Vintage books An Old Captivity Shute Nevil

It is the rainy season. Drunk and delirious, an old man lies dying in the Queensland bush. In his opium-hazed last hours, a priest finds his deserted shack and listens to his last words. Half-awake and half-dreaming the old man tells the story of an adventure set decades in the future, in a very different world

When Tom Cutter hires Constantine Shaklin as an engineer in his air freight business, he little realises the extraordinary gifts of his new recruit. Shaklin possesses a religious power which inspires everyone he meets to a new faith and hope for humanity. As Cutter's business grows across Asia, so does Shaklin's fame, until he is widely regarded as a unifying deity. Though he struggles to believe Shaklin is indeed divine, the friendship will transform Cutter's life

John Turner, a young man with a chequered past, has been told he has just one year to live. He decides to use his time in search of three very different men he met briefly during the war: an snobbish British pilot, a young corporal accused of murder, and a black G.I. accused of attempted rape. Along the way, Turner learns about forgiveness, tolerance and second chances, and overcomes his fear of death

A young English woman leaves her ageing parents to visit friends living in the Australian outback. She falls in love, both with the country and with Carl, a doctor and Czech refugee. Brought together through dramatic encounters and strange twists of fate, their relationship hangs in the balance when Jennifer is called back to England

После окончания войны радиоактивное облако начинает уноситься ветром на юг, постепенно отравляя все на своем пути. Капитан американской подводной лодки находится среди выживших, оставшихся в живых в Австралии, готовясь вместе с местными жителями к неизбежному. Несмотря на свои воспоминания о жене, он сближается с молодой женщиной, изо всех сил пытающейся принять суровые реалии их положения. Затем принимается слабый сигнал азбукой Морзе, передаваемый из Соединенных Штатов, и подводная лодка должна отправиться в плавание по суровому океану в поисках признаков жизни • "На пляже" - самый сильный роман Невила Шюта. Одновременно захватывающий и сильно волнующий, его воздействие незабываемо • Книга на английском языке • After the war is over, a radioactive cloud begins to sweep southwards on the winds, gradually poisoning everything in its path

On the banks of the Zambezi River, a few miles from the majestic Victoria Falls, there was once a colonial settlement called The Old Drift • In 1904, in a smoky room at the hotel across the river, an Old Drifter named Percy M. Clark, foggy with fever, makes a mistake that entangles his fate with those of an Italian hotelier and an African busboy • So begins a cycle of unwitting retribution between three Zambian families as they collide and converge over the course of the century, into the present and beyond

Discover this powerful novel about the ordinary lives of the Baines sisters. The perfect next step for fans of Little Women • In The Old Wives' Tale, Arnold Bennett tells the story of two such old wives, sisters Constance and Sophia, from youth, through marriage, heartbreak, triumphs and disasters, to old age. In doing so, he reveals with careful compassion the intense inner lives that throb beneath every seemingly insignificant exterior

This extraordinarily wide-ranging study looks at the dilemmas of life today and shows how they need not have arisen. Portraits of living people and historical figures are placed alongside each other as Zeldin discusses how men and women have lost and regained hope; how they have learnt to have interesting conversations; how some have acquired an immunity to loneliness; how new forms of love and desire have been invented; how respect has become more valued than power; how the art of escaping from one's troubles has developed; why even the privileged are often gloomy; and why parents and children are changing their minds about what they want from each other

У Малкольма, Питера, Чарли и их проспиртованных из-за непомерного употребления вина жён осталась лишь одна мечта: выпить в Уэльсе всё, что горит. Но появление в их жизни орденоносного писателя и профессионального валлийца Алуна Уивера вместе с его супругой Рианнон становится потрясением для их повседневной жизни. Точнее, оно её взбалтывает и смешивает • "Старые черти" - удостоенный Букеровской премии роман Кингсли Эмиса • Книга на английском языке • Malcolm, Peter and Charlie and their Soave-sodden wives have one main ambition left in life: to drink Wales dry. But their routine is both shaken and stirred when they are joined by professional Welshman Alun Weaver (CBE) and his wife, Rhiannon

'Of the novelists who have made their bow since the war she seems to me to be the most remarkable' Raymond Mortimer • This is the story of the comic, relentless struggle for survival of Austin Gibson Grey, the accidental man. Austin is one of those people who thrives through the destruction of others. The others, in Austin's case, include his successful elder brother, Matthew, and the women who, one after the other, are convinced that they can 'save' him. In this role we meet Dorina, Austin's estranged wife, Mitzi, his alcoholic landlady, and a selection of other women who involve themselves in Austin's fate, with hilarious and appalling results

Brian Keenan went to Beirut in 1985 for a change of scene from his native Belfast. He became headline news when he was kidnapped by fundamentalist Shi;ite militiamen and held in the suburbs of Beirut for the next four and a half years. For much of that time he was shut off from all news and contact with anyone other than his jailers, and later, his fellow hostages, amongst them John McCarthy

"Неофициальная роза" Айрис Мердок - сложная шекспировская комедия о переплетенных отношениях, в которой девять тесно связанных персонажей ищут любовь • После смерти жены Хью подумывает о возвращении к своей бывшей любовнице. Его сын Рэндалл мечтает отказаться от своего бесформенного брака ради идеального партнера. Младшую дочь Рэндалла, Миранду, обожает ее австралийский кузен Пенн, но у нее есть привязанности в других местах. У ее матери Энн есть своя личная мечта, в то же время она берет на себя все тяготы и боль всех остальных. Движимые привязанностью, похотью и иллюзиями, эти персонажи ищут любовь в туго сплетенной паутине • Книга на английском языке • A complex Shakespearean comedy of intertwined relationships, as nine closely linked characters search for love • After his wife's death, Hugh contemplates returning to his former mistress