Vintage Books strana 3 z 75

When the woman you love may be dead, or worse - unknowable - obsession takes over. A young woman is found dead in her Manhattan apartment. In the aftermath, the men who knew her begin to tell their stories: a possessive mentor, a devoted fiancé, a cynical columnist. At the centre of it all is Laura: dazzling, ambitious and impossible to pin down. As Detective Mark McPherson pieces together her life, he finds himself drawn not just to the crime, but to the woman she seemed to be.... BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

An intimate, magical novel about one enduring church in a rural Icelandic valley - an ode to a quiet way of life now lost to time forever The resting place of legendary Viking warrior Egil Skallagrimsson's skull, Mosfell Church is a lonely, country church, fated to be destroyed. But as the plans to destroy it take shape, stories, myth and folklore abound in one magical last attempt to leave Mosfell standing. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Four of Kurt Vonnegut's best dystopian stories, Monkey Business distils his darkly comic vision of the modern world and the cost of trying to engineer a better life. In a future where everyone is forced to be equal, a gifted teenager dares to rebel. A suburban family discovers a device that delivers perfect happiness. A world frightened of death turns to drugs to slow the march of time. And in a quiet American town, a couple must decide how many children they are willing to raise - for ever. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Huxley's dystopian classic is a nightmare vision of the fate of humanity in a post-nuclear world. After a devastating global catastrophe, a group of scientists arrives in a ruined future shaped by fear, ritual and violence. Humanity has survived - but at a terrible cost, and not in any form they recognise. Ape and Essence is Aldous Huxley's bleak, satirical vision of civilisation after collapse. Fierce, strange and provocative, it confronts the destructive impulses that persist even after the world has ended. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Edith Wharton's ghost stories whisper of passion, exile, and the things we cannot forget In an old Dorset house, a couple settle into a life of quiet comfort - until a presence makes itself felt. At a country gathering, a man is forced to confront a long-buried secret he has tried to outrun. In a small New England community, suspicion gathers around a widower believed to be under the spell of a dead woman. Bewitched brings together three of Edith Wharton's most unsettling ghost stories. Elegant and controlled, they trace the lingering effects of guilt, secrecy and moral judgement - and the moment when the repressed makes its reappearance. Includes the stories: Afterward, The Eyes and Bewitched BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

A dazzling, daring tale of poets at the end of the world, Distant Star is Roberto Bolano's miniature dystopian masterpiece Alberto Ruiz-Tagle was once the quiet, unpromising member of Chile's young poetry scene. But the military coup of 1973 sees Alberto reborn as Chile's leading celebrity poet, Carlos Wieder, known for his daring sky poems, penned in smoke high above the cities. Where did this talent suddenly spring from? And, how is it connected to the disappearance of the beautiful Garmendia twins? Told from across the years in exile in Europe, the narrator's attempts to trace the fate of his old circle will lead him to one last confrontation with the brutality of their generation. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Three supernatural tales of longing and loss from the grand-dame of Gothic fiction, Mary Shelly When a storm drives their boat towards the rocks, a group of sailors is saved by the light of a ruined tower. The locals speak of the Invisible Girl who haunts it – a lost, wandering soul. But the truth is more disturbing, and far more human, than any ghost story. Includes the stories: The Invisible Girl, The Mortal Immortal and The Mourner BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

The classic, moving tale of a man born old, destined to die young, and live at odds with his time To the confusion and embarrassment of his family, Benjamin Button is born an old man. As the years pass, he grows younger - moving against the current of ordinary life. While those around him age as expected, Benjamin finds himself increasingly out of step, his relationships strained by a life no one else can share. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is F. Scott Fitzgerald's quietly unsettling tale of being a misfit to one's time. Includes the stories: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Winter Dreams and 'The Sensible Thing' BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Luminous, suspenseful and serene, The Master of Go is a compelling portrait, quietly devastating of two men – and a whole society – facing defeat. Simple in its fundamentals, infinitely complex in its execution, the strategy game Go is an expression of the Japanese spirit. But when a revered Master is challenged by a younger, more modern upcomer, their match, waged over several months and layered in ceremony, pits imperial Japan against the twentieth century. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

A dazzling catalogue of be creatures drawn from the dreamworlds of myth, folklore, and imagination From ancient myths to obscure legends, a strange menagerie takes shape: creatures part real, part invented, drawn from cultures across the world. Each is described with care, as if it might exist just beyond the edge of belief. The Book of Imaginary Beings is Jorge Luis Borges’s playful, erudite bestiary of the fantastic. Curious and endlessly inventive, it explores the power of imagination to create entire worlds. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days.

The contents of each traveller's heart is a mystery known only to themselves Trundling through the scenic countryside of Kyoto and Osaka is the Hankyu line, a burgundy-coloured electric train that has been carrying its commuters to their destinations for decades. Over the course of a single journey in springtime, and the return journey six months later just as the leaves begin to fall: - a young man meets the woman who happens to take out the last copy of the library book he was about to borrow; - an angry wedding guest dresses in a white gown to upstage the bride; - a university student leaves home for the first time; - a twenty-something finally grows the courage to walk away from an abusive partner - a widow learns independence, as she and her granddaughter discuss their new dog. As the seasons and the landscapes change, passengers jostle and connect, as this timeless train carries each one forward towards the person they intend to become.

The first complete history of Britain's mountains, capturing their beauty, tragedy and the pivotal role of these dramatic landscapes in the nation's past and future 'A definitive history of our rocky isles from the most magisterial and far-seeing perspective. Every page holds a fascinating nugget' GAIA VINCE, author of Nomad Century Britain's mountains are our grandest and wildest places, their vast openness providing inspiration and escape. But they are now so revered that we overlook the many peoples who long inhabited them and the dramatic history of plunder and dispossession that explains how strangely empty these regions have become. Derided for centuries as uncivilised wastes, Britain's uplands in fact hosted richly cultured, distinctive and resilient populations. And yet by the time Romantic poets 'discovered' the beauty of these places, the land itself had been denuded by clearances, famine and the needs of sheep and landowners. From the earliest Brittonic tribes to present-day tensions between farmers, tourists and ecological activists, Upland repopulates Britain's mountains with the kings and monks, soldiers and poets, engineers and industrialists, visionaries and campaigners who made them what they are.

A startling new collection of three never-before-translated stories, from the author of I Who Have Never Known Men In the wake of some unfathomable war, a woman wanders the forest, forbidden from ever leaving its strange depths. As part of her rigid schooling, a teenage girl is barred from questioning the dogma she is taught to believe. Locked in a loveless marriage, a young woman satisfies her husband's desires, twice-weekly, as directed - until she begins to pursue her own. Includes the stories: The Ardennes Forest, The Outcast and The Broom Cupboard BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

A stunning, timeless story about race, friendship, what keeps us apart and what drives us apart, from the one and only Toni Morrison, with an introduction by Zadie Smith. Twyla and Roberta met in a girls' shelter as children. Inseparable then, they lose touch as they grow older, only to meet again later at a diner, a grocery store and then on opposing sides of a protest. The two women are seemingly at opposite ends of every issue, but the persistence of their bond is undeniable. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days.

A nostalgic, jazz-soaked love-letter to a youth spent in pursuit of simple pleasures, from the Japan's most celebrated contemporary storyteller, Haruki Murakami Haunted by memories of a doomed love affair, and living in something of a strange hiatus in Tokyo, Pinball, 1973's narrator finds himself dreaming of the days he used to wile away playing pinball in J's Bar. Until one day he embarks on a quest: to find the exact model of pinball machine he played years earlier - the infamous three-flipper Spaceship. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

This miniature array of perfect stories by the legendary Margaret Atwood flash before us the joys and despairs of mothers good and bad, evoking laughter, compassion and recognition in us all. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days.