Must Read Classics

With an Introduction by Dr Pamela Knights, Department of English Studies, Durham University. With this intensely moving short novel, Edith Wharton set out 'to draw life as it really was' in the lonely villages and desolate farms of the harsh New England...

When the peaceful atmosphere of Barchester is destroyed by a scandal concerning the financial affairs of an almshouse, Septimus Harding, the kindly but unworldly warden who is responsible for the care of the establishment’s twelve elderly...

The original and bestselling leadership book! Sun Tzu's ideas on survival and success have been read across the world for centuries. Today they can still be applied to business, politics and life. The Art of War demonstrates how to win without...

The second novel in Lewis’s science fiction trilogy tells of Dr Ransom’s voyage to the planet of Perelandra (Venus). In the second novel in C.S. Lewis's classic science fiction trilogy, Dr Ransom is called to the paradise planet of...

'ONE OF THE GREATEST AMERICAN NOVELS EVER WRITTEN.''Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a...

'I am Dracula. And I bid you welcome to my house.'He is deathly pale. His fingernails are cut to sharp points. His teeth protrude menacingly from his mouth in clouds of rancid breath... Yet even Count Dracula's unnerving appearance and the frightened...

Part of the Penguin Essentials series, discover a beautifully designed edition of Evelyn Waugh's British classic featuring cover art by Jim Tierney'I knew Sebastian by sight long before I met him. That was unavoidable for, from his first week, he was the...

A Christmas Carol is the most famous, heart-warming and chilling festive story of them all. In these pages we meet Ebenezer Scrooge, whose name is synonymous with greed and parsimony: 'Every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips, should...

In 1943, there was an urgent need for Animal Farm. The Soviet Union had become Britain's ally in the war against Nazi Germany, and criticism of Stalin's brutal regime was either censored or discouraged. In any case, many intellectuals on the left still...

The best stories by the one of the twentieth century's greatest and most influential writersNo one has captured the modern experience, its wild dreams, strange joys, its neuroses and boredom, better than Franz Kafka. His vision, with its absurdity and...

In 2020, we enjoyed Atwood’s latest poetry title, Dearly. Not unlike her poems, Atwood’s essays show how she is always looking, observing and questioning. She even has an essay about Zombies! And, what a perfect look back...

In the aftermath of the Mexican-American War, two French Jesuit priests travel to the American Southwest to establish a new Roman Catholic diocese. Upon arrival, Father Jean Marie Latour and Father Joseph Vaillant encounter an ethnically diverse...

From the author of The Metamorphosis and The Trial—one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century—the haunting tale of K.’s relentless, unavailing struggle with an inscrutable authority in order to gain access to...

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...

Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turnsdriven time and again off course, once he had plunderedthe hallowed heights of Troy.So begins Robert Fagles' magnificent translation of the Odyssey.If the Iliad is the world's...

Beautifully presented with striking covers, easy-to-read type and, where relevant, the original illustrations, these books will look good on any bookshelf.

Robert Graves's classic retelling of the Greek Myths is definitive, comprehensive and unparalleled - and available now in the Penguin Classics Deluxe series, featuring a new introduction from Rick Riordan (bestselling author of the Percy...

Every artist is an unhappy lover. And unhappy lovers want to tell their story.''A source of wonders and delight' SpectatorEx-tax collector and author of two unpopular novels, Bradley Pearson wishes to devote his retirement to writing a masterpiece...

The Little Nugget (1913) is one of the novels in which Wodehouse found his feet, a light comic thriller set in an English prep school for the children of the nobility and gentry. Into their midst comes eleven-year-old Ogden Ford, the mouthy,...

For two and a half thousand years The Art of War has been the core text of military strategy and planning, providing leaders with enduring insights into tactics, psychology, discipline and the nature of power. Favoured by countless great generals and...