Classic Fiction Books

Philip Ashley is orphaned at an early age and raised by his bachelor uncle Ambrose, who falls in love and marries while travelling in Italy and dies there in suspicious circumstances. When Ambrose's widow turns up in England, Philip is drawn to her, but might she have had a hand in Ambrose's death.

Tells the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself. But more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopaedia of whaling lore and legend, this book can be seen as part of its author's lifelong meditation on America.

'Hungry Hill' is a passionate story told with du Maurier's unique gift for drama. It follows five generations of an Irish family and the copper mine on Hungry Hill to which their fortunes and fates are so closely bound.

Behind this rather prim and proper title lies the hilarious fictional diary of a long-suffering, disaster-prone Devon lady of the 1930s, and her attempts to keep her somewhat ramshackle household from falling into chaos.

A story of Captain Ahab's quest to avenge the whale that 'reaped' his leg.

For years now, the Ramsays have spent every summer in their holiday home in Scotland, and they expect these summers will go on forever. This novel captures the intensity of childhood longing and delight, and the shifting complexity of adult relationships.

Dick Young is lent a house in Cornwall by his friend Professor Magnus Lane. During his stay he agrees to serve as guinea pig for a new drug Magnus has discovered in his biochemical research; the effect of which is to transport Dick from the house at Kilmarth to the Cornwall of the 14th century.

The Restoration Court knows Lady Dona St Columb to be ripe for any folly, anything to alter the tedium of her days. But there is another Dona who longs for a life of honest love - even if it is spiced with danger. It is this Dona who flees London for remote Navron, finding there a hunted pirate.

When one long, hot summer, young Leo is staying with a school-friend at Brandham Hall, he begins to act as a messenger between Ted, the farmer, and Marian, the beautiful young woman up at the hall. He becomes drawn deeper and deeper into their dangerous game of deceit and desire, until his role brings him to a shocking and premature revelation.

Flory, a white timber merchant, befriends Dr Veraswami, a black enthusiast for Empire. The doctor needs help. U Po Kyin, Sub-divisional Magistrate of Kyauktada, is plotting his downfall. The only thing that can save him is European patronage: membership of the hitherto all-white Club.

The return of the beautiful Countess Olenska into the conventional society of New York sends reverberations throughout the upper reaches of society. Newland Archer, an eligible young man of the establishment is about to announce his engagement to May Welland, a pretty ingenue, when May's cousin, Countess Olenska, is introduced into their circle.

Travelling backwards in time, the narrator tells the story of a love affair that had taken place before his own birth.

A collection of sinister short stories including 'The Birds' which was famously adapted for film by Alfred Hitchcock.

The Forsyte Saga initially centres on Soames Forsyte - a successful solicitor living in London with his wife Irene. A pillar of the late Victorian upper middle class, his appears to be a golden existence; but beneath this very proper exterior lies a core of unhappiness and brutal relationships.

A classic tale of fantasy and self-delusion from one of the most acclaimed British novelists of the twentieth century

Honor Harris is only 18 when she first meets Richard Grenvile, proud, reckless - and utterly captivating. But following a riding accident, Honor must reconcile herself to a life alone. As Richard rises through the ranks of the army, marries and makes enemies, Honor remains true to him, and finally discovers the secret of Menabilly.

Vintage Fear contains separate volumes of The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm and Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber. Vintage Fear is one of ten Vintage Classic Twins to collect. Each twin consists of two books: a specially designed limited edition of one modern classic title and one established classic work.

This romance is Daphne du Maurier's first novel.

Anthony Burgess' epic work revolves around a writer, Kenneth Marchal Toomey, and the man he is linked to through family ties, Carlo Campanati, an earthy Italian priest destined to become Pope. Toomey, now in his 80s recalls the past.

Conveys the rhythms of life in synchrony with the cycle of nature and the passage of time. This book presents a searching exploration of individual and collective identity, and the observations and emotions of life, from the simplicity and surging optimism of youth to the vacancy and despair of middle-age.