Penguin Notes on a Scandal Heller Zoe

Shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize, Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal is a darkly compelling novel that explores the taboo subject of pupil/teacher relationships, obsession and betrayal • From the first day that the beguiling Sheba Hart joins the staff of St George's history teacher Barbara Covett is convinced she has found a kindred spirit. Barbara's loyalty to her new friend is passionate and unstinting and when Sheba is discovered having an illicit affair with one of her pupils, Barbara quickly elects herself as Sheba's chief defender. But all is not as it first seems in this dark story and, as Sheba will soon discover, a friend can be just as treacherous as any lover

«Достоверной картины того, что происходит на самом деле, нет, и от этого легче держаться безумных убеждений» • В наши дни Джорджа Оруэлла знают преимущественно как автора романа «1984» и повести «Скотный двор», но в своё время он был известен как журналист и автор политических текстов • В эссе «Заметки о национализме» он едко и со свойственной ему проницательностью пишет о патриотизме, предрассудках и природе власти. Оно сохраняет актуальность и по сей день, что неудивительно: в своё время Оруэлл описал смог описать английский национальный дух лучше многих коллег по цеху • Книга на английском языке • 'The general uncertainty as to what is really happening makes it easier to cling to lunatic beliefs' • Biting and timeless reflections on patriotism, prejudice and power, from the man who wrote about his nation better than anyone

A rags-to-riches story of a young woman who must overcome the scandal of her past to forge a new life • In Heap Hollow cottage in County Durham live what appears to be a close and loving family. But across the happy facade lies a shadow that has lengthened and darkened with the passing years. Their narrow-minded neighbours disapprove of the family's choices because of their illegitimacy, their mother and father never having married • Anna, the eldest daughter, is determined to face the challenging legacy of her birth and prove herself to those in the community who look down on her. Will her strength of character and zest for life be enough to put the scandal of her past behind her and forge a new life?

'The best thing is to do nothing! Better conscious inertia! So, long live the underground!' • Alienated from society and paralysed by a sense of hose own insignificance, the anonymous narrator of Dostoyevsky's groundbreaking Notes from Underground tells the story of his tortured life. With bitter irony, he describes his refusal to become a worker in the 'anthill' of society and his gradual withdrawal to an existence 'underground'. The seemingly ordinary world of St Petersburg takes on a nightmarish quality in the The Double when a government clerk encounters a man who looks exactly like him - his double perhaps, or possibly the darker side of his own personality. Like Notes from Underground, this is a masterly tragi-comic study of human consciousousness

This is the second of a new two-volume edition of the works of Descartes in Penguin Classics. This volume is designed for students who approach Descartes from the point of view of his philosophy of science. Includes DISCOURSE ON METHOD, the most accessible and well-known of his discussions of scientific method; the first seven chapters of the earlier, unpublished work, THE WORLD; as well as a selection of Descartes' correspondence and his replies to his critics

Альбер Камю сыграл значительную роль в отмене смертной казни во Франции и других странах Европы. В 1957 году он опубликовал свое знаменитое эссе «Размышления о гильотине», в котором рассматривает смертную казнь как абсолютное возмездие в мире, где абсолютная вина невозможна • Книга на английском языке • 'When silence or tricks of language contribute to maintaining an abuse that must be reformed or a suffering that can be relieved, then there is no other solution but to speak out' • Written when execution by guillotine was still legal in France, Albert Camus' devastating attack on the 'obscene exhibition' of capital punishment remains one of the most powerful, persuasive arguments ever made against the death penalty • One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series

This is Mark Twain's description of life on the Mississippi River, with observations and anecdotes about the culture and society along the river valley. It includes character sketches, historical facts, information and reminiscences of Twain's boyhood and experiences as a steam-boat pilot. Part travel book, part autobiography, and part social commentary, Life on the Mississippi is a memoir of the cub pilot's apprenticeship, a record of Twain's return to the river and to Hannibal as an adult, a meditation on the harsh vagaries of nature, and a study of the varied and sometimes violent activities engaged in by those who live on the river's shores

Rene Descartes was a central figure in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. In his Discourse on Method he outlined the contrast between mathematics and experimental sciences, and the extent to which each one can achieve certainty. Drawing on his own work in geometry, optics, astronomy and physiology, Descartes developed the hypothetical method that characterizes modern science, and this soon came to replace the traditional techniques derived from Aristotle. Many of Descartes' most radical ideas - such as the disparity between our perceptions and the realities that cause them - have been highly influential in the development of modern philosophy

Eugenia Malmains is one of the richest girls in England and an ardent supporter of Captain Jack and the Union Jackshirts; Noel and Jasper are both in search of an heiress (so much easier than trying to work for the money); Poppy and Marjorie are nursing lovelorn hearts; and the beautiful bourgeois Mrs Lace is on the prowl for someone to lighten the boredom of her life. They all congregate near Eugenia's fabulous country home at Chalford, and much farce ensues • One of Nancy Mitford's earliest novels, Wigs on the Green has been out of print for nearly seventy-five years. Nancy's sisters Unity and Diana were furious with her for making fun of Diana's husband, Oswald Mosley, and his politics, and the book caused a rift between them all that endured for years

From the desks of Nigeria's newsrooms, two journalists are recruited to find the kidnapped wife of a British oil engineer. Zaq, an infamous media hack, knows what's in store, but Rufus, a keen young journalist eager to get himself noticed, has no idea what he's let himself in for. Journeying into the oil-rich regions of the Niger Delta, where militants rule and the currency dealt in is the lives of hostages, Rufus soon finds himself acting as intermediary between editor, husband, captive and soldier • As they follow the trail of the missing woman, love for the 'story' becomes about much more than just uncovering her whereabouts, and instead becomes a mission to make sense of their own muddled lives • In a cruel twist of fate, Rufus finds himself taking on Zaq's role much more literally than he ever anticipated, and as the body count rises, and the environment burns, he learns that truth can often be a bitter pill to swallow

It's always darkest before the dawn • After Mike loses Pia, his partner of seventeen years, best friends Vicky and Zaza rally round • But the truth is, in Pia's absence, they all need more than a little help • Just-engaged Zaza fears the next step. Mum Vicky has lost sight of herself. And Mike can't figure out how to start again • Luckily, Pia left a list of loving instructions to help them cope • Which is why they find themselves trekking in Peru. Stumbling up mountains. Lost in sweltering rainforests. As friendships and hope fray, they cling to their faith in Pia • Soon they learn anything is possible when you're walking on sunshine

'The story of the negro in America is the story of America ... it is not a very pretty story' • James Baldwin's breakthrough essay collection made him the voice of his generation. Ranging over Harlem in the 1940s, movies, novels, his preacher father and his experiences of Paris, they capture the complexity of black life at the dawn of the civil rights movement with effervescent wit and prophetic wisdom