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A phenomenon across all formats, this 42nd anniversary paperback omnibus contains the complete Hitchhiker’s Guide trilogy in five parts, charting the whole of Arthur Dent’s odyssey through space and time. Share and enjoy. Collected together in this omnibus are the five titles that comprise Douglas Adams’ wildly popular and wholly remarkable comedy science fiction "trilogy", introductions to each book, expanded material from the Douglas Adams archives plus a bonus short story, Young Zaphod Plays It Safe, and a special undeleted scene.

The Mothers is a dazzling debut about young love, a big secret in a small community and the moments that haunt us most. All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we’d taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season. It’s the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother’s recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor’s son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it’s not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance - and the subsequent cover-up - will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully manoeuvre and dogged by the constant, nagging question: what if they had chosen differently? In entrancing, lyrical prose, THE MOTHERS asks whether a "what if" can be more powerful than an experience itself.

A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England, this is Ken Follett's classic historical masterpiece. A MASON WITH A DREAM 1135 and civil war, famine and religious strife abound. With his family on the verge of starvation, mason Tom Builder dreams of the day that he can use his talents to create and build a cathedral like no other. A MONK WITH A BURNING MISSION .Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, is resourceful, but with money scarce he knows that for his town to survive it must find a way to thrive, and so he makes the decision to build within it the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known. A WORLD OF HIGH IDEALS AND SAVAGE CRUELTY As Tom and Philip meet so begins an epic tale of ambition, anarchy and absolute power. In a world beset by strife and enemies that would thwart their plans, they will stop at nothing to achieve their ambitions in a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state, and brother against brother. The Pillars of the Earth is the first in The Kingsbridge Novels series, followed by World Without End and A Column of Fire.

1944. In the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa, as the Allied troops advance, two strangers meet and share an extraordinary evening.Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier; Evelyn Skinner is a sexagenarian art historian and possible spy. She has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the wreckage and relive memories of the time she encountered E. M. Forster and had her heart stolen by an Italian maid in a particular room with a view.Evelyn's talk of truth and beauty plants a seed in Ulysses' mind that will shape the trajectory of his life - and of those who love him - for decades to come.

In 1950s Paris, Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld were friends, the rising stars of the fashion world. But by the late sixties, the city was invaded by a new mood of liberation and hedonism, and dominated by intrigue, infidelities, addiction and parties. Each designer created his own mesmerizing world, so vivid and seductive that people were drawn to the power, charisma and fame, and it was to make them bitter rivals. "The Beautiful Fall" is a dazzling expose of an era and the story of the two men who were its essence and who remain its most singular survivors.

With Stories of Your Life and Others, his masterful first collection, multiple-award-winning author Ted Chiang deftly blends human emotion and scientific rationalism in eight remarkably diverse stories, all told in his trademark precise and evocative prose. From a soaring Babylonian tower that connects a flat Earth with the firmament above, to a world where angelic visitations are a wondrous and terrifying part of everyday life; from a neural modification that eliminates the appeal of physical beauty, to an alien language that challenges our very perception of time and reality, Chiang’s rigorously imagined fantasias invite us to question our understanding of the universe and our place in it.

In Rattlesnakes, three young Americans find themselves lost in the desert, held captive by armed Mexicans; in The DOGS of Lincoln Park, a mysterious Korean chef may or may not have something to do with the disappearance of a socialites pooch; an English bar owner battles to keep all his balls in the air on the Costa Brava; a film biographer becomes a piece of movie memorabilia himself in Miss Arizona; and in the Kingdom of Fife; an ex-jockey and table-football star of Cowdenbeath takes on the charms of Jenni Cahill and her remarkable jodhpurs...

The Monarchy Has Been Dismantled. When a Republican party wins the General Election, their first act in power is to strip the royal family of their assets and titles and send them to live on a housing estate in the Midlands. Exchanging Buckingham Palace for a two-bedroomed semi in Hell Close (as the locals dub it), caviar for boiled eggs, servants for a social worker named Trish, the Queen and her family learn what it means to be poor among the great unwashed. But is their breeding sufficient to allow them to rise above their changed circumstance or deep down are they really just like everyone else?

High-class call girls billed to Mastercard. A psychic 13-year-old dropout with a passion for Talking Heads. A hunky matinee idol doomed to play dentists and teachers. A one-armed beach-combing poet, an uptight hotel clerk and one very bemused narrator caught in the web of advanced capitalist mayhem. Combine this offbeat cast of characters with Murakami's idiosyncratic prose and out comesDance Dance Dance..

It’s 200 years since Cinderella found her prince, but the fairytale is over. Sophia knows the story though, off by heart. Because every girl has to recite it daily, from when she’s tiny until the night she’s sent to the royal ball for choosing. And every girl knows that she has only one chance. For the lives of those not chosen by a man at the ball... are forfeit. But Sophia doesn’t want to be chosen - she’s in love with her best friend, Erin, and hates the idea of being traded like cattle. And when Sophia’s night at the ball goes horribly wrong, she must run for her life. Alone and terrified, she finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s tomb. And there she meets someone who will show her that she has the power to remake her world... An electrifying twist on the classic fairytale that will inspire girls to break out of limiting stereotypes and follow their dreams!

Shortlisted for the Folio Prize 2015.Shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize 2015.Sunday Times Top Choice Summer Read.Elf and Yoli are two smart, loving sisters.Elf is a world-renowned pianist, glamorous, wealthy, happily married: she wants to die.Yoli is divorced, broke, sleeping with the wrong men: she desperately wants to keep her older sister alive.When Elf's latest suicide attempt leaves her hospitalised weeks before her highly anticipated world tour, Yoli is forced to confront the impossible question of whether it is better to let a loved one go.

Condemned to shoulder the world forever by the gods he dared defy, freedom seems unattainable to Atlas. But then he receives an unexpected visit from Heracles, the one man strong enough to share the burden . . .Jeanette Winterson's retelling of the myth of Atlas and Heracles asks difficult and eternal questions about the nature of choice and coercion. Visionary and inventive, Weight turns the familiar on its head to show us ourselves in a new light.

WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017.The extraordinary first novel by the bestselling, Folio Prize-winning, National Book Award-shortlisted George Saunders, about Abraham Lincoln and the death of his eleven year old son, Willie, at the dawn of the Civil War.The American Civil War rages while President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son lies gravely ill. In a matter of days, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy's body.From this seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of realism, entering a thrilling, supernatural domain both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself trapped in a transitional realm - called, in Tibetan tradition, the bardo - and as ghosts mingle, squabble, gripe and commiserate, and stony tendrils creep towards the boy, a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul.Unfolding over a single night, Lincoln in the Bardo is written with George Saunders' inimitable humour, pathos and grace. Here he invents an exhilarating new form, and is confirmed as one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Deploying a theatrical, kaleidoscopic panoply of voices - living and dead, historical and fictional - Lincoln in the Bardo poses a timeless question: how do we live and love when we know that everything we hold dear must end?

Veronica McCreedy is about to have the journey of a lifetime… Veronica McCreedy lives in a mansion by the sea. She loves a nice cup of Darjeeling tea whilst watching a good wildlife documentary. And she’s never seen without her ruby-red lipstick. Although these days Veronica is rarely seen by anyone because, at 85, her days are spent mostly at home, alone. She can be found either collecting litter from the beach ("people who litter the countryside should be shot"), trying to locate her glasses ("someone must have moved them") or shouting instructions to her assistant, Eileen ("Eileen, door!"). Veronica doesn’t have family or friends nearby. Not that she knows about, anyway... And she has no idea where she’s going to leave her considerable wealth when she dies. But today… today Veronica is going to make a decision that will change all of this.

A lifetime ago, Lore Perseous left behind the brutal, opulent world of the Agon families - ancient Greek bloodlines that participate in a merciless game every seven years. A game that is about to begin again ... For centuries, Zeus has punished the gods with a game called the Agon, which turns them mortal for one week, and at the mercy of being hunted by those with godly ambitions. Only a handful of the original Greek gods remain, the rest replaced by the mortals who killed them and ascended. After her family's sadistic murder by a rival bloodline, Lore escapes and vows to repay her parents' sacrifice by doing one thing - surviving. For seven years, she has pushed back dark thoughts of revenge against the man responsible for their murder, a man by the name of Wrath who has attained unimaginable power. Except for one week, every seven years. A week that is fast approaching ... When Lore comes home on the first night of the Agon to find Athena gravely wounded on her doorstep, the goddess offers her an alliance; they have a mutual enemy, after all. But as the world trembles under the force of Wrath - a god with the power to destroy all of humanity - will Lore's decision to bind her fate with Athena's come back to haunt her?

Number one New York Times bestselling author W. Bruce Cameron once again captures the bravery and determination of a very good dog in the gripping sequel to A Dog's Way Home, the acclaimed novel that inspired the hit movie. Bella was once a lost dog, but now she lives happily with her people, Lucas and Olivia, only occasionally recalling the hardships in her past. Then a weekend camping trip turns into a harrowing struggle for survival when the Rocky Mountains are engulfed by the biggest wildfire in American history. The raging inferno separates Bella from her people and she is lost once more.

Best friends Caddy and Rosie are inseparable. Their differences have brought them closer, but as she turns sixteen Caddy begins to wish she could be a bit more like Rosie - confident, funny and interesting. Then Suzanne comes into their lives: beautiful, damaged, exciting and mysterious, and things get a whole lot more complicated. As Suzanne's past is revealed and her present begins to unravel, Caddy begins to see how much fun a little trouble can be. But the course of both friendship and recovery is rougher than either girl realizes, and Caddy is about to learn that downward spirals have a momentum of their own..

The latest gripping novel from the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Richard & Judy thriller pick She Lies in Wait Gripping, multi-layered and fresh. Terrific WILL DEAN, author of Dark Pines Aidan Poole logs onto his laptop late at night to Skype his girlfriend, Zoe. But to his horror, he realizes she is not alone. Completely helpless, all he can do is listen to the sounds of a violent struggle. And then a chilling silence. Hes desperate to find out if she is OK. So why is he so hesitant to call the police? When his messages finally reach them, DCI Jonah Sheens and his team take the case. And discover the body. . . Watching from the Dark is the spellbinding thriller that you wont want to miss.An absolute gem - I was hooked from the first page JO JAKEMAN, author of Sticks and Stones A genuine page turner. It kept me guessing right until the end CHRIS HAMMER, author of Scrublands A satisfyingly complex whodunnit that will keep readers gripped and baffled in equal measure Daily Express Praise for Gytha Lodge: A novel that literally makes you hold your breath then gasp out loud VAL MCDERMID What a marvel! A corkscrew-twisty, knife-sharp thriller A J FINN, bestselling author of The Woman in the Window An engaging tale of lust, rivalry and murder The Sunday Times Brilliantly formed characters and a twisty, clever plot had me turning pages well past my bed time HEIDI PERKS, bestselling author of Now You See Her.

Longlisted for the man booker prize 2017. Winner of the arthur c. Clarke award 2017. Winner of the pulitzer prize for fiction 2017. National book award winner 2016. Amazon #1 book of the year 2016. Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. All the slaves lead a hellish existence, but Cora has it worse than most; she is an outcast even among her fellow Africans and she is approaching womanhood, where it is clear even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a slave recently arrived from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they take the perilous decision to escape to the North.In Whiteheads razor-sharp imagining of the antebellum South, the Underground Railroad has assumed a physical form: a dilapidated box car pulled along subterranean tracks by a steam locomotive, picking up fugitives wherever it can. Cora and Caesars first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But its placid surface masks an infernal scheme designed for its unknowing black inhabitants. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher sent to find Cora, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.At each stop on her journey, Cora encounters a different world. As Whitehead brilliantly recreates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America, from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once the story of one womans ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shatteringly powerful meditation on history.

Sunshine, cider and family secrets... Dragonfly Farm has been a home and a haven for generations of Melchiors - arch rivals to the Culbones, the wealthy family who live on the other side of the river. Life there is dictated by the seasons and cider-making, and everyone falls under its spell. For cousins Tabitha and Georgia, it has always been a home from home. When a tragedy befalls their beloved Great-Uncle Matthew, it seems the place where theyve always belonged might now belong to them... But the will reveals that a third of the farm has also been left to a Culbone. Gabriel has no idea why hes been included, or what his connection to the farm - or the Melchiors - can be. As the first apples start to fall for the cider harvest, will Dragonfly Farm begin to give up its secrets?

Ranging from Texas, to Chile, to New Mexico and New York, in Evening in Paradise Berlin writes about the good, the bad and everything in between: struggling young mothers, husbands who pack their bags and leave in the middle of the night, wives looking back at their first marriage from the distance of their second . The publication of A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia Berlin’s dazzling collection of short stories, marked the rediscovery of a writer whose talent had gone unremarked by many. The incredible reaction to Lucia’s writing – her ability to capture the beauty and ugliness that coexist in everyday lives, the extraordinary honesty and magnetism with which she draws on her own history to breathe life into her characters – included calls for her contribution to American literature to be as celebrated as that of Raymond Carver.Evening in Paradise is a careful selection from Lucia Berlin’s remaining stories – a jewel-box follow-up for her hungry fans.

Ruth Weiss, an academic, is beautiful, intelligent and lonely. Studying the heroines of Balzac in order to discover where her own childhood and adult life has gone awry, she seeks not salvation but enlightenment.Yet in revisiting her London upbringing, her friendships and doomed Parisian love affairs, she wonders if perhaps there might not be a chance for a new start in life.

Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe.

Издание на английском и русском языках. Читателям предлагаются неадаптированный оригинальный текст и классический перевод второй книги Терри Пратчетта из цикла о Плоском мире. Волшебнику-недоучке Ринсвинду и его наивному другу Двацветку предстоит спасать мир, который вот-вот погубит огромная звезда. И хотя за это же дело берутся лучшие маги, Ринсвинду все равно не избежать приключений, опасностей и необходимости быть героем. Чтение произведения в оригинале позволит значительно усовершенствовать знание английского, а перевод на русский язык поможет разрешить возникающие по ходу чтения вопросы и трудности. Для углубления знаний английского и облегчения понимания текста в конце книги предлагаются упражнения. Книга будет интересна и полезна всем, кто знает и изучает английский язык с преподавателем или самостоятельно.

Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home from the Great Barrier, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings.

On March 3rd, 1947, Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the only child of Rose and Stanley Ferguson, is born. From that single beginning, Ferguson's life will take four simultaneous paths. Four Fergusons will go on to lead four parallel and entirely different lives. Family fortunes diverge. Loves and friendships and passions contrast. Each version of Ferguson's story rushes across the fractured terrain of mid-twentieth century America, in this sweeping story of birthright and possibility, of love and the fullness of life itself.

An internationally bestselling fable about a spiritual journey, littered with powerful life lessons that teach us how to abandon consumerism in order to embrace destiny, live life to the full and discover joy. This inspiring tale is based on the author’s own search for life’s true purpose, providing a step-by-step approach to living with greater courage, balance, abundance and joy. It tells the story of Julian Mantle, a lawyer forced to confront the spiritual crisis of his out-of-balance life: following a heart attack, he decides to sell all his beloved possesions and trek to India. On a life-changing odyssey to an ancient culture, he meets Himalayan gurus who offer powerful, wise and practical lessons that teach us to: - Develop joyful thoughts - Follow our life’s mission - Cultivate self-discipline and act courageously - Value time as our most important commodity - Nourish our relationships - Live fully, one day at a time