Simon Vance

In this extraordinary debut novel with its deft nod to Dickensian heroes and rogues, Mira Bartók tells the story of Arthur, a shy, fox-like foundling with only one ear and a desperate desire to belong, as he seeks his destiny.

Following The Broken Estate, The Irresponsible Self, and How Fiction Works-books that established James Wood as the leading critic of his generation-The Fun Stuff confirms Wood's preeminence, not only as a discerning judge but also as an appreciator of the contemporary novel. In twenty-three passionate, sparkling dispatches- that range over such crucial writers as Thomas Hardy, Leon Tolstoy, Edmund Wilson, and Mikhail Lermontov-Wood offers a panoramic...

L. M. Boston's thrilling and chilling tales of Green Knowe, a haunted manor deep in an overgrown garden in the English countryside, have been entertaining readers for half a century. In this second book, Tolly returns for Easter vacation to find that the portrait of Toby, Alexander and Linnet is missing--loaned out by his grandmother to a museum, possibly to be sold at the end of the exhibition because she needs money to mend the roof. Tolly is horrified,...

Meet Martin, JJ, Jess, and Maureen. Four people who come together on New Year's Eve: a former TV talk show host, a musician, a teenage girl, and a mother. Three are British, one is American. They encounter one another on the roof of Topper's House, a London destination famous as the last stop for those ready to end their lives. This is a tale of connections made and missed, punishing regrets, and the grace of second chances.

Albert, Duke of York began to see speech therapist Lionel Logue in a desperate bid to cure his lifelong stammer. Little did the two men know that this unlikely friendship would ultimately save the House of Windsor from collapse. The amiable Logue gave the shy young Duke the skills and the confidence to stand and deliver before a crowd. And when his elder brother, Edward VIII, abdicated the throne to marry for love, 'Bertie' was able to assume the...

Napoleon Bonaparte, Marie Antoinette, Baudelaire, Baron Haussmann, the real-life Mimi of La Boheme, Proust, Charles de Gaulle--these and many more are Robb's cast of characters in a series of stories about the Paris you never knew.

The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903) is a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. Written during a period of increased interest in Egyptology across Europe, The Jewel of Seven Stars helped to establish the Irish master of Gothic horror's reputation as a leading writer of the early twentieth-century. In the middle of the night, a young lawyer is roused from sleep by Margaret Trelawny. At her urgent request, he accompanies her to the house of her father, Abel...

First published in 1907, "Lord of the World" is the dystopian work of science fiction by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson which depicts the rise of the Anti-Christ and the ensuing end of the world. The novel begins with a prologue set in early 21st century London in which the history of the last century is described. A global rise of Marxism has divided the world up into three power-blocs; a European Confederation of Marxist one-party states, an Eastern...

The first novel of Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire series, this work introduces the fictional cathedral town of Barchester and many of its clerical inhabitants. Originally published in 1855, the story centers on Mr. Septimus Harding who has been granted the comfortable wardenship of Hiram's Hospital, an almshouse from a medieval charity of the diocese. Mr. Harding, a fundamentally good man and an excellent musician, conscientiously fulfills his...

Since 'His Majesty's Dragon,' Captain William Laurence and his fearless dragon, Temeraire, have been battling Napoleon and his armies, and now the time has come to stop him for good.