Introducing the Collins Modern Classics, a series featuring some of the most significant books of recent times, books that shed light on the human experience - classics which will endure for generations to come. Open your eyes, and see what you can with them before they close forever For Marie-Laure, blind since the age of six, the world is full of mazes: the miniature model of her Paris neighbourhood she traces with her fingers; the microscopic layers within the diamond in the Museum of Natural History; the unmapped future which brings her ever closer to Werner, a German orphan, whose talents draw the attention of the Hitler Youth. A deeply moving novel about the ways people try to be good to one another, All the Light We Cannot See has touched the hearts of millions of readers across the world, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. 'Far more than a conventional war story, it's a tightly focused epic ... A bittersweet and moving novel that lingers in the mind' Daily Mail

It is 1938 and the final days of the British Empire. In a bungalow high up in the green hills above the plains of Ceylon, under a vast blue sky, live the Ferguson family: Bella, a precocious eight-year-old; her father Henry - owner of Pitlochry, a tea plantation - and her mother Virginia. The story centres around the Pavilion in the Clouds, set in the idyllic grounds carved out of the wilderness. But all is not as serene as it seems. Bella is suspicious of her governess, Miss White's intentions. Her suspicion sparks off her mother's imagination and after an unfortunate series of events, a confrontation is had with Miss White and a gunshot rings off around the hills. Years later, Bella, now living back in Scotland at university in St Andrews, is faced, once again with her past. Will she at last find out what happened between her Father and Miss White? And will the guilt she has lived with all these years be reconciled by a long over-due apology?

Coming of age in 1940s England, Alice's life is thrown into chaos under the shadow of the war. Forced to let go of her hopes and dreams, she finds herself uprooted to America and a life she never could have imagined.

Decades later, it is the 1990s and Alice's granddaughter Marnie is living out of a worn-out Chevy Nova, running heroin and cocaine along the New England coastline. Yet she carries with her memories of a nurtured childhood in hardscrabble Rhode Island, where all the disappointments of her young parents were eclipsed by her grandmother's love.

Spanning six decades and two continents, from the shores of WWII England to the underside of 1990s America, JUNCTION OF EARTH AND SKY unfolds -in multiple timelines -the enduring bond of grandmother and granddaughter, plagued by the past but determined to find their place in the world against all the odds.

A sweeping and emotional debut from a dazzling new voice - for fans of The Paper Palace, The Dutch House and Betty.

'The Last Summer is meticulously researched and beautifully told . . . a wonderfully satisfying read: love, passion, drama, violence, menace and peril, and characters you fall in love with . . . Happily, this is the start of a series so your longing for more will be fulfilled.' - Santa Montefiore Summer on St Kilda - a wild, remote Scottish island. Two strangers from drastically different worlds meet . . . Wild-spirited Effie Gillies has lived all her life on the small island of St Kilda but when Lord Sholto, heir to the Earl of Dumfries, visits, the attraction between them is instant. For one glorious week she guides the handsome young visitor around the isle, falling in love for the first time - until a storm hits and her world falls apart. Three months later, St Kilda falls silent as the islanders are evacuated for a better life on the mainland. With her friends and family scattered, Effie is surprised to be offered a position working on the Earl's estate. Sholto is back in her life but their differences now seem insurmountable, even as the simmering tension between them grows. And when a shocking discovery is made back on St Kilda, all her dreams for this bright new life are threatened by the dark secrets Effie and her friends thought they had left behind. Opposites attract in this epic and spellbinding novel, which transports us from the untamed beauty of St Kilda to the glamour and intrigues of high society in the 1930s. The Last Summer is the first book in The Wild Isle series by Sunday Times bestseller Karen Swan, inspired by the true history of St Kilda and its small island community. 'The most exciting, enchanting and evocative story of forbidden love I've ever read. I truly loved it and am waiting feverishly for the second instalment' - Cathy Bramley 'Powerful writing and a wonderful premise make this a novel you'll simultaneously want to savour and race through. I loved it and can't wait for the next in the series!' - Jill Mansell 'A delicious romantic tale of wild 1930s Scotland . . . perfect for everyone dreaming of summer' - Rachel Hore

Set in the 1600s, beginning with a voyage across the Atlantic, this is Lauren Groff's inventive novel The Vaster Wilds FROM THE THREE-TIME NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF FATES AND FURIES AND MATRIX Part of a loose trilogy based on the end of empire, The Vaster Wilds is the story of a young girl who is servant to a minister and his young mistress, and in charge of their young daughter Bess. On an epic voyage across the Atlantic, ship-wrecked, far from home and fighting for survival, the protagonist of Lauren Groff's extraordinary new novel must endure but also find meaning in the journey. PRAISE FOR MATRIX- 'Lush, gripping and ferocious' MADELINE MILLER 'An audacious piece of storytelling, full of passion, wisdom and magic' SARAH WATERS 'A gorgeous, sensual, addictive read' SARA COLLINS

A novel about the magical lure of books and summoning the courage to rewrite our stories by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Keeper of Happy Endings and The Last of the Moon Girls. Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer's affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books' previous owners-an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance. With no trace of how these mysterious books came into the world, Ashlyn is caught up in a decades-old literary mystery, beckoned by two hearts in ruins, whoever they were, wherever they are. Determined to learn the truth behind the doomed lovers' tale, she reads on, following a trail of broken promises and seemingly unforgivable betrayals. The more Ashlyn learns about Hemi and Belle, the nearer she comes to bringing closure to their love story-and to the unfinished chapters of her own life.

The masterful, Pulitzer Prize-winning literary epic about the painful and complex realities of slave life on a Southern plantation. An utterly original exploration of race, trust and the cruel truths of human nature, this is a landmark in modern American literature.

Henry Townsend, previously enslaved and now a farmer and bootmaker, is one of the few Black masters in the South. Mentored by William Robbins, one of the most powerful men in Manchester County, Virginia, Townsend has built his plantation with ambition and discipline, while grappling with his place in a society defined by racial oppression.

When Townsend dies unexpectedly, the established order falls into disarray. As disruption reverberates throughout the community, a series of events uncovers an intricate web of relationships, power imbalances and betrayals.

An astonishing literary epic exploring race, trust and the cruel truths of human nature, Edward P. Jones ’ Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Known World is a landmark in modern American literature