Item category 2: City of Literature

In this poignant comedy of early Victorian life, Elizabeth Gaskell explores the effects of Victorian commerce and imperial expansion on the survival of customs from earlier times. This up-to-date edition includes 2 shorter related works.

Former BBC radio producer Julian Treslove & Sam Finkler, a popular Jewish philosopher, are old school friends who have never lost touch with each other - or with their former teacher, Libor Sevcik. Now, both Libor & Finkler are recently widowed. When the three dine at Libor's apartment, it's a bi...

Emma Jane Unsworth's stylish debut novel is a witty and romantic exploration of love, longing, and not getting what you want.

When Laura Fletcher approaches her home in Oxfordshire to find hordes of photographers crowding the gates, she knows there is something terribly wrong. She is faced with the shocking news that her husband is dead - brutally murdered - and according to Chief Inspector Tom Douglas, there is little ...

Set in 1950s Chicago, 'A Raisin in the Sun' is the classic play about a black family's struggle for equality. The play was originally published in the USA in 1959 but has since become a standard text in American schools.

This is a collection of four novels by Anthony Burgess, featuring the poet and social critic, Enderby. These novels are a chronicle of the gross and fitfully inspired poet's triumphs despite all the obstacles in his path.

Structurally speaking, the short story is often overlooked as a literary form. This collection of essays demonstrates how, in fact, the short story boasts a long tradition of deploying some of the most tightly coiled, daring and complicated structures of any literary form.

Manfred Baumann is a loner. Socially awkward and ill at ease, he spends his evenings surreptitiously observing Adèle Bedeau, the sullen but alluring waitress at his local bistro. Then one day she vanishes into thin air.