Collected here are Gogol's finest tales - from the demon-haunted St John's Eve to the strange surrealism of The Nose and the heartrending trials of the copyist in The Overcoat .

It started with fireballs raining down from the sky and crashing into the oceans' deeps. Then ships began sinking mysteriously and later 'sea tanks' emerged from the deeps to claim people. This book narrates how humankind responds to the threat of its own extinction and, ultimately, asks what we are prepared to do in order to survive.

Simon, coming to London to study painting with his old friend Dr Field, finds he has vanished without trace. Determined to discover what lies behind his disappearance, Simon is trapped in a fiendish plot. Why has his landlord got guns in his cellar and how does one deal with his irrepressible daughter, Dido?

Dido Twite is waylaid by her father, the shady Abednego Twite, acting on instructions from his evil patron. Why is Dido so urgently needed in Wapping? Why are King Richard's friends all accidentally drowning in the Thames? How does hard-drinking Mrs Lily Bloodvessel figure in this intricate plot, with her cellar full of sleeping guttersnipes?

Everybody in Jack's family seems to be brilliant - apart from Jack and his downtrodden dog Zero. The author is the much-loved writer of over 40 children's books. She's the author of classics such as Lizzie Dripping as well as having adapted The Demon Headmaster for television. She has been runner-up for the Carnegie Medal four times.

Ida, Oscar and Ping are staying with Ida's great-aunt at the ancient, river-encircled house of Green Knowe. They set out to chart the river in the canoe, and soon discover that it has some surprising and mysterious secrets.