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HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. "That these man-like creatures were in truth only bestial monsters, mere grotesque travesties of men, filled me with a vague uncertainty of their possibilities far worse than any definite fear." Edward Prendick, the sole survivor of a shipwreck in the South Pacific, is set ashore on an island where he meets the mysterious Doctor Moreau. Horrified by the discovery that Moreau is performing vivisection on animals to form monstrous human hybrids, Prendick flees into the jungle. But he soon realises that the island is populated with Moreau's terrible creations, and not all are divested of their savage habits . . . H. G. Wells pioneered ideas of society, science and progress in his works, which are now considered modern classics. Written in 1896, The Island of Doctor Moreau is an imaginative exploration of the nature of cruelty and what it means to be human.

With an Introduction and Notes by Dr Emily Alder, Lecturer in Literature and Culture at Edinburgh Napier University'Each time I dip a living creature into the bath of burning pain, I say: this time I will burn out all the animal, this time I will make a rational creature of my own!' declares Doctor Moreau to hapless narrator Edward Prendick. Moreau's highly controversial methods and ambitions conflict with the religious, moral and scientific norms of his day and Wells later called The Island of Doctor Moreau 'a youthful exercise in blasphemy'. Today his vivid depictions of the Beast People still strike modern readers with an uncanny glimpse of the animal in the human, while the behaviour of humans leave us wondering who is the most monstrous after all. This volume unites four of Wells' liveliest and most engaging tales of the strange evolution and behaviour of animals - including human beings. The Island of Doctor Moreau is followed by three fantastic yet chillingly plausible short stories of human-animal encounters. The Empire of the Ants is a darkly humorous account of intelligent Amazonian ants threatening to displace humans as 'the lords of the future and masters of the earth'. In The Sea Raiders, the south coast of England is terrorized by an unwelcome visit from deep-sea predator Haploteuthis ferox, while AEpyornis Island provides a marooned egg collector with an unusual companion.

'Wilson's memoir is essential reading for anyone who wants to experience and understand the unique comfort that Austen's works universally provide.' NATALIE JENNER (author of The Jane Austen Society)At 70, Ruth Wilson began to have recurring dreams about losing her voice. As she grappled with feelings of unfathomable sadness, she made the radical decision to retreat from her conventional life with her husband to a small sunshine-yellow cottage in the countryside where she lived alone for the following ten years. From the moment she first encountered Pride and Prejudice in the 1940s she had looked to Jane Austen's heroines as her models for the sort of woman she wanted to become. She resolved to re-read Austen's six novels; to reflect on her life in relation to what she discovered in each of them. And as Ruth read between the lines of both the novels and her own life, she began to reclaim her voice. A life-affirming memoir of love, self-acceptance and the curative power of reading, The Jane Austen Remedy is an inspirational account of the lessons learned from Jane Austen over nine decades, as well as a timely reminder that it's never too late to seize a second chance.

From internationally bestselling author Isabel Allende comes an exquisitely crafted, multigenerational love story. In 1939, as Poland falls under the shadow of the Nazis and the world goes to war, young Alma Belasco's parents send her overseas to live with an aunt and uncle in their opulent San Francisco mansion. There she meets Ichimei Fukuda, the son of the family's Japanese gardener, and between them a tender love blossoms, but following Pearl Harbor the two are cruelly pulled apart. Throughout their lifetimes, Alma and Ichimei reunite again and again, but theirs is a love they are forever forced to hide from the world. Decades later, Alma is nearing the end of her long and eventful life. Irina Bazili, a care worker struggling to reconcile her own troubled past, meets the older woman and her grandson, Seth, at Lark House nursing home. As Irina and Seth forge a friendship, they become intrigued by a series of mysterious gifts and letters sent to Alma, and learn about Ichimei and this extraordinary secret passion that has endured for nearly seventy years.

This outstanding collection of short stories showcases all the writing skill that has made Jo Nesbo the undisputed 'king of all crime writers' (Daily Express) and a repeat Sunday Times #1 bestseller. Filled with dark intrigue, twists and unforgettable characters, these page-turners will have you reading late into the night. PRAISE FOR JO NESBO:'The Kingdom is a stunning novel from a storyteller with few equals' Daily Express'Fast-moving...

Someone has seized the fabled Jewel of Seven Stars from the mummy's grip, and the ancient Egyptian queen Tera has risen from her tomb to take it back—at any cost! This thrilling tale of adventure and ritual magic recounts a supernatural struggle in which archeologists, grave robbers, and anyone else who attempts to possess the Jewel meet a mysterious, violent fate. Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, wrote this enthralling novel of possession, reincarnation, and an ancient curse at the peak of the Victorian fascination with Egyptology. His spellbinding blend of Eastern lore and classic horror fiction formed the template for the plots of dozens of mummy movies. This edition features the original ending as it appeared in the 1903 publication, a gripping conclusion that was censored in subsequent printings and long unavailable.

A Jewish girl suffers from anti-Semitic sentiments in the Iraq of the past century. A Kurdish girl finds her diary over sixty years later. What connects them? Rahila grows up under the growing anti-Semitic threats of the 1940’s and loses her family and most people around her to the pull of Zionism and the state of Israel. She herself marries a Muslim, converts to Islam and stays in Iraq. Zara is part of the Arab Spring movement in Kurdistan and struggles to come to terms with her new-found, Jewish roots. She finds she is not the only one whose long forgotten past is looming heavily over her present and future. Two women, living in two different eras, play the main parts in Judit Neurink’s novel situated in Iraq. Neurink, who lived in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for over ten years, brings to life the past Iraq has chosen to forget, of the Jews who for centuries made up the fabric of the society. Using the stories of two strong women, she draws the pictures of Iraqi, Kurdish and Jewish families struggling to survive in a changing and often hostile world. The Jewish Bride covers a chapter in Iraq’s history that is absent in what is taught in Iraqi schools and universities. While Jewish buildings and quarters have crumbled and all but disappeared, the knowledge about how Jews, Muslims and Christians used to live together in Iraq seems doomed to perish with the older generation. By telling these stories and mixing them with fiction, Neurink has made this lost past come alive again. The Jewish Bride is a powerful story that will touch and move readers from all over the world.

This "healing" book plunges the reader in a world full of sea, colours, light and cool breeze that portray the many facets of Greek life, and at the same time gives simple, every day, apparently unimportant facts their real value. "Whoever derives pleasure from small things always wins the lottery in life", says the aged heroine who, born in the midst of the Smyrna Disaster of 1922, was rescued from the flames and brought to live in one of the Aegean islands where she found a second home and a loving family. As she spins out for us the difficulties she has had to face in her life, she initiates us to the most difficult art of all, the art of living. A precious initiation in our times of stress and alienation

Theseus is the grandson of the King of Troizen, but his paternity is shrouded in mystery - can he really be the son of the god Poseidon? When he discovers his father's sword beneath a rock, his mother must reveal his true identity: Theseus is the son of Aegeus, King of Athens, and is his only heir. So begins Theseus's perilous journey to his father's palace to claim his birth right, escaping bandits and ritual king sacrifice in Eleusis, to slaying the Minotaur in Crete. Renault reimagines the Theseus myth, creating an original, exciting story.