This epic of urban life tells of small-town heroine Carrie Meeber, adrift in an indifferent Chicago. Setting out, she has nothing but a few dollars and an unspoiled beauty. Hers is a story of struggle? From sweatshop to stage success? And of the love she inspires in an older, married man whose obsession with her threatens to destroy him.

«Notes from Underground» (1864) is a study of a single character, 'the real man of the Russian majority', and a revelation of Dostoyevsky's own deepest beliefs. One of his best critics has said of the first part that it forms his 'most utterly naked pages. Never after wards was he so fully and openly to reveal the inmost recesses, unmeant for display, of his heart'. «The Double» (1846) is the nightmarish story of Mr Golyadkin, a man who is haunted or possessed by his own double. Is 'Mr Golyadkin junior' really a double or simply a fearful side of his own nature? This uncertainty is what gives urgency and horror to a tale which may be read as a classic study of human breakdown.»

«In general «Glory» is my happiest thing.» «The fun of «Glory» is... to be sought in the echoing and linking of minor events, in back-and-forth switches, which produce an illusion of impetus; in an old daydream directly becoming the blessing of the ball hugged to one's chest, or in the casual vision of Martin's mother grieving beyond the time-frame of the novel in an abstraction of the future that the reader can only guess at, even after he has raced through the last seven chapters where a regular madness of structural twists and a masquerade of all characters culminate in a furious finale, although nothing much happens at the very end — just a bird perching on a wicket in the greyness of a wet day» — Vladimir Nabokov.»

Insight Guides, the world's largest visual travel series, capture the unique character of each destination's culture with a perspective only an insider can provide. Picturesque, romantic, historic or exotic, Insight covers the world's most popular destinations.

He came home from work. She fixed him a martini. He said she looked beautiful. And then four catastrophic words hung in the air between them: I Want A Divorce. That was it. Suddenly Suzanne Finnamore was alone, with no idea of what to do next. What would she say to her young son when he woke up the next morning? How would she tell the world that he'd chosen to move on and leave her behind? She faced the news of her ex-husband's Thing Woman, she suffered the emptiness of a Valentine's Day alone, she drank all the mandarin-flavoured vodka that was festering in the freezer. But with a lot of grit and the help of her whiskey-toting mother, Bunny, and loyal friend Christian, she found the hope and humour to drag herself through. From her darkest moments of despair to the eventual freedom of life on her own, Suzanne's story will speak to anyone whose heart's been stamped on — and needed the strength to start afresh.

In the sticky summer heat unruly desires stir the blood... For Catullus, the brilliantly witty and outrageous young poet, and Clodia, his older, married lover, a borrowed villa in Rome is a secret, illicit meeting-place. When they are apart, Catullus burns with desire for 'his girl', while Clodia goes her own way among his rivals. Other passions simmer in the heat: the streets threaten to erupt in political violence, hearts sour and contemplate murder, and love and hate are dangerously entwined. Catullus' jealousy grows as toxic as hellebore or hemlock. Poisoning is a Roman art, and there is poison everywhere...

For most people, being a single mother to three boys (two of them teenagers), sorting out your feelings for an ex-boyfriend who's now an international film star, pacifying an elderly father who keeps asking why you're not married, tolerating your bigoted brother, while keeping out of the way of a dismissive film producer who seems to have made a mission out of annoying you, would be quite enough of a challenge. Annie Lester however, is not only trying to tackle all this — she's also doing it in the small Gulf emirate of Hawar where, in the summer of 2002, the impact of America's decision to invade Iraq is just beginning to be felt. As her well-organised life begins to unravel in the most unexpected ways, Annie has to make some difficult decisions, and question where her loyalties lie. Are her sons defined by who they are, or by what they do? Can a British woman ever really be at home in the Middle East? And can James Hartley, the blue-eyed heartthrob adored by millions, really be serious about someone as ordinary as Annie Lester believes herself to be?

Lover. Mother. Writer. Each of these roles has meant the world to Izzy Mulcahy. But now, as she stands accused of killing her elderly father, Izzy sets out on a journey of self-discovery and finds the three roles colliding in ways that both surprise and sustain her. However, her journey also leads her to conclude that when she stands up in court her testimony will have a devastating effect on the two loves of her life, her daughter, Star, and her soulmate, Zach...

Captain Robert Falcon Scott didn't start out life as a hero. In fact, as a boy and young man he was considered small, frail and shy. So what was it that turned this ordinary man into a legend? Through his gripping new account of how this modest naval officer became Scott of the Antarctic, Neil Oliver vividly relates the awe-inspiring tales that inspired Britain's greatest hero. And alongside these epics of courage, fortitude and sacrifice, Oliver tells the astonishing stories of those heroes who followed Scott and whose deeds stood comparison with this iconic explorer's own humbling example. From Rorke's Drift to the Battle of Britain and Nelson to Neil Armstrong, these are men who understood — as Scott always did — that it was more important to die a hero than live a coward's life.

What if your boyfriend died right in front of you? It was a night of laughter and celebration. But when John dies in a dreadful accident, his girlfriend Emma is plunged into despair. She loved John more than life itself — and now death has taken him from her. She feels nothing, she has lost everything, her world spins out of control. Or so she thinks. For Emma has friends — good friends who rally around. But the shocking memory of that night returns to haunt each of them in different and trying ways. And Emma knows that if she is ever to laugh at life again, or find love she once had, she will have to let go of the man she thought she couldn't live without. She must let go and trust her heart.

Endpoint opens with a series of connected poems which were written on the occasions of Updike's recent birthdays and culminate in his confrontation with his final illness. They look back on the boy that Updike once was, on his family and little town and the circumstances that fed his love of writing. Then there are 'Other Poems', ranging from fanciful musings about what it would be like to be a stolen Rembrandt painting to celebratory outpourings that capture the spontaneity and flux of life. Finally, there is a set of sonnets, some of which are inspired by exotic travels in distant lands, and some of which simply take pleasure in the idiosyncrasies of nature in Updike's own backyard. For John Updike, the writing of poetry was always a special joy, and this final collection is an eloquent and moving testament to the life of this extraordinary writer.

Insight Guides present the full breadth of each nation in a large format suitable for a thorough introduction to the people and sights, while cities and regions are presented in a portable format ideal for the discriminating urban explorer in pursuit of the best the area has to offer.

Scott Schuman just wanted to take photographs of people on the street who looked great. His now famous blog ('the bellwether American site that turned photo blogging into an art form' — New York Times) was an attempt to showcase the wonderful and varied sartorial tastes of real people — not only those of the fashion industry. The book is a beautiful anthology of Scott's favourite shots from around the world. They include photographs of well-known fashion figures as well as those shots of the anonymous passerby whose imagination and taste delight the viewer. From the streets of Rio to Bejing, Stockholm to Milan, these are the people that have inspired Scott and in turn, inspired designers and people of all ages, wages and nationalities with an interest in fashion. Intimately designed and created with Scott, the book is a handsome object in its own right, in full colour on hand-picked, quality paper.

When Marnie Still receives a phone call that summons her to the side of a once-beloved friend, she is wrenched from her orderly London life and sent back into a past from which she has fled but never escaped. Ralph, Marnie and Oliver once knew each other well and are still inextricably bound by ties of love and betrayal. Now at last they meet again in Ralph's secluded cottage in the Scottish highlands, to spend the precious days that Ralph has left with each other. It is nearly Christmas; outside it is icy and dark, and inside time is running out. As they talk and share memories, Marnie is taken back to the summer all those years ago when everything changed between them and heartbreak and desire broke up their little group. Will Ralph have the chance to say what needs to be said before it's too late? Can they put the devastating events of twenty years ago to rest and rekindle the intimacy they once shared? Heartbreaking and poignant, The Winter House is the compelling story of families and lives assembled from the broken remains of what has been lost.

Dan Brown's new thriller The Lost Symbol is the biggest global publishing phenomenon since his runaway bestseller The Da Vinci Code. The new adventures of mystery-solving Professor of Symbology, Robert Langdon have attracted huge global interest and fresh controversies concerning Dan Brown's ideas, characters and thoughts on mythology and history. The Rough Guide to The Lost Symbol traces all the debates concerning religion and secret societies and the views of historians on Dan Brown's plots and ideas. It casts an eye on the locations of the book and how you can visit them and explains how The Lost Symbol connects to Brown's previous work and other books. Whether you are a Dan Brown fanatic, sceptic or agnostic there is no doubting the excitement generated by his exciting stories all of which are explored in this guide. This new Rough Guide has the key to understanding The Lost Symbol.

Richard's life is unravelling: his beautiful wife, Valerie, is having an affair, his son Maxence may (or may not) be mentally disturbed, and the idyllic life he'd hoped for when they moved to Provence has become more nightmare than paradise. Suddenly, a routine trip to Africa to sell pharmaceuticals is more than he can handle and his life starts to implode as he realizes that the idea of a life full of that love he has cherished is a mere illusion. For Richard and Valerie's neighbour Rachel, a trip to Africa also leads to feelings of confusion and doubt. Now Rachel, and her husband Jeff, as well as Richard and Valerie, are left groping for the things that once defined them. In this bold and tender story, both families find themselves desperately seeking the answer to one question: just what is the idea of love — and can it save them? But for the children in the story, the awkward unsettling Maxence and angelic little Maud, the idea of love is much simpler.

One of the most original, dazzling, and critically acclaimed debut novels this year. In this debut novel, hailed by Stephen King as aterrifying, touching, and wildly funny, a the stories of two strangers, Eugene Brentani and Mr. Schmitz, interweave. What unfolds is a bold reinvention of storytelling in which Eugene, a devotee of the reclusive and monstrous author, Constance Eakins, and Mr. Schmitz, who has been receiving ominous letters from an old friend, embark from New York for Italy, where the line between imagination and reality begins to blur and stories take on a life of their own.

Covert operative Micah Dalton is on the outs with his former bosses, staying off the radar and hopefully out of firing rangeauntil an attempt on his life forces him back to the CIA, where he must find an old associate whoas gone missing. But Micahas mission is not about a man. Itas about an elusive ship that is already heading west. And its cargo is death.

With their father and brother taken from them, the royal Eddon twins Barrick and Briony have done their best to hold the kingdom together. But now Barrick has been captured in a failed war against the immortal Twilight People and Briony has been forced to flee the castle. Old magics are stirring beneath the ancient castle and behind the Shadowline, and the machinations of gods, fairies, and mortals threaten to spread devastation across the entire world.

Since revealing their existence to the mortals of Chicago, the vampires are enjoying their celebrity status. But should people learn about the Raves — feeding parties where vampires round up humans like cattle — the citizens are certain to start sharpening their stakes.