Penguin Group

Meet the residents of 31 Almanac Road Ralph and Smith are flatmates and best mates until, that is, the gorgeous Jemima moves in. And suddenly they're bickering about a lot more than who drank the last beer. Of course, Jem knows that one of them is the man for her but is it Ralph or Smith? Upstairs, Karl and Siobhan have been happily unmarried for fifteen years until, that is, Cheri moves into the flat above theirs. Cheri's got her eye on Karl and doesn't see why she should let a little thing like his girlfriend stand in her way Sooner or later its all got to come to a head and what better place for tears and laughter, break ups and make ups than Ralph's party?

Evelyn Waugh chose the name «Labels» for his first travel book because, he said, the places he visited were already «fully labelled» in people's minds. Yet even the most seasoned traveller could not fail to be inspired by his quintessentially English attitude and by his eloquent and frequently outrageous wit. From Europe to the Middle East and North Africa, from Egyptian porters and Italian priests to Maltese sailors and Moroccan merchants — as he cruises around the Mediterranean his pen cuts through the local colour to give an entertaining portrait of the Englishman abroad.

Charles Ryder, a lonely student at Oxford, is captivated by the outrageous and exquisitely beautiful Sebastian Flyte. Invited to Brideshead, Sebastian's magnificent family home, Charles welcomes the attentions of its eccentric, aristocratic inhabitants. But he also discovers a world where duty and desire, faith and earthly happiness are in conflict; a world which threatens to destroy his beloved Sebastian. Probably Waugh's best-loved work, «Brideshead Revisited» was made into a phenomenally successful television drama series, starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews.

'Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know' Meursault will not lie. Unmoved by his mother's death, he refuses to satisfy the feelings of others by pretending grief. At the end of the funeral, he returns to his simple, batchelor existence in sun-bleached Algiers. Until he is involved in a violent murder and placed on trial. Will he now, with his life in danger, give in to society's demands and 'play the game'? Albert Camus's first novel, «The Outsider» received instant acclaim when it was published in 1942, by Gallimard in Paris, and has been translated into forty-five languages. In 1957 Camus became the youngest writer ever to be awarded the Nobel Prize.

Robert Graves's marvellously candid self-portrait of his childhood and his experiences as a young officer in the First World War. Graves entered the war in 1914 and he describes in vivid, raw detail life in the trenches. The dehumanizing horrors he witnessed left him shell-shocked and haunted him throughout his long life. In «Goodbye to All That» he also gives a fascinating portrayal of his unhappy school days at Charterhouse, of his encounters with fellow writers and poets, and of his increasingly embittered marriage to Nancy Nicholson, before he finally went abroad in 1929, vowing 'never to make England my home again'.

In Cape Town, South Africa, an old woman is dying of cancer. A classics professor, Mrs. Curren has been opposed to the lies and brutality of apartheid all her life, but has lived insulated from its true horrors. Now she is suddenly forced to come to terms with the iron-hearted rage that the system has wrought. In an extended letter addressed to her daughter, who has long since fled to America, Mrs. Curren recounts the strange events of her dying days. She witnesses the burning of a nearby black township and discovers the bullet-riddled body of her servant's son. A teenage black activist hiding in her house is killed by security forces. And through it all, her only companion, the only person to whom she can confess her mounting anger and despair, is a homeless man, an alcoholic, who one day appears on her doorstep.

In «Tender is the Night», Fitzgerald distilled much of his tempestuous life with his wife Zelda, and the knowledge of the wrecked, fabulous Fitzgeralds adds poignancy and regret to this tender, supple and poetic portrait. To the just-fashionable French Riviera come Dick and Nicole Diver — handsome, rich, glamorous and enormous fun. Their dinners are legend, their atmosphere magnetic, their intelligence fine. But something is wrong. Nicole has a secret and Dick a weakness. Together they head towards the rocks on which their lives crash — and only one of them really survives.

George Orwell's first published work, «Down and Out in Paris and London», is a vivid, sensitive account of the time he lived as one of the poor in the late twenties. In a bug-infested hotel, surviving only between the pawnbroker and a little teaching and writing, Orwell shocked the middle-class establishment with his observation of the misery, the hopelessness and the despair of the poor of a previously unexplored Paris and London.

This Faust-like and magical story of the humanization of a middle-aged misanthrope was described in The New York Times as a 'savage indictment of bourgeois society'. But, as the author notes in this edition, «Steppenwolf» is a book that has been consistently misinterpreted. This self-portrait of a man who felt himself to be half-human and half-wolf can also be seen as a plea for rigorous self-examination and an indictment of intellectual hypocrisy.

'I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills ... Up in this high air you breathed easily ... you woke up in the morning and thought: Here I am, where I ought to be' From the moment Karen Blixen arrived in Kenya in 1914 to manage a coffee plantation, her heart belonged to Africa. Drawn to the intense colours and ravishing landscapes, Karen Blixen spent her happiest years on the farm, and her experiences and friendships with the people around her are vividly recalled in these memoirs. «Out of Africa» is the story of a remarkable and unconventional woman, and of a way of life that has vanished for ever. «Out of Africa» was made into a highly acclaimed film, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, and won seven Oscars.

Forster's brilliant social comedy is a witty observation of the English middle classes as they holiday abroad in Florence. One of these tourists is Lucy Honeychurch, a young girl whose 'undeveloped heart' is awakened by her experiences in Italy and by her encounter with the unconventional George Emerson. Lucy finds herself torn between un-English passion and stifling Victorian propriety, personified in her pretentious fiancé Cecil Vyse and her dismal cousin Charlotte, until she learns to follow the power of her own heart.

A monument to sloth, rant and contempt, a behemoth of fat, flatulence and furious suspicion of anything modern — this is Ignatius J. Reilly of New Orleans, noble crusader against a world of dunces. In magnificent revolt against the twentieth century, Ignatius propels his monstrous bulk among the flesh-pots of a fallen city, documenting life on his Big Chief tablets as he goes, until his maroon-haired mother decrees that Ignatius must work.

What if the Allies had lost the Second World War ...? The Nazis have taken over New York — the Japanese control California. In a neutral buffer zone existing between the two states an underground author offers his own vision of reality, an alternative world that offers hope to the disenchanted ... Hugo Award winner Philip K Dick is one of the most original contributors to American sci-fi, and his books were the basis for the critically acclaimed films Blade Runner and Total Recall.

Penguin Student Editions are complete unabridged texts of Penguin Classics, Modern Classics and some more recent titles, packaged with reading help for the student in the form of: — accessible yet authoritative introductions — glossary of cultural references and unfamiliar words — stimulating activities and discussion points, including activities needed to prepare for essays and examinations — chapter-by-chapter summaries — plot and character outlines — chronology of the historical events of the time — overview of the ways famous critics have read the books A student-friendly approach to literature — the way students want to read. «It is the history of a revolution that went wrong — and of the excellent excuses that were forthcoming at every step for the perversion of the original doctrine», wrote Orwell for the first edition of «Animal Farm» in 1945.

When Gene Hawkins's boss asks him to locate a missing priceless breeding stallion, he gets more action than he bargained for — including the affection of his boss's daughter, advances from a millionaire's wife, and the deadly attention of horse thieves...

In this delightful new novel featuring Jim Qwilleran and his lovable cats, Koko and Yum Yum, the rites of spring are celebrated with the fine art of birdcalling...and a fateful act of murder. It seems that this spring, a cat's fancy may turn to crime-solving...

The Signet Classic Shakespeare series contains the preeminent mass market books of the complete works of Shakespeare. This reissue features a new Overview by Sylvan Barnet, former chairman of the English Department at Tufts University, an updated Bibliography, suggested references, and stage and film history.

When his daughter, Becky, becomes ill from bacterial poisoning, Dr. Kim Reggis, a cardiac surgeon, is determined to track down the cause, no matter what the cost.

A roaring lion, a braying zebra, a trumpeting elephant, a bellowing walrus and many more parade across the pages of this picture book. It is a companion volume to Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Eric Carle is the author/illustrator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J and his friends George and Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames would suit them to a 'T'. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather-forecasts and tins of pineapple chunks.

The bestselling author of Practical Magic and Turtle Moon now tells her most seductive and mesmerizing story. After nineteen years in California, March Murray returns to the small Massachusetts town where she grew up. For all this time, March has been avoiding her own troubled history, but when she encounters Hollis — the boy she loved so desperately, the man who has never forgotten her — the past collides with the present as their reckless love is reignited. This dark, romantic tale asks whether it is possible to survive a love that consumes you. The answers that March Murray discovers are both heartbreaking and wise, as complex as they are devastating — for in heaven and in our dreams, love is simple and glorious. But it is something altogether different here on earth...

Futuristic cop Eve Dallas is back on the job. This time it's Christmas in New York, and all the lonely hearts are easy pickings for a serial killer spreading death through a dating service.

The halls are decked, the tree is trimmed, and one young boy is wide awake and watching for a special late-night visitor. But waiting isn't easy — especially when every little noise sounds like Santa! Includes 24 flash cards. Full color.

The field of language is one which abounds with folk myths, misconceptions about the way in which language works or is used. This book tackles these folk beliefs head on in a series of entertaining and informative chapters in which a variety of linguists look at and correct a catalogue of errors, such as: aborigines speak a primitive language; French people speak faster; German is ugly; Italian is beautiful; English spelling is stupid; and so on.