Lampedusa`s masterpiece, one of the finest works of twentieth century fiction, is set amongst an aristocratic family, facing social & political changes in the wake of Garibaldi`s invasion of Sicily in 1860. At the head of the family is the prince, Don Fabrizio. Proud & stubborn, he is accustomed to knowing his own place in the world & expects his household to run accordingly. He is aware of the changes which are rapidly making men historically obsolete but he remains attached to the old ways. His favourite nephew, Tancredi, may be an ardent supporter of Garibaldi & may later marry outside his class, but Don Fabrizio will make few accommodations for the modern world. Containing, for the first time in any language, the full original text, Tomasi di Lampedusa`s classic tale lovingly memorialises the details of a vanishing world while retaining its melancholic & ironic sense of time passing & the frailty of human emotions. ...

The Vintage Classics Europeans series
- with covers provided by textile design firm Wallace Sewell, these are must-have editions
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The Leopard`s Wife is a novel of love in an impossible l&. Smiles, a famous English concert pianist, wants to make amends with his African-American schoolmaster, Lyman Andrew, who has buried himself in the war-torn jungle of the Congo. Smiles owes his success to the man he helped ruin & harbors a dark secret from the past & his brutal public school. But a bomb has exploded at a hotel in Kinshasa where Smiles was due to play at a peace & reconciliation concert & he is accidentally invited to his own funeral. Coffins are broken open by the Presidential Guard & when he is not in his, Smiles is suspected of being one of the rebels. He escapes on a ramshackle boat with the grand piano meant for his recital, which is now destined for his old schoolmaster more than a thousand miles upriver, where the rebel forces are gathering & exiles are fleeing the war in the east. On the way he falls in love with Lola, the beautiful wife of Xavier, the head of the Presidential Guard & the Leopard of the title, & Smiles begins to appreciate anew the majesty of creation & the Congo as he brings Beethoven into the atrocity haunted forest. But all the time the Leopard is following.. . ...

From the writer of one of the most memorable debuts of recent years. An eighteen-year-old Irish girl arrives in London to study drama & falls violently in love with an older actor. This older man has a disturbing past that the young girl is unprepared for. The young girl has a troubling past of her own. This is her story & their story. The Lesser Bohemians is about sexual passion. It is about innocence & the loss of it. At once epic & exquisitely intimate, it is a celebration of the dark & the light in love. ...

The vibrant energy of 1990s London. A year of passion & discovery. The anxiety & intensity of new love. An eighteen-year-old Irish girl arrives in London to study drama & falls violently in love with an older actor. While she is naive & thrilled by life in the big city, he is haunted by demons, & the clamorous relationship that ensues risks undoing them both. At once epic & exquisitely intimate, The Lesser Bohemians is a celebration of the dark & the light in love. ...

The Rider has no memory of who he is, or how he came to be lying
- dying
- in the brutal heat of the North African desert.

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It is the dead of night. Sixteen-year-old Tiuri must spend hours locked in a chapel in silent contemplation if he is to be knighted the next day. But, as he waits by the light of a flickering candle, he hears a knock at the door & a voice desperately asking for help. A secret letter must be delivered to King Unauwen across the Great Mountains
- a letter upon which the fate of the entire kingdom depends. Tiuri has a vital role to play, one that might cost him his knighthood. Tiuri`s journey will take him through dark, menacing forests, across treacherous rivers, to sinister castles & strange cities. He will encounter evil enemies who would kill to get the letter, but also the best of friends in the most unexpected places. He must trust no one. He must keep his true identity secret. Above all, he must never reveal what is in the letter... The Letter for the King is the thrilling story of one boy`s battle against evil, set in an enchanted world of chivalry, courage & true friendship.
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When sixteen-year-old Tiuri answers a desperate call for help, he finds himself on a perilous mission that could cost him his life. He must deliver a secret letter to the King who lives across the Great Mountains
- a letter upon which the future of the entire realm depends. It means abandoning his home, breaking all the rules & leaving everything behind
- even the knighthood that he has dreamed of for so long. The fate of a kingdom depends on just one person... He must trust no one. He must keep his true identity secret. Above all, he must never reveal what is in the letter.

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`A truly original & enthralling novel. Ivor Punch is a magnificent creation & his story is mischievous, sad, funny & truthful`
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All islands have their secrets. This one has more than most. When Fingal Mc Millan rows out into the Atlantic never to return, his grandson Alexander is left with questions. What really happened to Alexander`s mother? Was his grandfather trying to reach The Looming, a rock of local myth? & why have mysterious words appeared on the cliff by the bay? Alexander is not the only local boy whose origins are clouded by mystery
- a mystery which stretches back to Victorian times, when a pioneering travel writer alighted on Scottish shores. But will the island give up its secrets? Or will Ivor Punch
- the man who links the past to the present
- take them to the grave?


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