Penguin The Black Ball Ellison Ralph

The iconic study of the Haitian revolution, by one of the most important historians of the twentieth century • C. L. R. James's pioneering account of the 1791 San Domingo slave revolt and the creation of the republic of Haiti changed the way colonial history was written. By putting the experiences of the slave rebels, led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, centre stage, James made them agents of their own story. His work, written as part of the fight to end colonialism in Africa, helped inspire radical liberation movements worldwide, from Black Power to Castro's revolution in the Caribbean

'People sleep peacefully only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf . . .' • For twenty years Leo Black was in the SAS. Now he lectures on violence instead of committing it, putting his soldiering days behind him in pursuit of a respectful academic life • But when a former comrade in arms is killed trying to prevent a scientist's abduction, Black is faced with an unexpected choice • Be the upright citizen the university demands • Or avenge the dead man to whom he owes his life

A 1959 classic 'hard' science-fiction novel by renowned Cambridge astronomer and cosmologist Fred Hoyle. Tracks the progress of a giant black cloud that comes towards Earth and sits in front of the sun, causing widespread panic and death. A select group of scientists and astronomers - including the dignified Astronomer Royal, the pipe smoking Dr Marlowe and the maverick, eccentric Professor Kingsly - engage in a mad race to understand and communicate with the cloud, battling against trigger happy politicians • In the pacy, engaging style of John Wyndham and John Christopher, with plenty of hard science thrown in to add to the chillingly credible premise (he manages to foretell Artificial Intelligence, Optical Character Recognition and Text-to-Speech converters), Hoyle carries you breathlessly through to its thrilling end

Set at the height of the "tulipomania" that gripped Holland in 17th century, this is the story of Cornelius van Baerle, a humble grower whose sole desire is to grow the perfect specimen of the tulip negra • When his godfather is murdered, Cornelius finds himself caught up in the deadly politics of the time, imprisoned and facing a death sentence. His jailor's daughter Rosa, holds both the key to his survival and his chance to produce the ultimate tulip

The groundbreaking Harlem Renaissance novel about prejudice within the black community • Emma Lou Morgan's skin is black - 'too black', as the narrator writes at the beginning of The Blacker the Berry. Tired of the scorn and contempt of her classmates, teachers, friends and even family, she leaves her hometown of Boise, Idaho, travelling first to Los Angeles and then to Harlem, New York, in search of a community to which she can belong. In Harlem, Emma Lou finds an exciting, vibrant scene of nightclubs and dance halls and parties and love affairs ... but there is no escaping the shame she feels about the darkness of her skin • Written by an overlooked author of the Harlem Renaissance The Blacker the Berry is a vivid and disturbing portrait of a young woman who has been rejected by her own race

The Devil's Workshop is the third historical thriller in Alex Grecian's acclaimed Scotland Yard Murder Squad series • April, 1890 • London wakes to the shocking news of a mass prison escape • Walter Day and the Scotland Yard Murder Squad now face a desperate race against time: if the four convicted murderers aren't recaptured before night settles, they'll vanish into the dark alleys of London's criminal underworld for ever • And in the midst of this mayhem and fear the city's worst nightmare is realized: Jack the Ripper haunts the streets of London once more • From The Yard and The Black Country author, Alex Grecian, comes The Devil's Workshop - and the return of Jack the Ripper. Expect another gruesome foray into the underbelly of Victorian Britain and early crime forensics

Charting the rise and fall of an ambitious young social climber in a cruel, monarchical society, Stendhal's The Red and the Black is translated with an introduction and notes by Roger Gard in Penguin Classics • Handsome, ambitious Julien Sorel is determined to rise above his humble provincial origins. Soon realizing that success can only be achieved by adopting the subtle code of hypocrisy by which society operates, he begins to achieve advancement through deceit and self-interest. His triumphant career takes him into the heart of glamorous Parisian society, along the way conquering the gentle, married Madame de Renal, and the haughty Mathilde. But then Julien commits an unexpected, devastating crime - and brings about his own downfall. The Red and the Black is a lively, satirical portrayal of French society after Waterloo, riddled with corruption, greed and ennui, and Julien - the cold exploiter whose Machiavellian campaign is undercut by his own emotions - is one of the most intriguing characters in European literature

Join Private Detective Isaac Bell as he navigates the seedy back alleys of New York, in the ninth book in the action-packed series from Sunday Times bestseller Clive Cussler • Crime, corruption and murder. . . a vicious organisation is terrorising the city and only one man can stop them • The Black Hand Strikes • 1906, New York City. Italian gangsters calling themselves the Black Hand terrorize citizens in a menacing spree of kidnapping, extortion and arson • Who dares stop them? • Detective Isaac Bell of the Van Dorn Agency is hired to form a special 'Black Hand Squad' - but with each gangster caught a new one appears on the street. Are these new recruits or other criminals imitating the Black Hand? Where are these men coming from? • Murder is just the beginning

In the summer of 1348, as the Black Death ravages their city, ten young Florentines take refuge in the countryside • Taken from the Greek, meaning 'ten-day event', Boccaccio's Decameron sees his characters amuse themselves by each telling a story a day, for the ten days of their confinement - a hundred stories of love and adventure, life and death, and surprising twists of fate. Less preoccupied with abstract concepts of morality or religion than earthly values, the tales range from the bawdy Peronella, hiding her lover in a tub, to Ser Cepperallo, who, despite his unholy effrontery, becomes a Saint. The result is a towering monument of European literature and a masterpiece of imaginative narrative that has inspired writers from Chaucer to Shakespeare

'We, the black and the white, deeply need each other here if we are really to become a nation' • James Baldwin's impassioned plea to 'end the racial nightmare' in America was a bestseller when it appeared in 1963, galvanising a nation and giving voice to the emerging civil rights movement. Told in the form of two intensely personal 'letters', The Fire Next Time is at once a powerful evocation of Baldwin's early life in Harlem and an excoriating condemnation of the terrible legacy of racial injustice

'You'll get used to things, you'll see. But you have to watch very carefully what you say and what you do.' • Adil Bey is an outsider. Newly arrived as Turkish consul at a run-down Soviet port on the Black Sea, he receives only suspicion and hostility from the locals. His one intimacy is a growing, wary relationship with his Russian secretary Sonia, who he watches silently in her room opposite his apartment. But this is Stalin's world before the war, and nothing is as it seems. Georges Simenon's most starkly political work, The People Opposite is a tour de force of slow-burn tension

The Salpetriere asylum, 1885. All of Paris is in thrall to Doctor Charcot and his displays of hypnotism on women who have been deemed mad or hysterical, outcasts from society. But the truth is much more complicated - for these women are often simply inconvenient, unwanted wives or strong-willed daughters. Once a year a grand ball is held at the hospital. For the Parisian elite, the Mad Women's Ball is the highlight of the social season; for the women themselves, it is a rare moment of hope • Genevieve is a senior nurse. After the childhood death of her sister, she has shunned religion and placed her faith in Doctor Charcot and his new science. But everything begins to change when she meets Eugenie, the 19-year-old daughter of a bourgeois family