Novel

The much anticipated prequel to bestseller Wool that takes us back to the beginnings of the silo. In a future less than fifty years away, the world is still as we know it. Time continues to tick by. The truth is that it is ticking away. A powerful few know what lies ahead. They are preparing for it. They are trying to protect us. They are setting us on a path from which we can never return. A path that will lead to destruction; a path that will take us below ground. The history of the silo is about to be written. Our future is about to begin. ________________'We have been mesmerised with Hugh Howey's silo stories since we first laid eyes on book one in the trilogy...' Grazia Daily'An epic feat of imagination. You will live in this world.' Justin Cronin

Selected and Introduced by David Stuart Davies. Short Stories from the Nineteenth Century is a wonderful collection of classic stories specially selected and introduced by David Stuart Davies. These are tales from the golden age of the great storytellers presenting evocative snapshots from that bygone era while at the same time providing engaging entertainment and stimulation for the modern reader. All emotions are catered for in the offerings by Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, H.G.Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Mrs Gaskell, O Henry, Anthony Trollope, Thomas Hardy, Wilkie Collins, Guy de Maupassant, Anton Chekhov, Charlotte Perkins Gillman and Charles Lamb. Through their words the rich pageant of yesterday springs to vibrant life. Each story has its own introduction and there is a set of informative notes. This volume is ideal reading for the student as well as those who relish a good tale well told.

To live with the Skiathans is to know them, for they hide nothing and are quite generous with themselves. The sketches in this book are an attempt to capture the spirit of this ancient people living on this small island in the modern world. "Strong, sturdy, hard working, optimistic, religious, and capable of enduring hardships after millennia of occupation and foreign rule, like most people on the planet, Skiathans love, they hate, they dream, they compete, they help each other, they have talents and frailties, they join together in sorrow and celebration. In short, they have all of those qualities which we think of as human, except Skiathans have few pretensions. Fashion is not an issue. Clothes are casual and practical. Produce, meat, and fish are an issue. They must be fresh. Class is not a concern. On a small island everyone grew up with everyone else and they all depend on each other for survival, the great equalizer. The police are present but not intrusive, in fact they are quite helpful and understanding. In the winter they look away while the people all become scofflaws. But it’s their island and they’ll manage it their way. Everyone has patience with everyone else. You might sit in your car for a minute while a car and a motorbike in front of you are having a conversation blocking your way, but you don’t honk your horn or complain. No stress. Greeks eat more, smoke more, and drink more but live longer than any other citizens of the European Union. They also work harder and longer hours than the others, but they also party harder and are fully capable of celebrating like children. Just as when you peel the layers of an onion you get more onion, so as you peel back the centuries, one suspects the people on this island have essentially been the same for two millennia. Substituting the Most Holy Virgin for Dionysus, and motorbikes for donkeys, the people seem to know where they’re going. It’s quite simple. Because since at least 34 BC it has ever been thus."

John Sturrock's acclaimed new translation of Sodom and Gomorrah will introduce a new generation of American readers to the literary riches of Proust. The fourth volume in this superb edition of In Search of Lost Time--the first completely new translation of Proust's masterpiece since the 1920s--brings us a more comic and lucid prose than English readers have previously been able to enjoy. Sodom and Gomorrah takes up the theme of homosexual love, male and female, and dwells on how destructive sexual jealousy can be for those who suffer it. Proust's novel is also an unforgiving analysis of both the decadent high society of Paris and the rise of a philistine bourgeoisie that is on the way to supplanting it. Characters who had lesser roles in earlier volumes now reappear in a different light and take center stage, notably Albertine, with whom the narrator believes he is in love, and the insanely haughty Baron de Charlus.

As the youngest student to be admitted to Bergen's prestigious Writing Academy, Karl Ove arrives full of excitement and writerly aspirations.

Soon though, he is stripped of his youthful illusions. His writing is revealed to be puerile and clichéd, and his social efforts are a dismal failure. He drowns his shame in drink and rock music.

Then, little by little, things begin to change. He falls in love, gives up writing and the beginnings of an adult life take shape. That is, until his self-destructive binges and the irresistible lure of the writer's struggle pull him back.

In this latest instalment of the My Struggle cycle, Knausgaard writes with unflinching honesty to deliver the full drama of everyday life.

This classic collection of stories moves from England, France and Spain to the silver sands of the South Pacific. It includes the famous story "Rain", the tragedy of a narrow-minded and overzealous missionary and a prostitute, and "The Three Fat Women of Antibes", an extravagantly sardonic tale of abstention and greed, as well as a host of other brilliant tales.

The stories in this collection move from Malaya to America and England, and include some of Maugham's most famous tales; 'Flotsam and Jetsam', the story of an old woman trapped for years in a loveless marriage in the remote rubber plantations; 'The Man with the Scar', and notably the opening story 'The Vessel of Wrath', a tale of the unexpected love that grows between a devout missionary nurse and a drunken reprobate. In this second volume of his collected stories, Maugham illustrates his characteristic wry perception of human foibles and his genius for evoking compelling drama from an acute sense of time and place.

The third volume of Somerset Maugham's "Collected Short Stories", introduced by the author, contains the celebrated series about Ashenden, a secret service agent in World War I. Based on Maugham's own experiences with the British Intelligence service in Switzerland, the stories are vignettes in which he dramatises both the romance and absurdity of espionage as well as its ruthlessness and brutality. Accountable only to 'R', Ashenden travels all over the Continent on assignments which entangle him with such characters as the traitor Grantley Caypor, the passionate Guilia Lazzari, and the sinister 'hairless Mexican'.

A collection of Terry Wogan's best TELEGRAPH columns, with his trademark wry take on life. 'It's my feeling that whatever's bothering you, you ought to be able to say it in less than 500 words. The rest is window-dressing ...Probably explains why I didn't write WAR AND PEACE...' Sir Terry Wogan has been busy over the past 10 years writing his ever-popular SUNDAY TELEGRAPH column. In this first collection of the very best of his weekly musings, Terry delivers his distinctively dry and amusing views on life. From the disappointment of the declining years, the ubiquity of TV cooks ('Nowadays, you can't throw a stone in a country road without hitting a television chef, in full colour'), to vanity and those little daily annoyances that drive you to drink, he never fails to entertain. Terry's modern grumbles, gentle social commentary and witty observations make for a delightful assortment of reading. Charming and wry, with not a hint of lickspittle, this is WOGAN'S WORLD at its most entertaining.

Veteran travel writer Eric Newby has a massive following and is cherished as the forefather of the modern comic travel book. However, less known are his adventures during the years he spent as an apprentice and commercial buyer in the improbable trade of women's fashion. From his repatriation as a prisoner of war in 1945 to his writing of the bestselling 'A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush' in 1956, Eric Newby's years as a commercial traveller in the world of haute couture were as full of adventure and oddity as any during his time as travel editor for the Observer.

'Something Wholesale' is Newby's hilarious and wonderfully chaotic tale of the disorder that was his life as an apprentice to the family garment firm of Lane and Newby, including hilariously recounted escapades with sudden-onset wool allergies, waist-deep predicaments in tissue paper and the soul-destroying task of matching buttons. In addition to the charming chaos of his work in the family business, it is also a warm and loving portrait of his father, a delightfully eccentric gentleman who managed to spend more energy avoiding and actively participating in disasters than he did in preserving his business. With its quick wit, self-deprecating charm and splendidly fascinating detail, this is vintage Newby - only with a garment bag in place of a well-worn suitcase.