Journey into space with Polish scifi master Stanislaw Lem. The whimsical time-loops of Ijon Tichy’s cosmic adventure ‘The Seventh Voyage’ are reminiscent of Douglas Adams, while…
Composed in Iceland in the 13th Century, The Prose Edda is the most renowned of all works of Scandanavian literature, taking readers on a voyage through an enthralling world of…
'But how sweet a fruit the 'suppose' must be, that people will sup and sup on it! A juicy fruit, like a lychee but without the pit, sparkling and light green- a fruit that hides…
‘I must die. But must I die bawling?’ What does it mean to live a virtuous life? How can we rise above pain and anguish? In these teachings from Book 1 of his Discourses, ancient…
‘Why should I bother to invent things? My life has been far more exciting and wonderful than any fairy-tale’ In the heart of the English countryside, surrounded by irritatingly…
I went down, I climbed back up into the light of the jaguar sun – into the sea of the green sap of the leaves. The world spun, I plunged down, my throat cut by the knife of the…
‘It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck, and an even greater miracle of perception and charity not to teach your child to hate’Told…
Collecting two of his most celebrated works – Rescue, written in Warsaw in the shadow of Nazi occupation, and A Treatise on Poetry – a momentous history of Poland, told in four…
The Time Machine is the great, gleeful anarchist novel of the 1890s. It is both a thrilling adventure story and a satire on religion, evolution and human hopes. With this book,…
“All art,” Oscar Wilde once announced, “is quite useless.” Selected here are some of his finest prose works on the subject of art – useless, illuminating, artificial, uplifting,…
She drew a long, soft breath, as though the paper daffodils between them were almost too sweet to bearKatherine Mansfield was a magician of the short story, whose work was…
Yes, as my swift days near their goal,’Tis all that I implore;In life and death, a chainless soul,With courage to endure. In this new selection of Emily Brontë’s heart-rending…
Beware the self-righteous man of faith, the wicked-eyed child, the jealous lover. For this is Salem, in 1691, where rumours fly on the wind and witchcraft is abroad. Lois Barclay,…
Trotty Veck, an elderly porter, has read so many newspaper reports about crime and immorality that he believes the working classes are irredeemable. But, on New Year’s Eve,…
Many years ago there lived an Emperor who was so terribly fond of beautiful new clothes that he spent all his money on dressing elegantly... Jewels in storytelling, these magical…