Aesop's Illustrated Fables features more than 400 fables, beautifully illustrated with engravings and color plates by Arthur Rackham, Walter Crane, and Ernest Griset. It includes all of the classic fables whose titles and morals have become part of our common cultural vocabulary, among them "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," "The Tortoise and the Hare," "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse," "The Dog in the Manger," and "The Fox and the Grapes." Part fairy tale, part fantasy story, part parable with a lesson to impart, each of these fables is a polished gem of storytelling craft whose luster never dulls.   Aesop's Illustrated Fables is one of Barnes & Noble's Collectible Editions classics. Each volume features authoritative texts by the world's greatest authors, in exquisitely designed bonded-leather bindings with distinctive gilt edging and an attractive ribbon bookmark. Decorative, durable, and collectible, these books offer hours of pleasure to readers young and old, and are an indispensable cornerstone for every home library.

"A dark and complex mystery that will consume you, starring a protagonist who is equal parts quirky Milhone and steady Gamache."-Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight They thought he was a helpless old man. They were wrong. When two teenagers break into a house on a remote lake in search of prescription drugs, what starts as a simple burglary turns into a nightmare for all involved. Emmett Burr has secrets he's been keeping in his basement for more than two decades, and he'll do anything to keep his past from being revealed. As he gets the upper hand on his tormentors, the lines blur between victim, abuser, and protector. Personal tragedy has sent former police officer Ben Packard back to the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake in search of a fresh start. Now a sheriff's deputy, Packard is leading the investigation into the missing teens, motivated by a family connection. As clues dry up and time runs out to save them, Packard is forced to reveal his own secrets and dig deep to uncover the dark past of the place he now calls home. Unrelentingly suspenseful and written with a piercing gaze into the dark depths of the human soul, And There He Kept Her is a thrilling page-turner that introduces readers to a complicated new hero and forces us to consider the true nature of evil.

The heartbreaking story of the love of two women – Anne Lister, the real-life inspiration behind Gentleman Jack, and her first love, Eliza Raine – from the bestselling author of Room and The Wonder. 'Donoghue conjures a whole new world' – The Observer In 1805, at a boarding school in York, two fourteen-year-old girls first meet. Eliza Raine, the orphan daughter of an Indian mother, keeps herself apart from the other girls, tired of being picked out for being different. Anne Lister, a gifted troublemaker, is determined to conquer the world, refusing to bow to society’s expectations of what a woman can do. As they fall in love, the connection they forge will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Full of passion and heartbreak, evocative and wholly unique, Learned by Heart is the dazzling new novel from acclaimed author Emma Donoghue.

An auspicious match, an invitation to war. Historical Novel Society Editor's Choice 'Picking up an Elizabeth Chadwick novel you know you are in for a sumptuous ride' Daily Telegraph * England, 1238 Raised at the court of King Henry III as a chamber lady to the queen, young Joanna of Swanscombe's life changes forever when she comes into an inheritance far above all expectations, including her own. Now a wealthy heiress, Joanna's arranged marriage to the King's charming, tournament-loving half-brother William de Valence immediately stokes the flames of political unrest as more established courtiers object to the privileges bestowed on newcomers. As Joanna and William strive to build a life together, England descends into a bitter civil war. In mortal danger, William is forced to run for his life, and Joanna is left with only her wit and courage to outfox their enemies and prevent them from destroying her husband, her family, and their fortunes. 'Elizabeth Chadwick has taken the few facts known about Joanna's life and turned them into a rich, detailed portrait of a woman attempting to survive brutal court politics.' The Times * Praise for Elizabeth Chadwick 'An author who makes history come gloriously alive' The Times 'Stunning . . . Her characters are beguiling, and the story is intriguing' Barbara Erskine 'I rank Elizabeth Chadwick with such historical novelist stars as Dorothy Dunnett and Anya Seton' Sharon Kay Penman 'Enjoyable and sensuous' Daily Mail 'Meticulous research and strong storytelling' Woman & Home 'A riveting read . . . A glorious adventure not to be missed!' Candis

Today, I’m starting a ‘rent a person who does nothing‘ service . . . Except for very simple conversation, I’m afraid I can do nothing. Shoji Morimoto was constantly being told that he was a ‘do-nothing’ because he lacked initiative. Dispirited and unemployed, it occurred to him that if he was so good at doing nothing, perhaps he could turn it into a business. And with one tweet, he began his business of renting himself out . . . to do nothing. Morimoto, aka Rental Person, provides a fascinating service to the lonely and socially anxious. Sitting with a client undergoing surgery, accompanying a newly-divorced client to her favourite restaurant, visiting the site of a client’s suicide attempt are just a few of his thousands of true life adventures. He is dependable, non-judgmental and committed to remaining a stranger and the curious encounters he shares are revelatory about both Japanese society and human psychology. In Rental Person Who Does Nothing, Morimoto chronicles his extraordinary experiences in his unique line of work and reflects on how we consider relationships, jobs and family in our search for meaningful connection and purpose in life.

Carmel had been alone all her life. The baby knew this. They looked at each other, and all of time was there. The baby knew how vast her mother's loneliness had been. A contemporary novel of daughterhood and motherhood, from the Booker Prize-winning Irish author 'The Wren, The Wren is a magnificent novel' SALLY ROONEY, author of NORMAL PEOPLE 'Might just be her best yet' LOUISE KENNEDY, author of TRESPASSES 'One of our greatest living novelists' THE TIMES 'The unofficial rock star of literary fiction' IRISH TIMES Nell - funny, brave and so much loved - is a young woman with adventure on her mind. As she sets out into the world, she finds her family history hard to escape. For her mother, Carmel, Nell's leaving home opens a space in her heart, where the turmoil of a lifetime begins to churn. And across the generations falls the long shadow of Carmel's famous father, an Irish poet of beautiful words and brutal actions. This is a meditation on love: spiritual, romantic, darkly sexual or genetic. A multigenerational novel that traces the inheritance not just of trauma but also of wonder, it is a testament to the glorious resilience of women in the face of promises false and true. Above all, it is an exploration of the love between mother and daughter - sometimes fierce, often painful, but always transcendent.

Mathilde has always been a headstrong woman. A member of the French resistance when she was just eighteen years old, she both impressed and horrified everyone with her cool capacity for violence. Now it is 1985 and Mathilde is in her sixties. She is not as glamorous as she once was, but she continues to take great pride in all that she does. Recently, however, the sixty-three-year-old has been affected by loss of memory and erratic changes in mood that even her exasperated dog Ludo has noticed. This is a potentially dangerous situation, since Mathilde now makes her living as a contract killer...

This stunning chapbook-perfect reading for the Christmas holidays-includes three classic winter tales by Hans Christian Andersen: "The Little Match-Girl," "The Fir-Tree," and "The Snow Man."

Homer's two epics of the ancient world, The Iliad and The Odyssey, tell stories as riveting today as when they were written between the eighth and ninth century B.C. This edition employs Samuel Butler's classic translations of both texts.  The Iliad, which tells of the siege of Troy by the Greeks, is an unforgettable tale of nations at war and of the courage and compassion heroic soldiers show upon the field of battle. The Odyssey is the story of the Greek hero Odysseus and the many marvels and challenges he encounters during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the end of the Trojan War. 

Gorou is a gynecologist and idol fan who’s in shock after his favorite star, Ai, announces an impromptu hiatus. Little does Gorou realize that he’s about to forge a bond with her that defies all common sense! Lies are an idol’s greatest weapon in this outrageous manga from Aka Akasaka (Kaguya-sama: Love is War) and Mengo Yokoyari (Scum’s Wish).

William Hope Hodgson's "cosmic horror" classic continues the Haunted Library of Horror Classics series. In a ruined house at the edge of an abyss lies the diary of a madman… Two friends on a fishing trip make an unsettling discovery when the river they've been following abruptly ends and reappears some 100 feet below the edge of an abyss. If that wasn't unnerving enough, the river runs along the remains of an oddly shaped house, half-swallowed by the pit. Within the ruins, they discover the moldering journal of an unidentified man—the Recluse—who had lived in the house years ago. Its pages reveal the man's apparent descent into madness—why else would he chronicle haunted visions, trips to other dimensions, and attacks by swine-like creatures that have followed him home? After a horrific vision in which he witnesses the end of the earth and time itself, the Recluse awakens in his study to find nothing has changed—except that his dog has dissolved into a pile of dust. And then the "swine things" return... Introduced by modern horror master Ramsey Campbell as "an enduring classic of cosmic terror," The House on the Borderland has inspired dozens of other classic horror novels and indelibly changed the genre. Influencing writers from H.P. Lovecraft to Terry Pratchett, this 1908 masterpiece shucks the conventions of Gothic horror and presents an eerie mix of sci-fi, fantasy, and the supernatural.

MORE CONFESSIONS OF A FORTY-SOMETHING F##K UP: The laugh-out-loud sequel to the runaway bestseller of 2022 and funniest WTF AM I DOING NOW novel of the year. 'The new Bridget Jones for our times' Celia Walden, The Telegraph 'The story of Nell Stevens’ struggle through her imperfect, messy life doesn’t just make brilliant fiction, it’s turning into a cultural revolution!' Matt Cain There is no magical land you finally arrive at where everything is figured out, fixed and sorted. Life, like us, is a sum of moving parts, and if we’re lucky, we get to keep f**king up, figuring it out and laughing in the face of it all. Nell’s back. Her life still isn’t going to plan. And she’s still asking the big questions and getting none of the answers. Like, for example: 1. Why is falling in love so easy, but staying in love so hard? 2. What do you do when your friendships are put to the ultimate test? 3. Can we ever really live in the moment and leave the past behind? 4. When everything goes tits up, do you fall apart or jump on a plane to LA with Cricket (an eighty-something widow and your BFF)? 5. And when all else fails, will celebrity-scented candles, smashed avocados and Instagram filters save us?* In this hilarious, un-put-downable follow-up to the bestselling Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up, now the basis for the major TV series, Not Dead Yet, there are laugh-out-loud lessons to be learned, truths to be told, adventures to go on and joys to discover. But first, Nell has some more confessions . . . *#onlyjoking #sortof #LOL Praise for Alexandra Potter: 'Say hello to a book that will have you laughing with every page, whether you're 20, 40 or 80' - Heat 'Brilliant! Laughing out loud' - Emma Gannon 'Funny but layered, light-hearted but surprisingly deep, this is a perfect and inspiring new year read' - Red

'Everything a novel should be: compassionate, unpredictable, and questioning. Haven is Donoghue at her strange, unsettling best.' - Maggie O'Farrell, author of Hamnet In seventh-century Ireland, a priest has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Taking two monks with him – young Trian and old Cormac – he travels down the Shannon in search of an isolated spot on which to found a new place of worship. Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find an impossibly steep, bare island inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. But in such a place, far from all other humanity, what will survival mean? ‘Haven is a beautiful, bold blaze of a book’ Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry ‘Beautiful and timely’ - Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater ‘Sinister, heart-wrenching and beautifully written’ The Times ‘Combines pressure-cooker intensity and radical isolation, to stunning effect’ Margaret Atwood via Twitter ‘Book of the Year’ pick in The Irish Times, The Guardian, The Irish Post, RTÉ and The Times.

Co-authored by her son, Harry Whittaker, Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt is the final book in Lucinda Riley’s multimillion-copy selling epic Seven Sisters series. Spanning a lifetime of love and loss, crossing borders and oceans, it draws the Seven Sisters series to its stunning, unforgettable conclusion.

1928, Paris. A boy is found, moments from death, and taken in by a kindly family. Gentle, precocious, talented, he flourishes in his new home, and the family show him a life he hadn’t dreamed possible. But he refuses to speak a word, or reveal a single detail about who he is. As he grows into a young man, falling in love and taking classes at the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris, he can almost forget the terrors of his past, or the promise he has made. But in 1930s Europe, an evil is rising across the continent and no one’s safety is certain. In his heart, he knows the time will come where he must flee once more.

2008, the Aegean. All the seven sisters are gathered for the first time, on board the Titan to say a final goodbye to the enigmatic father they loved so dearly. To the surprise of everyone, it is the missing sister who Pa Salt has chosen to entrust with the clue to their pasts. But for every truth revealed, another question emerges.

The sisters must confront the idea that their adored father was someone they barely knew. And, even more shockingly, that the secrets of his past may still have consequences for them today.

Lara Dean began writing short stories and tales at a very young age. She has loved animals and drawing from as far back as she can remember. Despite now being a so-called adult, though not old, she remains forever young at heart and still loves watching cartoons and animated movies. The mixture of these things inspired her to write and illustrate her own stories, which she is more than happy to share with others.

‘A masterpiece. A thrilling historical murder tale but so much more. Vivid, evocative and full of humanity’ – Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal and The Twyford Code Inspired by a real-life case and winner of the Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect Award, Kate Foster’s The Maiden is a remarkable story with a feminist revisionist twist, giving a voice to women otherwise silenced by history. ‘In the end, it did not matter what I said at my trial. No one believed me.’ Edinburgh, October 1679. Lady Christian is arrested and charged with the murder of her lover, James Forrester. News of her imprisonment and subsequent trial is splashed across the broadsides, with headlines that leave little room for doubt: Adulteress. Whore. Murderess. Only a year before, Lady Christian was newly married, leading a life of privilege and respectability. So, what led her to risk everything for an affair? And does that make her guilty of murder? She wasn’t the only woman in Forrester’s life, and certainly not the only one who might have had cause to wish him dead . . . ‘Threat hangs over every page like the awaiting guillotine, but the women in this book gleam sharper. Witty, gritty and full of heart, their voices rise through the brutality and hardship of seventeenth-century Edinburgh, battling to be heard’ – Cari Thomas, bestselling author of Threadneedle

From the New York Times number one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds, comes Kristin Hannah's provocative and timely portrait of hope, honour, loss, forgiveness - and the elusive nature of love. An intimate look at the inner landscape of a disintegrating marriage and a dramatic exploration of the price of war. From a distance, Michael and Jolen Zarkades seem to have it all: a solid dependable marriage, exciting careers and children they adore. But after twelve blissful years together, the couple has lost their way. They are unhappy and edging towards divorce. Then an unexpected deployment tears their already fragile family apart, sending one of them deep into harm's way and leaving the other at home, caring for the children and waiting for news. When the worst happens, each must face their darkest fear and fight for the future of their family.