In Muriel Sparks novels the brevity is only equalled by the brilliance. This collection of four stories each a miniature masterpiece illustrates her development over four decades. Despite the seriousness of their themes all are fantastic comedies of manners bristling with wit. Her most famous book The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie has been made into a play & a film. It explores the perils of personal & political infatuation among schoolgirls & their teachers. Salvation is the theme of The Girls Of Slender Means which vividly evokes the life of postwar London. The Drivers Seat made into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor charts the heroines descent into madness. The Only Problem is a witty fable about suffering which brings the Book of Job to bear on contemporary terrorism. ...

Muriel Sparks The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Includes:: an introduction by Candia Mc William in Penguin Modern

...

When a prostitute is found murdered in her bedsit the Metropolitan police set to work finding the perpetrator of this brutal attack. DNA samples lead them straight to George Marlow a man previously convicted of attempted rape. The police think they've found their man but things are not quite what they seem.. . Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison came through the ranks the hard way opposed & resented at every step by her male colleagues. So when DCI Shefford falls ill the opportunity for Tennison to get herself noticed finally arrives. But the boys are not happy & every one of her colleagues is willing her to trip up. Desperate to remove all doubt around her suspect Tennison struggles to make the charges stick. & then a second body turns up. With the team against her & a dangerous criminal still on the loose DCI Jane Tennison must fight to prove herself now or never. ...

The coroner's report identifies the body as young black female & impossibly anonymous. Yet one thing is clear to Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison about the latest victim discovered in one of London's poorest districts
- that news of her murder will tear apart a city already cracking with racial tensions hurling Scotland Yard & Tennison herself into a maelstrom of shocking accusations & sudden wrenching violence. Even as London's brutal killer remains at large Tennison remains locked in a struggle to overcome her station house's brutal chauvinism & insidious politicking. & as the department's deeply rooted racism rears its head to overshadow every facet of her new investigation the trail of her prime suspect is growing colder. Worse when the details of the beleaguered detective's stormy personal life explode across the headlines of London's sleasiest tabloids Tennison's already frenzied determination to bring the killer to justice will be catapulted into obsession
- one that could send her spiralling over the edge.

...

As Vera Reynolds drag queen & night club star sways onstage singing ' Falling in Love Again' a sixteen-year-old rent boy lies in the older man's apartment engulfed in flames. Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison has moved up the ranks fighting every step of the way to break through Scotland Yard's glass ceiling. Now on her first day as the head of the Vice Squad this high-profile case threatens to destroy everything she has worked for. For when Tennison's investigation reveals an influential public figure as her prime suspect a man with connections to politicians judges & Scotland Yard she's given a very clear message about the direction some very important people would like her investigation to take. Suddenly in a case defined by murky details one fact becomes indisputably clear
- that for Tennison going after the truth will mean risking her happiness her career.. .and even her life.
...

On 11 April 1987 the Italian writer Primo Levi fell to his death in the house where he was born. More than forty years after his rescue from a Nazi concentration camp it now seemed that Levi had committed suicide. Levis account of Auschwitz If This Is a Man is recognised as one of the essential books of mankind. No other work interrogates our recent moral history so incisively or conveys more profoundly the horror of the Nazi genocide. Ian Thomson spent over ten years in Italy & elsewhere researching & writing this rich & definitive biography. New light is shed on Levis recurring depressions & vital information is unearthed regarding the writers premature death. This matchless book unravels the strands of a life caught between the factory & the typewriter family & friends. ...

Primrose Bakery is a way of life. From croissants for breakfast to layer cakes at tea it has the whole day covered. & of course their signature buttercream cupcakes are delicious any time of day! With over 80 inspirational & easy-to-follow recipes for cupcakes layer cakes biscuits loaves & much more as well as tips like perfect icing The Primrose Bakery Book is a baking bible. It is also a gorgeously quirky window onto the very special day-to-day world of the Primrose Bakery. ...

Classic guide to acquiring & maintaining political power is refreshing in its directness yet often disturbing in its cold practicality. Starkly relevant to the political upheavals of the 20th century this calculating prescription for power remains today nearly 500 years after it was written a timely & startling lesson in the practice of autocratic rule. ...

A prince must not have any other object nor any other thought...but war its institutions & its discipline; because that is the only art befitting one who commands. When Machiavellis brief treatise on Renaissance statecraft & princely power was posthumously published in 1532 it generated a debate that has raged unabated until the present day. Based upon Machiavellis first-hand experience as an emissary of the Florentine Republic to the courts of Europe The Prince analyses the usually violent means by which men seize retain & lose political power. Machiavelli added a dimension of incisive realism to one of the major philosophical & political issues of his time especially the relationship between public deeds & private morality. His book provides a remarkably uncompromising picture of the true nature of power no matter in what era or by whom it is exercised. This fluent new translation is accompanied by comprehensive notes & an introduction that considers the true purpose of The Prince & dispels some of the myths associated with it. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more. ...

In over thirty years as one of the most original & charismatic figures in modern music Prince Rogers Nelson has enjoyed huge success
-
...