Chéri: spoiled, petulant, beautiful, aged twenty-five. Léa: magnificent, brilliant, remorseless, aged forty-nine. They are in love, but their relationship exists beyond the bounds of social acceptability and must one day come to an end, no matter the cost.A succ**ès de scandale on publication for its depiction of transgressive love, Colette’s celebrated novella is also a profound and compelling exploration of the passage of time, the body and ageing, mirrors, self-percepti...

‘Fine teeth, my girl. With teeth like that I’d have gobbled up Paris and the rest of the world.'Gigi, a teenage girl in fin-de-siècle Paris, is being groomed by her family to become a high-class courtesan, just like her aunt and grandmother before her. But despite their best efforts, their timid protégée may have other ideas for her future...Colette's famous novella is a sly and delicate depiction of exploitation and resistance, and is paired here with the...

From snowy mountain cottages to small towns in the outback, four warm, witty festive medical romances where love is always the bestSnowkissed Night with Dr Right by Colette CooperOne magical snowy night…to forever?Romance is strictly off midwife Freya’s agenda; her painful past taught her that. Then her world collides—literally!—with moody consultant Dr Henry. He might be spectacularly competent and arrestingly handsome, but his gr...

One magical snowy night…to forever?Romance is strictly off midwife Freya’s agenda; her painful past taught her that. Then her world collides—literally!—with moody consultant Dr Henry. He might be spectacularly competent and arrestingly handsome, but his grumpy indifference is nothing short of infuriating! Until Henry reveals a terrible loss he’s suffered, and Freya feels an unexpected kindred connection. And when an emergency December delivery in the mountains leaves them ...

Colette's subversive and witty tale of a woman's bid for freedom in Belle Époque France, in a fresh new Penguin Classics translation‘It’s definitely me there, covered in purple rouge, eyes ringed with a halo of blue greasepaint that’s beginning to melt’Renée, aged thirty-three and divorced from her serially unfaithful husband, reinvents herself as a dancer and mime artist in France’s music halls. When a wealthy suitor appears promising marriage and...

Colette's irresistible depiction of a childhood in rural France, in a lush new translation‘I will never be able to help anyone imagine the splendour, bound up in my memories’Claudine lives in a large house with a rose-filled garden and a vegetable patch smelling of tomato leaves and apricots. Beyond it is the village, where travelling performers stop for the night and wedding feasts take place under a bright summer moon. Inside her house are Mama, ...

Constant check-ins are not proof of devotion-they are often a substitute for the clarity you have not yet builttogether. Colette Ainsworth's insightful book explores the anxiety that arises when physical distance transformsroutine connection into performance, and presence becomes something measured in screen time.When you cannot see your partner daily, every text shifts from simple contact to evidence you analyze forreassurance. The Long-Distance Relationshi...

The career pivot that feels impossible isn't waiting for more credentials-it's waiting for you to translate theones you already have into a language hiring managers can decode in eleven seconds. Colette Norwood'sinsightful book explores the unique pressure of changing careers when financial urgency and market realityconverge, and conventional job search advice no longer applies.Career Change Fast is not a career quiz, a passion discovery guide, or a long-ter...

What happens when an ancient dragon — whose hoard spans continents and centuries — meets a forensic accountant who simply will not be intimidated? That question sits at the heart of Colette Beauvais's irresistible anthology, a collection of ten sharp, witty, and surprisingly tender stories about dragons navigating the complexities of the modern world, and the extraordinary women who refuse to be impressed by them. In these pages, beings who have accumulated wealth, power, and possessivenes...

Some stories are true. Others are make-believe. And some true stories are so amazing that it seems they must be make-believe even when they are not... This is one of those stories. In a sanctuary in Thailand lived an elephant called Bonti. Short-tempered and destructive, Bonti was alone - the other elephants (and humans) knew to keep their distance. But when a musician came to play the piano for Bonti, something incredible happened... The Elephant and the Piano tells the spectacular true s...

Journey through the sexual underworld of Belle Époque Paris in the first new English translation of Colette’s masterpiece in nearly sixty years.Lyrical, allusive, sometimes obscure, yet precise, The Pure and the Impure has elicited equal parts consternation and praise since its publication nearly 100 years ago. Colette herself was unequivocal: “I believe it to be my best book.” Through strikingly vivid and evocative portraits, many of them of her friends a...

Colette’s elegant, unsettling study of love turned hostile - and all because of a cat.A young marriage begins to sour, poisoned by rivalry and resentment. At its centre is a cat – adored by the husband, despised by the wife – whose presence exposes the quiet cruelty and emotional imbalance of the household.BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days