A beautiful Italian girl driving home in an open top sports car, a little boy playing on a south Coast beach and the Senior Steward of the Jockey Club on his way to a press reception in Baltimore. One after the other they suffer the same nightmare ordeal — kidnapping. But there is one thing connecting these particular cases. For the Italian girl is a jockey and the little boy an only son of a race horse owner. A picture of the person behind this interanational chain of crime starts to emerge — a lover of Verdi, a man with a cool and calculating brain and an aficionado of the racing world. Andrew Doublas, brought in to advise and help the vicitms and their families, proceeds with all his customary diplomacy and courage. Only to find himeself playing a dangerous part: the role usually reserved for his clients...

«Revered for his magnificent works of fiction, Jorge Luis Borges thought of himself primarily as a poet. Poems of the Night is a moving collection of the great literary visionary's poetic meditations on nighttime, darkness, and the crepuscular world of visions and dreams, themes that speak implicitly to the blindness that overtook Borges late in life-and yet the poems here are drawn from the full span of Borges's career. Featuring such poems as «History of the Night» and «In Praise of Darkness» and more than fifty others in luminous translations by an array of distinguished translators-among them W.S. Merwin, Christopher Maurer, Alan Trueblood, and Alastair Reid-this volume brings to light many poems that have never appeared in English, presenting them en face with their Spanish originals.»

Humbert Humbert — scholar, aesthete and romantic — has fallen completely and utterly in love with Lolita Haze, his landlady's gum-snapping, silky skinned twelve-year-old daughter. Reluctantly agreeing to marry Mrs Haze just to be close to Lolita, Humbert suffers greatly in the pursuit of romance; but when Lo herself starts looking for attention elsewhere, he will carry her off on a desperate cross-country misadventure, all in the name of Love. Hilarious, flamboyant, heart-breaking and full of ingenious word play, Lolita is an immaculate, unforgettable masterpiece of obsession, delusion and lust.

Nick Hornby's second bestselling novel is about sex, manliness and fatherhood. Will is thirty-six, comfortable and child-free. And he's discovered a brilliant new way of meeting women — through single-parent groups. Marcus is twelve and a little bitnerdish: he's got the kind of mother who made him listen to Joni Mitchell rather than Nirvana. Perhaps they can help each other out a little bit, and both can start to act their age.

The Castle is the story of K., the unwanted Land Surveyor who is never to be admitted to the Castle nor accepted in the village, and yet cannot go home. As he experiences certainty and doubt, hope and fear, and reason and nonsense, K's struggles in the absurd, labyrinthine world where he finds himself seem to reveal an inexplicable truth about the nature of existence. Kafka began The Castle in 1922 and it was never finished, yet this, the last of his three great novels, draws fascinating conclusions that make it feel strangely complete.

Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. The novel was a success de scandale and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895. It has lost none of its power to fascinate and disturb.

«View our feature on Mean Streets. An anthology of solid and suspenseful novellas from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green National bestselling authors Kat Richardson Thomas E. Sniegoski Here are four novellas featuring Harry Dresden, John Taylor, Harper Blaine, and Remy Chandler... paranormal private investigators who walk the streets no one else can walk and take the jobs no one else will take... Of course, if a case involves werewolves, zombies, demons, or other «unusual» circumstances, it may cost a bit extra.»

«If you've ever wondered how to climb the social ladder with grace, how to feel confident in every situation, or even how to make a lasting impression (but not the kind that lands you on the latest «Worst Dressed List») — Derek Blasberg is here, with quotes and secrets from all the socialites so girls everywhere can learn how to have class. This hilarious handbook will provide everything you need to know about fashion, socialising, dating, and etiquette. With tons of practical tips and tools for learning to flaunt what you've got, dozens of specific how-tos, common no-nos, and huge blunders that even smart girls make, this tongue-in-cheek book will train you to be a lady, and not a tramp!»

«New York Times» bestselling Grand Master of Crime Fiction Foreign Office diplomat Peter Darwin uncovers a peculiar operation involving a veterinary surgeon and the unexplained deaths of several valuable racehorses.»

From 'shotclog' a Yorkshire term for a companion only tolerated because he is paying for the drinks to Albanian having 29 words to describe different kinds of eyebrows, the languages of the world are full of amazing, amusing and illuminating words and expressions that will improve absolutely everybody's quality of life. All they need is this book! This bumper volume gathers all three of Adam Jacot de Boinod's acclaimed books about language — The Wonder of Whiffling, The Meaning of Tingo and Toujours Tingo (their fans include everyone from Stephen Fry to Michael Palin) — into one highly entertaining, keenly priced compendium. As Mariella Frostup said 'You'll never be lost for words again'.

«Secrets and surprises from Roald Dahl! Feast your eyes on a secret! Between these covers is a long-lost chapter — and the original ending — from «Charlie and the Chocolate Factory» and other delicious never-before-seen tidbits from Mr. Wonka's factory. Then slip into some tasty tales from Roald Dahl's life to discover more about the world's No. 1 storyteller. No Roald Dahl collection is complete without this splendiferous treat!»

Alice is twenty-nine. She adores sleep, chocolate, and her ramshackle new house. She's newly engaged to the wonderful Nick and is pregnant with her first baby.

After her parents' bitter divorce, young Maisie Farange finds herself shuttled between her selfish mother and vain father, who value her only as a means for provoking each other. Maisie — solitary, observant and wise beyond her years — is drawn into an increasingly entangled adult world of intrigue and sexual betrayal, until she is finally compelled to choose her own future. What Maisie Knew is a subtle yet devastating portrayal of an innocent adrift in a corrupt society. It is part of a relaunch of three James titles.

Set in Birmingham, The News Where You Are tells the funny, touching story of Frank, a local TV news presenter. Beneath his awkwardly corny screen persona, Frank is haunted by disappearances: the mysterious hit and run that killed his predecessor Phil Smethway; the demolition of his father's post-war brutalist architecture; and, the unmarked passing of those who die alone in the city. Frank struggles to make sense of these absences while having to report endless local news stories of holes opening up in people's gardens and trying to cope with his resolutely miserable mother. The result is that rare thing: a page-turning novel which asks the big questions in an accessible way, and is laugh-out-loud funny, genuinely moving and ultimately uplifting.

The creator of such quintessentially American fiction as Rip Van Winkle, Irving earned his preeminence with the masterpieces in miniature collected here: dozens of short stories, travel essays, biographical discourses, and literary musings.

Spot's dad takes him to visit the animals on the farm and Spot makes an exciting discovery. This classic lift-the-flap book by Eric Hill is reissued in the popular board book format with a new coloured cover and reoriginated art throughout. Toddlers will enjoying following Spot as he visits the farm and lifting the flaps to see what Spot finds!

The Gulag was Russia’s forgotten holocaust. The largest network of concentration camps ever created, it murdered millions and haunted all those who came out alive. Here, for the first time, is the full, moving story of its countless victims: how they lived, laboured, suffered – and survived to bear witness to one of history’s most terrible crimes.

When it comes to the mating game, Jane's still learning how to play. As a teenager she watched her elder brother falling in and out of love. Now she's embarking on her own affairs. There's the boyfriend with the irritatingly beautiful ex; the worldly Older Man; the commitment-phobe who calls her honey but never uses her name. Plenty of fish in the sea — but how do you find a man worth catching? When she finally resorts to 'How to Meet and Marry Mr Right', a hilarious guide to hunting out and reeling in the man of your dreams, Jane discovers that with love, life and men, a girl doesn't need rules ...

Olga Chekhova was a stunning Russian beauty and a famous Nazi-era film actress who was closely associated with Hitler; she was also the niece of playwright Anton Chekhov. After fleeing Bolshevik Moscow for Berlin in 1920, she was recruited by her composer brother Lev, to work for Soviet intelligence. In return, her family were allowed to join her. The extraordinary story of how the whole family survived the Russian Revolution, the civil war, the rise of Hitler, the Stalinist Terror, and the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union becomes, in Antony Beevor's hands, a breathtaking tale of compromise and survival in a merciless age.