Daedalus Books

A chilling and vividly rendered ghost story set in postwar Britain, by the bestselling and award-winning author of The Night Watch and Fingersmith. Sarah Watersas trilogy of Victorian novels Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, and Fingersmith earned her legions of fans around the world, a number of awards, and a reputation as one of todayas most gifted historical novelists. With her most recent book, The Night Watch, Waters turned to the 1940s and delivered a tender and intricate novel of relationships that brought her the greatest success she has achieved so far. With The Little Stranger, Waters revisits the fertile setting of Britain in the 1940saand gives us a sinister tale of a haunted house, brimming with the rich atmosphere and psychological complexity that have become hallmarks of Watersas work. The Little Stranger follows the strange adventures of Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. One dusty postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in declineaits masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his. Abundantly atmospheric and elegantly told, The Little Stranger is Sarah Watersas most thrilling and ambitious novel yet.

Look at the Birdie is a collection of fourteen previously unpublished short stories from one of the most original writers in all of American fiction. In this series of perfectly rendered vignettes, written just as he was starting to find his comic voice, Kurt Vonnegut paints a warm, wise, and funny portrait of life in post — World War II America-a world where squabbling couples, high school geniuses, misfit office workers, and small-town lotharios struggle to adapt to changing technology, moral ambiguity, and unprecedented affluence. Here are tales both cautionary and hopeful, each brimming with Vonnegut's trademark humor and profound humanism. A family learns the downside of confiding their deepest secrets into a magical invention. A man finds himself in a Kafkaesque world of trouble after he runs afoul of the shady underworld boss who calls the shots in an upstate New York town. A quack psychiatrist turned murder counselor concocts a novel new outlet for his paranoid patients. While these stories reflect the anxieties of the postwar era that Vonnegut was so adept at capturing-and provide insight into the development of his early style-collectively, they have a timeless quality that makes them just as relevant today as when they were written. It's impossible to imagine any of these pieces flowing from the pen of another writer; each in its own way is unmistakably, quintessentially Vonnegut. Featuring a Foreword by author and longtime Vonnegut confidant Sidney Offit and illustrated with Vonnegut's characteristically insouciant line drawings, Look at the Birdie is an unexpected gift for readers who thought his unique voice had been stilled forever-and serves as a terrific introduction to his short fiction for anyone who has yet to experience his genius.

More About Boy is the story of Roald Dahlas very own boyhood, as told in Boy, featuring never-before-seen material from behind the scenes, and some of the secrets he left out. Enjoy tales of sweet shops and chocolate, mean old ladies and a Great Mouse Plotathe inspiration for some of his most marvelous stories in the years to come. This stunning new edition includes some wonderful and strange things that have NEVER been seen before! Some funny, some frighteningaall true.

Literature's most famous romantic hero opens his diary: it's intimate, dramatic, deeply passionate, and sometimes downright shocking. Have you ever wondered what Mr. Darcy was really thinking? Find out his secrets in this captivating novel of love, pride, passion, and, of course, prejudice. Mr. Darcy's intimate diary reveals his entanglements with women, his dangerous friendship with Lord Byron, his daily life in Georgian London, his mercurial mood swings calmed only by fisticuffs at Jackson's-and, most importantly, his vain struggle to conquer his longing for Elizabeth Bennet.

Treasured household names, including Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins, Imelda Staunton and Julia McKenzie, brought Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford to life in one of the best-loved classic dramas of all time. This celebratory omnibus edition includes the classic novel of the same name, a comic portrait of the lives of Cranford's genteel female inhabitants, as well as a novella and a short story. Both of these, The Moorland Cottage and The Cage at Cranford, feature in the Cranford two-part Special due to be screened on BBC television over Christmas 2009. These poignant portraits of early Victorian country village life deserve to be read and re-read.

From the bestselling author of Thursday Nextaa brilliant new novel about a world where social order and destiny are dictated by the colors you can see Part social satire, part romance, part revolutionary thriller, Shades of Grey tells of a battle against overwhelming odds. In a society where the ability to see the higher end of the color spectrum denotes a better social standing, Eddie Russet belongs to the low-level House of Red and can see his own colorabut no other. The sky, the grass, and everything in between are all just shades of grey, and must be colorized by artificial means. Eddieas world wasnat always like this. Thereas evidence of a never-discussed disaster and now, many years later, technology is poor, news sporadic, the notion of change abhorrent, and nighttime is terrifying: no one can see in the dark. Everyone abides by a bizarre regime of rules and regulations, a system of merits and demerits, where punishment can result in permanent expulsion. Eddie, who works for the Color Control Agency, might well have lived out his rose-tinted life without a hitch. But that changes when he becomes smitten with Jane, a Grey Nightseer from the dark, unlit side of the village. She shows Eddie that all is not well with the world he thinks is just and good. Together, they engage in dangerous revolutionary talk. Stunningly imaginative, very funny, tightly plotted, and with sly satirical digs at our own society, this novel is for those who loved Thursday Next but want to be transported somewhere equally wild, only darker; a world where the black and white of moral standpoints have been reduced to shades of grey.

Perfect for the youngest naturalist, Who Lives Here? is an engaging visual journey to the habitats of a variety of creatures. I'm very tiny and I have a long beak, just right for drinking the nectar from flowers. What am I? Inviting riddles introduce facts about each creature and invite children to guess which animal the clue is for. Lift-the-flaps reveal the answers. Includes a glossary with more information in the back of the book.

We are not birds but we can fly. We like to sleep beneath a leaf high in the trees. What are we? Engaging riddles introduce key facts about each animal with more information in a glossary in the back. The perfect book for the inquisitive young naturalist! A member of the Society of Wildlife Artists and an illustrator for the London Zoo, Maggie Silver has illustrated several books for children, including Nature Hide & Seek: Woods & Forests. She lives in England.

The Green Mile: those who walk it do not return, because at the end of that walk is the room in which sits Cold Mountain Penitentiary's electric chair. In 1932 the newest resident on death row is John Coffey, a giant black man convicted of the brutal murder of two little girls. But nothing is as it seems with John Coffey, and around him unfolds a bizarre and horrifying story. Evil murderer or holy innocent — whichever he is — Coffey has strange powers that may yet offer salvation to others, even if they can do nothing to save him. One of Stephen King's most popular novels, this was the basis for the 1999 film starring Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan.

Morais pens this comprehensive biography of one of the world's most popular and widely-read novelists Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist.

Nadia dreams of creating colorfully patterned eggs, called pysanky, for Easter, but her eyes are too weak to see such detail. When she rescues a magical old woman, she is rewarded with a handkerchief that makes her imagined designs real. Now Nadia can create pysanky, but how can she prove to an angry tsarina that the designs are her own?

This is a 'bumper' edition of The Giggler Treatment, Rover Saves Christmas and The Meanwhile Adventures. Join Rover the wonder-dog and the ecentric but lovable Mack family in one madcap adventure after another!

These small books are quite something! They are packed with information, the most important facts and background stories, all at a glance. In-depth texts on the most exciting themes in the History of Art by experts and specialists provide the necessary overview for both the expert and the layman. The most important stages in the lives of famous personalities such as Giotto, Monet or Klimt, as well as the important currents in art, are summarized in colorful text boxes to enable every reader to find the required information easily and effectively. The most important works of architecture, sculpture, and painting are brought to life through high-quality photographs and top-quality color reproductions. Explanatory picture captions offer additional information and invite the reader to browse at leisure.

These small books are quite something! They are packed with information, the most important facts and background stories, all at a glance. In-depth texts on the most exciting themes in the History of Art by experts and specialists provide the necessary overview for both the expert and the layman. The most important stages in the lives of famous personalities such as Giotto, Monet or Klimt, as well as the important currents in art, are summarized in colorful text boxes to enable every reader to find the required information easily and effectively. The most important works of architecture, sculpture, and painting are brought to life through high-quality photographs and top-quality color reproductions. Explanatory picture captions offer additional information and invite the reader to browse at leisure.

An entertaining romp through the history of England's capital city traces its origins as a simple marketplace in AD 50 to the sprawling metropolis of today. An invaluable souce of trivia, this book is unique in that it not only charts by year and period the events that shaped London, but looks at the history of crime and hanging, the police, prisons, the executioners, health, English as a language, nursery rhymes, slang, sayings, and their origins. It also tells the fascinating story of how the capital got its street names and the history of signs. It finishes with a compilation of great people who lived in and made a difference to one of the world's most popular tourist spots.

It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. Their Leviathan is a whale airship, and the most masterful beast in the British fleet. Aleksandar Ferdinand, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men. Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered. With the Great War brewing, Alek's and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way...taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure. One that will change both their lives forever.

Here are 30 examples of the striking work coming from Europe in the last decades of the 19th century and the turn of the 20th, including Degas' Woman Combing Her Hair, Monet's Waterloo Bridge, Effect of Fog, and Van Gogh's Memory of the Garden at Etten. This postcard book is one of a series that collects beautifully reproduced images with cultural or historical significance, introduced with a short essay. Tear out the oversized cards (4 3/4 by 6 1/2 inches) and mail them with first class postage, or put them up on the wall — or keep them intact as miniature art books.

It's carnival time under the sea! Join all of your underwater friends for games, goodies, and rides galore! This incredible hardbound book features eight fully-illustrated spreads of aquatic antics and amazing pop-ups, with enough hilarious details to keep you exploring again and again. Sales of this book benefit Conservation International.

One of the most celebrated writers of our time gives us his first cycle of short fiction: five brilliantly etched, interconnected stories in which music is a vivid and essential character. A once-popular singer, desperate to make a comeback, turning from the one certainty in his life... A man whose unerring taste in music is the only thing his closest friends value in him... A struggling singer-songwriter unwittingly involved in the failing marriage of a couple he’s only just met... A gifted, underappreciated jazz musician who lets himself believe that plastic surgery will help his career... A young cellist whose tutor promises to “unwrap” his talent... Passion or necessity — or the often uneasy combination of the two — determines the place of music in each of these lives. And, in one way or another, music delivers each of them to a moment of reckoning: sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, sometimes just eluding their grasp. An exploration of love, need, and the ineluctable force of the past, Nocturnes reveals these individuals to us with extraordinary precision and subtlety, and with the arresting psychological and emotional detail that has marked all of Kazuo Ishiguro’s acclaimed works of fiction.

Mirror-image twins Julia and Valentina seem to be going nowhere in life, in this second novel from the author of The Time Traveler's Wife, until a packet arrives at their Chicago home. Their aunt Elspeth — their mother's twin, whom they never knew — has died and left them her London flat. Once there, the girls find their aunt's obsessive-compulsive neighbor Martin, who writes crossword puzzles, and her grief-stricken lover Robert, who is writing a history of next-door Highgate Cemetery. Then they meet Elpseth herself, now a disembodied spirit, and find that she is still very much a part of the living world. Audrey Niffenegger's deliciously gothic ghost tale is full of obsessive and possessive loves, exchanged lives and traded souls. «The endurance of love animates this gothic story set in and around Highgate Cemetery, in London. When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her estate, including an apartment overlooking the graveyard, to the twin daughters of her twin sister, from whom she has been estranged for twenty years... Audrey Niffenegger has a knack for taking the romantic into the realm of creepiness, and she constructs a taut mystery around the secrets to be found in Elspeth's diaries and the lengths to which she will go to reunite with her younger lover. It's no small achievement that the revelations are both organic and completely unexpected».

We spend most of our waking lives at work — in occupations often chosen by our unthinking sixteen-year-old selves. And yet we rarely ask ourselves how we got there or what it might mean for us. Equally intrigued by work's pleasures and its pains, Alain de Botton here heads out into the under-charted worlds of the office, the factory, the fishing fleet and the logistics centre, ears and eyes open to the beauty, interest and sheer strangeness of the modern workplace. Along the way he tries to answer some of the most urgent questions we can ask about work: Why do we do it? What makes it pleasurable? What is its meaning? And why do we daily exhaust not only ourselves but also the planet? Characteristically lucid, witty and inventive, Alain de Botton's 'song for occupations' is a celebration and exploration of an aspect of life which is all too often ignored and yet as central to us as our love lives.

Robert Campin, also known as the Master of Flemalle, and his pupil Rogier van der Weyden were two of Europe's greatest Northern Renaissance painters, though art history has been slow to catch up with them. Along with Jan and Hubert van Eyck, Campin and van der Weyden are now considered synonymous with the development of Old Netherlandish painting, having given oil painting some of its earliest virtuoso works. Campin's work marks the shift from manuscript painting to Realist painting, both in its subject matter and in the artist's use of oils to mold signature shapes such as brocades or the teardrops on the cheek of a grieving Madonna. His «Merode Altarpiece» at The Cloisters in New York, is perhaps Campin's best known painting — but both his and van der Weyden's reputations have fluctuated, as the work of each has been attributed to the other. (When van der Weyden died in 1464 he was the most famous painter in Europe, but today not one painting is decisively attributed to him).

Donna Leon's eighteen novels have won her countless fans, heaps of critical acclaim, and a place among the top ranks of international crime writers. Through the warm-hearted, perceptive, and principled Commissario Guido Brunetti, Leon's best-selling books have explored Venice in all its aspects: history, tourism, high culture, food, family, but also violent crime and political corruption. In About Face, Leon returns to one of her signature subjects: the environment, which has reached a crisis in Italy. Incinerators across the south of Italy are at full capacity, burning who-knows-what and releasing unacceptable levels of dangerous air pollutants, while in Naples, enormous garbage piles grow in the streets. In Venice, with the polluted waters of the canals and a major chemical complex across the lagoon, the issue is never far from the fore. Environmental concerns become significant in Brunetti's work when an investigator from the Carabiniere, looking into the illegal hauling of garbage, asks for a favor. But the investigator is not the only one with a special request. His father-in-law needs help and a mysterious woman comes into the picture. Brunetti soon finds himself in the middle of an investigation into murder and corruption more dangerous than anything he's seen before.

Though considerably toned down for readers 7 to 10, this visual treatment of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula remains largely true to the original story, with journal entries, clippings, and news articles augmenting the action and sidebars with helpful techniques for how to spot, capture, and kill a vampire. Solicitor Jonathan Harker is menaced in Transylvania by his new client, Count Dracula; the Count makes his way to England and turns Lucy Westenra into a vampire; and Mina Harker, Dracula's next victim, wavers between her vampire and human self before helping Jonathan and Van Helsing kill the Count. The book includes several practical inserted elements, including a travel guide to Transylvania (with hilarious ads for products like neck protectors), a pullout map of Dracula's castle, and a pop-out horde of bloodthirsty rats, as well as a playable board game of the race to Dracula's castle.