Literature

From 1892, when he was eighteen, until 1949, when this book was first published, Somerset Maugham kept a notebook. It is without doubt one of his most important works. Part autobiographical, part confessional, packed with observations, confidences, experiments and jottings it is a rich and exhilarating admission into this great writer's workshop.

Jan Jacob Slauerhoff (1898-1936) was a ship's doctor serving in south-east Asia, and is one of the most important twentieth-century Dutch-language writers. His 1934 novel Adrift in the Middle Kingdom (Het leven op aarde), is an epic sweep of narrative that takes the reader from 1920s Shanghai to a forgotten city beyond the Great Wall of China. Slauerhoff's narrator is a Belfast ship's radio operator, desperate to escape the sea, who travels inland on a gun-runner's mission. He moves through extraordinary settings of opium salons, the house of a Cantonese watch-mender, the siege of Shanghai, the great flood on the western plains, and the discovery of oil by the uncomprehending overlord in the hidden city of Chungking. The fantasy ending transforms the novel from travelogue and adventure to existential meditation. But running like a thread of darkness through the story is opium, from poppy head harvesting to death through addiction. This translation by David McKay, winner of the 2018 Vondel Prize, is the first English edition of Slauerhoff's most accessible and enthralling novel. The Introduction is by Slauerhoff expert Arie Pos and Wendy Gan of the University of Hong Kong.

Take a journey to a vanished world with the ADVENTURES IN TIME series - stories so exciting you won't believe they're all true 'His mind was clear. It was time to go east. Time to march into Asia, to confront the Persians and to meet his destiny...'Alexander has one, wild dream: to rule the world. And with his childhood friends and his beloved horse Bucephalas, he sets out from his home in Ancient Greece to do just that. With historian Dominic Sandbrook as our guide, join Alexander on his incredible journey through the deserts of Egypt and over the snow-capped mountains of Persia all the way to India, defeating all who stand in his way. For anything is possible with the help of the gods... The Adventures in Time series brings the past alive for twenty-first century children. These stories are every bit as exciting as those of Harry Potter or Matilda Wormwood. The only difference is they actually happened...

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.' Living in Ancient Greece in the 5th Century BC, Aesop was said to be a slave and story-teller. His much-loved, enduring fables are revered the world over and remain popular as moral tales for children. With infamous vignettes, such as the race between the hare and the tortoise, the vain jackdaw, and the wolf in sheep's clothing, the themes of the fables remain as fresh today as when they were first told and give an insight into the Ancient Greek world.

The original Aesop Fables, introduced by award-winning author Marcus Sedgwick. Over two hundred familiar tales from 'Look Before You Leap' and 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' to much less familiar tales, each with its own sharply pointed moral. Puffin Classics come with additional end material including author profile, things to think about and do, a glossary, and more.

Jane Hirshfield is a visionary American writer whose poems ask nothing less than what it is to be human. Both sensual meditations and passionate investigations, they reveal complex truths in language luminous and precise. Rooted in the living world, her poems celebrate and elucidate a hard-won affirmation of our human fate. Born of a rigorous questioning of heart, spirit and mind, they have become indispensable to many American readers in navigating their own lives.

While he was still a little boy, Ilyas was stolen from his parents by the German colonial troops. After years away, fighting in a war against his own people, he returns to his village to find his parents gone, and his sister Afiya given away.

Another young man returns at the same time. Hamza was not stolen for the war, but sold into it; he has grown up at the right hand of an officer whose protection has marked him life. With nothing but the clothes on his back, he seeks only work and security - and the love of the beautiful Afiya.

As fate knots these young people together, as they live and work and fall in love, the shadow of a new war on another continent lengthens and darkens, ready to snatch them up and carry them away.

'Beautifully written. Clever, lively, funny, compelling' NINA STIBBE'Funny, heartbreaking, achingly real. Gorgeous. I absolutely loved it' JANE FALLON'Beautifully written, funny, heart-breaking and always wise. A proper treat' DAILY MAIL'An entertaining, growingly poignant contemporary tale' SUNDAY TIMES'No other author marries heartbreak and hilarity so seamlessly' MAIL ON SUNDAY'Marian's mastery of story and character is as impressive as ever' HEAT 'BOOK OF THE YEAR'______Losing the love of your life once is tragic. TWICE looks like carelessness . . . Rachel Walsh is a survivor: she survived rehab and the loss of her greatest love. These days everything in her life is good - good job, good dog, very good boyfriend. Then Luke - her ex of six years - shows up. Suddenly she's fragile and falling. They ended badly and neither can speak of the secret hurt which drove them apart. But is it fear of what happened? Or what might happen next?______**THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS AUTHOR OF THE YEAR 2022**Why readers LOVE Again, Rachel!'This is Marian's most moving, emotive and brilliantly written book yet. Just wonderful' 5* Reader Review'Again, Rachel has all the ingredients that make Marian's books so uniquely special - warmth, humour, sadness and depth. It's absolutely perfect' 5* Reader Review'Marian Keyes is just the most talented writer. I adore her, and this book is a pinnacle. It left me sobbing with its beauty, and minutes later laughing out loud at the wit and wry humour of the deeply flawed and deeply human characters' 5* Reader Review'I devoured this book and lost myself in the characters that Marian makes so accessible, easy to identify with and so perfectly flawed' 5* Reader Review 'I laughed, I cried, I obsessed and now I'm going to have to read it again because I can't bear to leave the characters behind. Wonderful!' 5* Reader Review

Even though Agatha Raisin loathes Christmas panto, her friend Mrs Bloxby, the vicar's wife, has persuaded her to support the local am dram society in their festive offering. Stifling a yawn at the production of Babes in the Wood, Agatha watches the baker playing an ogre strut and threaten on stage until a trapdoor opens... followed by a scream and silence!Surely this wasn't the way the scene was rehearsed? When it turns out the local baker had been murdered most horribly, Agatha puts her team of detectives on the case. And they soon discover more feuds and temperamental behaviour in amateur dramatics than in a professional stage show - and face more and more danger as Agatha and her team get too close to the killer...