Alma Books Gabriel-Ernest and Other Tales Манро Гектор

Set in the year after the 1929 crash and incorporating many autobiographical elements, 'Babylon Revisited' tells the story of the widower Charlie Wales, a reformed alcoholic and successful businessman returning to Paris to convince his in-laws to give him back the daughter he abandoned. As the old haunts of the city he used to carouse in seem more and more alien to him, he finds himself assailed by feelings of guilt and regret • Considered one of Fitzgerald's finest and most poignant pieces of short fiction, 'Babylon Revisited' is presented here with a selection of other tales published in the same period, such as 'Crazy Sunday' - an account of alcoholism and infidelity in Hollywood - which showcase the author at his creative best

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the author of one of the most poignant and enduringly popular novels of the twentieth century, left only a few other pieces of fiction when he died prematurely at the age of sixty. Childhood Memories and Other Stories, here presented in a new translation by Stephen Parkin and including previously deleted passages and the unpublished fragment ‘Torretta’, collects all of Lampedusa’s extant shorter fiction and provides a revealing glimpse into the writer’s workshop and the background to the composition of his masterpiece • From the atmospheric recollections of the Palazzo Lampedusa and the Palazzo Filangeri Cuto at the turn of the twentieth century in ‘Childhood Memories’ to the delightful fable ‘The Siren’, from the gently humorous, bitter­sweet tones of ‘Joy and the Law’ to ‘The Blind Kittens’ – the first chapter of what was intended to be a sequel to The Leopard – this volume showcases Lampedusa’s unparalleled ob­ser­vational powers and narrative skills

When the young salesman Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning transformed into a monstrous insect, his shock and incomprehension are coupled with the panic of being late for work and having to reveal his appearance to family and colleagues. Although over the following weeks he gradually becomes used to this new existence confined within the bounds of the apartment, and his parents and sister adapt to living with a grotesque bug, Gregor notices that their attitudes towards him are changing and he feels increasingly alienated • One of the masterpieces of twentieth-century world literature, ‘The Metamorphosis’ is accompanied in this volume by a selection of other classic tales and sketches by Kafka – such as ‘The Judgement’, ‘In the Penal Colony’ and ‘A Country Doctor’ – all presented in a lively and meticulous new translation by Christopher Moncrieff

While at a party organized by the lieutenant of his regiment, the shy and awkward Ryabovitch is suddenly kissed by an unknown woman in a dark room. This unexpected and electrifying encounter marks a turning point in his life and a shift in his personality, arousing his passions and setting him on a desperate quest to discover the identity of the mysterious lady. One of Chekhov's most admired stories, The Kiss is joined in this volume by five equally celebrated tales in a brand-new translation by Hugh Aplin: The Lady with the Little Dog, Ward Number Six, The Black Monk, The House with the Mezzanine and The Peasants - making this an indispensable collection for those wanting to discover Chekhov at his creative best

«Тобермори» – заглавный рассказ сборника – считается одним из лучших произведений Саки. Один из гостей званого ужина решает представить остальным говорящего кота по кличке Тобермори. Кот начинает раскрывать все грязные тайны представителей высшего общества, заставляя их показать свое истинное лицо • В этот сборник вошли самые известные рассказы Саки, от первых литературных успехов вроде «Габриэля-Эрнеста», «Ягдташа» и «Хроник Кловиса», истории о молодом человеке с необычным чувством юмора, до более поздних шедевров – одновременно смешного и странного «Борова» и опубликованных посмертно «Игрушек мира». Творчество Саки охватывает самые разные темы, от реинкарнации до психологической войны, а характерное для его произведений остроумие успело очаровать несколько поколений читателей

Enter the gas-lit streets of post-war Prague, the steelworks run by singed men, the covered market that smells of new-born babes, the cacophonous open-air dance hall. Mr Kafka is avoiding his landlady’s blueberry wine breath, a stonemason witnesses the destruction of a monument to Stalin he risked his life to build, and factory men strain to catch a glimpse of a beautiful bathing murderess. In these newly discovered stories, Hrabal captures men and women in an eerily beautiful nightmare and their spirit in all its misery and splendour

When strange things are reported to be floating in rivers in rural Vermont after a flood, old myths about hill-dwelling monsters who abduct humans resurface in subsequent debates, much to the annoyance of local academic Albert N. Wilmarth. However, when he starts receiving letters from a man named Henry Wentworth Akeley about the supposed presence near his farmhouse of an extraterrestrial race worshipping ancient cosmic deities, Wilmarth finds himself drawn into an astonishing correspondence that leads to a harrowing discovery • A seminal early contribution to the horror and science-fiction genres, ‘The Whisperer in Darkness’ is presented here, along with other classics from the Lovecraft canon – such as ‘The Call of Cthulhu’, ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’, ‘The Music of Erich Zann’ and ‘The Silver Key’ – in a brand-new collection showcasing the finest tales from the twentieth century’s foremost purveyor of terror

In contrast with the epic scope of the Rougon-Macquart novels, Zola’s short stories are concerned with the everyday aspects of human existence and the interests of ordinary people • From the cruel irony of ‘Captain Burle’ to the Rabelaisian exuberance of ‘Coqueville on the Spree’, these stories display the broad range of Zola’s imagination, using a variety of tones, from the quietly cynical to the compassionate, from the playful to the tragic • Contains • Dead Men Tell No Tales • Coqueville on the Spree • Captain Burle • Shellfish for Monsieur Chabre

Contains original illustrations by the author • Written for the poet John Addington Symonds's young daughter Janet while she was ill and confined to her bed, 'The Owl and the Pussycat' sees the two enamoured animals sail away in a boat "for a year and a day / To the land with the bong tree grows", where they get married • Long considered one of the nation's favourite poems, it is combined here with other memorable examples of what Lear called "nonsense songs", such as 'Calico Pie' and 'The Duck and the Kangaroo', as well as with nonsense stories, cookery, botany and alphabets, in a collection that transports adults and children alike to the extraordinary world of Edward Lear's imagination

Coming back into town after a hunting expedition, Alexandre Dumas witnesses an incredible scene: a man has come to hand himself in to the mayor after decapitating his wife, terrified by the fact that her severed head spoke to him even after her death. This prompts the guests at a dinner Dumas attends later that evening to exchange stories of death and the supernatural, ranging from accounts of the guillotine during the Terror to tales of vampires and fratricide in the Carpathians • The Thousand and One Ghosts – here presented in its first and only translation into English – is a gloriously macabre work by the celebrated author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, which also touches on the serious political issue of capital punishment

Purporting to be an autobiography of the antihero Tristram Shandy, Laurence Sterne’s novel is a comic masterpiece of digression, egoism and sensationalism, as its hilarious asides, explanations and host of memorable secondary characters – such as Uncle Toby, Dr Slop, Parson Yorick and Widow Wadman – take centre stage, at the expense of the actual life events the book sets out to depict • A humorous compendium of European thought and literature – pastiching the likes of Locke and Bacon and referencing Pope, Swift, Cervantes and Rabelais – emerges amid the convoluted accounts of Tristram’s conception, misnaming and accidental circumcision by a sash window, in a shrewd narrative that examines the role and nature of language itself • A very ambitious editorial project which took our team more than a year to bring to perfection

When Cyril, Anthea, Robert and Jane accidentally destroy a carpet in their London home with fireworks, their parents replace it with a second-hand one. Upon unfurling it, the children find an egg inside, and, when one of them accidentally drops it into the fire, it hatches into a magical golden , who tells them that he can take them on the carpet to any location they wish. This revelation sets the siblings - and their baby brother Lamb - off on wild adventures, taking them around London and to far-flung destinations such as India and a remote tropical island • After the success of Five Children and It, E. Nesbit decided to recast its much-loved characters in this sequel, which has now become a classic in its own right, enchanting generations of readers and inspiring many film and television adaptations