Nikolai Gogol`s `epic poem in prose`, ” Dead Souls” is a damning indictment of a corrupt society, translated from the Russian with an introduction & notes by Robert A. Maguire in ” Penguin Classics”. Chichikov, a mysterious stranger, arrives in the provincial town of `N`, visiting a succession of landowners & making each a strange offer. He proposes to buy the names of dead serfs still registered on the census, saving their owners from paying tax on them, & to use these `dead souls` as collateral to re-invent himself as a aristocrat. In this ebullient picaresque masterpiece, Gogol created a grotesque gallery of human types, from the bear-like Sobakevich to the insubstantial fool Manilov, &, above all, the devilish con man Chichikov. ” Dead Souls” (1842), Russia`s first major novel, is one of the most unusual works of nineteenth-century fiction & a devastating satire on social hypocrisy. In his introduction, Robert A. Maguire discusses Gogol`s life & literary career, his depiction of Russian society, & the language & narrative techniques employed in ” Dead Souls”. This edition also

Includes:: a chronology, further reading, appendices, a glossary, map & notes. Nikolai Gogol (1809-52) was born in the Ukraine. His experience of St Petersburg life informed a savagely satirical play, ” The Government Inspector”, & a series of brilliant short stories including ” Nevsky Prospekt” & ” Diary of a Madman”. For over a decade, Gogol laboured on his comic epic ” Dead Souls”
- before renouncing literature & burning parts of the manuscript shortly before he died. If you enjoyed ” Dead Souls”, you might like Fyodor Dostoyevsksy`s ” The Brothers Karamazov”, also available in ” Penguin Classics”. ” Gogol was a strange creature, but then genius is always strange”. (Vladimir Nabokov). ”I admire the way in which Maguire has kept his own brilliantly variegated vocabulary away from 20th-century phrases, without ever looking parodic or antiquarian”. (A.S. Byatt, author of ” Possession”).


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On 1st May 1915, the luxury ocean liner Lusitania sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool. Her passengers were anxious. ...

Dead Water is the fifth book in Ann Cleeves' Shetland series -- which is now the major BBC1 drama starring Douglas Henshall, SHETL&. When the body of journalist Jerry Markham is found in a traditional Shetland boat, outside the house of the Fiscal, down at the Marina, young Detective Inspector Willow Reeves is drafted in to head up the investigation. Since the death of his fiancee, Inspector Jimmy Perez has been out of the loop, but his interest in this new case is stirred & he decides to help the inquiry. Markham -- originally a Shetlander but who had made a name for himself in London -- had left the islands years before. In his wake, he left a scandal involving a young girl, Evie Watt, who is now engaged to a seaman. He had few friends in Shetl&, so why was he back? Willow & Jimmy are led to Sullum Voe, the heart of Shetland's North Sea oil & gas industry. It soon emerges from their investigation that Markham was chasing a story in his final days. One that must have been significant enough to warrant his death.. . Also available in the Shetland series are Raven Black, White Nights, Red Bones & Blue Lightning. Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series (ITV television drama VERA) contains five titles, of which The Glass Room is the most recent. ...

Dead Water is the fifth book in Ann Cleeves` Shetland series -- which is now the major BBC1 drama starring Douglas Henshall, SHETL&. When the body of journalist Jerry Markham is found in a traditional Shetland boat, outside the house of the Fiscal, down at the Marina, young Detective Inspector Willow Reeves is drafted in to head up the investigation. Since the death of his fiancee, Inspector Jimmy Perez has been out of the loop, but his interest in this new case is stirred & he decides to help the inquiry. Markham -- originally a Shetlander but who had made a name for himself in London -- had left the islands years before. In his wake, he left a scandal involving a young girl, Evie Watt, who is now engaged to a seaman. He had few friends in Shetl&, so why was he back? Willow & Jimmy are led to Sullum Voe, the heart of Shetland`s North Sea oil & gas industry. It soon emerges from their investigation that Markham was chasing a story in his final days. One that must have been significant enough to warrant his death.. . Also available in the Shetland series are Raven Black, White Nights, Red Bones & Blue Lightning. Ann Cleeves` Vera Stanhope series (ITV television drama VERA) contains five titles, of which The Glass Room is the most recent. ...

100 of the best crime stories written by women, selected & introduced by Sophie Hannah. From Agatha Christie & Daphne du Maurier, to Val Mc Dermid & Margaret Atwood, women writers have long been drawn to criminal acts. Here, award-winning author Sophie Hannah brings together 100 of her favourite examples. Deadlier

Includes:: prize-winners, bestsellers & rising stars, so whether you take your crime cosy or hard-boiled, this big, beautiful anthology will keep you reading long into the night.

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A volcanic eruption is an awesome sight. Thunderous noise. The earth shaking. Plumes of ash & smoke spewing into the atmosphere, & lava pouring from the crater. But when a volcano erupts, it`s best to get away, & fast. Volcanoes kill. & they can do it quickly. Deadliest Volcanoes, from author John Kerr, is about the biggest & most powerful volcanic eruptions the world has seen. It`s full of eyewitness accounts & photos of some of history`s best known, & not so well known, volcanoes. Mt Tambora had such ferocity that it made 1816 the ` Year Without a Summer` across the entire planet. Mt Vesuvius was mythologized when it buried Pompeii. There`s Krakatoa, which in 1883 destroyed much of the island it called home. & there`s also the Supervolcanos, which are so massive that when they erupt they cover the entire planet in a cloud of ash. Deadliest Volcanos covers these eruptions & many more. Readers will be informed & entertained by the vivid descriptions of when nature is at its most furious. ...

When Inspector Cetin Ikmen is invited to a murder mystery evening at Istanbul's famous Pera Palas Hotel he finds himself embroiled in a deadly game of life imitating art. Halfway through the evening, one of the actors is found actually dead in the room where Agatha Christie used to stay when she was in Istanbul. Walking in the steps of the great, Ikmen experiences fear & hatred which have echoes deep in his own & his country's past. ...

When Cetin Ikmen is invited to a murder mystery evening at Istanbul`s famous Pera Palas Hotel he finds himself embroiled in a deadly game of life imitating art. Walking in the steps of the great Agatha Christie, Ikmen experiences fear & hatred which have echoes deep in his own past. ...

When Inspector Cetin Ikmen is invited to a murder mystery evening at Istanbul's famous Pera Palas Hotel he finds himself embroiled in a deadly game of life imitating art. Halfway through the evening, one of the actors is found actually dead in the room where Agatha Christie used to stay when she was in Istanbul. Walking in the steps of the great writer, Ikmen experiences fear & hatred which have echoes deep in his own & his country's past. ...

Did you know that there is such a thing as a bone-eating snot-flower worm? Or that the secretary bird`s kills its prey by stamping on it? Discover the world`s most extraordinary creatures in the fifth factbook from BAFTA AWARD-winning, TV Deadly presenter Steve Backshall. Illustrated throughout with full colour photographs & art. ...