A magnificent and timely examination of an age of fear, subversion, suppression and espionage, Adam Zamoyski explores the attempts of the governments of Europe to police the world in a struggle against obscure forces, seemingly dedicated to the overthrow of civilisation.
'It's comfort reading at its most soothing' Independent'Funny, heartfelt and very readable' Good HousekeepingIn this reimagined modern classic, prepare to meet a young woman who thinks she knows everything.
A short life of Dickens which celebrates the impact of the theatre on his life and workAcclaimed actor and writer Simon Callow captures the essence of Charles Dickens in a sparkling biography that explores the central importance of the theatre to the life of the greatest storyteller in the English language.
'An absolute belter of a biography' MARINA HYDEA Times Literary Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022An LA Times Best Book of the Year 2022An intimate, revealing and profoundly moving biography of Jean Rhys, acclaimed author of Wide Sargasso Sea.
An intimate portrait of Stephen Spender's extraordinary life written by Matthew Spender, shifting between memoir and biography, with new insights drawn from personal recollections and his father's copious unpublished archives.
Dickens' final novel, left unfinished at his death in 1870, is a mystery story much influenced by the 'Sensation Novel' as written by his friend Wilkie Collins.
This quintessential Christmas tale shows Dickens at his dazzling and provocative best, leaving Scrooge no doubts about the true spirit of Christmas, nor about the perils of ignoring the insistent ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Yet to Come.
The novel that launched Dickens as an international celebrity, The Pickwick Papers is a loose collection of Samuel Pickwick's adventures with his friends, and became a serialisation phenomenon upon its release.
Its genesis a real attack on the Greenwich Observatory in 1894, Conrad's novel offers an ironic meditation not only on anarchy and revolution, with all the deception and intrigue they imply, but also on loyalty - to friends and family, to country and ideals.
Hardy's favourite of his own novels; a powerful work with brooding sexual undertones, ahead of its time in addressing themes of divorce, social inequality and land tenure.
Hardy's classic 'pastoral tale' of wilful and capricious Bathsheba Everdene and her three suitors, the faithful shepherd, the lonely widower and the dashing but faithless soldier.
Swift's scornful satire, written "e;to vex the world rather than divert it"e;, takes a caustic look at those most contemporary concerns irrational prejudice, social inequality, ivory tower elitism and the correct way to open a boiled egg.
Set in the 12th century, during the reign of Richard the Lionheart, Ivanhoe tells of the love of Wilfred of Ivanhoe for the Lady Rowena, his father Cedric's ward.
The story of weaver Silas Marner, wrongly cast out of his religious community, who finds a reason for living when, one winter night, a little girl wanders into his cottage out of the snow.
'Now he found out a new thing - namely, that to promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing.
