Includes four stories that illuminate the author's love both for the African people, their dignity and traditions, and for the beauty and wildness of the landscape.

In 1940s Shanghai, beautiful young Jiazhi spends her days playing mahjong and drinking tea with high society ladies. But China is occupied by invading Japanese forces and things are not always what they seem in wartime. Jiazhi's life is a front.

A comprehensive selection of Kavanagh's poetry. It includes selection that range from initial offerings such as Tinker's Wife and Inniskeen Road: July Evening to his tragic masterpiece The Great Hunger (1942) and celebratory verse, To Hell with Common Sense and Come Dance with Kitty Stobling.

'We are Progress and the New Age. Nothing can stand in our way.' When Oxford-educated Emperor Seth succeeds to the throne of the African state of Azania, he has a tough job on his hands. His subjects are ill-informed and unruly, and corruption, double-dealing and bloodshed are rife. However, with the aid if Minister of Modernization Basil Seal, Seth plans to introduce his people to the civilized ways of the west - but will it be as simple as that?

An incomparable satirist, Ambrose Bierce became the 'laughing devil' of the San Francisco news media, for he was about as discreet as a runaway locomotive, according to HL Mencken.

Discovering his prodigious gift in boyhood and rising to the rank of International Grandmaster, Luzhin develops a lyrical passion for chess. As he confronts the fiery, swift-swooping Italian Grandmaster Turati, he brings into play his carefully devised defence.

The last of John Steinbeck s play-novelettes, Burning Bright was the author s final attempt after 1937 s Of Mice and Men and 1942 s The Moon is Down to create what he saw as a new, experimental literary form. Four scenes, four people: the husband who yearns for a son, ignorant of his own sterility; the wife who commits adultery to fulfill her husband s wish; the father of the child; and the outsider whose actions will affect them all. In this turn on a medieval morality play, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck casts an unwavering light on these four intertwined lives, revealing in their finely...

This enchanting collection of tales from India's foremost storyteller is rich in wry, warmly observed characters from every walk of Indian life.

Is it possible to die a happy death? This title tells the story of a young Algerian, Mersault, who defies society's rules by committing a murder and escaping punishment, then experimenting with different ways of life and finally dying a happy man.

Kully knows some things you don't learn at school. She knows the right way to roll a cigarette and pack a suitcase. She knows that cars are more dangerous than lions. She knows you can't enter a country without a passport or visa. And she knows that she and her parents can't go back to Germany again - her father's books are banned there. But there are also things she doesn't understand, like why there might be a war in Europe - just that there are men named Hitler, Mussolini and Chamberlain involved. Little Kully is far more interested where their next meal will come from and the ladies who...