Introduction and Notes by Michael Irwin, Professor of English Literature, University of Kent at Canterbury.Set in Hardy's Wessex, Tess is a moving novel of hypocrisy and double standards. Its challenging sub-title, A Pure Woman, infuriated critics when the book was first published in 1891, and it was condemned as immoral and pessimistic.It tells of Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of a poor and dissipated villager, who learns that she may be descende...

With an Introduction and Notes by Michael Irwin, Professor of English Literature, University of Kent at CanterburyThis selection of Carroll's works includes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, both containing the famous illustrations by Sir John Tenniel. No greater books for children have ever been written. The simple language, dreamlike atmosphere, and fantastical characters are as appealing to young reader...

Set in England in the early 1760s, this is a chilling and deliciously dark tale of manipulation, sex, and seduction.When Richard Fenwick, a young man without family or means, returns to London from the Grand Tour, his wealthy godfather, James Gilbert, has an unexpected proposition. Gilbert has led a fastidious life in Worcestershire, but now in his advancing years, he feels the urge to experience, even vicariously, the extremes of human feeling—love and passion, adultery and deceit...

First published in 1979. Most of the great nineteenth century novelists strove to render in words the people and places that they invented and most readers of fiction picture in their imagination these characters and scenes. This book investigates both types of ‘picturing’, exploring the principles and problems concerned, and sheds light on the workings of fiction — reassessing a number of famous novels in the process. By so doing, this work relates the academic study of the novel to the w...

Children and Adolescents in Trauma presents a variety of creative approaches to working with young people in residential children's homes, secure or psychiatric units, and special schools.The contributors describe a wide range of approaches, including art therapy and literature, and how creative methods are applied in cases of abuse, trauma, violence, self-harm and identity development. They discuss the impact of abuse and mistreatment upon the mental health of 'looked after' child...

According to the media and some concerned parents, boys are having greater trouble than ever with schooling. this book takes the refreshing counter position that boys are generally fine, and not inherently toxic creatures that need 'fixing'. What does need fixing, however, are some of the parenting and teaching practices and environments boys are placed in for schooling and social development. In the vein of Celia Lashlie's Good Man Project, which became the basis for her international bes...

Michael Irwin’s The Skull and the Nightingale is a chilling and deliciously dark, literary novel of manipulation and sex, intrigue and seduction, set in 18th-century England.When Richard Fenwick returns to London, his wealthy godfather, James Gilbert, has an unexpected proposition. Gilbert has led a sedate life in Worcestershire, but feels the urge to experience, even vicariously, the extremes of human feeling: love, passion, and something much more sinister.It bec...

Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community. The first of his works set in Wessex, Hardy's novel of ...

Amidst prosperity of the 1920s in New York we see a portrait of the Jazz Age, with its decadence and excess. This novel is considered Fitzgerald 's best work and captures the spirit of the author's generation. A love story and a cautionary tale about the American Dream ingrained in Gatsby's journey to happiness, this story presents a fine example of 20th century American writing.

Meet Detective Superintendent Roy Grace on his unforgettable first major case by award winning crime author Peter James, read by Daniel Weyman.It was meant to be a harmless stag-night prank. But a few hours later, the groom has disappeared and his friends are dead.With only three days to the wedding, Roy Grace is contacted by the man’s distraught fiancée to unearth what happened on that fateful night.The one man who ought to know of the groom’s wher...

*A brand new companion to the Last Kingdom series, Uhtred’s Feast, is available to pre-order now*The tenth book in the epic and bestselling series that has gripped millions.A hero will be forged from this broken land.As seen on Netflix and BBC around the world.From the day it was stolen from me I had dreamed of recapturing Bebbanburg. The great fort was built on a rock that was almost an island, it ...

The Sun Also Rises is a 1926 novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, his first, that portrays American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights. An early and enduring modernist novel, it received mixed reviews upon publication. However, Hemingway biographer Jeffrey Meyers writes that it is now "recognized as Hemingway and s greatest work", and Hemingway scholar Linda Wagner-Martin calls i...