Virago Modern Classics - Böcker

FALL IN LOVE WITH THE NOVEL THAT INSPIRED TAYLOR SWIFT'An unforgettable masterpiece . . . filled with razor-sharp tension, escalating dread, and a twist that chills to the bone' FREIDA MCFADDEN'It's the book every writer wishes they'd written' CLARE MACKINTOSH'The greatest psychological thriller of all time' ERIN KELLY'Rebecca has woven its way into the fabric of our culture with all the troubling power of myth or dream. A stunning book' SARAH PERRY***He did not belong to me at all, he belonged to Rebecca. . .Everyone knows that Maxim de Winter was obsessed with his glamorous wife - and devastated by her tragic death. So when he proposes to a shy, anxious young woman after a whirlwind meeting in the South of France, no one is more surprised than the new bride herself. But when they reach Manderley, his beautiful, isolated Cornish mansion, the second Mrs de Winter begins to realise that every inch of her new home - and everyone in it - still belongs to Rebecca.'The perfect story by the perfect storyteller' JOANNA CANNON'One of my all-time favourites' ERIN MORGENSTERN'Will chill you as much as any thriller' ALICE SLATER'Daphne du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings' STEPHEN KING'She's so deviant. So fascinating' EMERALD FENNELL

NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM starring Lily James, Armie Hammer, Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily Collins. 'The moment I finished this story, I turned to page one and started it over again' MALORIE BLACKMAN'Excellent entertainment . . . du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings' STEPHEN KING'Rebecca is a masterpiece in which du Maurier pulls off several spectacular high-wire acts that many great writers wouldn't attempt' JIM CRACE, GUARDIAN On a trip to the South of France, the shy heroine of Rebecca falls in love with Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower. Although his proposal comes as a surprise, she happily agrees to marry him. But as they arrive at her husband's home, Manderley, a change comes over Maxim, and the young bride is filled with dread. Friendless in the isolated mansion, she realises that she barely knows him. In every corner of every room is the phantom of his beautiful first wife, Rebecca, and the new Mrs de Winter walks in her shadow.Not since Jane Eyre has a heroine faced such difficulty with the other woman. An international bestseller that has never gone out of print, Rebecca is the haunting story of a young girl consumed by love and the struggle to find her identity.'As a new generation of readers are introduced to the wicked housekeeper Mrs Danvers and learn Maxim de Winter's terrible secret, this chilling, suspenseful tale is as fresh and readable as it was when it was first written' DAILY TELEGRAPH

The bestselling book that inspired the cult classic film, Girl, Interrupted, starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie."Not since Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar has a personal account of life in a mental hospital achieved as much popularity and acclaim" TIME "Intelligent and painful" Guardian"Poignant, astonishing memoir" New York TimesIn 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital to be treated for depression. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital renowned for its famous clientele - Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor and Ray Charles.A clear-sighted, unflinching work that provokes questions about our definitions of sane and insane, Kaysen's extraordinary memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers.

This book is the very simple story of the love affair between Miss Helene Hanff of New York and Messrs Marks and Co, sellers of rare and secondhand books, at 84 Charing Cross Road, London'. DAILY TELEGRAPHTold in a series of letters in 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD and then in diary form in the second part THE DUCHESS OF BLOOMSBURY STREET, this true story has touched the hearts of thousands.

DISCOVER THE DU MAURIER DARK ROMANCE COLLECTION'Du Maurier is mistress of the sleight of hand in fiction . . . brilliantly, marvellously chilling' MAGGIE O'FARRELL'Moody and unnerving' GILLIAN FLYNN'Sinuous and undeniably feral' JULIE MYERSON***'Every day, haunted still by doubt, I ask myself a question which I cannot answer. Was Rachel innocent or guilty?'Philip Ashley has been raised by his cousin Ambrose as heir to his beautiful Cornish estate. But this close-knit world is shattered when Ambrose travels to Florence, where he unexpectedly falls in love and marries - only to die of a strange illness. Before long, his beautiful, mysterious widow arrives in England - and despite himself, Philip is caught in her spell. But is Rachel a victim, a saviour - or a murderess?Du Maurier is a storyteller whose sole aim is to bewitch and beguile' NEW YORK TIMES'Du Maurier has no equal' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

ONE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY'S MOST GIFTED AMERICAN WRITERS 'Tillie Olsen's is a unique voice. Few writers have gained such . . . reverence' MARGARET ATWOOD'Almost unbearable in its harsh poetry and bitter fidelity to lives that are now forgotten' ALICE WALKER'There's no diminishing its fierce bloody-and-literal-mindedness' KIRKUS REVIEWS Tillie Olsen carved a permanent place in American literature on the strength of a single book, Tell Me a Riddle in 1962. This collection was widely hailed as a work of genius, in which the voices of ordinary Americans, black and white, male and female, were given their own rhythms and forms of expression.Yonnondio, Olsen's only novel, was begun during the depression and completed in 1974. It tells the story of the Hollbrooks, an itinerant working-class family in America during the thirties. Brutalised by poverty, they struggle to find a space to breathe, to dream and to create a bettter life for their children. Told in compelling, haunting prose, it is a profound and timeless story of the human will to survive.

INTRODUCED BY RACHEL COOKE'Virginia Woolf's roving consciousness lies behind the prose in Novel on Yellow Paper, but the tone owes more to Dorothy Parker . . . When first published in 1936, it overnight turned Smith into a celebrity . . . the subversiveness of this novel has never lost its appeal, its greatness lying in its exuberant celebration of the uncircumscribed spirit' - Frances Spalding, IndependentStevie's alter ego Pompey is young, in love and working as a secretary for the magnificent Sir Phoebus Ullwater. In between making coffee and typing letters for Sir Phoebus, Pompey scribbles down - on yellow office paper - her quirky thoughts. Her flights of imagination take in Euripedes, sex education, Nazi Germany and the Catholic Church, shattering conventions in their wake.

Acerbic, wisecracking and hilarious, this is the definitive essay collection from New York legend and satirist, Fran Lebowitz, star of Martin Scorsese's hit Netflix series, Pretend It's a City.'The gold standard for intelligence, efficiency and humour. Now and forever' DAVID SEDARIS'She's inexhaustible - her personality, her knowledge, her brilliance, most of all her humour' MARTIN SCORSESE'The rare example of a legend living up to her own mythology. She really is THAT funny' HADLEY FREEMANLebowitz turns her trademark caustic wit to the vicissitudes of life - from children ('rarely in the position to lend one a truly interesting sum of money') to landlords ('it is the solemn duty of every landlord to maintain an adequate supply of roaches'). And her attitude to work is the perfect antidote to our exhausting culture of self-betterment ('3.40pm. I consider getting out of bed. I reject the notion as being unduly vigorous. I read and smoke a bit more').The Fran Lebowitz Reader was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 11-06-22

'Absorbing . . . testaments such as Janina Bauman's are important and should never be allowed to fade away. The drama of Anne Frank is rightly always before us but the equally vital stories of those who suffered but survived need to be listened to with just as much attention' MARGARET FORSTER'A profound and moving book which everyone ought to read' ALAN SILLITOE, NEW STATESMANJanina Bauman was a year older than Anne Frank when the Second World War began but, unlike The Diary of Anne Frank, this is a story of survival.When Hitler's decree forced her family into the Warsaw Ghetto, Janina, an intelligent, lively girl, suddenly found herself in a cramped flat hiding with other Jewish families. At first even curfews and the casual cruelty meted out by the German occupiers could not dim her passion for books, boys and romance. Then came the raids, and Janina with her sister and mother, had to keep on the move, hiding in the ruins of the ghetto to avoid being one of thousands rounded up every day and deported to the camps. Their escape to the 'Aryan' side was followed by two years in hiding, taking shelter with those willing to help them and living in constant fear of betrayal.Told through her teenage diaries, giving her story a rare immediacy, this is the extraordinary tale of a passionate young woman's courage and survival.

'As profound as Katherine Mansfield, restrained as Jane Austen, sharp as Dorothy Parker' IndependentINTRODUCED BY NICOLA BEAUMAN The lark rose in the brilliant air, higher, higher on its spun-glass spiral of song, knowing nothing of peace or war, accepting joyously the bounty of another day. A hot summer's day in 1946. The village of Wealding is no longer troubled by distant sirens, yet the rusting coils of barbed wire are a reminder that something, some quality of life, has evaporated. Together again after years of separation, Laura and Stephen Marshall must find their way in an altered, shabbier world. Their rambling garden refuses to be tamed, the house seems perceptibly to crumble. Hour by hour, as the glorious weather holds, the Marshalls and their daughter Victoria are preoccupied by the small pleasures and irritations of everyday life. But alone on a hillside, as evening falls, Laura comes to see how much could have been lost - and how much the future might still hold. Exquisitely written and achingly poignant, One Fine Day is an unforgettable portrait of a world, and a marriage, changed forever by war - perfect for fans of Small Pleasures and A Month in the Country.'This short novel lyrically evokes the effect war has had on a small English village and, in particular, on one marriage . . . Beautifully written, it's a tribute to the women who held everything together as their men marched away' Daily Mail

INTRODUCED BY LAUREN GROFF 'Rumer Godden's novels have a timeless shimmer' GUARDIAN'One hundred years after her birth, Rumer Godden's novels still pulse with life' MATTHEW DENNISON, TELEGRAPH'Her craftsmanship is always sure' NEW YORK TIMES'The motto was Pax but the word was set in a circle of thorns. Peace, but what a strange peace, made of unremitting toil and effort . . .'Bruised by tragedy, Philippa Talbot leaves behind a successful career with the civil service for a new calling: to join an enclosed order of Benedictine nuns. In this small community of fewer than one hundred women, she soon discovers all the human frailties: jealousy, love, despair. But each crisis of heart and conscience is guided by the compassion and intelligence of the Abbess and by the Sisters' shared bond of faith and ritual. Away from the world, and yet at one with it, Philippa must learn to forgive and forget her past . . .A vivid, moving and insightful portrait of religious community, In This House of Brede is one of Godden's very best 'convent novels - from the author of Black Narcissus and The River

INTRODUCED BY STUART EVERS: 'A genuine, fully fledged masterpiece of the twentieth century; one that remains just as terrifyingly relevant and truthful in the twenty-first'An existential, political, literary thriller first published in 1944, Transit explores the plight of the refugee with extraordinary compassion and insight. Having escaped from a Nazi concentration camp in Germany and a work camp in Rouen, the nameless narrator finds himself in the dusty seaport of Marseille. Along the way he was asked to deliver a letter to Weidel, a writer in Paris whom he discovered had killed himself as the Nazis entered the city. Now he is in search of the dead man's wife. He carries Weidel's suitcase, which contains an unfinished novel - and a letter securing Weidel a visa to escape France.Assuming the name Seidler - though the authorities think he is in fact Weidel - he goes from cafe to cafe looking for Marie, who is in turn anxiously searching for her husband. As Seidler converses with refugees over pizza and wine, their stories gradually break down his ennui, bringing him a deeper awareness of the transitory world they inhabit as they wait and wait for that most precious of possessions: transit papers.'This novel, completed in 1942, is in my opinion the most beautiful Seghers has written . . . almost flawless' - Heinrich Boll

'Spellbinding . . . Probably her best fiction' - Sunday TimesThe soldier returns from the front to the three women who love him. His wife, Kitty, with her cold, moonlight beauty, and his devoted cousin Jenny wait in their exquisite home on the crest of the Harrow-weald. Margaret Allington, his first and long-forgotten love, is nearby in the dreary suburb of Wealdstone. But the soldier is shell-shocked and can only remember the Margaret he loved fifteen years before, when he was a young man and she an inn-keeper's daughter. His cousin he remembers only as a childhood playmate; his wife he remembers not at all. The women have a choice - to leave him where he wishes to be, or to 'cure' him. It is Margaret who reveals a love so great that she can make the final sacrifice.Books included in the VMC 40th anniversary series include: Frost in May by Antonia White; The Collected Stories of Grace Paley; Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault; The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter; The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann; Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith; The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West; Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; Heartburn by Nora Ephron; The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy; Memento Mori by Muriel Spark; A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor; and Faces in the Water by Janet Frame

NOW A CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED FILM WITH BAFTA WINNING ACTRESS, JUDY DAVIS 'A splendidly vivid display . . . its sharply detailed, entirely convincing voice' THE TIMES 'An insightful exploration of class, gender and youthful frustration' ANITA SETHI, GUARDIAN'It combines linguistic surprise and inertness in a way possible only to genius' NEW YORK TIMES First published in 1901, this Australian classic recounts the live of sixteen-year-old Sybylla Melvyn. Trapped on her parents' outback farm, she simultaneously loves bush life and hates the physical burdens it imposes. For Sybylla longs for a more refined, aesthetic lifestyle - to read, to think, to sing, but most of all to do great things.Suddenly her life is transformed. Whisked away to live on her grandmother's gracious property, she falls under the eye of the rich and handsome Harry Beecham. And soon she finds herself choosing between everything a conventional life offers and her own plans for a brilliant career.

A tale of love and adventure from the internationally bestselling author of Rebecca. 'She wrote exciting plots . . . a writer of fearless originality' GUARDIAN 'One of the last century's most original literary talents' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'A pure, exhilarating adventure story - a swashbuckling tale of exquisite danger and tangled love' JULIE MYERSON Lady Dona St Columb seems to revel in scandal: she is involved in every intrigue of the Restoration Court. But secretly, the shallowness of Court life disgusts her, and in her heart she longs for freedom and honest love. Retreating to Navron, her husband's Cornish estate, she seeks peace and solitude away from London. But Navron is being used as the base for a French pirate, an outlaw hunted all over Cornwall.Instead of feeling fear, Dona's thirst for adventure has never been more aroused; in Jean-Benoit Aubéry she finds a sensitive man who would, like her, gamble his life for a moment's joy. Together they embark upon a quest rife with danger and glory, one which will force Dona to make the ultimate choice: will she sacrifice her lover to certain death, or risk her own life to save him?

Set in fourth-century B.C. Greece, The Mask of Apollo is narrated by Nikeratos, a tragic actor who takes with him on all his travels a gold mask of Apollo, a relic of the theatre's golden age, which is now past. At first his mascot, the mask gradually becomes his conscience, and he refers to it his gravest decisions, when he finds himself at the centre of a political crisis in which the philosopher Plato is also involved. Much of the action is set in Syracuse, where Plato's friend Dion is trying to persuade the young tyrant Dionysios the Younger to accept the rule of law. Through Nikeratos' eyes, the reader watches as the clash between the two unleashes all the pent-up violence in the city.

THE MOST FAMOUS LESBIAN NOVEL FOR DECADES - AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'The bible of lesbianism' THE TIMES'A beacon for sexual self-discovery' HEPHZIBAH ANDERSON, BBC CULTURE 'One of the first and most influential contributions of gay and lesbian literature' NEW STATESMANA powerful novel of love between women, The Well of Loneliness brought about the most famous legal trial for obscenity in the history of British law. Banned on publication in 1928, it then went on to become a classic bestseller.'What do I care for the world's opinion? What do I care for anything but you!'Stephen Gordon (named by a father desperate for a son) is not like other girls: she hunts, she fences, she reads books, wears trousers and longs to cut her hair. She is an ideal child of aristocratic parents who grows up to be a war hero, a bestselling writer and a loyal, protective lover. But Stephen is a woman, and her lovers are women. In the stifling grandeur of Morton Hall, the locals begin to draw away from her, aware of some indefinable thing that sets her apart. And when Stephen Gordon reaches maturity, she falls passionately in love with another woman. As her ambitions drive and society confines her, Stephen is forced into desperate actions.Introduced by Diana Souhami, author of the acclaimed biography The Trials of Radclyffe Hall.

The daughter of a Welsh gypsy and a crazy bee-keeper, Hazel Woodus is happiest living in her forest cottage in the remote Shropshire hills, at one with the winds and seasons, protector and friend of the wild animals she loves. But Hazel's beauty and innocence prove irresistible to the men in her orbit. Both Jack Reddin, the local squire and Edward Marston, the gentle minister, offer her human -- and carnal -- love. Hazel's fate unfolds as simply and relentlessly as a Greek tragedy as a child of nature is drawn into a world of mortal passion in which she must eternally be a stranger.

BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF BLACK NARCISSUS AND THE RIVER 'One of our best and most captivating novelists' PHILIP HENSHER 'Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy is about growth, choice, struggle, and the freedom of the soul' JOAN CHITTISTER '[Godden's] distinctive, poised and unsentimental books have never lost a shred of their almost hypnotic appeal' ROSIE THOMAS, GUARDIAN The Sisters of Béthanie, a French order of Dominican nuns, dedicate themselves to caring for the outcasts of society - criminals, prostitutes and drug addicts. Lise, an English girl who after the liberation of Paris was employed in one of the city's smartest brothels and rose to become a successful madame, finds herself joining the sisters. An inspiring and entirely convincing conversion story that shows how the mercy of God extends to the darkest human places.Master storyteller, Rumer Godden, weaves a deeply moving tale of Lise's prison sentence, her conversion and the agonising work among women whose traumatic experiences often outstrip even her own.

The third book in the Anne Shirley series. Anne leaves childhood behind as she moves from Green Gables to attend Richmond College. Her new life brings both adventures and tragedy, as well as new friends, including the handsome Roy Gardner. But her childhood friend Gilbert Blythe is also in Redmond, and his feelings for Anne turn from friendship to love...But what does Anne want for her future? This collection of the best in children's literature, curated by Virago, will be coveted by children and adults alike .These are timeless tales with beautiful covers, that will be treasured and shared across the generations. Some titles you will already know; some will be new to you, but there are stories for everyone to love, whatever your age. Our list includes Nina Bawden (Carrie's War, The Peppermint Pig), Rumer Godden (The Dark Horse, An Episode of Sparrows), Joan Aiken (The Serial Garden, The Gift Giving) E. Nesbit (The Psammead Trilogy, The Bastable Trilogy, The Railway Children), Frances Hodgson Burnett (The Little Princess,The Secret Garden) and Susan Coolidge (The What Katy Did Trilogy). Discover Virago Children's Classics.

INTRODUCED BY A.S. BYATT'She is undoubtedly one of the greatest American writers' OBSERVER 'A triumph' HERMIONE LEE 'Willa Cather makes a world which is burningly alive, sometimes lovely, often tragic' HELEN DUMORE On the eve of his move to a new, more desirable residence, Professor Godfrey St Peter finds himself in the shabby study of his former home. Surrounded by the comforting, familiar sights of his past, he surveys his life and the people he has loved: his wife Lillian, his daughters and above all, Tom Outland, his most outstanding student and once, his son-in-law to be. Enigmatic and courageous - and a tragic victim of the Great War - Tom has remained a source of inspiration to the professor. But he has also left behind him a troubling legacy which has brought betrayal and fracture to the women he loves most . . .

Crazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever.In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital to be treated for depression. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital renowned for its famous clientele - Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor and Ray Charles. Unflinchingly honest and darkly funny, this bestselling memoir is a sharply vivid portrait of Susanna's fellow patients, the kaleidoscopically shifting world of the late sixties, and how sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy.'Girl, Interrupted is a beautiful, complex story that truly led the way on opening up a new, brave, nuanced approach to talking about women's mental health. An intense and personal story that taps into a universal truth about how the world responds to complicated young women' SCARLETT CURTIS'Poignant, honest and triumphantly funny . . . A compelling and heartbreaking story' NEW YORK TIMES'Not since Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar has a personal account of life in a mental hospital achieved as much popularity and acclaim' TIME'A cool, elegant and unexpectedly funny memoir' SUNDAY TIMES 'Memorable and stirring' VOGUE

FROM THE BESTSELLING WRITER OF REBECCA'The House on the Strand is prime du Maurier . . . ' NEW YORK TIMES'She wrote exciting plots . . . a writer of fearless originality' GUARDIAN 'No other popular writer has so triumphantly defied classification . . . ' MARGARET FORSTER When Dick Young's friend, Professor Magnus Lane offers him an escape from his troubles in the form of a new drug, Dick finds himself transported to fourteenth-century Cornwall. There, in the manor of Tywardreath, the domain of Sir Henry Champerhoune, he witnesses intrigue, adultery and murder.The more time Dick spends consumed in the past, the more he withdraws from the modern world. With each dose of the drug, his body and mind become addicted to this otherworld and his attempts to change history bring terror to the present and put his own life in jeopardy.

FROM A BESTSELLING AUTHOR With a new introduction by TAYARI JONES, author of An American Marriage'The prose is clear, the plot is page-turning, the characters are utterly believable' CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE'The first book by a black woman to sell more than a million copies' NEW YORK TIMES'My favourite type of novel, literary with an astonishing plot' TAYARI JONESNew York City, 1940s. In a crumbling tenement in Harlem, Lutie Johnson is determined to build a new life for herself and her eight-year-old boy, Bub - a life that she can be proud of. Having left her unreliable husband, Lutie believes that with hard work and resolve, she can begin again; she has faith in the American dream. But in her struggle to earn money and raise her son amid the violence, poverty and racial dissonance of her surroundings, Lutie is soon trapped: she is a woman alone, 'too good-looking to be decent', with predators at every turn.

Before Jackie Collins, Candace Bushnell and Lena Dunham, Jacqueline Susann held the world rapt with her tales of the private passions of Hollywood starlets, high-powered industrialists and the jet-set.Valley of the Dolls took the world by storm when it was first published, fifty years ago. Never had a book been so frank about sex, drugs and show business. It is often sited as the bestselling novel of all time.Dolls - red or black; capsules or tablets; washed down with vodka or swallowed straight. For Anne, Neely and Jennifer, it doesn't matter, as long as the pill bottle is within easy reach. These three beautiful women become best friends when they are young and in New York, struggling to make their names in the entertainment industry. Only when they reach the peak of their careers do they find there's nowhere left to go but down - to the Valley of the Dolls.

This was the freedom she wanted, an animal freedom exposed to the emptiness of sky and land and water. As she stepped forward, Ann flipped into the water and was gone.Evelyn Hall, running from her disastrous marriage of sixteen years, arrives in the neon-lit desert heat of 1950s Reno - the only place in America where she can apply for a quick divorce. Arriving at her guesthouse she meets free-spirited Ann Childs, a casino 'change girl' fifteen years her junior. Overwhelmed by both the vast, lonely beauty of the Nevada desert and her magnetic attraction to Ann, Evelyn must gamble all her own certainties and conventions to win a new kind of freedom.Bold, witty and shimmering with desire, this groundbreaking 60s novel is an unforgettable queer classic.INTRODUCED BY JACKIE KAY'An undisputed lesbian classic' SARAH WATERS'Intelligent and utterly believable' JOYCE CAROL OATES 'Brave, bold and brilliant' JACKIE KAY

BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY, CAROL AND STRANGERS ON A TRAIN' The original, the best, the gloriously twisted Queen of Suspense' MARK BILLINGHAM 'Her books have stylistic texture, psychological depth, mesmeric readability' SUNDAY TIMES 'Uncomfortable, frightening, compulsive and, worst of all, terribly believable' TIME OUTOn a stroll through Greenwich Village, security guard Ralph Linderman finds a wallet on the sidewalk. It belongs to Jack Sutherland, a wealthy aspiring artist, and it is his misfortune to have it returned to him - with all $263 and credit cards untouched. Because now Ralph knows where Jack lives.Elsie Tyler is a beautiful young waitress - an innocent in New York - and Ralph feels he must protect her from 'bad company'. When he sees Elsie leaving Jack's apartment, he is not pleased. Not pleased at all. He is entirely unprepared for the complex maze of sexual obsession and disturbing psychological intrigue he is about to be drawn into. By the author of The Talented Mr Ripley, Found in the Street is an unsettling thriller that explores the bleakest alleyways of human desire.

Injured at Dunkirk, Laurie Odell, a young corporal, is recovering at a rural veterans' hospital. There he meets Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly, and the men find solace in their covert friendship. Then Ralph Lanyon appears, a mentor from Laurie's schooldays. Through him, Laurie is drawn into a tight-knit circle of gay men for whom liaisons are fleeting and he is forced to choose between the ideals of a perfect friendship and the pleasures of experience. First published in 1953, The Charioteer is a a tender, intelligent coming-of-age novel and a bold, unapologetic portrayal of homosexuality that stands with Gore Vidal's The City and the Pillar and James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room as a landmark work in gay literature.

BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE GROUP 'A jagged diamond of a book' OBSERVER 'A woman of intellect and style' CELIA MCGEE, NEW YORK TIMES'Timeless, brilliant and frighteningly insightful' DAILY MAIL Told through six interlinked stories, this is a dazzling, fractured portrait of 1930s New York, and of the witty, bohemian heroine at the novel's heart. Through her encounters and experiences - with men, with radical politics, with psychoanalysis - we follow Margaret Sargent as she negotiates a fraught relationship between love and independence in a time of coming war. Based loosely on the author's own life, The Company She Keeps caused an instant sensation, and won Mary McCarthy immediate acclaim for its bold insight, sly wit and virtuoso style.