Over the course of a four-day yacht trip, an assortment of guests goes through the motions of socializing with their wealthy host while pursuing their own disparate goals. As the guests are separated into artists and non-artists, youth and...
Adam Bede, the first novel written by George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans), was published in 1859. It was published pseudonymously, even though Evans was a well-published and highly respected scholar of her time. The novel has remained...
Clare Cherrell has come home, fleeing the clutches of her violent, abusive husband. When he pursues her she vows she will never return and sets about fighting him in bitter divorce proceedings. Dinny supports her sister all the way, but she has her...
Written when he was 25, Love Among the Chickens launched P.G. Wodehouse's career as a novelist and introduced the world to Ukridge, one of his most extraordinary inventions. Robert McCrum's introduction shows how this fascinating early book holds...
A HANDFUL OF DUST is Evelyn Waugh's scathing commentary on the well-mannered death struggles of the upper classes — an irrepressibly amusing picture of society politely blowing its own brains out, with a defiant smile.
It tells of Brenda,...
Robertson Davies uses his magical touch to weave together the destinies of this remarkable cast of characters, creating a wise and witty portrait of love, murder, and scholarship at a modern university.
Defrocked monks, mad professors, and...