Penguin Books Ltd: 130 books

Truman Capote makes whiskey-soaked fruitcake in Alabama; Laurie Lee slides across a frozen pond in Gloucestershire; and Shirley Jackson is outwitted by a wily Santa Claus at the bank. Ghosts haunt the Christmases of Muriel Spark and Elizabeth Bowen, while Dostoyevsky, Daphne du Maurier and Italo Calvino...

Part of the ALL-NEW Ladybird Expert series. The greatest discovery in the history of science is that the universe has not existed forever but was born. There was a day without a yesterday . . . The Big Bang is an accessible, authoritative introduction for anyone looking to understand...

'Woman, who is equal to the moon in the flower of youth, Is equal to a little old ape after the onset of old age' This remarkable collection brings together a host of writings from across different regions and cultures of the Middle Ages, from the ninth to the fifteenth century. They are arranged...

'Dear Stranger is an inspiration' Stylist Dear Stranger is a collection of inspirational, honest and heartfelt letters from authors, bloggers and Mind ambassadors to an imagined stranger. Insightful and uplifting, Dear Stranger is a humbling glimpse into different interpretations of happiness,...

Written around the thirteenth century AD by Icelandic monks, the seven tales collected here offer a combination of pagan elements tightly woven into the pattern of Christian ethics. They take as their subjects figures who are heroic, but do not fit into the mould of traditional heroes. Some stories...

An ordinary girl thrown into an extraordinary life . . . Amy, sixteen, has moved to London for the summer to be near her eighteen-year-old boyfriend, Damien. He's just been signed to a top premiership football club and is getting a taste of the no-limits lifestyle - and he wants Amy to come...

In today's Britain thousands of people have parents from different cultural backgrounds. In February 2008 we asked for people from any background to send us true stories which illuminate the complexities, challenges and joys of having a mixed heritage - those defining moments which seem to say it...

We asked people from any background to send us their true personal accounts of immigration to Britain. The response was significant, and the range of entries overwhelming. Six judges - including Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty and the novelist Kate Mosse - selected the best, most illuminating...

'Mattress Falls Off Truck Into Kidderminster Road'... 'Man Stole Tortoise To Pay For Booze'... 'Aquatic Centre Roof Sag Explained'... Every week Britain's local newspapers bring their investigative skills to stories of vital historical importance. While global conflicts rage, the local paper looks...

The Desert Fathers were the first Christian monks, living in solitude in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. In contrast to the formalised and official theology of the "founding fathers" of the church, the Desert Fathers were ordinary Christians who chose to renounce the world and...

These sagas recount fierce feuds in which honour is fought for, sacrifice is demanded, and blood is shed. The fate of the characters at the centre of each saga, however, is very different. Gisli is a traditional Viking-age hero who is determined to exact revenge at any cost and whose death is tragic...

For years, Evelyn, the hopeful realist, and John, the hopeless romantic, entertained each other with tales of one disastrous love affair after another. Then they fell out. From her first boyfriend in college (who allowed her to do his assignments) to her most recent (who allowed her to pay...

This is a selection from the 13the century collection of secular latin poems. Some are serious (eg Crusade poems) but the majority are light, including many love poems. A number of items from the Carmina are well known as text for Carl Orff's 'Scenic Cantata'.

Every night for three years the vengeful King Shahriyar sleeps with a different virgin, executing her next morning. To end this brutal pattern and to save her own life, the vizier's daughter, Shahrazad, begins to tell the king tales of adventure, love, riches and wonder - tales of mystical lands peopled...