Random House, Inc.

The story of «The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas» is very difficult to describe. Usually we give some clues about the book on the cover, but in this case we think that would spoil the reading of the book. We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about. If you do start to read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy called Bruno. (Though this isn't a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence. We hope you never have to cross such a fence.

It is 1941 and Captain Antonio Corelli, a young Italian officer, is posted to the Greek island of Cephallonia as part of the occupying forces. At first he is ostracised by the locals, but as a conscientious but far from fanatical soldier, whose main aim is to have a peaceful war, he proves in time to be civilised, humourous — and a consummate musician. When the local doctor's daughter's letters to her fiance go unanswered, the working of the eternal triangle seems inevitable. But can this fragile love survive as a war of bestial savagery gets closer and the lines are drawn between invader and defender?

This is an Uncle Fred novel. It was never the habit of Frederick, fifth Earl of Ickenham, to grumble when events crowded in on him, but he did sometimes feel that the life-work he had set himself of spreading sweetness and light — or, as some preferred to put it, meddling in other people's business — was almost more than any man could be expected to undertake single-handed. So many problems had presented themselves of late, coming up one after the other. First there was the faltering courtship of his godson, Johnny, and the delectable Belinda Farringdon. Then there was Albert Peasemarch's tangled love-life in which the promotion of a union between this admirable butler and the sister of his employer was calling for all that Frederick had of resolution and ingenuity. And thirdly there was the matter of the reformation of Beefy Bastable, whose attitude towards his sister Phoebe, so like that of a snapping turtle suffering from ulcers, Frederick felt it his duty to correct. It is hardly to be wondered at that Frederick confessed to being preoccupied. But, happily such moments with him were of fleeting duration. In the present instance the mood came, paused and passed, leaving Frederick with the ball at his feet, eager to lend his statesmanlike mind to all mankind in distress.

At the heart of the ruined city of Arcopolis is the Fortress. It's a brutal structure placed here by one of the sides in a devastating intergalactic war that's long ended. Fifteen years ago, the entire population of the planet was killed in an instant by the weapon housed deep in the heart of the Fortress. Now only the ghosts remain. The Doctor arrives, and determines to fight his way past the Fortress' automatic defences and put the weapon beyond use. But he soon discovers he's not the only person in Arcopolis. What is the true nature of the weapon? Is the planet really haunted? Who are the Eyeless? And what will happen if they get to the weapon before the Doctor? The Doctor has a fight on his hands. And this time he's all on his own. Featuring the Doctor as played by David Tennant in the hit series from BBC Television.

This wonderful book takes an affectionate, entertaining and perceptive look at the English people. Here are their traditions, foibles, quirks, customs, humour and achievements, triumphs and failures, peccadilloes and passions. Travel through England from coast to coast and learn how every county contributes in unique and different ways to the distinct English personality. Marvel at crooked black and white halls in Cheshire and soft golden stone cottages in Midland villages. Go cheese rolling in Gloucestershire, discover the origins of cricket in Hampshire, savour a hot pot in Lancashire and a pudding in Yorkshire. Gasp at the glories of stately homes and the families that create them, upstairs and down, enjoy a pint. Listen to the memories and tales of ordinary folk from every walk of life and find out from them what it means to be English. This irresistible book will entertain and inform for hours on end.

This is a P.G. Wodehouse novel. It takes a lot of effort for Jimmy Crocker to become Piccadilly Jim — nights on the town roistering, headlines in the gossip columns, a string of broken hearts and breaches of promise. Eventually, he becomes rather good at it and manages to go to pieces with his eyes open. But no sooner has Jimmy cut a wild swathe through fashionable London than his terrifying Aunt Nesta decides he must mend his ways. He then falls in love with the girl he has hurt most of all, and after that things get complicated. In a dizzying plot, impersonations pile on impersonations so that (for reasons that will become clear, we promise) Jimmy ends up having to pretend he's himself. Does he deserve a happy ending? Read and find out.

In this seventh installment of Armstrong's sizzling paranormal series Women of the Otherworld, celebrity necromancer Jamie Vegas finds herself haunted by children who are trapped between two worlds.

»New York Times» — bestselling author Armstrong follows «No Humans Involved» with the eighth sexy, action-packed Women of the Otherworld novel featuring a wickedly beautiful, supernaturally gifted heroine who may love danger a bit too much.

Can't wait for the next installment of the Pants? Check out the SPECIAL EDITION of The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, in stores now Inside you'll find an exclusive Who's Your Soul Mate Quiz and a sneak peak at the third book, Girls in Pants. With a bit of last summer's sand in the pockets, the Traveling Pants and the Sisterhood that wears them embark on their 16th summer. Bridget: Impulsively sets off for Alabama, wanting to both confront her demons about her family and avoid them all at once. Lena: Spends a blissful week with Kostos, making the unexplainable silence that follows his visit even more painful. Carmen: Is concerned that her mother is making a fool of herself over a man. When she discovers that her mother borrowed the Pants to wear on a date, she's certain of it. Tibby: Not about to spend another summer working at Wallman's, she takes a film course only to find it's what happens off-camera that teaches her the most. From the Hardcover edition.

Based on ten years' astonishing new research, here is the thrilling story of how a charismatic, dangerous boy became a student priest, romantic poet, gangster mastermind, prolific lover, murderous revolutionary, and the merciless politician who shaped the Soviet Empire in his own brutal image: How Stalin became Stalin.

In his first short-story collection since «The Acid House», Irvine Welsh sets us five tricky questions. In «Rattlesnakes» how do three young Americans find themselves lost in the desert, and why does one find himself performing fellatio on another while being watched by the bare-breasted Madeline and two armed Mexicans? Who is the mysterious Korean chef who has moved upstairs to Chicago socialite Kendra Cross, in «The D.O.G.S. of Lincoln Park», and what does he have to do with the disappearance of her faithful pooch Toto? In the title story, can Mickey Baker — an expert English bar-owner ducking and diving on the Costa Brava — manage to keep all his balls in the air: maintaining his barmaid Cynthia's body weight at the sexual maximum while attending to the youthful Persephone and dodging his persistent ex-wife and a pair of Spanish gangsters? By what train of events does Raymond Wilson Butler, writing a biography of a legendary US film director in «Miss Arizona» come to end up as a piece of movie memorabilia? And how, in the novella «The Kingdom of Fife» will Jason King — diminutive ex-trainee jockey and Subbuteo star of Cowdenbeath — fare in the world of middle-class female equestrians, and will he ever enjoy the tender and long-anticipated charms of Jenni Cahill and her remarkable jodhpurs? All of these questions are posed, and answered, in these five extraordinary stories: stories that remind us that Irvine Welsh is a master of the shorter form, a brilliant storyteller, and — unarguably — one of the funniest and filthiest writers in Britain.

The 1993 Booker Prize-winner. Paddy Clarke, a ten-year-old Dubliner, describes his world, a place full of warmth, cruelty, love, sardines and slaps across the face. He's confused; he sees everything but he understands less and less.

Children can now enjoy their favourite Poppy story, time and time again with this brilliant picture book and DVD set. The DVD features a soundtrack read by Tamzin Outhwaite, animated stills from the book and brilliant music and sound effects. It's Poppy's birthday and she's really excited. She simply can't wait to be a birthday princess! But everyone seems so busy — it's as if no one cares about her enough to remember her special day. They can't all have forgotten... can they?

Set entirely on one day, 16 June 1904, «Ulysses» follows Leopold Bloom and Stephen Daedalus as they go about their daily business in Dublin. From this starting point, James Joyce constructs a novel of extraordinary imaginative richness and depth. Unique in the history of literature, «Ulysses» is one of the most important and enjoyable works of the twentieth century. «Ulysses» was Paris in 1922. It was first published in Great Britain by The Bodley Head in 1960. In 1974 a team of scholars, led by Professor Hans Walter Gabler, began to study manuscript evidence, typescripts and proofs in an attempt to reconstruct as closely as possible the creative process by which Joyce wrote «Ulysses». This text is the revised 1993 edition of Gabler's version.

At twenty-nine, fun-loving, good-natured Claire has everything she ever wanted: a husband she adores, a great apartment, a good job. Then, on the day she gives birth to her first baby, James visits her in the recovery room to inform her that he's leaving her. Claire is left with a beautiful newborn daughter, a broken heart, and a body that she can hardly bear to look at in the mirror. So, in the absence of any better offers, Claire decides to go home to her family in Dublin. To her gorgeous man-eating sister Helen, her soap-watching mother, her bewildered father. And there, sheltered by the love of an (albeit quirky) family, she gets better. A lot better. In fact, so much better that when James slithers back into her life, he's in for a bit of a surprise.

This narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son becomes a text which speaks directly to the confusions and agonies of existence, detailing a personal, philosophical odyssey.

Bob Lee Swagger has seen enough of war and fighting for any man: his past as a Marine Corps sniper and later as a self-appointed avenger has been a bloody one. But the hope that he is finished with combat are dashed with a visit from Colonel Philip Yano. Yano has come to America to find a samurai sword that Bob's father took from Yano's dying father in the desperate battle for Iwo Jima in 1945. Yano believes the sword to be a national treasure, of huge political significance to whoever can get hold of it. Bob agrees to help and delivers the sword to Yano in Tokyo, but soon afterwards the Yano family are murdered, their house burned to the ground and the sword stolen. Dark forces are at work. With the aid of Yano's old comrades, Bob enters not only Tokyo's criminal underbelly, but also the violent, obsessive world of the Samurai. Once more he is on a mission of vengeance.

Tessa has just a few months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It's her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is sex. Released from the constraints of 'normal' life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Tessa's feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa's time finally runs out. Before I Die is a brilliantly-crafted novel, heartbreaking yet astonishingly life-affirming. It will take you to the very edge.

Barrytown, Dublin, has something to sing about. The Commitments are spreading the gospel of the soul. Ably managed by Jimmy Rabitte, brilliantly coached by Joel 'The Lips' Fagan, their twin assault on Motown and Barrytown takes them by leaps and bounds from paris hall to immortality on vinyl. But can The Commitments live up to their name?

Born at the stroke of midnight at the exact moment of India's independence, Saleem Sinai is a special child. However, this coincidence of birth has consequences he is not prepared for: telepathic powers connect him with 1,000 other 'midnight's children' all of whom are endowed with unusual gifts. Inextricably linked to his nation, Saleem's story is a whirlwind of disasters and triumphs that mirrors the course of modern India at its most impossible and glorious.

Centres around Kaspar Krone, a world-renowned circus clown with a deep love for the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and an even deeper gambling debt. Wanted for tax evasion and on the verge of extradition, Krone is drafted into the service of a mysterious order of nuns who promise him reprieve from the international authorities.

Published two weeks after his seventieth birthday, Ada, or Ardor is one of Nabokov's greatest masterpieces, the glorious culmination of his career as a novelist. It tells a love story troubled by incest. But more: it is also at once a fairy tale, epic, philosophical treatise on the nature of time, parody of the history of the novel, and erotic catalogue. Ada, or Ardor is no less than the supreme work of an imagination at white heat. This is the first American edition to include the extensive and ingeniously sardonic appendix by the author, written under the anagrammatic pseudonym Vivian Darkbloom.

After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens — as he later put it, it was clear my people needed me). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item. Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended if at times bemused love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years away.

Offers a guide to this extraordinary river and the towns and villages which line it. Exploring its history since prehistoric times, this book shows the fishes that swam in the river and the boats that plied its surface; about floods and tides; hauntings and suicides; miasmas and malaria; locks, weirs and embankments; bridges, docks and palaces.