a detective novelist who had stolen his heart, to be with his wife, Fanny. Now Fanny is gone, and both Hugh and his grown son, Randall, find themselves at a crossroads of passion and righteousness. As Hugh, Emma, Randall, Randall's wife, Randall's mistress, and several others are caught in a dance of romance and rejection in bucolic rural England, they search for the true meanings of love, companionship, and desire. “[A] Shakespearean comedy of misaligned lovers, minus the spirits and potions. Here the characters are responsible for their own actions, and Murdoch delights in painting these young, middle-aged and elderly adventurers and the psychological processes that direct their actions.” —Publishers Weekly Bruno's Dream: With not much time left to live, Bruno makes a final request to those who care for him: He wishes to see his estranged son, Miles, once more. After decades of broken contact due to Miles marrying a woman Bruno once found unsuitable, the prodigal son returns home—and finds himself confronting much more than a dying man's last demand. As Miles; his wife and his sister-in-law; Bruno's son-in-law, Danby; and Bruno's nurses and aides gather at this deathbed vigil, they become entangled in a web of affairs. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Bruno's Dream explores the turbulent passions and bitter grudges that will change them all—even long after Bruno is gone. “Murdoch is in command of her talents... above all there are the transcending elements of passion and profundity on the subjects of death and love beautifully articulated in dramatic action.” —The New York Times

The New York Times–bestselling “masterpiece” and its haunting sequel, from a British novelist of “visceral power” (Jonathan Coe, The Guardian). “A novelist in the grand tradition,” New York Times–bestselling author Rosamond Lehmann wrote moving and memorable stories about the inner emotional lives of British girls and women (Anita Brookner). Jonathan Coe noted that Lehmann “has every quality that a great writer should possess... [including] an astonishing, unembarrassed emotionality that gives visceral power to her recurring themes—thwarted love, faithlessness, the unbearable sadness of naïve romantic feelings being crushed by the passage of time.” Those themes are explored through the character of Rebecca Landon, who appears as an innocent girl in Lehmann's bestselling The Ballad and the Source, and as an emotionally wounded woman in her sequel, A Sea-Grape Tree, written over thirty years later. The Ballad and the Source: In this New York Times bestseller, when the former best friend of Rebecca Landon's grandmother returns home to England, the ten-year-old girl is enchanted by the elderly woman's magnetic personality and shockingly blunt manner. Rebecca comes to learn that Sibyl Jardine left her husband for another man decades ago, becoming estranged from her daughter and never seeing her grandchildren... until now. Set during the First World War, this “haunting book, expertly handled” follows Rebecca's journey into adolescence and her evolving awareness of the complexity of human behavior and emotions through her friendship with Sibyl (Kirkus Reviews). “[Lehmann] broods delicately and beautifully over the past, turning the gaze inward.” —The New York Times A Sea-Grape Tree: In this lyrical sequel set in 1933, an adult Rebecca has fled to an island in the Caribbean, after a heart-wrenching betrayal by her married lover. There, she meets a colony of expatriates, including a former pilot who was crippled in the war and now lives as a recluse, with whom she begins an affair. But there's yet another presence on the island—the spirit of the complex woman who fascinated Rebecca as a child: Sibyl Jardine. “Full of her sensibility, her funniness, her own particular acumen. It is also beautifully written and devised.” —Elizabeth Jane Howard

Ten years separate these two poignant novels featuring the same young woman, by the New York Times–bestselling “novelist in the grand tradition” (Anita Brookner). British novelist Rosamond Lehmann “has always written brilliantly of women in love” (Margaret Drabble). In her pair of novels featuring Olivia Curtis—a shy, romantic, and hopeful seventeen-year-old looking forward to her first dance, and later, a sadder young woman in her twenties who still longs to capture lost passion—Lehmann creates “a completely compelling intimacy” that lingers long after the stories are over (Hermione Lee, The Guardian). Invitation to the Waltz: Seventeen-year-old Olivia Curtis has been invited to her first dance. She is thrilled and terrified. In her diary, she confides her hopes, doubts, and fears—about her pretty, confident older sister, Kate; her precocious baby brother, James; her eccentric country neighbors; and of course, the upcoming party, which she is sure will be the crowning event of her life. Divided into three parts—Olivia's birthday, the day leading up to the dance, and the event itself—Invitation to the Waltz beautifully captures the conflicting emotions of a teenager on the threshold of womanhood. “Utterly charming and so desperately true that it almost hurts.” —The New York Times The Weather in the Streets: Ten years older with a failed marriage behind her, Olivia runs into Rollo Spencer, her girlhood crush from the ball, on a train, and is swept up in a heated but clandestine affair, since Rollo is married. Lehmann's “honest” and “powerful” novel charts the tempestuous course of Olivia and Rollo's forbidden relationship, from the first throes of passion through the toll of their deception on Olivia as she confronts the harsh reality of being the other woman (Kirkus Reviews). “A vividly realized, painfully convincing story of a love affair, written in Lehmann's characteristic spare, poetic prose.” —Joyce Carol Oates

Four evocative and moving works of fiction set in India from the New York Times–bestselling author of Black Narcissus—including her final novel. Having spent her formative years in colonial India, British novelist Rumer Godden would continue to return to that setting for inspiration throughout her career—from her best known work about five nuns in a Himalayan convent, Black Narcissus, to her final novel, Cromartie vs. the God Shiva. The four novels in this volume each reveal in their own way Godden's “magical skill in conjuring up with a few suggestive details a veritable panorama of Indian life” (The New York Times). And, like all of Godden's fiction, they “have one important thing in common: They are beautifully and simply wrought by a woman of depth and sensitivity” (Los Angeles Times). Cromartie vs. the God Shiva: In Godden's final novel, inspired by a real event, the theft of a precious statuette of the Hindu god Shiva from a hotel in India leads to love, intrigue, death, and legal complications. Even as Sydney Cromartie, the Canadian now in possession of the statue, fights to retain ownership, British barrister Michael Dean is dispatched to Patna Hall on the Coromandel Coast (previously appearing in Godden's Coromandel Sea Change), where everyone is a suspect, including proprietress Auntie Sanni, to solve the mystery. “A complex tale, fraught with mystery... Readers who enjoy far-away cultures will find this tale a treat.” —Library Journal The Lady and the Unicorn: Battling poverty and prejudice, the three “half-caste” daughters of an Englishman and an Indian mother live with their widowed father and “Auntie” in a crumbling mansion in 1930s Calcutta. Tough-minded Belle Lemarchant is determined to improve her lot in life, while her twin, Rosa, looks for escape in romance, and their younger, darker-skinned sibling, Blanche, wanders the halls and grounds, communing with ghosts. A powerful coming-of-age story in a society blinded by caste divisions, Godden's novel is a heartbreaking human drama. “One of the delights of reading a Rumer Godden novel is the magnetic pull of the exotic settings, affecting readers and characters alike.” —Newsday The Peacock Spring: When Una, fifteen, and her twelve-year-old sister, Halcyon, are summoned from their English boarding school to join their diplomat father in New Delhi, they encounter an exotic new world, racial prejudice, and a calculating Eurasian governess, whose relationship with their father seems troubling in its intimacy. When Una becomes friends with Ravi, a young Indian gardener, their forbidden attraction threatens to end in scandal and disaster. “Ms. Godden... has a wonderful way with fictional children, tender and true and never sentimental.” —The New York Times Coromandel Sea Change: With an election coming, business is brisk at Patna Hall, a resort hotel on the lush Coromandel Coast in southern India. Anglo-Indian hotel owner Auntie Sanni has her hands full with Indian politicians, British diplomats, a journalist involved in espionage, a woman of mystery, and an English couple on their honeymoon whose new marriage is strained by their conflicting responses to India. As the nearby Coromandel Sea is teeming with sharks, so is Patna Hall brimming with adultery, blackmail, and intrigue. “[A] sense of timelessness reminiscent of E. M. Forster.” —The Times

Three novels from the “prolific and provocative” British satirist: from the joy of inspiration to the shock of betrayal and the pleasure of vengeance (Time Out). Perhaps best known for her “small, mad masterpiece,” The Life and Loves of a She Devil, Man Booker Prize nominee Fay Weldon has been writing some of the boldest, funniest satirical novels for over half a century (The Washington Post Book World). In her mid-eighties, she's penned a scathing sequel, The Death of a She Devil, “a brilliant black comedy” (The Mail on Sunday). The three volumes collected here—from an epistolary novel inspired by Jane Austen to a widow's discovery of her husband's betrayal and a tale of abandonment that twists into comeuppance—all prove Weldon's wit and insights into the human condition to be as sharp as ever. Letters to Alice: With the dire warning, “You must read, Alice, before it's too late,” Aunt Fay implores her niece to immerse herself in the works of enduring authors. Taking its inspiration from Jane Austen's relationship with her niece, Weldon's epistolary novel explores the literary life, as lived by both Austen and eighteen-year-old Alice, as she struggles with her own writing, school, parents, romance, ambition, and spiky green hair. “Wise, sharp, informative... shrewd and funny.” —The Times Literary Supplement Worst FearsA New York Times Notable Book A darling of the London theater world, Alexandra Ludd is playing Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House when her husband, Ned, former theater critic and stay-at-home father to their young son, Sascha, dies of an apparent heart attack. But when Alexandra returns to their country home, her grief begins to give way to suspicion. Ned didn't keel over in the dining room, as her good friends told her. He died in their bed—and he wasn't alone. What's a widow to do? “This splendid and spiteful novel shows Fay Weldon to be in as fine form as ever.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer The Heart of the Country: When her husband kisses her and their children goodbye, departs for the office, and never returns, Natalie blames herself. Perhaps if she hadn't been cheating on him every Tuesday and Thursday, he wouldn't have left her for his secretary, a local beauty queen. Penniless and soon homeless, Natalie finds herself navigating the heartless labyrinth of the state welfare system. There, she meets Sonia, who offers to shelter Natalie and her children. But Sonia has her own agenda (hint: she's narrating from a mental institution) that will culminate in a monstrous act of vengeance at the town's carnival. “Galloping, good, mean fun.” —Kirkus Reviews

With wicked wit and savage glee, British novelist Fay Weldon “breaks taboos like tape at a marathon” (Los Angeles Times). Perhaps best known for her “small, mad masterpiece,” The Life and Loves of a She Devil, Man Booker Prize nominee Fay Weldon has been writing some of the boldest, funniest satirical novels for over half a century (The Washington Post Book World). In her mid-eighties, she's penned a scathing sequel, The Death of a She Devil, “a brilliant black comedy” (The Mail on Sunday). Weldon's take-no-prisoners milieu is often the war between the sexes; she “[points] up the mad underside of our sexual politics with a venomous accuracy for which wit is far too mild a word” (The New York Times Book Review). The Life and Loves of a She DevilA New York Times Notable Book “With infectious, wicked glee,” Weldon tells the story of Ruth, whose husband, Bobbo, has fallen in love with Mary Fisher, a bestselling romance novelist who lives in a high tower overlooking the sea (Chicago Tribune). Mary is petite, dainty, and lovely. Ruth is not. When Bobbo moves out, Ruth decides to orchestrate an elaborate and masterful revenge. Weldon's “powerfully funny and oddly powerful” novel was made into a film with Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr (The Washington Post Book World). “A scintillating, mind-boggling, vicarious thrill for any reader who has ever fantasized dishing out retribution for one wrong or another.” —The New York Times Book Review The Hearts and Lives of Men: In Weldon's “imaginative work of Dickensian scope” set in 1960s London, Clifford Wexford and Helen Lally meet at a party and fall passionately in love (Los Angeles Times). But their baby, Nell, isn't even a year old when their marriage unravels. Divorce quickly follows, and so begins a battle for Nell's care and affection. Helen remarries; Clifford has affairs—and something quite remarkable happens to little Nell, as an ill-conceived kidnapping plot sets her on a series of picaresque adventures in this modern-day fairy tale. “Wry, gutsy and loaded with fun.” —The New York Times PraxisShortlisted for the Man Booker Prize Praxis Duveen is a survivor. At five years old, in 1920s England, she is still innocent, the product of an unstable mother and a father who abandoned her and Hypatia, her half-crazy sister. As the decades fly by, Praxis experiences many incarnations, from prostitute to rape victim, wife to adulteress, and eventually becomes the accidental leader of an international women's movement. Now, from her dingy basement apartment where she's attempting to write a memoir, Praxis recounts her remarkable journey—peppered with more than a few detours along the way. “Weldon's most directly feminist novel... A narrative that convinces, horrifies, and entertains.” —Library Journal

Two deeply empathetic novels about families in crisis from an international bestselling British writer “with heart, soul, and a dark and a naughty wit” (The Observer). Armistead Maupin says of Patrick Gale: “Few writers have grasped the twisted dynamics of family the way Gale has. There's really no one he can't inhabit, understand, and forgive.” In both the international bestseller, Notes from an Exhibition, and its subtly linked companion novel, A Perfectly Good Man, Gale's generous compassion for his characters and their struggles resonates on every page. Notes from an Exhibition: Gifted painter Rachel Kelly lived a life of manic highs and suicidal lows, which took its toll on her family. After a fatal heart attack in her studio in Penzance, Rachel is honored with a retrospective of her work, attracting art lovers but also stirring up emotional turmoil in her husband and four grown children as they try to come to grips with a legacy of secrets and the devastating effects of her bipolar disorder. Told from the multiple viewpoints of the family members—including Rachel—Gale's compassionately curated novel evolves into “an engrossing portrait of a troubled and remarkable character” (The Mail on Sunday). “A warm, well-written novel about creativity and the perils of living with the creative spirit.” —The Times Literary Supplement A Perfectly Good Man: Barnaby Johnson is a good man, a priest in a West Cornwall parish, beloved and trusted by his community. But when twenty-year-old Lenny Barnes, paralyzed in a rugby accident, commits suicide in his presence, the reverberations shake Barnaby, his family, and his neighbors to the core. Those around him then invite Barnaby's morally repellent nemesis to attempt to bring about his downfall. With several narrators, this “warm and humane... beautifully written” novel confronts profound questions of morality, faith, and consequences (The Times, London). “A moving account of a man's struggle with faith, marriage, and morality.” —The Sunday Times

Three sharply observed novels from the “prodigiously inventive” Man Booker Prize–winning author of The Sea, The Sea (The New York Times). “One of the most significant novelists of her generation” (The Guardian) and a “consummate storyteller” (The Independent), British author Iris Murdoch grappled with questions of morality as well as the nature of love in novels that are every bit as entertaining as they are thought provoking. Over the span of her career, she was the recipient of the Man Booker Prize, the Whitbread Literary Award, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Henry and Cato: Henry Marshalson and Cato Forbes were inseparable childhood friends. But their lives took different paths. Henry went to the United States to teach art history. Cato became a priest. When Henry's brother dies, leaving him sole heir to his family's vast estate, he returns to England, and the two friends reconnect. As Henry struggles to come to terms with his personal passions and family obligations, Cato fights against his religious doubts and darker urges. Soon, both men find themselves entwined in a deadly intrigue that could ruin not only their lives but also the lives of those they hold dear. “Murdoch's finest novel.” —Joyce Carol Oates The Italian Girl: After a long absence, Edmund Narraway has returned to his childhood home to attend his mother's funeral. The visit rekindles feelings of affection and nostalgia, but also triggers a resurgence of the tensions that caused him to leave in the first place. As Edmund once again becomes entangled in his family's web of corrosive secrets, his homecoming tips a precariously balanced dynamic into sudden chaos. “[An] inbred story of modern life... a ritual of innocence and corruption... accomplished with many dark fancies, sudden surprises and arcane implications.” —Kirkus Reviews The Philosopher's Pupil: The quiet English town of Ennistone is shaken up when George McCaffrey's car plunges into the cold waters of a canal, carrying with it his wife—and when the village's most celebrated son, famed philosopher John Robert Rozanov, returns, upending the lives of everyone with whom he comes in contact, in this New York Times Notable Book. “The most daring and original of all her novels.” —A. N. Wilson

Two novels and two collections of poetry, all powerful reflections on the AIDS experience, from the National Book Award–winning author of Becoming a Man. Afterlife: Three men bond after their lovers die of AIDS, all within a week of one another in the same Los Angeles hospital. Each of the men react differently to the situation he's in, but no matter the path each takes, they are all searching for a way to live and love again. Halfway Home: After being diagnosed with AIDS, Tom moves to a California beach house to live out the rest of his life in peace. But the unexpected reappearance of his troubled brother quickly changes everything in this novel about anger, reconciliation, love, and danger. Love Alone: Following his partner Roger Horwitz's death from AIDS in 1986, Paul Monette threw himself into these elegies. Writing them, he says, “quite literally kept me alive.” Both beautifully written and deeply affecting, every poem is full of resentment, sorrow, tenderness, and a palpable sense of grief—but also love. West of Yesterday, East of Summer: This stunning career-spanning collection includes Monette's early work as well as the beautiful and wrenching poems borne out of immense loss. Written with characteristic wit, these poems deftly traverse humor, rage, love, and mourning.

Two family novels from an international bestselling British writer “with heart, soul, and a dark and a naughty wit” (The Observer). Armistead Maupin says of Patrick Gale: “Few writers have grasped the twisted dynamics of family the way Gale has. There's really no one he can't inhabit, understand, and forgive.” In both novels presented in this collection, Gale explores the complex dynamics of family with dead-on observation and generous compassion. A Sweet Obscurity: Dido, a nine-year-old orphan, lives with her aunt Eliza, who adopted the girl after her mother died. A depressed musicologist unable to balance her brilliant academic career with motherhood, Eliza ruined her marriage with an affair. Her estranged husband, Giles, is an opera singer whose girlfriend, Julia, uncovers a shocking secret while concealing one of her own. As Dido shuttles between Eliza's squalid flat and Giles's elegant townhouse, she acts as both tactful diplomat and insightful analyst to the adults who act like children. Until something happens that powerfully impacts her young life. “This is arguably Gale's most questioning, troublesome work. It amuses, startles and occasionally bewilders. A Sweet Obscurity is worth every minute of your time.” —The Independent The Cat Sanctuary: Deborah Curtis's husband, a diplomat in an African principality, was killed by a car bomb, and months later she is still recovering from the assassination. Her estranged sister Judith, an author who lives with her American lover, Joanna, in Cornwall, insists Deborah come to her farmhouse to grieve in peace. But unresolved wounds between the sisters bleed into the present, and a history of abuse comes to light. Forced to confront painful memories, the women's secrets and lies collide in a shattering climax. “A dark tale of loss, sex and mistrust... A sensitive, thoughtful novel with a conclusion that is both unsettling and consistent.” —Time Out London