Category Archives: Travel Guides
By Night in Chile
Father Sebastian Urrutia Lacroix is dying. A priest, a member of Opus Dei, a literary critic and a poet, in his feverish delirium the crucial events of his past swell around him. From glimpses of the great poet Pablo Neruda, the German writer Ernst Junger and his one-time student, General Pinochet, to nightmarish flashes of
Lies: Vintage Minis
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility.”Is lying simply an uncomfortable truth about life or something to be celebrated? In these dazzlingly witty pages we find deceptions of all kinds. From false names to imaginary friends to fictitious
London: Vintage Minis
“Wealth and beggary, virtue and vice, repletion and the direst hunger, all treading on each other and crowding together”Is any writer as closely associated with London as Charles Dickens? Dickens knew the city inside out, restlessly walking the streets day and night, in all weathers, and drawing inspiration from everything he saw. The fog, the
Power: Vintage Minis
“Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust?And, live we how we can, yet die we must”What is the true meaning of power? Are some simply born to it or can it be acquired like a skill? Does it always breed corruption and greed or can it be a force for good? From
Murder: Vintage Minis
“Well, Watson, we seem to have fallen upon evil days”Sherlock Holmes: the quintessential British hero and the world`s most popular detective. Through his powers of deduction, and with the help of his faithful companion Dr Watson, Holmes takes on all manner of devious criminals and dangerous villains – and wins. But the cases involving murder
In the Absence of Men
FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LIE WITH MEIt is the summer of 1916 and, with German Zeppelins on the skyline, the men of Paris are off at war. For Vincent, the sixteen-year-old son of a prestigious family, the tranquillity of the city sits at odds with the salons and soirees he attends. But, after an
The Prince of West End Avenue
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.In the Emma Lazarus retirement home in uptown Manhattan, the Jewish inmates embark on a chaotic, bitchy production of Hamlet. But for our hero, Otto Korner more is at stake than simply directing his quirky, libidinous fellow residents in the
Youngman: Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan
A unique first-hand account of a historical gay trans man`s whole life, which reads like a celebratory coming-of-age novel.Lou kept candid diaries from the age of 10. Through these extracts, we hear Lou`s life in his own words: from `playing boys` in his childhood in Wisconsin, to cruising San Francisco`s gay bars for handsome `youngmen`;
A Scandinavian Christmas: Festive Tales for a Nordic Noel
Ranging from Hans Christian Anderson to Karl Ove Knausgaard, have yourself a nordic noel with the very best Scandinavian Christmas talesHave yourself a truly Scandinavian Christmas… Of visions and prophesies seen in dark, dark woods. Of toys and trees come to life. Of trolls raising chaos, and of families torn apart — only to be
The Snow Leopard
This is the account of a journey to the dazzling Tibetan plateau of Dolpo in the high Himalayas. In 1973 Matthiessen made the 250-mile trek to Dolpo, as part of an expedition to study wild blue sheep. It was an arduous, sometimes dangerous, physical endeavour: exertion, blisters, blizzards, endless negotiations with sherpas, quaking cold. But
Reading in the Dark
This is the story of a haunted childhood, a house where love and trust are hard to hold on to. The setting is Derry in the Northern Ireland of the 40s and 50s, fraught with political hatred, family secrets and lethal intrigue. As a young boy tries to make sense of life, poverty and violence
The Bell: Vintage Classics Murdoch Series
Funny, subversive, fearless and fiercely intelligent, Iris Murdoch was one of the great writers of the twentieth century. To celebrate her centenary Vintage Classics presents special editions of her greatest and most timeless novels.With an introduction by Sarah Perry”In this holy community she would play the witch.”Imber Court is a quiet haven for lost souls,
Under The Net
Funny, subversive, fearless and fiercely intelligent, Iris Murdoch was one of the great writers of the twentieth century. To celebrate her centenary Vintage Classics presents special editions of her greatest and most timeless novels.”This is real life, Jake,` she said. `You`d better wake up.`”Jake is clever, lazy and scraping by in London as a hack
The Rings Of Saturn
What begins as the record of a journey on foot through coastal East Anglia becomes the great, constellated story of people and cultures past and present: of Chateaubriand, Thomas Browne, Swinburne and Conrad, of fishing fleets, skulls and silkworms. A rich meditation on the past via a melancholy trip along the Suffolk coast, `The Rings
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers
Twenty-three-year-old Zhuang (or Z as she calls herself) arrives in London to spend a year learning English. Struggling to find her way in the city, and through the puzzles of tense, verb and adverb; she falls for an older Englishman and begins to realise that the landscape of love is an even trickier terrain…
The Way Back
The sequel to `All Quiet on the Western Front`, one of the most powerful novels of the First World War and a twentieth-century classic.After four gruelling years the survivors of the Great War finally make their way home. Young, spirited Ernst is one. Finding himself inexplicably returned to his childhood bedroom, restless, chafing, confused, he
The Ascent Of Rum Doodle
Led by the reliably under-insightful Binder, a team of seven British men including Dr Prone (constantly ill); Jungle the route finder (constantly lost), Constant the diplomat (constantly arguing) and 3,000 Yogistani porters, set out to conquer the highest peak in the Himalayas. An outrageously funny spoof about the ascent of a 40,000-and-a-half-foot peak, `The Ascent
Blood River
When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to cover Africa he quickly became obsessed with the idea of recreating H.M. Stanley`s famous expedition – but travelling alone. Despite warnings that his plan was `suicidal`, Butcher set out for the Congo`s eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his
In Patagonia
eautifully written and full of wonderful descriptions and intriguing tales, `In Patagonia` is an account of Bruce Chatwin`s travels to a remote country in search of a strange beast and his encounters with the people whose fascinating stories delay him on the road.
Out: Vintage Classics Japanese Series
In the Tokyo suburbs four women work the graveyard shift at a factory. Burdened with heavy debts, alienated from husbands and children, they all secretly dream of a way out of their dead-end lives.A young mother among them finally cracks and strangles her philandering, gambling husband. She confesses her crime to her colleagues and unexpectedly,
