Penguin Group

Survivor, genius, perfumer, killer: this is Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. He is abandoned on the filthy streets of Paris as a child, but grows up to discover he has an extraordinary gift: a sense of smell more powerful than any other human's. Soon, he is creating the most sublime fragrances in all the city. Yet there is one odour he cannot capture. It is exquisite, magical: the scent of a young virgin. And to get it he must kill. And kill. And kill...

There once lived a woman who was so fat, she couldn't fit in a taxi, and when going into the subway she took up the whole width of the escalator. One of the 50 original and exciting books of short stories, publishing in February to celebrate half a century of Penguin Modern Classics, this book contains Through the Wall and Anna and Maria.

In this collection of eight witty and sharply written essays, Orwell looks at, among others, the joys of spring (even in London), the picture of humanity painted by Gulliver and his travels, and the strange benefit of the doubt that the public permit Salvador Dali. Also included here are a mouth-watering essay on the delights of English Cooking and a shocking account of killing an elephant in Burma. Great Ideas: 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 lives — and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

Not suitable for children under 2 years of age Early one morning a little spider begins to spin her web on a fencepost and she doesn't stop until it is finished... Alongside the visual excitement of Eric Carle's vibrant collages of familiar animals is the tactile experience of feeling the spider's web as it grows from a simple line into a complex and beautiful creation — this is a perfect story for reading aloud and sharing.

Basil Brontosaurus is teased at play school by all the other little dinosaurs, who call him stupid. His mother tells him he's special because he has two brains — one in his head and one is his back. Basil is so pleased that he starts to throw his weight around at play school. That is, until he meets a large Tyrannosaurus rex!

If you had one wish this Christmas, what would it be? Sarah wishes not to be lonely. She shouldn't be — not with Eddie, her husband, and their two children by her side... but since Sarah waved farewell to the bright lights of the big city and moved to a picture perfect home in the country, her marriage is missing its usual sparkle. So when Eddie's job takes him away from home shortly before Christmas, the enforced break in their relationship — while tricky — probably couldn't have come at a better time. But will his absence make her heart grow fonder? And if so, for whom? As seasonal cheer begins to flow, Sarah discovers rather a lot can happen in one holiday... especially when it's Christmas. Jane Green and her friends are delighted to bring you this enchanting trio of tales for the holiday — stories about falling headlong in love and the miracle of second chances.

In 1901, a young frontiersman named Peter Force comes to New York City and finds a job digging the first subway tunnels. Into his path falls the beautiful mathematical prodigy Cheri-Anne Toledo, whose memories appear to come from another world: the long-forgotten Kingdom of Ohio. Could she have stumbled onto the most dangerous secret imaginable: the key to travelling through time? Peter must find out fast, as the pair are pursued by titans Thomas Edison and J.P. Morgan into the dark labyrinth beneath the metropolis. Peter and Cheri-Anne find themselves wrestling with the nature of history, technology, and the unfolding of time itself.

Here we drink three cups of tea to do business; the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third, you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything — even die — Haji Ali, Korphe Village Chief, Karakoram mountains, Pakistan. In 1993, after a terrifying and disastrous attempt to climb K2, a mountaineer called Greg Mortenson drifted, cold and dehydrated, into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram Mountains. Moved by the inhabitants' kindness, he promised to return and build a school. Three Cups of Tea is the story of that promise and its extraordinary outcome. Over the next decade Mortenson built not just one but fifty-five schools — especially for girls — in remote villages across the forbidding and breathtaking landscape of Pakistan and Afghanistan, just as the Taliban rose to power. His story is at once a riveting adventure and a testament to the power of the humanitarian spirit.

What does it take to get and keep the job you want? Ninety-six per cent of employers argue that it's not just about having the right skills for the position — it's all about the right mindset. As two leading experts on the subject, James Reed and Dr. Paul G. Stoltz know what employers really want from the people they hire — and keep. According to their extensive and globally acclaimed research, there is a specific set of mental traits that will make you exponentially more desirable to potential employers, and more likely to succeed and enjoy your job once you're hired. This '3G Mindset' is: Global — the openness and big-picture perspective to compete on a global scale in any job; Good — a positive force with an unwavering moral compass; and, Grit — the tenacity and resilience to thrive on adversity. The authors reveal why employers are three times more likely to hire people with the right mindset over those who are more qualified on paper. This book provides a clear approach for both assessing and developing these essential '3G' traits.

Discover which prehistoric mammals would once have lived by the River Thames. Take a detailed look at the crystal palace of the Great Exhibition and an early map of the underground. See the locations of medieval plague pits, Tudor inns, eighteenth-century hangings and gangland crime hotspots. London: An Illustrated History offers a new perspective on one of the world's most exciting cities, from Iron Age cemeteries to Victorian sewers, Viking raids to Zeppelin air raids, Roman temples to Jewish ghettos, Georgian brothels to the Great Fire, Roman arenas to the Olympics. Images, objects and expert text from the Museum of London, together with maps old and new, contemporary cartoons and paintings, startling artefacts and vivid reconstructions of ancient buildings, shine a fresh light on all aspects of the city's constantly changing story. Invasions, epidemics, riots, pubs, shrines, crime, gentrification, immigrant communities, urban development and art are all here. Special 'Survivals' sections even show where remains of buildings from London's past can still be seen today. The daily lives of Londoners and the city's chequered history come alive in this book as never before.

With intriguing prompts, this book helps you discover: a secret message, a recording device, an instrument. It engages readers by having them define everything a book can be by asking, 'If it's not a book, what is it then?' — with a kaleidoscope of possible answers.

A dozen of the most successful and popular writers today including: Helen Fielding, Robert Harris, Patrick Marber, Zadie Smith, John O'Farrell, Roddy Doyle, Melissa Bank and Irvine Welsh have written 6000-word fictional monologues along the lines of Alan Bennet's Talking Heads. And Colin Firth makes his debut as a fiction writer. The result is a book of completely original stories that have heart, soul and wit. All the writers have given their work free, and Penguin is giving GBP1 per copy sold to the TreeHouse Trust, a charity which is setting up a unique school for autistic children.

Ladybird's My First Rhymes is a bright, colourful collection of popular nursery rhymes, with plenty of big, bold illustrations by Kate Merritt. It is ideal as a gift for a child of 1 to 3 years, and will help develop early language skills. All the favourite rhymes are here, including Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty, Hey Diddle Diddle and Baa, Baa Black Sheep. The book is made from sturdy board so it is ideal for toddlers to handle, while the gorgeous padded cover means it makes a lovely gift.

In these two stories from an inventive, comic master of the form, old friends and friendly rivals Pietro and Tommasso discover a treasure lost by the side of the road, and become suspected of a using a blameless chicken for devious ends. Italo Calvino's writing explores the fringes of these small, unusual scenes and finds incalculable wisdom and humour there. This book contains: The Queen's Necklace and The Workshop Hen.

What's your road, man — holyboy road, madman road, rainbow road, guppy road, any road. It's an anywhere road for anybody anyhow. Sal Paradise, young and innocent, joins the slightly crazed Dean Moriarty on a breathless, exuberant ride back and forth across the United States. Their hedonistic search for release or fulfilment through drink, sex, drugs and jazz becomes an exploration of personal freedom, a test of the limits of the American Dream. A brilliant blend of fiction and autobiography, Jack Kerouac's exhilarating novel defined the new Beat generation and became the bible of the counter culture.

You're a whirlwind — a success. You're living life on the edge. But who'll catch you when you fall? Holly Krauss is a city girl burning the candle at both ends. Despite a comfortable home life, a tough job and friends who admire her, she secretly enjoys taking reckless, dangerous walks on the wild side. But Holly can't keep those worlds separate forever. Soon enough her secret life bleeds into her safe one and everything spirals out of control. She's making mistakes at home and at work, owes money to the wrong people — and now it seems that someone's stalking her. Could it just be paranoia or is she in very real danger? And who can you trust when you can no longer trust yourself?

In 1913, publisher Condé Nast launched Vanity Fair, a magazine that would celebrate the culture, politics, lifestyle and humour of the world's 'smart set'. In the publication's mission statement, editor Frank Crowninshield clearly revelled in that world: 'Young men and young women, full of courage, originality, and genius, are everywhere to be met with.' The magazine discovered or lent invaluable support to such varied names as Dorothy Parker, E. E. Cummings, Noël Coward, Gertrude Stein, P. G. Wodehouse, Cecil Beaton and Man Ray, and frequently reproduced works by the likes of Matisse and Picasso long before anyone in the mainstream press would dare. Vanity Fair's famous philosophy of mixing up classes, races and sexes — as long as they were innovative, gorgeous or talented — was reflected in the dazzling and elegant magazine covers from such hugely influential designers as Paolo Garretto, William Cotton and Eduardo Garcia Benito. These covers are now a memorial to a world of glamour and excitement, gone — but not forgotten.

Lucy Kellaway is the FT's management columnist. She lives in London and is married with four children. Her second novel, In Office Hours, is available from Penguin now.

The Cold War is over. The rules of the spying game have changed. But to train new spies for this uncertain future, one must first show them the past. Enter the man called Ned, the loyal and shrewd veteran of the Circus. With the inspiration of his inscrutable mentor George Smiley, Ned thrills all as he recounts forty exhilarating years of Cold War espionage across Europe and the Far East.

The first history of the epic defeat of Napoleon's empire told from the Russian perspective. Though much has been written about Napoleon's doomed invasion of Russia and the collapse of the French Empire that ensued, virtually all of it has been from the Western perspective. Now, taking advantage of never- before-seen documents from the Russian archives, Dominic Lieven upends much of the conventional wisdom about the events that formed the backdrop of Tolstoy's masterpiece, War and Peace. Lieven's riveting narrative sweeps readers through epic battles, tense diplomatic exchanges on which the fate of nations hung, and the rise of Russia from near-ruin to Europe's liberator. Rich in detail, Russia Against Napoleon is a groundbreaking masterwork.

Andrei Bely's masterpiece, Petersburg is a vivid, striking story set at the heart of the 1905 Russian revolution. This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the Russian by David McDuff with an introduction by Adam Thirlwell. St Petersburg, 1905. An impressionable young university student, Nikolai, becomes involved with a revolutionary terror organization, which plans to assassinate a high government official with a time bomb. But the official is Nikolai's cold, unyielding father, Apollon, and in twenty-four hours the bomb will explode. Petersburg is a story of suspense, family dysfunction, patricide, conspiracy and revolution. It is also an impressionistic, exhilarating panorama of the city itself, watched over by the bronze statue of Peter the Great, as it tears itself apart. Considered by writers such as Vladimir Nabokov to be one of the greatest masterpieces of the twentieth century, Bely's richly textured, darkly comic and symbolic novel pulled apart the traditional techniques of storytelling and presaged the dawn of a new form of literature. This acclaimed translation captures all the idiosyncrasies and rhythms of Bely's extraordinary prose. It is accompanied by an introduction by Adam Thirwell discussing the novel's themes, extraordinary style and influence. Andrei Bely (1880-1934), born Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, was educated at Moscow University where he studied science and philosophy, before turning his focus to literature. In 1904 he published his first collection of poems, Gold in Azure, which was followed in 1909 by his first novel, The Silver Dove. Bely's most famous novel, Petersburg, was published in 1916. His work is considered to have heavily influenced several literary schools, most notably Symbolism, and his impact on Russian writing has been compared to that of James Joyce on the English speaking world. If you enjoyed Petersburg, you might like Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, also available in Penguin Classics.

Imagine you could eavesdrop on a dinner party with three of the most fascinating historical figures of all time. In this landmark book, a gifted Harvard historian puts you in the room with Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt as they meet at a climactic turning point in the war to hash out the terms of the peace. The ink wasn't dry when the recriminations began. The conservatives who hated Roosevelt's New Deal accused him of selling out. Was he too sick? Did he give too much in exchange for Stalin's promise to join the war against Japan? Could he have done better in Eastern Europe? Both Left and Right would blame Yalta for beginning the Cold War. Plokhy's conclusions, based on unprecedented archival research, are surprising. He goes against conventional wisdom-cemented during the Cold War- and argues that an ailing Roosevelt did better than we think. Much has been made of FDR's handling of the Depression; here we see him as wartime chief. Yalta is authoritative, original, vividly- written narrative history, and is sure to appeal to fans of Margaret MacMillan's bestseller Paris 1919.

One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, teenager Will Grayson crosses paths with…Will Grayson! Two teens with the same name who run in two very different circles suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions. Culminating in epic turns-of-heart on both of their parts, they team up to produce the most fabulous musical ever to grace the high school stage. Told in alternating voices from two of the most popular names in young adult fiction, this unique collaborative novel features a double helping of the heart and humour that has won both authors legions of fans. Note: The cover on the book is cut slightly shorter than the actual pages. This is not a defect as this is how the book is binded.

James Trotter loses his parents in a horrible accident and is forced to live miserably with his two wicked aunts. Then James is given some magic crystals that give him hope. But when he accidentally spills these crystals on an old peach tree, strange things begin to happen. A peach starts to grow and grow until James is able to climb inside and escape his awful aunts! And through this adventure, he makes some interesting friends, including Grasshopper, Earthworm, Miss Spider, and Centipede, and finally finds a place where he belongs.