Classics

'A very captivating book. Wang Xiaobo's unique blend of rationality, serenity, candor, and sense of humour serves as an embodiment of the liberalism he ardently believes in' Ai Weiwei The dazzling essays of the beloved, subversive Chinese writer Wang...

One of The Telegraph's Best Fiction Books of 2011.“Vladimir Sorokin is one of Russia's greatest writers, and this novel is one of his best . . . A joy to read—more entertaining, dynamic, engaging, and deeply hilarious than a dystopian novel...

In this ingenious book Perec creates an entire microcosm in a Paris apartment block. Serge Valene wants to make an elaborate painting of the building he has made his home for the last sixty years. As he plans his picture, he contemplates the lives of all...

A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick. A special 75th anniversary edition of the beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the twentieth century. From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolanneeded to be made of...

The Searing Portrayal Of War That Has Stunned And Galvanized Generations Of ReadersAn immediate bestseller upon its original publication in 1939, Dalton Trumbo’s stark, profoundly troubling masterpiece about the horrors of World War I brilliantly...

Nevil Shute’s most powerful novel—a bestseller for decades after its 1957 publication—is an unforgettable vision of a post-apocalyptic world.After a nuclear World War III has destroyed most of the globe, the few remaining survivors in...

Cicero lived through some of the most turbulent years in the history of Rome and witnessed first-hand the overthrow of the republic and its replacement by the tyranny of Pompey, Caesar, Mark Antony, and Octavian. One of Rome's most memorable and keenly...

"The fates ordained the founding of this great city and the beginning of the world's mightiest empire, second only to the power of the gods"Romulus and Remus, the rape of Lucretia, Horatius at the bridge, the saga of Coriolanus, Cincinnatus called from...

Little Women is one of the best-loved children’s stories of all time, based on the author’s own youthful experiences. It describes the family of the four March sisters living in a small New England community. Meg, the eldest, is pretty and...

From the first Japanese author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, The Rainbow is a sweeping narrative of three interwoven half-sisters and their evolving concept of family. With plenty of unexpected twists and an engagingly empathetic tone, this is...

'Things are not simple but complex. If he bit Mr. Browning he bit her too. Hatred is not hatred; hatred is also love.'Virginia Woolf's delightful biography of the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning's spaniel, which asks what it means to be human - and to be...

If you can only read one true crime in your life, make it this one. With an intricately woven plot, a deft touch for detail, and enthralling characters, Truman Capote's masterclass of narrative nonfiction has all the story components of a page-turning...

A quartet of indomitable women gather on the shores of the Mediterranean determined to transform their fortunes in Von Arnim’s light, enchanting character study written with exquisite poise and tenderness. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BRENDA BOWENMrs...

The New York Times Bestseller J.R.R. Tolkien's Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth is a definitive collection of stories and essays ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring,...

“A big, sprawling saga of a novel” (San Francisco Chronicle), this epic family drama is a masterwork by the revered author of The Great Santini. Pat Conroy’s classic novel stings with honesty and resounds with drama. Spanning...

'I shall imagine myself as if I had no hands, no eyes, no flesh, no blood, no senses at all'Descartes was prepared to go to any lengths in his search for certainty – even to deny those things that seemed most self-evident. In...

Graham Greene's infinitely atmospheric story of forbidden passion and its aftermath in wartime London is a heart-wrenching examination of weakness that turns into a dark, powerful obsession. With an introduction by Monica Ali The love affair between...

"I readOliviamany, many times, bought it for many of my friends, and consider it the inspiration forCall Me by Your Name." —André Aciman"Perfectly captures the breathless excitement of adolescent passion." —Sarah Waters, bestselling...

'War is an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to our will'Writing at the time of Napoleon's greatest campaigns, Prussian soldier and writer Carl von Clausewitz created this landmark treatise on the art of warfare, which presented war as part...

Here is a lively, readable, and accurate verse translation of the six best plays by one of the most influential of all classical Latin writers—the only tragic playwright from ancient Rome whose work survives. Tutor to the emperor Nero, Seneca lived...