A witty portrait of rural England in the early twentieth century, the ” Penguin Classics” edition of Stella Gibbons` ” Cold Comfort Farm” is introduced by Lynne Truss, author of ” Eats, Shoots & Leaves”. When sensible, sophisticated Flora Poste is orphaned at nineteen, she decides her only choice is to descend upon relatives in deepest Sussex. At the aptly-named Cold Comfort Farm, she meets the doomed Starkadders: cousin Judith, heaving with remorse for unspoken wickedness; Amos, preaching fire & damnation; their sons, lustful Seth & despairing Reuben; child of nature Elfine; & crazed old Aunt Ada Doom, who has kept to her bedroom for the last twenty years. But Flora loves nothing better than to organise other people. Armed with common sense & a strong will, she resolves to take each of the family in h&. A hilarious & ruthless parody of rural melodramas & violet prose, ” Cold Comfort Farm” is one of the best-loved comic novels of all time. This new ” Penguin Classics” edition

Includes:: an introduction by Lynne Truss discussing Stella Gibbons` unconventional life & career & her joyously satirical voice. Stella Gibbons (1932-89) novelist, poet & short-story writer, was educated at North London Collegiate School & studied journalism at University College, London. She then worked for ten years on various papers, including the ” Evening Standard” & published several books of poetry & short stories. If you enjoyed ” Cold Comfort Farm” you might like George & Weedon Grossmith`s ” Diary of a Nobody”, also available in ” Penguin Classics”. ” Brilliant.. .very probably the funniest book ever written”. (Julie Burchill, ” Sunday Times”). ” Literary bliss”. (” Guardian”).

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When Lia witnesses a disturbing scene on the way to work, she, like the rest of the city of London, is captivated & horrified. As details unfurl in the media the brutal truth transpires
- a Latvian prostitute has been killed, her body run over by a bulldozer & then placed in the trunk of a car to be found. As the weeks pass & no leads are found, the story quickly disintegrates but Lia can`t easily forget. So when she meets Mari in a late night bar one night she feels fate might have brought them together. Like her, Mari is a Finnish woman in London finding her way, somewhat of an outsider, very independent. But there is much more to Mari than meets the eye: she is a psychologist who possesses an unnatural way of being able to `read` people, see into their inner most thoughts & pre-empt their actions. She uses her `gift` to try to help people & has formed a close unit she calls the Studio, a kind of team of investigators, who are not beyond breaking the law to put the worlds to rights. Mari & Lia strike up a firm friendship & when Lia shares her plaguing thoughts about the murder, Mari thinks she & the members of the Studio can help where the police have failed. But Mari & Lia are about to step foot into extremely dangerous territory, especially as Mari has a will to control others, take vengeance on those she deems deserve it & use the Studio to unscrupulous ends.
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Six young people meet on an archaeological dig in a remote corner of Greenl&. Excavating the unsettling remains of a Norse society under attack, they also come to uncover their own demons, as it becomes apparent that a plague pandemic is sweeping across the planet & communication with the outside world is breaking down. Increasingly unsure whether their missives will ever reach their destination, each of the characters writes a letter to someone close to them, trying to make sense of their situation & expressing their fears & dwindling hope of ever getting back home... ...

On a frosty January day in Bergen, Private Detective Varg Veum is visited by a prostitute. Her friend Margrethe has disappeared & hasn`t been seen for days. Before her disappearance, something had unsettled her: she`d turned away a customer & returned to the neighbourhood in terror. Shortly after taking the case, Veum is confronted with a brutal, uneasy reality. He soon finds the first body
- & it won`t be the last either. His investigation leads him into a dark subculture where corrupted idealism has had deadly consequences.
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Terrifyingly authentic, London-set debut crime novel with a psychological edge, by an ex-Met detective. Perfect for fans ...

A soldier wounded in the Civil War, Inman turns his back on the carnage of the battlefield & begins the treacherous journey home to Cold Mountain, & to Ada, the woman he loved before the war began. As Inman attempts to make his way across the mountains, through the devastated landscape of a soon-to-be-defeated South, Ada struggles to make a living from the land her once-wealthy father left when he died. Neither knows if the other is still alive. ...

`A troubling, hammering & glorious novel` DAVID MITCHELL On the edge of the Antarctic Circle, in the years after World War One, a steamship approaches a desolate isl&. On board is a young man on his way to assume the post of weather observer, to live in solitude for a year at the end of the earth. But on shore he finds no trace of the man whom he has been sent to replace, just a deranged castaway who has witnessed a horror he refuses to name. The rest is woods, a deserted cabin, rocks, silence & the surrounding sea. Then night begins to fall.. . ...

When the world`s two largest steel producers went head to head in a bitter struggle for market domination, an epic corporate battle ensued that sent shockwaves through the political corridors of Europe, overheated the world`s financial markets & transformed the steel industry. Billions of dollars were at stake. At the heart of the battle were two men: Guy Dolle, Chairman & CEO of Luxembourg-based Arcelor, the world`s largest steel producer by turnover & Lakshmi Mittal, a self-made Indian industrialist & the richest man in Great Britain. Only one could prevail.. . ...

'I was aware that I was cold
- beyond cold. I was a lump of meat left for too long in a freezer, a body trapped beneath the ice,
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Winner of the 2012 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature `I was aware that I was cold
- beyond cold. I was a lump of meat
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