Alma Books The New Football Coach Demers Dominique

Meet Miss Charlotte… a modern Mary Poppins who wears a large hat and a crumpled dress that maker her look like a scarecrow, and she talks to a rock! • Mademoiselle Charlotte, the new teacher, is not like the others: she wears a large hat and a crumpled dress that make her look like a scarecrow, and she talks to a rock. The children think she is crazy at first, but soon realize she makes school more fun than ever, getting them to measure the room with cooked spaghetti in maths class, telling fascinating stories about a gorilla and even taking the pupils on at football • The first book in Dominique Demers’s popular Adventure of Miss Charlotte series, The New Teacher, brilliantly illustrated by Tony Ross, is an entertaining, imaginative and inspiring book that will make you wish you had a teacher just like Mademoiselle Charlotte

Written in the form of a diary, The House of the Dead recounts the story of Alexander Goryanchikov, a gentleman who is condemned to ten years hard labour for killing his wife in a fi t of rage. Initially the target of the other inmates malice, he gradually settles in and becomes an avid observer of the new world around him - watching his fellow prisoners being brutally and cruelly punished by the guards, listening to their past stories of blood and murder and learning that even convicts are capable of acts of pure generosity, as when they sacrifice their own meal to feed a stray dog that wanders around the camp. Based on Dostoevsky's own autobiographical experiences during a four year internment in a prison colony in Siberia, this genre-defying novel is not only an unflinching expose of the conditions of Russian prisoners during the Tsarist period, but also a call to see the human side in criminals and rediscover the values of forgiveness and brotherly love

An unnamed young governess is sent to a country house to take charge of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Yet she is soon oppressed by a sense of foreboding and deep disquiet, becoming convinced that something dark is threatening her young charges. But are supernatural forces at work, or is the danger something altogether more earthly? • Henry James’s masterpiece, and widely considered to be the greatest ghost story ever written, The Turn of the Screw remains the apogee of suspenseful, haunting writing in the English language • Contains: Extract from the Preface to Vol. 12 of the New York Edition (1908), notes, extra material on Henry James’s life and works and a select bibliography

Roberta, Phyllis and Peter have their comfortable lives in London thrown into disarray by the unexpected disappearance of their father. They are forced to move to a small cottage in the countryside with their mother, who struggles to make ends meet by writing books. The children find solace in a stretch of railway track and the station nearby, and befriend the railway porter, who teaches them about running the station, and an old gentleman who takes the 9.15 train every day. Through this love of the trains they are led on many exciting adventures, including a quest to discover the secret of their father's disappearance • One of the most popular children's books ever written, E. Nesbit's tale has enchanted generations of readers since it was first released in 1906

The adventures of Mowgli, the young man raised by wolves in the jungles of Central India, and his friends Baloo the bear, Bagheera the panther and Kaa the python, as they face the arch villain Shere Khan the tiger, have become so popular that they have achieved an almost mythical status throughout the world. They were collected by Kipling in The Jungle Book and its sequel, The Second Jungle Book, which also contain other stories set in India which prominently feature animals, such as the well-known "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi", which describes the struggles of a mongoose against venomous cobras • Here presented with brand-new illustrations by Ian Beck, these hugely popular tales, inspired by ancient fables and Kipling's own experiences in India, form a vivid account of the relationship between humans and nature, and will continue to inspire readers young and old

The intelligent and charming Newland Archer – a member of one of New York’s most prominent families – is living the life that has always been expected of him: he is engaged to the beautiful and well-connected May Welland and understands the rarefied world of Fifth Avenue society inside out. However, with the arrival of May’s cousin, the free-spirited and unconventional Countess Ellen Olenska, Newland begins to doubt all that once seemed so natural to him • An extraordinarily well-observed dissection of New York high society in the 1870s – the world in which Edith Wharton grew up – The Age of Innocence shines a critical light on the social mores and values of the old order

The civil servant Ivan Matveich and his wife Yelena Ivanovna are spectators of an exhibition - in a shopping arcade - of a crocodile owned by a German, when Ivan is suddenly swallowed alive by the animal. Unsuccessful in his attempts to be freed from his prison, due to the German's concern for his crocodile and excessive desire for compensation, the civil servant gradually comes to appreciate his new environment, while his wife begins to enjoy her new-found freedom. Inspired by Gogol's surreal tales, Dostoevsky's hilarious story has been interpreted by some as a vitriolic piece of social criticism and a veiled attack on the revolutionary philosopher Nikolai Chernyshevsky

The story of a naughty wooden puppet who has a penchant for lying and dreams of becoming a real boy, The Adventures of Pinocchio has entered our collective imagination and fascinated generations of young and adult readers since its first publication in 1883. Part fable, part coming-of-age novel, part cautionary tale, Pinocchio’s rollicking exploits through an unforgiving and often incomprehensible world – populated by unforgettable characters such as the Talking Cricket, Candlewick, Mangiafuoco and the Fairy with Turquoise Hair – have had a profound impact on our culture and attained universal significance as a mirror of the human condition • Here presented in a brand-new and lively translation by Stephen Parkin and illustrated beautifully by Peter Bailey, this edition of The Adventures of Pinocchio brings extra sparkle to one of the greatest and most celebrated works of children’s literature

Alma Classics edition of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer contains 3,000 notes and 30 pages extra material • "And specially from every shires ende • Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende, • The hooly blisful martir for to seke, • That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke." • Assembling at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, a group of pilgrims begin their journey to Canterbury Cathedral. To entertain themselves on the long road, their host suggests that they regale each other with stories, with the teller of the best tale set to earn a free supper • The pilgrims correspond to all sections of medieval society, from the crusading knight to the drunken cook, and their tales span a range of genres, including the comic ribaldry and deception of 'The Miller's Tale' and the story of chivalry and courtly romance told by the Franklin

The Mudfog Papers, a collection of sketches by Dickens published in Bentley’s Miscellany between 1837 and 1838, describes the local politics of the fictional town of Mudfog – such as the delusions of grandeur of its mayor Nicholas Tulrumble and his disastrous attempts at putting on a public show – and the meetings of its Society for the Advancement of Everything, during which the town is overrun by illustrious scientists and professors conducting ostensibly pointless research • Written at the same time as Oliver Twist – indeed the serialized version of the novel referred to Mudfog as the protagonist’s home town – The Mudfog Papers lampoons all manner of journalistic and scientific writing of the time and showcases the young Dickens at his satirical best

The heir to his grandfather’s considerable fortune, Anthony Patch is led astray from the path to gainful employment by the temptations of the 1920s Jazz Age. His descent into dissolution and profligacy is accelerated by his marriage to the attractive but turbulent Gloria, and the couple soon discover the dangerous flip side of a life of glamour and debauchery • Containing obvious parallels with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s own lives, The Beautiful and Damned is a tragic examination of the pitfalls of greed and materialism and the transience of youth and beauty

The judge Ivan Ilyich Golovin has spent his life in the pursuit of wealth and status, devoting himself obsessively to work and often neglecting his family in the process. When, after a small accident, he fails to make the expected recovery, it gradually becomes clear that he is soon to die. Ivan Ilyich then starts to question the futility and barrenness of his previous existence, realizing to his horror, as he grapples with the meaning of life and death, that he is totally alone • Included in this volume is another celebrated novella by Tolstoy, The Devil, which addresses the conflicts between desire, social norms and personal conscience, providing at the same time a further exploration of human fear and obsession