|
Books > Fiction > General & literary fiction > General
A lively competition draws her into her rival's blueprints--and
maybe even his heart. Olive Kentworth has spent her life hiding her
interest in architecture, even though she pores over architectural
books and sketches buildings. When she accepts a job on a home
expansion, it's only because her cousin Amos agrees to pose as the
builder. To further hide her involvement, Olive takes a position as
a nanny--not knowing that she'll be working for her idol, Joplin's
leading architect, widower Maxfield Scott. Maxfield is intrigued by
his new nanny--she makes his home and his life bearable again. His
work, on the other hand, is a disaster. An untrained builder is
remodeling a completed project of his. What's worse, Maxfield's
current client wants changes to his plans because of that builder's
work. As the architectural one-upmanship heats up, Olive's
involvement becomes harder to hide. Will the relationship between
her and Maxfield survive, or will they both miss out on building
something for their future?
HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of
best-loved, essential classics. How did the leopard get its spots?
Why do the tides ebb and flow? How did the elephant get its trunk?
And how was the alphabet made? Rudyard Kipling's classic collection
of fables answers the great questions of animal- and humankind in a
fun, eloquent and magical way - for children and adults alike.
Kipling's beautifully imaginative answers echo the animal fables he
heard during his childhood in India, paired with the folk tales he
collected throughout his life. Kipling's enjoyment in playing with
language, as well as his own delight in fatherhood, makes these
stories a joy to read aloud, and children will request these tales
as bedtime stories again and again. However, adults will also revel
in Kipling's fanciful storytelling and gift for language, as every
reading uncovers a new joke, subtext or fascinating embellishment.
From the author of 'The Jungle Book' and 'Kim', 'Just So Stories'
is the newest addition to the available canon of Kipling's work
available in the handy format of Collins Classics!
Franz Kafka s 1915 novella of unexplained horror and nightmarish
transformation became a worldwide classic and remains a century
later one of the most widely read works of fiction in the world. It
is the story of traveling salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one
morning to find himself transformed into a monstrous insect. This
hugely influential work inspired George Orwell, Albert Camus, Jorge
Louis Borges, and Ray Bradbury, while continuing to unsettle
millions of readers. In her new translation of Kafka s masterpiece,
Susan Bernofsky strives to capture both the humor and the humanity
in this macabre tale, underscoring the ways in which Gregor Samsa s
grotesque metamorphosis is just the physical manifestation of his
longstanding spiritual impoverishment."
Considered by many to be Dickens' finest novel, Great Expectations
traces the growth of the book's narrator, Philip Pirrip (Pip), from
a boy of shallow dreams to a man with depth of character. From its
famous dramatic opening on the bleak Kentish marshes, the story
abounds with some of Dickens' most memorable characters. Among them
are the kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery, the mysterious convict Abel
Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Havisham and her beautiful ward
Estella, Pip's good-hearted room-mate Herbert Pocket and the
pompous Pumblechook. As Pip unravels the truth behind his own
'great expectations' in his quest to become a gentleman, the
mysteries of the past and the convolutions of fate through a series
of thrilling adventures serve to steer him towards maturity and his
most important discovery of all - the truth about himself.
Once again the eminent detective is presented with a series of
seemingly impenetrable cases: an illustrious client begs him to
unmask the nefarious past of a roguish aristocrat; a retired
art-supply dealer asks him to investigate the suspicious
disappearance of his wife with her neighbour and a stash of money;
a veteran of the Boer War appeals to him to track down a missing
friend; a man has become convinced that his wife has been sucking
their baby son's blood - will the most famous of sleuths be
persuaded to offer his services and set off in pursuit of the
criminals? The final collection of Holmes adventures, containing
twelve brilliant, unpredictable stories, The Casebook of Sherlock
Holmes is a fitting conclusion to its protagonist's long career and
a powerful send-off for Conan Doyle's greatest creation.
|
The Fall of Gondolin
(Paperback)
J. R. R. Tolkien; Illustrated by Alan Lee; Edited by Christopher Tolkien
1
|
R300
R240
Discovery Miles 2 400
Save R60 (20%)
|
Ships in 5 - 10 working days
|
|
Painstakingly restored from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for
the first time as a standalone work, the epic tale of The Fall of
Gondolin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
with Elves and Men, Balrogs, Dragons and Orcs and the rich
landscape and creatures unique to Tolkien's Middle-earth. In the
Tale of The Fall of Gondolin are two of the greatest powers in the
world. There is Morgoth of the uttermost evil, unseen in this story
but ruling over a vast military power from his fortress of Angband.
Deeply opposed to Morgoth is Ulmo, second in might only to Manwe,
chief of the Valar. Central to this enmity of the gods is the city
of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable. It was built and peopled
by Noldorin Elves who, when they dwelt in Valinor, the land of the
gods, rebelled against their rule and fled to Middle-earth. Turgon
King of Gondolin is hated and feared above all his enemies by
Morgoth, who seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden
city, while the gods in Valinor in heated debate largely refuse to
intervene in support of Ulmo's desires and designs. Into this world
comes Tuor, cousin of Turin, the instrument of Ulmo's designs.
Guided unseen by him Tuor sets out from the land of his birth on
the fearful journey to Gondolin, and in one of the most arresting
moments in the history of Middle-earth the sea-god himself appears
to him, rising out of the ocean in the midst of a storm. In
Gondolin he becomes great; he is wedded to Idril, Turgon's
daughter, and their son is Earendel, whose birth and profound
importance in days to come is foreseen by Ulmo. At last comes the
terrible ending. Morgoth learns through an act of supreme treachery
all that he needs to mount a devastating attack on the city, with
Balrogs and dragons and numberless Orcs. After a minutely observed
account of the fall of Gondolin, the tale ends with the escape of
Tuor and Idril, with the child Earendel, looking back from a cleft
in the mountains as they flee southward, at the blazing wreckage of
their city. They were journeying into a new story, the Tale of
Earendel, which Tolkien never wrote, but which is sketched out in
this book from other sources. Following his presentation of Beren
and Luthien Christopher Tolkien has used the same 'history in
sequence' mode in the writing of this edition of The Fall of
Gondolin. In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, it was 'the first real
story of this imaginary world' and, together with Beren and Luthien
and The Children of Hurin, he regarded it as one of the three
'Great Tales' of the Elder Days.
‘My father tried to kill my mother one Sunday in June, in the
early afternoon.’ Thus begins Shame, the probing story of the
twelve-year-old girl who will become the author herself, and the
traumatic memory that will echo and resonate throughout her life.
With the emotionally rich voice of great fiction and the analytical
eye of a scientist, Annie Ernaux provides a powerful reflection on
experience and the power of violent memory to endure through time,
to determine the course of a life.
'Shoot all the Bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a Mockingbird.'
A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the thirties. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story, an anti-racist novel, a historical drama of the Great Depression and a sublime example of the Southern writing tradition.
The quintessential novel of the Lost Generation, "The Sun Also
Rises" is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic
example of his spare but powerful writing style. A poignant look at
the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation,
the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable
characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows
the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the
wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of
Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral
bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing
illusions. First published in 1926, "The Sun Also Rises" helped to
establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth
century
The trilogy The Winslow Breed serves as a prequel to the author's
highly successful House of Winslow series (published by Bethany
House). "As the Sparks Fly Upward" is the final book in the
trilogy.
Young Colin Winslow grows up feeling altogether different from the
rest of his family. Not bold and rough like his charismatic
brother, Adam, or headstrong and spoiled like his sister, Adara, he
is a gentle soul with a special love for natural things. His
interest in animals, medicine, and healing brings him in contact
with a strange woman who lives in the woods, Meg Caradoc. She
teaches him the fine art of using a variety of herbs to quell
sickness and pain.
When Colin studies at Oxford, an eccentric but brilliant professor,
Dr. Phineas Teague, guides the young man to a career in medicine.
The formal knowledge Professor Teague imparts, combined with
knowledge of Meg's herbal remedies, make Colin an insightful and
successful doctor--one with the approving eye of Queen Elizabeth on
him. Colin's skill quickly earns him many patients, some highly
placed in the courts of both his queen and her sister Mary Queen of
Scots. This once shy and uncertain young man finds himself in the
midst of court intrigue and a key player in quelling assassination
plots and passing vital information to the queen's court. When
Colin faces his most difficult case--curing the wounds his brave
brother suffered in battle--he must confront his attraction to
Adam's wife, his unsteady faith in God, and his command of
medicine: will he abandon his noble role and succumb to temptation,
or will he take his place as the new hero of the Breed of Winslow?
HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved,
essential classics. 'Wouldn't it be fun if all the castles in the
air which we make could come true, and we could live in them?' An
endearing tale of hardship, love and sisterhood during the American
Civil War, Little Women tells the story of the March family. Newly
impoverished, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy undertake their journey through
life together, bound to each other and their beloved mother Marmee
by fierce loyalty. Good and bad times come and go as they struggle
with the trials of growing up, getting along, and exploring life
outside the comforting walls of home, each discovering her own
distinct personality along the way. Full of charm and heart, Little
Women is the first novel in a series cherished by children and
adults alike.
'Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!'
Treasure Island is a tale of pirates and villains, maps, treasure
and shipwreck, and is perhaps the best adventure story ever
written. When young Jim Hawkins finds a packet in Captain Flint's
sea chest, he could not know that the map inside it would lead him
to unimaginable treasure. Shipping as cabin boy on the Hispaniola,
he sails with Squire Trelawney, Captain Smollett, Dr Livesey, the
sinister Long John Silver and a frightening crew to Treasure
Island. There, mutiny, murder and mayhem lead to a thrilling
climax.
Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The
Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the "roaring twenties", and
a devastating expose of the 'Jazz Age'. Through the narration of
Nick Carraway, the reader is taken into the superficially
glittering world of the mansions which lined the Long Island shore
in the 1920s, to encounter Nick's cousin Daisy, her brash but
wealthy husband Tom Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and the mystery that
surrounds him. The Great Gatsby is an undisputed classic of
American literature from the period following the First World War
and is one of the great novels of the twentieth century.
|
Strange Journey
(Paperback)
Maud Cairnes; Afterword by Simon Thomas
|
R311
R253
Discovery Miles 2 530
Save R58 (19%)
|
Ships in 9 - 15 working days
|
|
In this body swap comedy from the 1930s, the minds of two
strangers, aristocrat Lady Elizabeth and middle-class Polly
Wilkinson, switch places with baffling and hilarious results. With
wry observations on class, behaviour and relationships, as both
attempt to navigate the different social settings and awkward
situations they suddenly find themselves thrust into - the switches
taking place randomly with very little warning - the two women are
eventually able to contrive a meeting and learn to control their
'gift' and effect positive changes in each others' lives.
|
Emma
(Hardcover, New Edition)
Jane Austen; Illustrated by Hugh Thomson; Introduction by David Pinching
|
R280
R219
Discovery Miles 2 190
Save R61 (22%)
|
Ships in 5 - 10 working days
|
|
Oft-copied but never bettered, Jane Austen's Emma is a remarkable
comedy of manners. Now a major motion picture starring Anya
Taylor-Joy, Miranda Hart and Bill Nighy. Part of the Macmillan
Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized
classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful
hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful
additions to your own collection. Gorgeously illustrated by the
celebrated Hugh Thomson, this Macmillan Collector's Library edition
also includes an afterword by David Pinching. Set in the fictional
village of Highbury, Austen follows the charming but insensitive
Emma Woodhouse as she sets out on an ill-fated career in
match-making. Adopting the pretty but dreary Harriet Smith as her
subject, Emma creates misunderstandings and chaos as she attempts
to find Harriet a suitor - until she begins to realize it isn't the
lives of others she must try to transform, but her own.
|
You may like...
Fire Storm
Nancy Mehl
Paperback
R284
Discovery Miles 2 840
Loving Naomi
Meghan Newkirk
Paperback
R490
R409
Discovery Miles 4 090
|