Set against a high-profile hunt for the latest criminal gang to hit Paris, Maigret is determined to track down the murderer of a quiet crook of the old school, for whom he cannot help feeling affection and respect. In Maigret's careful recreation of the life of this gentle and eccentric burglar, Simenon beautifully depicts Maigret's insight, compassion, and melancholic nostalgia.

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.

Two girls went traveling in search of adventure, in search of 'real life'. Only one came back...A chilling, gripping novel about the backpacking holiday of a lifetime with utterly devastating and unexpected consequences, this is a dazzling and assured first novel destined to become an instant classic.

«Ten young Florentines take refuge in the countryside from the Black Death and tell stories to pass the time. From the unfaithful wife who unwittingly eats her lover's heart to the sly peasant plotting to seduce a whole nunnery, these are tales of lust, adventure and unexpected twists of fate. United by the theme of love, the writings in the «Great Loves» series span over two thousand years and vastly different worlds. Readers will be introduced to love's endlessly fascinating possibilities and extremities: romantic love, platonic love, erotic love, gay love, virginal love, adulterous love, parental love, filial love, nostalgic love, unrequited love, illicit love, not to mention lost love, twisted and obsessional love...»

«The illicit relationship between Peter Abelard, a medieval philosopher, and his young pupil Heloise is one of history's most legendary and tragic love affairs. From reckless ecstasy to public scandal and cruel separation, their eloquent and intimate letters tell the story of their passionate, doomed romance. United by the theme of love, the writings in the «Great Loves» series span over two thousand years and vastly different worlds. Readers will be introduced to love's endlessly fascinating possibilities and extremities: romantic love, platonic love, erotic love, gay love, virginal love, adulterous love, parental love, filial love, nostalgic love, unrequited love, illicit love, not to mention lost love, twisted, and obsessional love...»

«Racked with fever, virtually broke and earning a precarious living through sending back to London the plumes of beautiful birds, Wallace (1823-1913) ultimately became one of the most heroic and admirable of all scientist-explorers. Whether living with Hill Dyaks or hunting Orang-Utans or sailing on a junk to the unbelievably remote Aru islands, Wallace opens our eyes to a now long vanished world. «Great Journeys» allows readers to travel both around the planet and back through the centuries — but also back into ideas and worlds frightening, ruthless and cruel in different ways from our own. Few reading experiences can begin to match that of engaging with writers who saw astounding things: great civilisations, walls of ice, violent and implacable jungles, deserts and mountains, multitudes of birds and flowers new to science. Reading these books is to see the world afresh, to rediscover a time when many cultures were quite strange to each other, where legends and stories were treated as facts and in which so much was still to be discovered.»

This is a devastatingly funny satire on the whole idea of student travel, and particularly the India back-pack trail. Dave travels to India with Liz because he thinks he might be able to get her into bed. Liz travels to India with Dave because she wants a companion for her voyage of spiritual discovery. She loves it. He dreams of frosty mornings, pints of lager and restaurants where vegetable curry is only a side-dish...

A wallflower in the spotlight can do one of two things: wilt, or blossom... Violet Greenfield's life changes forever when a lady in giant Chanel shades tells her she could be IT, the next Kate Moss-but taller, and without the PR problems. That's how Violet winds up with a business card in the front pocket of her jeans on her first day as a senior in high school. Angela Blythe from Tryst Models in New York City wants to put Violet on a plane and whisk her into the world of high-heeled boots and oversized sunglasses. Tall, skinny Violet, who's been P-L-A-I-N practically forever. And guess what? She's going.

An immediate sensation upon publication in China, I Love Dollars is a hilarious send-up of China's love affair with capitalism by one of its most gifted new writers. In the title story, a young man, acutely aware of his filial duty, sets out to secure a prostitute for his father, only to haggle his old man out of a good time. Here, gleefully exposed, are the inanities of everyday life in contemporary China. As penetrating as Kafka, as outrageously funny as Larry David, and with a slangy swagger all Zhu Wen's own, I Love Dollars is priceless.

She's had hit after hit with Janet Evanovich. Now this New York Times bestselling author begins a series that readers will go crazy for. Psychologist Kate Holly's own life has become the stuff of intensive therapy. She's divorcing her gorgeous firefighter husband, she has an eccentric secretary, her mother and aunt have erected a vaguely sexual sculpture in her front yard, and her psychiatrist ex-boyfriend won't stop calling to find out what color panties she's wearing. Now, Kate's being bombarded with mysterious threats, and the only person who can help her is the one man who always makes her lose her mind-and heart.

«Jack Higgins's previous novels Edge of Danger and Midnight Runner put British intelligence agent Sean Dillon through «a lot of thrills [and] wild action» (Los Angeles Times). Now a new enemy has emerged with a dark secret from World War II--and a score to settle with agent Dillon.»

The new Presidential Agent novel-now in paperback. Two brutal murders and millions of missing dollars in the growing UN/Iraq oil-for-food scandal have led Charley Castillo and his team to Uruguay, where the man they seek is murdered right before their eyes. Those responsible have left just enough of a trail for Castillo to pick up the scent and follow it wherever it takes him-even if it's not exactly where he expected.

Set in the future as two rival gangs, the Volsons and the Connors, struggle to control London. The city is almost cut off from the rest of the country and surrounded by the Halfman Lands — a desolate area populated by creatures, Halfmen, the results of genetic experiments to create living killing machines. Val Volson dreams of uniting the two factions by giving his 14-year-old daughter, Signy, as a bride to the rival ganglord, Connor. A shocking betrayal almost wipes out the Volsons — only Signy and her twin brother, Siggy, survive. The fate of both gangs, and of London, is in their hands, but both must pay a terrible price for power.

A sexually active, rebellious teenager is transformed into a confused and frightened dog by a tramp with magical powers. Sandra has a lot of growing up to do quickly if she is to survive as a scrounging stray in a rough dogs' world. She experiences all the physical aspects of being a dog, including running with a pack and going on heat. She must decide whether she wants to recover her humanity, and if so how to do it — doubly difficult as her brain is reduced to the scattered consciousness of a dog.

«In 1940s Shanghai, beautiful young Jiazhi spends her days playing mahjong and drinking tea with high society ladies. But China is occupied by invading Japanese forces and things are not always what they seem in wartime. Jiazhi's life is a front. A patriotic student radical, her mission is to seduce a powerful employee of the occupying government and lead him to the assassin's bullet. Yet as she waits for him to arrive at their liaison, Jiazhi begins to wonder if she is cut out to be a femme fatale and coldly take Mr Yi to his death. Or is she beginning to fall in love with him? A passionate tale of espionage, deception and love, «Lust, Caution» is accompanied here by four further dazzling short stories by Eileen Chang.»

«Gabriel Allon, art restorer and spy, is about to face the greatest challenge of his life. An al-Qaeda suspect is killed in London, and photographs are found on his computer — photographs that lead Israeli intelligence to suspect that al-Qaeda is planning one of its most audacious attacks ever, straight at the heart of the Vatican. Allon warns the Pope's private secretary, his old friend Monsignor Luigi Donati, and rushes to Rome to assist in the security. But what neither he nor Donati knows is that the Vatican has been thoroughly penetrated. An extraordinary enemy walks among them... and he's just getting started. In the days and weeks to come, Allon and his colleagues will find themselves in a deadly duel of wits against one of the most dangerous men in the world — a hunt that will take them across Europe to the Caribbean and back again. But for them, there may simply not be enough of anything: enough time, enough facts, enough luck. All Allon can do is set his trap — and hope that he himself is not the one caught in it. Filled with remarkable characters and breathtaking double and triple turns of plot, «The Messenger» confirms Silva's reputation as his generation's finest writer of international thrillers.»

«Set in Paris and attracting comparisons with Franz Kafka and Edgar Allan Poe, «The Pigeon» is Patrick Suskind's tense, disturbing follow-up to the bestselling Perfume. The novella tells the story of a day in the meticulously ordered life of bank security guard Jonathan Noel, who has been hiding from life since his wife left him for her Tunisian lover. When Jonathan opens his front door on a day he believes will be just like any other, he encounters not the desired empty hallway but an unwelcome, diabolical intruder...»

Just before she died, Patty Bigelow confessed to having killed a man. Now her niece Tanya is obsessed with finding out the truth about her aunt's crime — and she needs Alex Delaware's help.

Young, fiery and bright, Eshlaini has her whole future ahead of her — until her father condemns her to a life of spinsterhood. Joyce has settled into Malaysian life after thirty years as an ex-pat wife — or so she thinks, until a newcomer arrives and reveals just how little of her home she knows. Jade Moon wants the best for her family — but, surrounded by Americans who reject her Korean traditions, she must first work out what 'the best' means. Though cultures and distances separate them, their experiences reflect our universal fears and desires. From a breathtaking island off Singapore to upstate New York and France, Kim Edwards takes in the world, compassionately and gracefully exploring the obstacles of time, place and circumstance in all of our quests for love, happiness and acceptance.

«The Sheltering Sky» is a book about people on the edge of an alien space; somewhere where, curiously, they are never alone' — Michael Hoffman. Port and Kit Moresbury, a sophisticated American couple, are finding it more than a little difficult to live with each other. Endeavoring to escape this predicament, they set off for North Africa intending to travel through Algeria — uncertain of exactly where they are heading, but determined to leave the modern world behind. The results of this casually taken decision are both tragic and compelling.»