From sickly child to pioneering Victorian explorer, Isabella Bird defied convention. After back surgery in 1850 and the recommendation of life in the open air, she finally looked...
Chopin in Words and Music
Polish by birth, Fryderyk Chopin made hisname in post-Revolutionary Paris and isoften depicted as the archetypal Romanticartist – blessed with extraordinary talentbut consumed...
Satie in Words and Music
Famous today for his Trois Gymnopédies, ErikSatie was an eccentric and solitary figure whowas nevertheless viewed by some as a prophet ofFrench musical modernism, his...
An Introduction to James Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson
David Timson talks about the relationship between Samuel Johnson and James Boswell—how they met, their unlikely friendship and extensive conversations—and the...
The Golden Ass
‘In this hapless state I looked myself over and saw that I was now no bird, but an ass...’ In this ancient picaresque adventure, Lucius, an insatiably curious young man,...
A Little of What You Fancy The Larkin Novels, Volume 5
In the final book of the series that began with "The Darling Buds of May", the fun-loving Pop Larkin finds himself confined to a bed following a mild heart attack - caused by a...
The Swiss Family Robinson
An epic tale of adventure and survival, The Swiss Family Robinson has been a bestseller ever since it was published in 1812, just over 200 years ago. Written by Swiss pastor...
Tom Brown's Schooldays
Tom Brown’s Schooldays is the story of an energetic, good-hearted boy and his adventures at public school. Based on the author’s own childhood, the novel presents us with a...
In a Glass Darkly
Demons, vengeful spirits, insanity, premature burials and lesbian vampires, In a Glass Darkly contains five diabolical tales of horror and mystery that will get the heart racing....
Farewell the Trumpets
The Pax Britannica trilogy is Jan Morris’ magnificent history of the British Empire from 1837 to 1965. It is an extraordinary achievement, as entertaining as it is informative,...
