Biographical fiction Books

'Virginia Woolf wanted to write about the vast unknown uncertain continent that is the world and us in it' Jeanette Winterson, from her introduction to The Waves 'Virginia Woolf wanted to write...

Poet and translator Steve Ellis completes his new version of Dante's Divine Comedy, the astonishing epic that has shaped art and culture since the 14th century Discover this fresh, pacy, modern...

Dark and whimsical tales from one of Japan's most beloved early twentieth-century writers Japanese fairy tales - enchanting, enigmatic stories of animals, human beings and the great natural world. ...

Funny, irreverent and full of joy, this is the perfect book to accompany you on holiday - a celebration of escaping the everyday WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BRENDA BOWEN Mrs Wilkins and Mrs Arbuthnot,...

VINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful A beautiful hardback edition of the most famous anti-war novel ever written, translated by Brian Murdoch. 'A necessary, shattering read' Irish...

A whirlwind of comic genius and moving poignancy following the rise and fall of one small, outrageous man, from the Czech Republic's master storyteller. 'Our very best writer today' Milan Kundera ...

Discover the mesmerizing tale of two personalities in a war over the soul of one man. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a tale of Victorian horror. The personalities of the pleasant Dr...

A pitch perfect encapsulation of one young woman's quest for self-knowledge, as she travels abroad and tests the limits of her newfound adulthood The new novel from the bestselling author of The...

A woman is unnerved when a sinister package arrives in the post - containing her old diary entries. Strange and gripping, this is the unmistakable work of Marlen Haushofer, mistress of sustained...

A sweeping novel about the extraordinary woman who captured Napoleon's heart, created a dynasty, and changed the course of history--from the New York Times bestselling author of Sisi. A sweeping...

The daring and electrifying book that inspired one of the most notorious films ever made 'What we were after was lashings of ultraviolence' In this nightmare vision of youth in revolt,...

New edition of the Penguin Essential of the best satire ever written 'His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as a mausoleum. During the night, too, he'd...

July 2005 sees a major relaunch of Chandler's Philip Marlowe series to tie in with Harrogate Crime Festival. Her name is Orfamay Quest and she's come all the way from Manhattan, Kansas, to find her...

More than 200 years after it was first published, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has stood the test of time as a gothic masterpiece-a classic work of horror that blurs the line between man and monster. ...

Cather's masterpiece of life, death and faith in New Mexico, new to Modern Classics Two French priests, friends since childhood, are sent to the newly created diocese of New Mexico. Life there is...

Mitford's beloved novel published as a Penguin Essential for the first time 'Obsessed with sex!' said Jassy, 'there's nobody so obsessed as you, Linda. Why if I so much as look at a picture you say...

A major celebration of the French short story, spanning three centuries The short story has a rich tradition in French literature. This feast of an anthology celebrates its most famous...

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this...

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this...

The new paperback series: Penguin English Library 'Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out...

Twenty new titles in the much-loved and hugely successful Penguin English Library series 'All children, except one, grow up.' It was Friday night. Mr and Mrs Darling were dining out. Nana had been...

Penguin Classics relaunch The work of a young novelist at the height of his powers, NICHOLAS NICKLEBY is one of the touchstones of the English comic novel. Around the central story of Nicholas...

Henry James's masterpiece, now available in a delightful new clothbound edition When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy Aunt Touchett, it is expected...

Forster's story of Anglo-Indian society under the Raj, published as a Penguin Essential for the first time When Adela and her elderly companion Mrs Moore arrive in the Indian town of Chandrapore,...

Virginia Woolf's pioneering novel about a time-traveling sixteenth-century nobleman who wakes up in the body of a woman, with a new foreword by Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a...

Penguin Classics relaunch. Laurence Sterne's great masterpiece of bawdy humour and rich satire defies any attempt to categorize it. Part novel, part digression, its gloriously disordered narrative...

Kipling's masterpiece about a boy's journey through imperial India, edited by Harish Trivedi Kipling's epic rendition of the imperial experience in India is also his greatest long work. Two men -...

A new selection and translation of the best of de Maupassant's short stories Set in the Paris of society women, prostitutes and small-minded bourgeousie, and the isolated villages of rural Normandy...

This edition is based on the first one-volume publication of Barnaby Rudge, reproducing all the original illustrations. Appendices include a map of London at the time of the Gordon Riots and the...

A new collection of Rudyard Kipling's short stories, selected and edited by Jan Montefiore Rudyard Kipling is one of the most magical storytellers in the English language. This new selection brings...

Revolutionary Road is an American classic and has been made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, released in 2009. Hailed as a masterpiece from its first...

The complete novels of one of the greatest German writers of all time, collected together in one edition The complete novels of one of the greatest German writers of all time, collected together in...

'You don't analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour.' Stephen Fry 'A comic master' David Walliams 'Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale . . . A world for us to...

With a new introduction by Emma Larkin Set in the days of the Empire, with the British ruling in Burma, Burmese Days describes both indigenous corruption and Imperial bigotry, when 'after all,...

An edition of Sterne's gloriously warm-hearted pastiche of travel-writing When Yorick, the roving narrator of Sterne's innovative final novel, sets off for France on a whim, he produces no ordinary...

This volume includes Family Happiness; The Kreutzer Sonata; The Devil and Father Sergius. The four stories are all about love, but they take very different attitudes towards it. Tolstoy knows that...

Carpenter Adam Bede is in love with the beautiful Hetty Sorrel, but unknown to him, he has a rival, in the local squire's son Arthur Donnithorne. Hetty is soon attracted by Arthur's seductive charm...

This is the fifth volume of Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire Engaged to the ambitious and self-serving Adolphus Crosbie, Lily Dale is devastated when he jilts her for the aristocratic Lady...

Penguin Classics relaunch The hero of Charlotte Bronte's first novel escapes a dreary clerkship in industrial Yorkshire by taking a job as a teacher in Belgium. There, however, his entanglement with...

After INFERNO and PURGATORIO, here is the last cantica (part) of the Divine Comedy, in a new translation by acclaimed translator Robin Kirkpatrick Having plunged to the uttermost depths of Hell and...

New translation by Roger Whitehouse for this tale of murder, passion, and possession La Bete humaine (1890), the seventeenth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series, is one of Zola's most violent and...

A collection of eight of Chekhov's finest early stories. This collection of Chekhov's finest early writing reveals a young writer mastering the art of the short story. 'The Steppe', which...

'One of the most compelling and influential works of English literature in the last century' - Independent WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY TIM BUTCHER The silence of the jungle is broken only by the...

'I love Melville' Donna Tartt 'The ultimate fish story' Bob Dylan 'The ultimate fish story' Bob Dylan When Ishmael sets sail on the whaling ship Pequod one cold Christmas Day, he has no idea of...

'Hemingway's style is a superb vehicle for revealing tenderness of feeling beneath descriptions of brutality' Guardian The Essential Hemingway brings together a wide selection of Hemingway's works,...

ONE OF FIVE NEW VINTAGE FUTURE CLASSIC READING GUIDE EDITIONS INCLUDES A READING GUIDE Toru Okada's cat has disappeared and this has unsettled his wife, who is herself growing more distant every...

This indispensable translation is as close to the original as it is possible to get while at the same time being a clear and fluid translation 'If you've never read it, now is the moment. This...

The first modern dystopian novel which inspired both Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World Special futuristic 3D cover edition! Comes with 3D glasses! As relevant today as when it was first...