The most famous author you’ve never heard of, Stefan Zweig’s influence has been an inspiration for many, from Ali Smith to Wes Anderson. His one and only novel, Impatience of the Heart, has been newly translated for 2016, and is a story that explores how one moment can change a life forever.
Christmas is a sometimes precarious mix of boisterous, tipsy and fraught: a potential recipe for disaster. To help put things into perspective, we’ve pulled together a list of the worst ever Christmases in literature, in the hope that you can at least laugh at someone else’s (fictional) misfortune.
With a story as dramatic and tragic as the Gothic novels she wrote, Charlotte Brontë’s life was not only fascinating, it was inspiring. The main force driving her family, Charlotte encouraged her sisters as poets and novelists, stepped in to support the family after her brother’s death, travelled Europe, and using her own experiences, crafted trailblazing female characters. In this extract from Charlotte Brontë: A Life, you can catch a glimpse of the unique life that inspired her stories.
What better way to celebrate the up-coming All Hallow’s Eve than with a guide to some of our favourite witches in literature – from the conjuring of Shakespeare’s Weird Sisters to the blue spit of Roald Dahl’s Grand High Witch of the World. “A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, […]
Read an extract from Shirley Jackson’s dark masterpiece, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which is Waterstones’ Rediscovered Classic for October.
Robin Stevens, author of the Murder Most Unladylike Mysteries, explains why Queen of Crime Agatha Christie’s books are perfect reading for sleuths big and small.
You’ve heard of The Old Curiosity Shop and Shakespeare’s Globe, but what about the statue of Dr Samuel Johnson’s cat or the inspiration behind Orwell’s Ministry of Truth? Author of London: A Travel Guide Through Time, Dr Matthew Green takes us on a tour of some of the capital’s less well known literary destinations.
This month, Lucy Mangan muses on her childhood TV favourites, and how today’s books mean that children are rediscovering vintage characters like The Clangers on the page as well on screen.
2015 marks the 75th anniversary since George Orwell’s chilling fable of idealism betrayed, ANIMAL FARM was first published. Read an extract from the 1954 illustrated edition, republished this year by Penguin Classics.
Read an extract of the new novel from Birdsong author, Sebastian Faulks.
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