The sinister Madame de Rougierre is employed as governess to the young Maud Ruthven, bringing with her a dark cloud of impending doom that hangs over the whole household. The governess eventually leaves, in possession of a dark secret, but that is not the end of her, much to Maud’s dismay. Maud is later orphaned and sent to live with Uncle Silas, a man with a mysterious and scandalous past, and she once again meets Madame de la Rougierre, whose role in shaping Maud’s destiny becomes all to...

Margery Allingham, already a successful crime writer, was living quietly in the Essex village of Tolleshunt D’Arcy (‘Auburn’) when the Second World War broke out. Her house became an Air Raid Wardens’ post and a First Aid centre, and Allingham herself became responsible for 275 East London evacuees in a rural community of just over 600. Commissioned by American publishing friends to recount what life was like, she began The Oaken Heart in the autumn of 1940, when the Battle of Britain gave...

In a claustrophobic household, oppressed by her blind, toad-like grandmother and a cowardly, conventional father, Yvette’s exuberance seems doomed to suppression. But meeting a gypsy awakens unfamiliar emotions in her, making her challenge the family’s accepted morality. As she wavers between conformity and rebellion, a flash flood threatens her home, her world and her life. This short novel deals with all the major themes of sexuality and identity that made Lawrence one of the most origin...

The 12 Lays of Marie de France offer one of the most striking collections of short narrative poems of the 12th century - two centuries before Chaucer.Written in Anglo-French, they contain beguiling and entertaining stories of love and romance, of chivalry and adventure with sometimes even a magical twist. They are especially unique in early literature by being ascribed to a female poet, Marie de France: in the very first Lay - 'Guigemar' - is the introductory line: ‘Hear my Lords, ...

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon is a fascinating, detailed account of Japanese court life in the closing years of the 10th century. Written by a lady of the court at the height of Heian culture, this book enthrals with its lively gossip, witty observations and subtle impressions.Lady Shonagon was an erstwhile rival of Lady Murasaki, whose novel, The Tale of Genji, fictionalized the elite world Lady Shonagon so eloquently relates. Featuring reflections on royal and religious ceremon...

Shamela is a bawdy, spirited and hilarious response to Samuel Richardson’s hugely popular 1740 novel, Pamela. In this pointed satire, Shamela (which transpires to be the real name of Richardson’s Pamela) reveals the ulterior motives behind the events that took place in Pamela. Shamela is unlike the virtuous young lady portrayed in Richardson’s novel and she takes command of her master, Squire Booby. Our heroine has planned it all out from the start and she is determined to entrap her maste...

Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536) was known as Prince of the Humanists - though a theologian, a Catholic priest and the leading European scholar of his time. A close friend of Sir Thomas More, Erasmus' writings had a strong influence on the growing movement for change in Christian Europe, both Lutheran and the Counter-Reformation. These two essays are among his most important - and well-known - writings.'The Praise of Folly', written in Latin in 1509 and spoken by the god...

No one could have been more surprised than our Provincial Lady to receive an invitation from her American agent to travel transatlantic and embark upon a programme of lectures and signings. She was particularly amazed because, having received an overture sometime before and feeling that she would rather stay in the English countryside, she requested that they meet quite a few ‘requirements’ before she would agree to go.They met every stipulation. ‘Am completely thrown on my beam-en...

Includes a bonus track of Tenzin Palmo introducing a retreat.This is the story of Tenzin Palmo, the daughter of a fishmonger from London's East End who became a Tibetan nun. After meditating for 12 years in a cave 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas, she became a world-renowned spiritual leader and champion of the right of women to achieve spiritual enlightenment.Diane Perry grew up in London's East End. At the age of 18, however, she read a book on Buddhism and realised that t...

'Love, she thought, must come suddenly, with great outbursts and lightnings – a hurricane of the skies, which falls upon life, revolutionizes it, roots up the will like a leaf, and sweeps the whole heart into the abyss.'A powerful critique of romantic idealism, Madame Bovary is Flaubert's most famous work. Although controversial at the time of publication due to its 'obscenity', the novel became a bestseller, and is considered a masterpiece to this day.First...

Do not think, because this collection of essays is titled Volume 2, that there is anything lesser or additional to it. Here is Virginia Woolf at her most entertaining and informative, relishing the portraits and insights she presents as she surveys a varied collection of individuals in English society and English literature.The subjects range from the Elizabethans to Thomas Hardy, and then concludes, unexpectedly, with ‘How Should One Read A Book?’ Here is one delight after another...

Between the Acts, Virginia Woolf’s last novel, was finished in November 1940 and shortly afterwards delivered to her publisher Hogarth Press. The following March she committed suicide.Between the Acts is often an overlooked work in her oeuvre because she did express her intention to revise it before publication, though in the event this never happened. So it comes as a surprise to find that, while it probably would have benefited from revision, it is something of an unpolished gem,...