The Critic in the Modern World explores the work of six influential literary critics-Samuel Johnson, William Hazlitt, Matthew Arnold, T.S. Eliot, Lionel Trilling and James Wood-each of whom occupies a distinct historical moment. It considers how these representative critics have constructed their public personae, the kinds of arguments they have used, and their core principles and philosophies.Spanning three hundred years of cultural history,The Critic in the Modern Wo...

Nominated for Community Award at The Stage Awards 2025Five powerful new plays by some of the most exciting artists working in the UK today – created with and for young people. Developed as part of Wonder Fools' international project Positive Stories for Negative Times, which has engaged over 11,000 young people across 24 countries including the UK, South Africa, India, USA, Canada, Italy and Australia. Co-commissioned by Wonder Fools and the Traverse Theat...

My story is about love… No, it's about loss… No, it's about love and loss and pain and loneliness… But it's funny!Calvin is going to completely revolutionise his life. Escape his abusive boyfriend, detonate his inner sex bomb, see (and shag) the world. Yes, he's going to change things, and everything will be wonderful, and he's going to be so happy. Definitely. Finally. Right?Together with Wilf, a rusty Volkswagen Polo which, like Calvin, has seen better days, they...

In 1982, two friends Bob and Sigrid opened their new radical lesbian, gay and feminist bookshop, 'Lavender Menace' on Edinburgh's Forth Street. On the eve of the shop's 5th birthday, sales assistants Paul and David take a look back at its origins, in this funny, moving play.Cast your mind back to 1982 - Margaret Thatcher sends the British Fleet to the Falklands, Channel 4 comes to the living room and Prince William is born. But this play has nothing to do with all that. This play i...

TheSydney Review of Booksis Australia's leading space for longform literary criticism. Now celebrating five years online, the SRB has published more than five hundred essays by almost two hundred writers. To mark this occasion,The Australian Facecollects some of the best essays published in the SRB on Australian fiction, poetry and non-fiction. The essays in this anthology are contributions to the ongoing argument about the condition and purpose and evolving shape of Aust...

Winner of the Victorian Prize for Literature, Sarah Krasnostein's The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster is the fascinating biography of one of the people responsible for tidying up homes in the wake of natural—and unnatural—catastrophes and fatalities.Homicides and suicides, fires and floods, hoarders and addicts. When properties are damaged or neglected, ...

Evie has the perfect job and the perfect man, but keeping both in her life has become a serious balancing act...With the sales coming to a close at Hardy's, Evie must source new stock for the season ahead. Her mind is constantly buzzing with ideas and layouts, so much so that she is forgetting all about Sam.Can she learn to keep her work separate from her home life? Or will she lose everything...Ali Harris weaves a story of Christmas miracles in this magical short s...

She fell in love with him, they married and then she found out who he was: a conman who was determined to destroy her.The instant bestselling story of Lee Mackenzie, who was a capable and confident young woman, studying broadcast journalism and honing her skills of observation and objectivity. She was also a little unworldly, the product of a small, rural Western Canadian community where doors were never locked and life was simple and direct. On a backpacking trip ...

**"A thriller for fans of The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl...[with] a striking, original voice all Berry’s own.” —The New York Times Book ReviewThe riveting, Edgar Award-winning first novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Northern Spy and A Double Life**When Nora takes the train from London to visit her sister in the countryside, she expects to find her waiting at the station, or at home cooking dinner. ...

**‘A giant among fictional detectives’ – The TimesDeath is Now My Neighbour** is the twelfth novel in Colin Dexter’s Oxford-set detective series.As he drove his chief down to Kidlington, Lewis returned the conversation to where it had begun.‘You haven't told me what you think about this fellow Owens – the dead woman’s next-door neighbour.'‘Death is always the next-door neighbour,’ said Morse sombrely.

A funny, feel-good romantic comedy. Perfect for fans of Fiona Gibson and Jo Watson.Sam Preston appears to be living the glamorous life of a journalist at the San Francisco Chronicle...If only that was the case... in reality, she's frustratingly single, stuck living in her parents' house, and oh yeah, in love with her boss, Dave, who barely knows that she exists...Life seems like it will never change... until the day Sam is put on an assignm...

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Tim Vicary. He is not beautiful. His mother does not want him, children run away from him. People laugh at him, and call him 'The Elephant Man'. Then someone speaks to him - and listens to him! At the age of 27, Joseph Merrick finds a friend for the first time in his life. This is a true and tragic story. It is also a famous film.