Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of the The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out of work actor. Together this dynamic pair begin their journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitch Hiker's Guide "A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have" and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox - the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out to lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ball-point pens he has bought over the years
Winner of the British Book Awards History Book of the Year Longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize This thrilling biography of Stalin and his entourage during the terrifying decades of his supreme power transforms our understanding of Stalin as Soviet dictator, Marxist leader and Russian tsar. Based on groundbreaking research, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals in captivating detail the fear and betrayal, privilege and debauchery, family life and murderous cruelty of this secret world. Written with extraordinary narrative verve, this magnificent feat of scholarly research has become a classic of modern history writing. Showing how Stalin's triumphs and crimes were the product of his fanatical Marxism and his gifted but flawed character, this is an intimate portrait of a man as complicated and human as he was brutal and chilling.
The New York Times bestselling tie-in to the hit television show and cult classic Twin Peaks by Jennifer Lynch, daughter of show creator David Lynch. Laura Palmer was introduced to television audiences in the opening scenes of Twin Peaks—as a beautiful dead girl, wrapped in plastic. Now, The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer chronicles Laura’s life from age twelve to her death at seventeen, and is filled with secrets, character references, and even clues to the identity of her eventual killer. Fans of the show will love seeing their favorite characters again, and Laura’s diary makes compelling reading as she turns from a naive freshman having her first kiss to experimenting with drugs, sex, and the occult. Authenthic, creepy, and heartbreaking, this is the ultimate gift for anyone who loves television classics and supernatural suspense.
The hauntingly prophetic classic novel set in a not-too-distant future where books are burned by a special task force of firemen. Over 1 million copies sold in the UK. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books. The classic novel of a post-literate future, 'Fahrenheit 451' stands alongside Orwell's '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World' as a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity. Bradbury's powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which over fifty years from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.
This fantastic CGP Student Book comprehensively covers both years of AQA A-Level Chemistry. It’s bursting with in-depth, accessible notes explaining every course topic, plus all of the Required Practicals. Everything’s supported by clear diagrams, photographs, tips and worked examples. Throughout the book there are lots of practice questions and exam-style questions (with answers at the back). There’s detailed guidance on Maths Skills and Practical Skills, as well as indispensable advice for success in the final exams. If you’d prefer Year 1 (9781782943211) & Year 2 (9781782943266) in separate books, CGP has them too! And for more detailed coverage of the mathematical elements of A-Level Chemistry, try our Essential Maths Skills book (978182944720)!
From the author of TikTok sensations and global bestsellers The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain Rival physicists collide in a vortex of academic feuds and fake dating shenanigans in this delightfully STEMinist romcom. The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she's an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people-pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs. Honestly, it's a pretty sweet gig - until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and arrogant older brother of her favourite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor's career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And he's the same Jack Smith who rules over the physics department at MIT, standing right between Elsie and her dream job. Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but... those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she's with him? Will falling into an experimentalist's orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice? Praise for Ali Hazelwood and her novels: 'Ali Hazelwood proves that science is sexy as hell, and that love can 'STEM' from the most unlikely places. She's my newest must-buy author.' Jodi Picoult 'I cannot get enough of her brand of brainy romance! Writing with an emotionally brilliant and witty pen, Hazelwood is an absolute romance powerhouse.' Christina Lauren, author of The Unhoneymooners 'Gloriously nerdy and sexy, with on-point commentary about women in STEM.' Helen Hoang, author of The Heart Principle 'Proves that STEM can be sexy!' Red Readers love The Love Hypothesis: 'Did I read this in 24 hours? Yes.' 'Funny. Snarky. Intelligent. Real.' 'If you're even slightly thinking about getting this book to read, just go a head and do it' 'Ali Hazelwood has made herself an auto-buy author' 'It was just... perfect.' 'A heroine you will instantly fall in love with' The Love Hypothesis was on the Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller lists in January 2022, Love on the Brain was also on the Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller list in August 2022.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction Winner of the William Dean Howells Medal Winner of France's Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine Finalist for the Man Booker Prize Finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award "Monumental. . . . A gigantic fable of genuine truths." --Barbara Kingsolver, The New York Times Book Review The Overstory is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of--and paean to--the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers's twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There is a world alongside ours--fast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe.
A REDISCOVERED FANTASY CLASSIC - INTRODUCED BY SAMANTHA SHANNON 'Read it now' URSULA K. LE GUIN 'Quiet and thoughtful, playful and wayward, rich with exquisite worldbuilding detail. I only wish - as an author who always dreamed of dragons - that I had discovered Travel Light sooner' SAMANTHA SHANNON 'No one knows better how to spin a fairy tale than Naomi Mitchison' OBSERVER 'I felt, very powerfully, that I had been waiting for Travel Light' AMAL EL-MOHTAR, author of THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR 'Disarmingly familiar, like a memory only half-recalled. You will love this book' HOLLY BLACK, author of BOOK OF NIGHT 'Utterly contemporary' DAILY MAIL *** Riding on that horse you would need nothing, no cloak even. She dropped it on the edge of the marshland. Nothing. You could travel light. Halla is the daughter of a king, cast out as a baby into a world of danger and enchantment. She is raised by bears, lives amongst dragons, converses with Valkyries and avoids warmongering heroes. But times are changing, and an encounter with the Wanderer, Odin All-Father, finds her at a crossroads. Cutting a fold from his night-blue cloak and laying it over her shoulders, the Wanderer sends her on a journey into the unknown. With only her bear-like kindness, her dragonish wisdom and her own fierce spirit to guide her, Halla must forge her own path . . . Weaving folklore, fairy tale and Norse myth into a shimmering, witty and slyly subversive tapestry, Travel Light is a rediscovered gem of classic fantasy writing - perfect for fans of Tolkien, Philip Pullman and Ursula K. Le Guin.
A paperback edition with the original cover art of the classic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, the first book in the Wizards series, part of the Discworld novels. NAMED AS ONE OF THE BBC'S 100 MOST INSPIRING NOVELS 'If you've never read a Discworld novel, what's the matter with you?' Guardian ‘The best fantasy writer ever’ 5-star reader review 'It was octarine, the colour of magic. It was alive and glowing and vibrant and it was the undisputed pigment of the imagination . . .' Somewhere between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a magical world not totally unlike our own. Except for the fact that it travels through space on the shoulders of four giant elephants who in turn stand on the shell of an astronomically huge star turtle, of course. Rincewind is the world's worst wizard who has just been handed a very important job: to look after the world's first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land. Unfortunately, their journey across the Disc includes facing robbers, monsters, mercenaries, and Death himself. And the whole thing's just a game of the gods that might send them over the edge . . . The Colour of Magic is the first book in the Wizards series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order. Praise for the Discworld series: '[Pratchett’s] spectacular inventiveness makes the Discworld series one of the perennial joys of modern fiction' Mail on Sunday ‘Pratchett is a master storyteller’ Guardian 'One of our greatest fantasists, and beyond a doubt the funniest' George R.R. Martin 'One of those rare writers who appeals to everyone’ Daily Express ‘One of the most consistently funny writers around’ Ben Aaronovitch ‘Masterful and brilliant’ Fantasy & Science Fiction ‘Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own... he is a satirist of enormous talent ... incredibly funny ... compulsively readable' The Times ‘The best humorous English author since P.G. Wodehouse' The Sunday Telegraph ‘Nothing short of magical’ Chicago Tribune 'Consistently funny, consistently clever and consistently surprising in its twists and turns' SFX ‘[Discworld is] compulsively readable, fantastically inventive, surprisingly serious exploration in story form of just about any aspect of our world...There's never been anything quite like it’ Evening Standard **Cover may vary**
The first book in the New York Times bestselling Rainbow Fish series. The rainbow fish with its iridescent scales is the most beautiful fish in the whole ocean. But since he is also vain and proud, he becomes more and more lonely over time. Then he realizes that you can’t win friends through beauty. He overcomes his pride and begins to distribute his glitter scales to the other fish. Eye-catching foil stamping, glittering on every page, offers instant child appeal, but it is the universal message at the heart of this simple story about a beautiful fish who learns to make friends by sharing his most prized possessions that gives the book its lasting value. A CHRISTOPHER AWARD WINNER WINNER OF THE BOLOGNA BOOK FAIR CRITICI IN ERBA PRIZE AMERICAN BOOKSELLERS ABBY AWARD WINNER AN IRA-CBC CHILDREN'S CHOICE #1 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER and WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER
A literary colossus' – The Sunday Telegraph 'A dazzling, phosphorescent work of art' – The New York Times Don DeLillo's powerful epic, spanning fifty years of American history. Underworld opens – famously – at the Dodgers-Giants 1951 National League final, where Bobby Thomson hits The Shot Heard Round the World and wins the pennant race for the Giants. But on the other side of the planet, another highly significant shot was fired: the USSR's first atomic detonation. And so begins a masterpiece of storytelling. Don DeLillo loosely follows the fate of the winning baseball team as the book swells and rolls through time. He offers a panoramic vision of America, defined by the overarching conflict of the Cold War. This is an awe-inspiring story, seen in deep, clear detail, of men and women, together and apart, as they search for meaning, survival and connection in the toughest of times. Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature. 'An epic to set alongside Moby Dick or Augie March' – Tim Adams, The Observer
***Featuring the exclusive first chapter from upcoming novel ATMOSPHERE*** From the bestselling author of DAISY JONES & THE SIX and THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO 'Thank you Taylor Jenkins Reid for the escapism we all need- a sex-on-the-beach cocktail (quite literally) of a book' PANDORA SYKES 'I LOVE it . . . I can't remember the last time I read a book that was so fun' DOLLY ALDERTON 'It's 365 pages of pure exhilaration' THE TIMES August,1983, it is the day of Nina Riva's annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone who is anyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: surfer and supermodel Nina, brothers Jay and Hud, and their adored baby sister Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over - especially as the children of the legendary singer Mick Riva. By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours of dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family will all come bubbling to the surface. 'The perfect, literal, beach read, with the emotional depth of the ocean' HOLLY BOURNE 'It's a full on escapist delight' STYLIST 'This summer's must-read novel' RED Taylor Jenkins-Reid, Sunday Times bestseller, April 2023
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Join Alice for a trip down the rabbit hole in the delightful original version of Alice in Wonderland. What began as a story for three little girls on a boring boat ride, became one of the most famous and influential works of children's literature. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a bored little girl is sitting on a riverbank with her older sister when she sees a white rabbit, wearing a coat and pocket watch, talking to itself as it runs past. Alice follows the white rabbit down a rabbit hole and finds herself in situations that become "curious and curiouser." Alice meets a bizarre cast of characters in Wonderland, including the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar, the Mock Turtle and the King and Queen of Hearts.
WINNER OF WATERSTONES NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD A TOP FIVE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS DEBUT OF THE YEAR ‘If you haven’t read it, you’re missing out’ Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY 'One of the best debuts I've read in recent years . . . please rush out and buy it' ELIZABETH DAY ______________________ In 1914, war feels far away to Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood. They're too young to enlist, and anyway, Gaunt is fighting his own private battle - an all-consuming infatuation with the dreamy, poetic Ellwood - not having a clue that his best friend is in love with him too. When Gaunt's mother asks him to enlist, he signs up immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings. But Ellwood and their classmates soon follow him to the front. Ellwood and Gaunt find love in the trenches – but just as war brought them together, it can tear them apart... An epic, unforgettable love story between two soldiers in the First World War, In Memoriam is a breath-taking debut. ______________________ 'A genuine page-turner' Sunday Times 'BIRDSONG for a new generation' JOANNA QUINN, author of THE WHALEBONE THEATRE 'I can't remember the last time I was this invested in a love story' Sunday Telegraph 'Assured, affecting and moving' MAGGIE O'FARRELL, author of HAMNET ‘Will smash your heart to smithereens' Daily Mail THE TOP FIVE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, March 2023
Hurt people hurt people. Say there was a novel in which Holden Caulfield was an alcoholic and Lolita was a photographer's assistant and, somehow, they met in Bright Lights, Big City. He's blinded by love. She by ambition. Diary of an Oxygen Thief is an honest, hilarious, and heartrending novel, but above all, a very realistic account of what we do to each other and what we allow to have done to us.
“I loved this novel truly, madly, deeply.” —Nina George, bestselling author of The Book of Dreams and The Little Paris Bookshop In this international bestseller by the award-winning novelist Mariana Leky, a heartwarming story unfolds about a small town, a grandmother whose dreams foretell a coming death, and the young woman forever changed by these losses and her loving, endearingly oddball community On a beautiful spring day, a small village wakes up to an omen: Selma has dreamed of an okapi. Someone is about to die. Luisa, Selma’s ten-year-old granddaughter, looks on as the predictable characters of her small world begin acting strangely. Though they claim not to be superstitious, each of her neighbors newly grapples with buried secrets and deferred decisions that have become urgent in the face of death. Luisa’s mother struggles to decide whether to end her marriage. An old family friend, known only as the optician, tries to find the courage to tell Selma he loves her. Only sad Marlies remains unchanged, still moping around her house and cooking terrible food. But when the prophesied death finally comes, the circumstances fall outside anyone’s expectations. The loss forever changes Luisa and shapes her for years to come, as she encounters life’s great questions alongside her devoted friends, young and old. A story about the absurdity of life and death, a bittersweet portrait of small towns and the wider world that beckons beyond, this charmer of a novel is also a thoughtful meditation on the way loss and love shape not just a person but a community. Mariana Leky’s What You Can See from Here is a moving tale of grief, first love, reluctant love, late love, and finding one’s place in the world, even if that place is right where you started.