Penguin Group

Art restorer and sometime spy Gabriel Allon is asked to visit Zurich, to clean the work of an Old Master for a millionaire banker. But when he gets there he finds the corpse of his client in a pool of blood beneath the masterpiece, and discovers that a secret collection of priceless paintings – stolen by Nazis in the war – is missing. With the Swiss authorities trying to pin the murder on Allon and a powerful cabal determined to make sure this wartime secret remains buried, the art restorer must use all his former spy skills to find out the truth. And with an assassin that he helped to train also on the loose, Allon will need all his wits just to stay alive …

These short works, ranging from Tolstoy's earliest tales to the brilliant title story, are rich in the insights and passion that characterize all of his explorations in love, war, courage, and civilization.

A Bit on the Side — Twelve remarkable stories by the master storyteller William Trevor. 'Compassionate, poignant, even heart-rending. Almost perfect works of art by perhaps the greatest short story writer now working in English' Sunday Independent. William Trevor is truly a Chekhov for our age. In these twelve stories, a waiter divulges a shocking life of crime to his ex-wife; a woman repeats the story of her parents' unstable marriage after a horrible tragedy; a schoolgirl regrets gossiping about the cuckolded man who tutors her; and, in the volume's title story, a middle-aged accountant offers his reasons for ending a love affair. At the heart of this stunning collection is Trevor's characteristic tenderness and unflinching eye for both the humanizing and dehumanizing aspects of modern urban and rural life. If you enjoyed The Story of Lucy Gault and Love and Summer, you will love this book. It will also be adored by readers of Colm Toibin, George Saunders and James Joyce. 'A treat ...

In this pair of literary voyages into the inner self, Conrad wrote two of the most chilling, disturbing, and noteworthy pieces of fiction of the 20th century. «Heart of Darkness» and «The Secret Sharer» encapsulate his literary achievements — and his haunting portrayal of the dark side of man.

Beowulf is the earliest extant poem in a modern European languagea reflecting a feudal, newly Christian world of heroes and monsters, blood and victory, life and death. Its beauty, power, and artistry have kept it alive for more than thirteen centuries.

The quintessential novel from England's most beloved novelist, David Copperfield is the story of a young man's adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful author.

Spirited Elizabeth Bennet matches wits and wiles of the heart with the arrogant Mr. Darcy in this entertaining portrait of matrimonial rites and rivalries in Regency England.

Our bestselling series is fit for a queen The life of Queen Elizabeth I was dramatic and dangerous: cast out of her father as court at the age of three and imprisoned at nineteen, Elizabeth was crowned queen in 1558, when she was only twenty-five. A tough, intelligent woman who spoke five languages, Elizabeth ruled for over forty years and led England through one of its most prosperous periods in history. Over 80 illustrations bring a Glorianaa and her court to life.

The Age Of Turbulence is Alan Greenspanas incomparable reckoning with the contemporary financial world, channeled through his own experiences working in the command room of the global economy longer and with greater effect than any other single living figure. Following the arc of his remarkable lifeas journey through his more than eighteen-year tenure as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board to the present, in the second half of The Age of Turbulence Dr. Greenspan embarks on a magnificent tour dahorizon of the global economy. The distillation of a lifeas worth of wisdom and insight into an elegant expression of a coherent worldview, The Age of Turbulence will stand as Alan Greenspanas personal and intellectual legacy.

On an ordinary summer's afternoon, Alice tumbles down a hole and an extraordinary adventure begins. In a strange world with even stranger characters, she meets a rabbit with a pocket watch, joins a Mad Hatter's Tea Party, and plays croquet with the Queen! Lost in this fantasy land, Alice finds herself growing more and more curious by the minute... With a wonderfully inspiring introduction by Chris Riddell, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of the twelve brilliant classic stories being relaunched in Puffin Classics in March 2008.

Islam today is a truly global faith, yet it remains somewhat of an enigma to many of us. Each and every day our newspapers are saturated with references to Islam; Quran, Taliban, Hijab, Fatwa, Allah, Sunni, Jihad, Shia, the list goes on. But how much do we really understand? Are we, in fact, misunderstanding? The Penguin Dictionary of Islam provides complete, impartial answers. It includes extensive coverage of the historical formations of the worldwide Muslim community and highlights key modern Muslim figures and events. Understanding Islam is vital to understanding our world and this text is the definitive authority, designed for both general and academic readers.

Издание полностью на английском языке. Полный, неадаптированный текст произведения.

»One of the greatest political fables of all time... It is the book for everyone and Everyman, its brightness undimmed after fifty years» Ruth Rendell, Daily Telegraf. Having got rid of their human master, the animals of Manor Farm look forward to a life of freedom and plenty. But as a clever, ruthless elite among them takes control, the other animals find themselves hopelessly ensnared in the old ways. Orwell's chilling story of the betrayal of idealism through tyranny and corruption is as fresh and relevant today as when it was first published in 1945. «His fable remains our great satire of the darker face of modern history» Malcolm Bradbury. Mail on Sunday Illustration: Pete Fowler

When Lolita was first published in 1955 it created a sensation and established Nabokov as one of the most original prose writers of the twentieth century. This annotated edition, a revised and considerably expanded version of the 1970 edition, does full justice to the textual riches of Lolita, illuminating the elaborate verbal textures and showing how they contribute to the novel's overall meaning. Alfred Appel, Jr. also provides fresh observations on the novel's artifice, games and verbal patternings and a delightful biographical vignette of Nabokov. The annotations themselves were prepared in consultation with Nabokov while newly identified allusions were confirmed by him during the final years of his life.

Oh, if you were the kind of man I am … I loved the shame of depravity. I loved cruelty … In a word – a Karamazov!’ The murder of brutal landowner Fyodor Karamazov changes the lives of his sons irrevocably: Mitya, the sensualist, whose bitter rivalry with his father immediately places him under suspicion for parricide; Ivan, the intellectual, whose mental tortures drive him to breakdown; the spiritual Alyosha, who tries to heal the family’s rifts; and the shadowy figure of their bastard half-brother Smerdyakov. As the ensuing investigation and trial reveal the true identity of the murderer, Dostoyevsky’s dark masterwork evokes a world where the lines between innocence and corruption, good and evil blur, and everyone’s faith in humanity is tested. This powerful translation of The Brothers Karamazov features an introduction highlighting Dostoyevsky’s recurrent themes of guilt and salvation, with a new chronology and further reading.

Credited with inventing the modern horror tradition, H. P. Lovecraft remade the genre in the early twentieth century, discarding ghosts and witches and instead envisaging mankind at the mercy of a chaotic and malevolent universe. This selection of stories ranges from early tales of nightmares and insanity such as ‘The Outsider’ and ‘Rats in the Walls’, through the grotesquely comic ‘Herbert West – Reanimator’ and ‘The Hound’, to the extra-terrestrial terror of ‘The Call of Cthulhu’, which fuses traditional supernaturalism with science fiction. Including the definitive corrected texts, this collection reveals the development of Lovecraft’s mesmerizing narrative style and establishes him as a hugely influential – and visionary – American writer. Edited with an Introduction by S. T. Joshi.

An almanac with a difference! A fun-filled compendium bursting with Dahl-tastic treats: jokes, activities, fun facts and extracts from Roald Dahl's own letters. Split into different months, following the school year from September to August, this is the perfect book for all kids — whether they're Roald Dahl fans or not — to dip into and pick up a funny / extraordinary / unbelievable fact.

Chichikov, a mysterious stranger, arrives in the provincial town of 'N', visiting a succession of landowners and making each a strange offer. He proposes to buy the names of dead serfs still registered on the census, saving their owners from paying tax on them, and to use these 'souls' as collateral to re-invent himself as a gentleman. In this ebullient masterpiece, Gogol created a grotesque gallery of human types, from the bear-like Sobakevich to the insubstantial fool Manilov, and, above all, the devilish con man Chichikov. Dead Souls, Russia's first major novel, is one of the most unusual works of nineteenth-century fiction and a devastating satire on social hypocrisy.

Remember when cereal boxes came with a free prize inside? You already liked the cereal, but once you saw that there was a free prize inside — something small yet precious — it became irresistible. In his new book, Seth Godin shows how you can make your customers feel that way again. Free Prize Inside is jammed with practical ideas you can use right now to MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN, no matter what kind of company you work for. Something irresistible. Something that markets itself. Because everything we do is marketing — even if you're not in the marketing department. Here's a step-by-step way to get your organization to do something remarkable: quickly, cheaply and reliably. You don't need an MBA or a huge budget. All you need is a strategy for finding great ideas and convincing others to help you make them happen.

The Wilson family was torn apart the night little Christopher was almost killed ... Though the two year-old survives the brutal attack by his drunken father, his older sister Kaitlyn is convinced it's all her fault. Christopher is taken into care and never returns to the family home on the notorious Roxford estate in South London. But the bond between the siblings remains strong, and as Kaitlyn gets older she dreams of a new life away from the violence of the estate and her mother's dangerous addictions. But most of all, she dreams of being reunited with her little brother. Will Kaitlyn's dreams ever come true? And if they do, could they really turn into a nightmare? Kaitlyn is the heart-rending story of a family ripped apart by tragedy and reunited by a twist of fate that threatens to destroy all their lives — and of a girl who has to choose between everything she has worked for, and the only family she has every known.

An indispensable companion to this country of inspiring landscapes and rich culture. The map covers every corner, taking in the handsome architecture of Prague to the spa towns of West Bohemia and the alpine splendour of the high Tatra mountains. for those travelling by car, there is detail of the road surfaces, distances between towns, road numbers, petrol stations and places of interest from castles to viewpoints. For the visitor reliant on public transport, the map details train lines and stations. The scale of 1:350,000 allows for details of the smallest hamlet and unsurfaced track or path, enabling the visitor to get off the beaten path without getting lost.

Kerstin Kvist enters crumbling Lydstep Old Hall to live with the Cosways and to act as nurse to John: a grown man fed drugs by his family to control his lunatic episodes. But John's strangeness is grotesquely mirrored in that of his four sisters who roam the dark, mazy Essex country house under the strict gaze of eighty-year-old Mrs Cosway. Despite being treated as an outsider, Kerstin is nevertheless determined to help John. But she soon discovers that there are others in the family who are equally as determined that John remain isolated, for sinister reasons of their own ...

Audacious, controversial and hilarious, The Monkey Wrench Gang is Edward Abbey's masterpiece — a big, boisterous and unforgettable novel about freedom and commitment that ignited the flames of environmental activism. Throughout the vast American West, nature is being vicitimized by a Big Government / Big Business conspiracy of bridges, dams and concrete. But a motley gang of individuals has decided that enough is enough, A burnt-out veteran, a mad doctor and a polygamist join forces in a noble cause: to dismantle the machinery of progress through peaceful means, or otherwise.

At the centre of Music for Chameleons is Handcarved Coffins, a ‘nonfiction novel’ based on the brutal crimes of a real-life murderer. Taking place in a small Midwestern town in America, it offers chilling insights into the mind of a killer and the obsession of the man bringing him to justice. Also in this volume are six short stories and seven ‘conversational portraits’ including a touching one of Marilyn Monroe, the ‘beautiful child’ and a hilarious one of a dope-smoking cleaning lady doing her rounds in New York.