These vivid, tightly focused observations about the life of Dublin's poorer classes originally made publishers uneasy: the stories contain unconventional themes and coarse language, and they mention actual people and places. Today, however, the stories are admired. They are considered to be masterful representations of Dublin done with economy and grace-representations, as Joyce himself once explained, of a chapter in the moral history of Ireland that give the Irish a good look at...
These vivid, tightly focused observations about the life of Dublin's poorer classes originally made publishers uneasy: the stories contain unconventional themes and coarse language, and they mention actual people and places. Today, however, the stories are admired. They are considered to be masterful representations of Dublin done with economy and grace-representations, as Joyce himself once explained, of a chapter in the moral history of Ireland that give the Irish a good look at...
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson libreka classics – These are classics of literary history, reissued and made available to a wide audience. Immerse yourself in well-known and popular titles!
'Introducing this release of The Awakening has given me an opportunity to re-experience one of my life's important books . . . I still marvel at Chopin's realism, her impatience with conventional trappings, her arresting honesty' BARBARA KINGSOLVER 'Incisive, brilliant and haunting' MAGGIE O'FARRELL Over one long, languid summer Edna Pontellier, fettered by marriage and motherhood, becomes acquainted with Robert Lebrun. As the days shorten and the...
The Awakening , originally titled A Solitary Soul, is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle to reconcile her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. It...
Margaret Atwood returns with a shrewd, funny, and insightful retelling of the myth of Odysseus from the point of view of Penelope. Describing her own remarkable vision, the author writes in the foreword, “I’ve chosen to give the telling of the story to Penelope and to the twelve hanged maids. The maids form a chanting and singing Chorus, which focuses on two questions that must pose themselves after any close reading of the Odyssey: What led to the hanging of the maids, and...
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER INTRODUCED BY MOHSIN HAMID 'The most impressive novel I've read for years' PHILIP PULLMAN 'Stunning' DIANA ATHILL In the sweltering summer of 1938 in Portugal, a country under the fascist shadow of Spain, a mysterious young man arrives at the doorstep of Dr Pereira. So begins an unlikely alliance that will result in a devastating act of rebellion. This is Pereira's testimony.
After suffering a catastrophic breakdown, J.J. O'Malley volunteers for a government project exploring the possibility of using coma as a means to keep prisoners under control. Floating in a maintained coma on a prison ship off the west coast of Ireland, his coma goes viral and the nation turns to watch. Brilliantly imagined and artfully constructed – merging science fiction with an affectionate portrait of small town Ireland – Notes from a Coma is a compassionate examination of a man...
Sophie, a twenty-something Jim Morrison groupie gliding through a golden existence in L.A., and Lola, a German immigrant who has settled in Hollywood, know that while Los Angeles is constantly changing, it is essentially eternal. The two women dazzle – one with the promises of youth, the other with the fulfilment of nostalgia – as they wend their way through the pink sunsets and the palm trees of Los Angeles. Living out their addictively decadent lives, Sophie and Lola are cult writer...
When Helen offers her spare room to her old friend Nicola, she has little idea of what lies ahead. Nicola has cancer and, sceptical of the medical establishment, is in the city for a course of alternative treatment. She is determined to deal with her illness in her own way, regardless of the advice that Helen can offer. In the weeks that follow, Nicola’s fight against cancer will turn not only her own life upside down but the lives of everyone around her. Told with humour and honesty, this...
A classic of short fiction, Alan Spence’s celebrated debut collection, first published in 1977, brings Glasgow to vibrant life and captures the spirit of the city as it teetered on the brink of change. From childhood Christmases in small tenement flats and games played on scrubland, to Orange Walks on bright Saturday afternoons and Thursday nights in dark, pulsing dancehalls, these interlinked stories vividly evoke the city and its inhabitants – young and old, Catholic and Protestant, hopeful...