Item category 1: Classics

After a long absence, the young Mary Smith has returned to Cranford, that cosy sphere of delicate gentility and elegant economy. From the newly-arrived half-pay Captain Brown (so considerate he blacks his own boots to save the maid-servant) to Miss Betsy Barker (so devoted to her Alderney cow she...

Based on Elizabeth Gaskell novels, this book follows the small absurdities and major tragedies in the lives of the people of Cranford during one extraordinary year.

A novel of the friendships and woes of two couples, which tells the story of their lives in lyrical, evocative prose by one of the finest American writers of the late 20th century.

A haunting examination of groupthink and mass hysteria in a rural community. The place is Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, an enclave of rigid piety huddled on the edge of a wilderness. Its inhabitants believe unquestioningly in their own sanctity. But in Arthur Miller's edgy masterpiece, that very...

Cry the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom, set against the background of a land and a people riven by racial injustice. Remarkable for its contemporaneity, unforgettable for character and incident, Cry, the Beloved Country is a classi...

When Benjamin Button's father arrives at hospital he is surprised and ashamed to find his new baby boy is a weathered, aged man, to all appearances no younger than seventy years old.

In this selection of poems covering the period 1972 to 2002. This beautifully elegant volume excludes the cartoon element, focusing on Leunig's brilliant texts, with all their absurdity, hilarity, poignancy and joyfulness.