Showing titles in Literary History & Criticism

This delightful anthology is a timeless collection of poems chosen by Classic FM listeners. With humorous limericks, romantic sonnets, traditional and modern classics, this book is a true refelction of the greatest and best-loved verse. Discover poems for special occasions, as well as poems to...

The Time Machine is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. It is generally credited with the popularisation of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefully and selectively. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now universally used to refer to such a vehicle. This work is an early example of the Dying Earth subgenre.The Time Machine has since been adapted into two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It has also indirectly inspired many more ...

The definitive critical study of Tolkien’s greatest works by the respected and world renowned Tolkien scholar Professor T.A. Shippey. Following the unprecedented and universal acclaim for The Lord of the Rings, the respected academic and world-renowned Tolkien scholar, Professor Tom Shippey...

Delve into the third installment of the riveting Lord Peter Wimsey mystery series, Unnatural Death. Our story begins as Lord Peter Wimsey finds himself ensnared in the tale of a small-town doctor, convinced that his patients death was a sinister act of murder. Despite the medical evidence pointing towards natural causes, Wimsey is drawn into the mystery. Teaming up with his reliable allies, Chief Inspector Parker of Scotland Yard and his valet Bunter, Wimsey begins to investigate. A new character enters the scene, Miss Alexandra Katharine Climpson, a sharp, observant spinster who adds charm ...

Based on diaries that she kept from 1920-1932, the most famous du Maurier probes her own past, beginning with her earliest memories and encompassing the publication of her first book and her subsequent marriage. Here, the writer is open and sometimes painfully honest about the difficult...

Over 60 years after Virginia Woolf drowned in the River Ouse, Olivia Laing set out one midsummer morning to walk its banks, from source to sea. Along the way, she explores the roles that rivers play in human lives, tracing their intricate flow through literature, mythology, and folklore. Lyrical and stirring, To the River is a passionate investigation into how history resides in a landscape - and how ghosts never quite leave the places they love.

Sneaking around with my brother’s best friend is the least of my worries…Haunted by my last heartbreak, I have sworn off my brother’s friends. They are nothing but trouble.Especially Alec Wolfe: heir to a billion-dollar fortune, high school hockey star, and my brother's best friend.I despise everything about him… that is until he sneaks into my bedroom during my brother's party and tangles me into a dangerous web of secrets and lies. Alec takes everything from me that night, including my heart.But as fate would have it, an ominous stalker, menacing threats, and sinister secrets ...

'Extraordinary. A fabulous read' SIMON SCHAMA 'Wonderful. He writes with eloquence and wit' NICHOLAS HYTNER Simon Russell Beale is one of Britain's most recognisable and well-loved actors. He has played many roles on stage, film, television and radio - ranging from Winston Churchill to Stalin...

A Book of the Year in the Daily Telegraph and Economist LONGLISTED for the CWA ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction 2026 'This book reads like a spy novel' FINANICAL TIMES 'Entertaining and vivid' OBSERVER...

Bloomsbury presents the 250TH BIRTHDAY EDITION of What Matters in Jane Austen? by John Mullan, read by Charles Armstrong ‘Almost as good as finding an unpublished novel’ The Lady 'Any new book on Austen raises the urgent question, Would I get more pleasure from reading this than from...

Leda, a middle-aged divorcee, is alone for the first time in years when her daughters leave home to live with their father. Her initial, unexpected sense of liberty turns to ferocious introspection following a seemingly trivial occurrence. Throughout the novel, Ferrante's language is as finely tuned and intense as ever, and she treats her theme with a fierce, candid tenacity.

For anyone who ever wondered what Marcel Proust had in mind when he wrote the one-and-a-quarter-million words of In Search of Lost Time (while bedridden no less), Alain de Botton has the answer. For, in this stylish, erudite and frequently hilarious book, de Botton dips deeply into Proust’s life and work - his fiction, letter, and conversations – and distils from them that rare self-help manual: one that is actually helpful.

The Singularity of Being presents a Lacanian vision of what makes each of us an inimitable and irreplaceable creature. It argues that, unlike the "subject" (who comes into existence as a result of symbolic prohibition) or the "person" (who is aligned with the narcissistic conceits of the imaginary), the singular self emerges in response to a galvanizing directive arising from the real. This directive carries the force of an obligation that cannot be resisted and that summons the individual to a "character" beyond his or her social investments.

A delightful compendium of musings from the master of life writing, the much-loved Blake Morrison, for those who practise the art of memoir, and those who read it. 'Hallelujah! — now is the perfect time for Morrison’s book On Memoir' THE TIMES 'Lessons in life writing from a master' THE...

Conversations with the biggest names in horror fiction. A podcast for horror readers who want to know where their favourite stories came from . . . and what frightens the people who wrote them.

A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing. Offering bold new ways of conceiving the present, Lauren Berlant describes the cruel optimism that has prevailed since the 1980s, as the social-democratic promise of the postwar period in the United States and Europe has retracted.

Haruki Murakami's myriad fans will be delighted by this unique look into the mind of a master storyteller. In this engaging book, the internationally best-selling author and famously reclusive writer shares with listeners what he thinks about being a novelist; his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists, and musicians.

Highly Invested is a podcast centered around reading and re-reading Brandon Sanderson’s ever expanding Cosmere novels. Join Richie, James, and new reader Betsy on the journey of a lifetime as we worldhop from book to book discussing planets, magic systems, story arcs and unforgettable characters. Popular series include The Stormlight Archive, Mistborn, Warbreaker, Elantris, White Sand, and more. This podcast will be divided into spoiler sections and non-spoiler sections for listeners reading Cosmere novels for the first time.

1940s. With the world at war, Eleanor Trigg leads a mysterious ring of female secret agents in London. Twelve of these women are sent to aid the resistance. They never return home. 1946. Passing through Grand Central Station, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase tucked beneath a bench. The case is filled with a dozen photographs, each of a different woman.

With a foreword by Neil Gaiman, this comprehensive, entertaining, and authentic collection of English folktales is perfect for fans of Madeline Miller, Philip Pullman, and the Brothers Grimm. This is a golden treasury of over one hundred English folktales captured in the form they were first collected in past centuries. Listen to these classic tales as they would have been told when storytelling was a living art—when the audience believed in boggarts and hobgoblins, local witches and will-o'-the-wisps, ghosts and giants, cunning foxes and royal frogs.