Penguin The Old-Girl Network Alliott Catherine

A house in the south of France. A holiday of a lifetime. What could be nicer? What could possibly go wrong? • When Flora, James and their two teenage daughters are offered the holiday of a lifetime in a chateau in the south of France in return for one simple good deed, they jump at the chance. They exchange the confines of Clapham, the weight of the mortgage and anxieties over their future for a blissful break • But Flora didn't anticipate a mysterious guest and a whole heap of family baggage coming too • With James developing a schoolboy crush on a famous singer and Flora distracted by ghosts from her past, their dream holiday suddenly takes some very unexpected turns

A modern marriage, or a big mistake? • Ella was nineteen and madly in love when she married dashing young artist Sebastian Montclair. But that was a long time ago. Now Ella and the kids live in a ramshackle farmhouse while Sebastian and his paintings inhabit the outhouse next door - a family separated in every way but distance. Is it a marvellously modern relationship - or a disaster waiting to happen? • When charming gardener Ludo arrives on the scene and Sebastian makes a sudden and surprising decision, Ella sees a chance at a fresh start. Yet with two teenagers and her parents on the verge of their own late-life crisis, will Ella be allowed to choose her own path? And how long can she hide from the truth which haunts her broken marriage?

A moving nineteenth-century account - lost for many decades - of a Chinese official's all-consuming love for his wife • 'Our passion was so great. Will the Old Man understand and help us once again?' • The Old Man of the Moon is Shen Fu's intimate and moving account of his marriage - from early passion to the trials of poverty and separation - and his great, enduring love for his wife in eighteenth-century China • Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe

Setting off in his hometown, and ending up 'almost at the end of the world', Paul Theroux's The Old Patagonian Express is a travel writing tour de force from one of the masters of the genre contains a new preface by the author in Penguin Modern Classics • 'The journey, not the arrival, matters' • The Old Patagonian Expresstells of Paul Theroux's train journey down the length of North and South America. Beginning on Boston's subway, he depicts a voyage from ice-bound Massachusetts to the arid plateau of Argentina's most southerly tip, via pretty Central American towns and the ancient Incan city of Macchu Pichu. Shivering and sweating by turns as the temperature and altitude rise and plummet, he describes the people he encountered - thrown in with the tedious, and unavoidable, Mr Thornberry in Limon and reading to the legendary blind writer, Jorge Luis Borges, in Buenos Aires

'His characters are marvellous, his insights wonderful ... You don't expect reality but you get something bigger and better' Ruth Rendell • The Old Curiosity Shop was an instant bestseller that, even while it was criticized for its sentimentality, captured the hearts of the nation with its portrayal of little Nell Trent, who is thrown into a terrifying world when her beloved grandfather is unable to pay his debts to the loathsome Quilp. Alongside the pathos of the innocent, tragic Nell are some of Dickens's greatest characters: the ne'er-do'well Dick Swiveller, the mannish lawyer Sally Brass, the half-starved 'Marchioness' and the lustful Quilp himself, a creation of demonic power and cruelty

It's 1944 and Britain is a country at war. The young women of the Phoenix munitions factory are giving their all to the cause, but romance is beckoning • The life of a Bomb Girl isn't usually glamourous. But Maggie is getting married, so she is going to make sure her wedding day is - even if she does have to spend every other day slaving on the factory floor • This blasted factory was not what Julia had in mind either. She had always dreamed of attending Oxford University rather than getting her hands dirty and the easy laughter of the other women intimidate her terribly • But they are all here together in this munitions factory in a Lancashire mill town, sharing firsts, pitching in and getting on. Despite rationing, dangerous hard work and new situations these Bomb Girls are going to do their best at work, and in love

Scarborough, 1880 • Jeannie spends her days in the town's teeming fishing port, waiting for Ethan Wharton to return on his father's trawler. She had always expected to marry the loyal and dependable Ethan, but when she meets Harry, a handsome stranger from Hull, Jeannie can't help but fall for his charm • When Jeannie falls pregnant and Harry breaks his promise to come back for her, she is alone. Resolving to make a better life for her and her child, Jeannie moves to the city in a bid to keep them from poverty • Starting over brings heartache and tragedy, and Jeannie finds herself longing for her lost love. But will Ethan find the strength to forgive her? • If you enjoy books by Katie Flynn and Dilly Court, you'll love Val's heartwarming stories of triumph over adversity

В вошедших в книгу "Рассказ старой няни" жутких историях великой романистки викторианской эпохи призрачный ребёнок бродит по Нортумберлендским болотам, а сонм сказочных персонажей собирает семена в тёмном, мрачном лесу • Вашему вниманию представлена приуроченная к восьмидесятилетию издательства Penguin серия Little Black Classics. Она отдаёт должное богатому ассортименту мировой классики, охватывающей многие века истории литературы, которой издательство поделилось с англоговорящим читателем. Его география на редкость обширна: путешествие по викторианскому Лондону на воздушном шаре, цветущие сады Японии, Огненная Земля, Калифорния XVI века, русская степь... И содержание этих шедевров не отстаёт: к их числу относятся истории лиричные и грубые, стихи грандиозные и очень личные, эссе сатирические и вдохновляющие

Even the approach to Christmas fails to excite restless Agnes Conway, the twenty-two-year-old manager of the sweet and tobacconist shops owned by her feckless father. There are dark secrets in Arthur Conway's past, and these come tragically to light when Agnes's younger sister falls pregnant by one of the notorious Felton brothers. And Agnes herself has a secret, which she knows she must keep from her father: her relationship with Charles Farrier, son of a local landowner, who outrages his own wealthy, pious family by proposing marriage • However Charles is not the only man who could shape Agnes's furture, as his brother Reginald makes no secret of his admiration for her. But she could not have foreseen how significant a part he is to play in her destiny

The hilarious international bestselling novel that has had pensioners ditching their sticks and zimmers to follow the age-defying, youth inducing antics inside The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old . . . 'Terrific. This geriatric Adrian Mole made me laugh' Woman and Home 'Funny and touching' BBC Radio 4 Meet Hendrik Groen. An octogenarian in a care home who has no intention of doing what he's told, or dying quietly. To that end, he creates the Old-But-Not-Dead Club and with his fellow members sets about living his final years with careless abandon. Such anarchism infuriates the care home director but pleases Eefje, the woman who makes Hendrik's frail heart palpitate. If it's never too late to have fun, then can it ever be too late to meet the love of your life? 'So much more than just a comedy' John Boyne 'A story with a great deal of heart' Graeme Simsion, The Rosie Project 'Amusing and wickedly accurate

The old gods are growing restless • Mercenary Casia Greythorne cares about two things: completing her latest job and earning enough coin for the expensive medicine that's keeping her mentor alive • So when the king commands her to investigate a strange plague devastating the empire, she can't resist the massive reward he offers - even if it does mean working with the arrogant and infuriating Captain Elander • But as the death toll rises and strange monsters wreak havoc across the realms, Cas and Elander find themselves up against meddling gods and very old magic • Because an ancient evil is stirring in the shadows • And their empire will not survive its full unleashing • The first book in the thrilling Shadows & Crowns series - perfect for fans of Sarah J

This is the story of an old English manor house by the sea, with crumbling chimneys, draping ivy and a library full of dusty hardbacks. It's the story of the three children who grow up there, and the adventures they create for themselves while the grown-ups entertain endless party guests • This is the story of a whale that washes up on a beach, whose bones are claimed by a twelve-year-old girl with big ambitions and an even bigger imagination. An unwanted orphan who grows into an unmarriageable young woman, fiercely determined to do things differently • But as the children grow to adulthood, another story has been unfolding in the wings. And when the war finally takes centre stage, they find themselves cast, unrehearsed, into roles they never expected to play