Vintage Quarterbound Classics – serie

A beautiful hardback edition of Angela Carter's feminist retelling of fairy tales - masterful, seductive and luminous. From familiar fairy tales and legends - Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Puss in Boots, Beauty and the Beast, vampires and werewolves - Angela Carter has created an absorbing collection of dark, sensual, fantastic stories.'Magnificent set pieces of fastidious sensuality' Ian McEwan'A quirky, original, and baroque stylist' Margaret AtwoodVINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautifulINTRODUCED BY HELEN SIMPSON

A remote house on the marsh. A woman in black who never leaves.Arthur Kipps is sent to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the reclusive owner of Eel Marsh House. The house stands isolated at the end of a causeway, cut off by tide and fog, its windows staring across empty marshland.At the funeral, Kipps glimpses a wasted woman dressed entirely in black. No one will acknowledge her. In the village, silence follows her name. As Kipps remains at the house to settle Drablow’s affairs, the atmosphere tightens. Footsteps echo in empty rooms. A child’s cry carries across the marsh.This collection centers on the novella that made Hill’s reputation, a ghost story in which grief becomes vengeance and the past refuses burial. The additional tales deepen that sense of unease, where ordinary lives are unsettled by forces that cannot be reasoned with.'Heartstoppingly chilling' Daily Express'No one chills the heart like Susan Hill' Daily TelegraphVINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful

A beautiful hardback edition of Huxley's inconic dystopian classic, introduced by Yuval Noah Harari'A masterpiece of speculation... As vibrant, fresh, and somehow shocking as it was when I first read it' Margaret Atwood'If you have time for just one book, this would be my top choice' Yuval Noah HarariWelcome to New London. Everybody is happy here.Our perfect society achieves peace and stability by dispensing with monogamy, privacy, money, family and history itself. Now everyone belongs.You can be happy too.All you need to do is take your Soma pills.This is the brave new world of Aldous Huxley's deeply sinister and prophetic novel, a society based on maximum pleasure and complete surveillance - no matter the cost.'Provoking, stimulating, shocking and dazzling' Observer'Such ingenious wit, derisive logic and swiftness of expression' The TimesVintage Quarterbound Classics: Bound to be beautiful

A beautiful hardback edition of the iconic forgotten classic, the story of one man's ordinary, extraordinary life. William Stoner enters the University of Missouri at nineteen to study agriculture. A seminar on English literature changes his life, and he never returns to work on his father's farm. Stoner becomes a teacher. He marries the wrong woman. His life is quiet, and after his death, his colleagues remember him rarely.Yet with truthfulness, compassion and intense power, this novel uncovers a story of universal value - of the conflicts, defeats and victories of the human race that pass unrecorded by history - and in doing so reclaims the significance of an individual life.'A beautiful, sad, utterly convincing account of an entire life' Ian McEwan'A brilliant, beautiful, inexorably sad, wise and elegant novel' Nick Hornby'A terrific novel of echoing sadness' Julian BarnesVINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful

A beautiful hardback edition of Atwood's classic dystopian novel.'As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it' GuardianOffred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead, a religious totalitarian state in what was formerly known as the United States.She is placed in the household of The Commander, Fred Waterford - her assigned name, Offred, means 'of Fred'. She has only one function: to breed.If Offred refuses to enter into sexual servitude to repopulate a devastated world, she will be hanged.Yet even a repressive state cannot eradicate hope and desire. As she recalls her pre-revolution life in flashbacks, Offred must navigate through the terrifying landscape of torture and persecution in the present day, and between two men upon which her future hangs.Masterfully conceived and executed, this haunting vision of the future places Margaret Atwood at the forefront of dystopian fiction.'Fiercely political, yet witting and wise...this novel seems ever more vital in the present day' ObserverVintage Quarterbound Classics: Bound to be beautiful

Cassandra Mortmain lives with her bohemian and impoverished family in a crumbling castle in the middle of nowhere.Her journal records her life with her beautiful, bored sister, Rose, her fading glamorous stepmother, Topaz, her little brother Thomas, and her eccentric novelist father who suffers from a financially crippling writer's block.However, all their lives are turned upside down when the American heirs to the castle arrive and Cassandra finds herself falling in love for the first time.'I know of few novels that inspire as much fierce lifelong affection in their readers' Joanna Trollope**One of the BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World**

Billy Pilgrim - hapless barber's assistant, successful optometrist, alien abductee, senile widower, and soldier - has become unstuck in time.Hiding in the basement of a slaughterhouse in Dresden, with the city and its inhabitants burning above him, he finds himself a survivor of one of the most deadly and destructive battles of the Second World War. From Dresden’s burning city to later life in America, leaping through time and space, Slaughterhouse 5 explores what war does to the mind and why remembering matters.Vintage Quarterbound Classics: Bound to be beautiful.'A book to read and reread. He is a true artist' New York Times'The great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century' George Saunders'A graceful, ferociously humorous, sarcastic and ultimately compassionate parable about man's power for evil and his capacity for grace' Sunday Times

A beautiful hardback edition of the great Japanese classic.'Mishima's greatest novel, and one of the greatest of the past century' The TimesA band of savage thirteen-year-old boys reject the adult world as illusory, hypocritical, and sentimental, and train themselves in a brutal callousness they call 'objectivity'.When the mother of one of them begins an affair with a ship's officer, he and his friends idealise the man at first; but it is not long before they conclude that he is in fact soft and romantic.They regard this disillusionment as an act of betrayal on his part - and the retribution is deliberate and horrifying.A tale of youth and warped masculinity, rediscover the suspenseful and deeply ominous classic with this special edition.Vintage Quarterbound Classics: Bound to be beautiful

A beautiful hardback edition of one of the most subversive anti-war novels ever written - reading Catch-22 is a rite of passage.Set in the closing months of World War II, this is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. His real problem is not the enemy - it is his own army which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. If Yossarian makes any attempts to excuse himself from the perilous missions then he is caught in Catch-22: if he flies he is crazy, and doesn't have to; but if he doesn't want to he must be sane and has to. That's some catch...'The greatest satirical work in the English language' Observer'Wildly original, brutally gruesome, a dazzling performance...it will not be forgotten' New York TimesVINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful

A beautiful hardback edition of the hilarious, dark, ingenious novel that changed the face of British fiction.Choose us. Choose life. Choose mortgage payments; choose washing machines; choose cars; choose sitting oan a couch watching mind-numbing and spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fuckin junk food intae yir mooth. Choose rotting away, pishing and shiteing yersel in a home, a total fuckin embarrassment tae the selfish, fucked-up brats ye've produced.Choose life.'The best book ever written by man or woman... Deserves to sell more copies than the Bible' Rebel Inc'Welsh writes with a skill, wit and compassion that amounts to genius' Sunday TimesVINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful

A beautiful hardback edition of the modern fantasy classic, from the bestselling author of The Starless Sea.'The only response to this novel is simply: wow. It is a breathtaking feat of imagination, a flight of fancy that pulls you in and wraps you up in its spell' The TimesThe circus arrives without warning.It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Against the grey sky the towering tents are striped black and white. A sign hanging upon an iron gates reads:Opens at NightfallCloses at DawnFull of breath-taking amazements, Le Cirque des Rêves seems to cast a spell over all who wander its circular paths. But behind the glittering acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists a fierce competition is underway.Celia and Marco are two young magicians in the Circus, who have been trained since childhood for a deadly duel. With the lives of everyone at the Circus of Dreams at stake, they must test the very limits of the imagination, and of their love.The circus is open.Get ready to enter the fantastical world of the Night Circus.'Lush, evocative, dreamlike...a magical, coming-of-age story' Sunday Times'A beguiling, gripping read... Morgenstern has crafted a thrilling and transporting tale' EconomistVintage Quarterbound Classics: Bound to be beautiful

A beautiful, hardback edition of the iconic crime classic, now a MAJOR NETFLIX SERIES.Tom Ripley wants money, success, and the good life - and he's willing to kill for it.Struggling to stay one step ahead of his creditors, and the law, Ripley leaps at the chance to start afresh on a free trip to Europe. But when his new-found happiness is threatened, his response is as swift as it is shocking.This is the first in Highsmith's classic series featuring the character of Tom Ripley. The Talented Mr Ripley inspired the Academy Award-winning film starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law, and is now a major Netflix series starring Andrew Scott.'The No.1 Greatest Crime Writer' The Times'Ripley, amoral, hedonistic and charming, is a genuinely original creation' Daily Telegraph*One of the BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World.**As seen on Write Around the World with Richard E Grant.*VINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful.

A beautiful hardback edition of Jeanette Winterson's explosive first novel: a gripping coming-of-age story, a queer romance, a modern classic.‘I love her.’‘Then you do not love the Lord.’‘Yes, I love both of them.’‘You cannot.’'I do.''This is the story of Jeanette, born to be one of God's elect: adopted by a fanatical Pentecostal family and ablaze with her own zeal for the scriptures, she seems perfectly suited for the life of a missionary. But then she converts Melanie, and realises she loves this woman almost as much as she loves the Lord. How on Earth could her Church called that passion Unnatural?Both a groundbreaking coming-of-age novel and a pioneering work of autofiction, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit goes beyond facts into the deepest truths. Searing and tender, playful and provocative, it is a portrait of the artist as a young evangelist, re-writing her own Bible.'Witty... extraordinary and exhilarating' The Times'She is a master of her material, a writer in whom great talent abides' Vanity Fair'Many consider her to be the best living writer in this language... In her hands, words are fluid, radiant, humming' Evening StandardVintage Quarterbound Classics: Bound to be beautiful

A beautiful hardback edition of a modern Indian classic and winner of 'The Best of the Booker' - the best novel from Booker Prize history.Born at the stroke of midnight at the exact moment of India's independence, Saleem Sinai is a special child. However, this coincidence of birth has consequences he is not prepared for: telepathic powers connect him with 1,000 other 'midnight's children' all of whom are endowed with unusual gifts. Inextricably linked to his nation, Saleem's story is a whirlwind of disasters and triumphs that mirrors the course of modern India at its most impossible and glorious.'A wonderful, rich and humane novel that is safe to call a classic' GuardianVINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful

A novel built from beginnings...You buy a book called If On A Winter’s Night a Traveller and sit down to read. The story stops mid-sentence. When you find another copy, it contains a different opening. Each attempt to continue leads to a new narrative that breaks off just as it gathers momentum.As the Reader, you set out to track down the missing text. Along the way you encounter Ludmilla, another reader pursuing the same vanished book. What follows is a sequence of interrupted stories: thrillers, romances, political intrigues, each complete in its promise but not in its conclusion.This novel turns reading itself into the central drama. The search for the next chapter becomes the plot. Every ending leads back to another beginning.'Breathtakingly inventive' David Mitchell'A writer of dizzying ambition and variety, each of his stories is a fresh adventure into the possibilities of fiction' GuardianVINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful

A beautiful hardback edition of the Pulitzer-prize winning novel, from the great Toni Morrison.Sethe is now miles away from Sweet Home - the farm where she was kept as a slave for many years. Unable to forget the unspeakable horrors that took place there, Sethe is haunted by the violent spectre of her dead child, the daughter who died nameless and whose tombstone is etched with a single word, 'Beloved'.A tale of brutality, horror and, above all, love at any cost, Beloved is Toni Morrison's enduring masterpiece and best-known work.'An American masterpiece' A. S. Byatt'Toni Morrison was a giant of her times and ours... Beloved is a heartbreaking testimony to the ongoing ravages of slavery, and should be read by all' Margaret Atwood, New York Times**One of the BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World**VINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful

A beautiful hardback edition of the great Italian classic.'Historical fiction at its best' The WeekIt is the spring of 1869 and there is talk of revolution in Sicily.Fabrizio, the charismatic Prince of Salina, still rules over thousands of acres and hundreds of people, including his own numerous family, in mingled splendour and squalor.But then comes Garibaldi's landing on the Scicilian coast.As Garibaldi's forces press inland, the Prince must decide whether to resist the forces of change or come to terms with them.'Every once in a while...one stumbles on a book or a writer, and the impact is like an indelible mark. Lampedusa's The Leopard, his only novel, and a masterpiece, is such a work' Independent'The poetry of Lampedusa's novel flows into the Sicilian countryside...a work of great artistry' Peter AckroydVintage Quarterbound Classics: Bound to be beautiful

A beautiful hardback edition of a Latin American classic - the enthralling saga of three generations of a proud and passionate family, secret loves and violent revolution.'Extraordinary... Powerful... Sharply observant, witty and eloquent' New York TimesAs a girl, Clara del Valle can read fortunes, make objects move as if they had lives of their own, and predict the future.Following the mysterious death of her sister, Rosa the Beautiful, Clara is mute for nine years. When she breaks her silence, it is to announce that she will be married soon to the stern and volatile landowner Esteban Trueba.Set in an unnamed Latin American country over three generations, The House of the Spirits is a magnificent epic reminiscent of the writing of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.'A novel to be read for its brilliant craftsmanship and its narrative of inescapable power' El Pais'Intensely moving. Both entertaining and deeply serious' Evening StandardVintage Quarterbound Classics: Bound to be beautiful