Classics

Most people are familiar, at least by repute, with Homer's two great epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, but few are aware that other poems survive that were attributed to Homer in ancient times. The Homeric Hymns are now known to be the work of various...

Orwell’s brilliantly bleak future vision of totalitarianism is arguably the greatest of all literary dystopias, contriving to look back to the Stalinist purges of the 1930s whilst simultaneously predicting with uncanny accuracy the worst excesses...

In the present state of society, it appears necessary to go back to first principles in search of the most simple truths, and to dispute with some prevailing prejudice every inch of ground. To clear my way, I must be allowed to ask some plain questions,...

In his Book of Marvels and Travels, Sir John Mandeville describes a journey from Europe to Jerusalem and on into Asia, and the many wonderful and monstrous peoples and practices in the East. Written in the fourteenth century, the Book is a captivating...

“Marvelous . . . [Vonnegut] wheels out all the complaints about America and makes them seem fresh, funny, outrageous, hateful and lovable.”—The New York TimesIn Breakfast of Champions, one of Kurt Vonnegut’s most beloved...

ABOUT TO THE LIGHTHOUSE A beautiful edition of the groundbreaking classic novel, with a new introduction by award-winning writer Susan Choi“Without question one of the two or three finest novels of the twentieth century. Woolf comments on the most...

Stefan's Zweig's posthumously-published Journey into the Past (Widerstand der Wirklichkeit) is a beautiful meditation on the effect of time on passion-one of the most intense and compelling works from a master of the novella form. Published by Pushkin...

Following her seminal translation of The Odyssey, Wilson delivers an eminently readable yet still authoritative edition of Homer's other great epic in this magisterial volume. When Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey appeared in 2017-revealing...

George Orwell is a difficult author to summarize. He was a would-be revolutionary who went to Eton, a political writer who abhorred dogma, a socialist who thrived on his image as a loner, and a member of the Imperial Indian Police who chronicled the...

Perfect for fans of fairy tales, and it just so happens to be written by the indelible Oscar Wilde. This is a collection of his short works that brings the depth of human feeling to fantastical stories and settings.Introducing Little Clothbound Classics:...

Stunning new edition of the standalone novella from Proust’s great masterpiece – an intoxicatingly witty story of infatuation and jealousyThis landmark new translation commemorates a century since the monumental masterpiece was first...

Filled with striking, river-like sentences and plenty of humour, the opening volume of Proust’s modernist masterpiece covers the Narrator’s childhood in Combray – including perhaps the most famous cake-eating scene in the history of...

Mary Lennox was horrid. Selfish and spoilt, she was sent to stay with her hunchback uncle in Yorkshire. She hated it.But when she finds the way into a secret garden and begins to tend to it, a change comes over her and her life. She meets and befriends a...

GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2015The irresistibly collectible box set of all 80 Little Black ClassicsIn celebration of Penguin's 80th birthday, this box set of the 80 books in the Little Black Classics series showcases the many wonderful and varied...

Read the original inspiration for the new, boldly reimagined film from producers Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, starring Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, and Fantasia Barrino.A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American...

Now a major motion picture starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Gabe Polsky.In his National Book Award–winning novel Augustus, John Williams uncovered the secrets of ancient Rome. With Butcher’s Crossing, his fiercely intelligent,...

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched...

One of the strangest journeys ever taken, and it’s all here on the page for you to enjoy. A bizarre and unique work of journalism, there is nothing else quite like Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. And there’s really no one like Hunter...

Homer’s great epic The Odyssey—one of Western literature’s most enduring and important works—translated by Richmond Lattimore A classic for the ages, The Odyssey recounts Odysseus’ journey home after the...

"Perhaps the best book by the foremost stylist of his generation" (New York Times), J. D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey collects two works of fiction about the Glass family originally published in The New Yorker."Everything everybody does is...