Penguin Modern Classics

A landmark collection of Orwell's writings, with a new Introduction by Jeremy Paxman 'Shooting an Elephant' is Orwell's searing and painfully honest account of his experience as a police officer...

One of the most influential books of the 20th century comes into Modern Classics When Betty Friedan produced The Feminine Mystique in 1963, she could not have realized how the...

In 1926 de Saint-Exupery began flying for the pioneering airline Lateco re - later known as Aeropostale - opening up the first mail routes across the Sahara and the Andes....

A series of provocative discussions on everything from individual authors to contemporary religious thinking Against Interpretation was Susan Sontag's first collection of essays and is a modern classic. Originally published...

In her memoirs, Simone de Beavoir created a remarkable portrait of a twentieth-century woman's struggle for independence A superb autobiography by one of the great literary figures of the twentieth...

New to Penguin Modern Classics, the seminal work of gay literature that sparked a notorious legal trial The Well of Loneliness tells the story of tomboyish Stephen, who hunts, wears...

Maigret struggles to crack a victim's uncooperative family to uncover the truth behind his murder in book fifty-three of the series. Maigret is called to the home of the Lachaume...

New to Penguin Modern Classics Why Read the Classics? is an elegant defence of the value of great literature by one of the finest authors of the last century. Beginning...

A stunning new series look for one of the greatest writers of the 20th century in Penguin Modern Classics Drifters in search of work, George and his simple-minded friend Lennie,...

'You have talked so often of going to the dogs - and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them.' George Orwell's vivid memoir of his time among...

'Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism as I understand it'. Thus wrote Orwell...

The bestselling 1988 collection of short stories exploring the inner lives of men and women, ambiguity and unease in relationships, and the cruelty we inflict on one another A young...

A reissue of the PMC edition of Woolf's masterpiece, now with a new jacket 'One of the most moving, revolutionary artworks of the twentieth century' Michael Cunningham Clarissa Dalloway, elegant...

Le Carre's ingenious mysery, featuring his most famous recurring character, George Smiley Stella Rode has twice disturbed the ancient cloisters of Carne School- firstly by being the wrong sort, with...

The third and final novel of le Carre's 'Karla Trilogy', Smiley's People now published in Penguin Modern Classics for the first time The murdered man had been an agent -...

Tender and bittersweet, these stories by Truman Capote form a captivating tribute to the Christmas season Selected from across Capote's writing life, the stories range from nostalgic portraits of childhood...

A haunting history of the Chernobyl disaster by the winner of the Nobel prize in literature On 26 April 1986 the worst nuclear reactor accident in history occured in Chernobyl...

Dorothy Parker, more than any of her contemporaries, captured the spirit of her age in her writing. The decadent 1920S and 1930s in New York were a time of great...

A witty, incisive classic of road-trip literature, from one of the great champions and critics of the American identity 'Delightful. This is a book to be read slowly for its...

At long last Ken Kesey's 1962 cult classic novel has entered Modern Classics series. Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the seminal...

These essays, reviews and articles illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of this century - a man who created a unique literary manner from...

When the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and...

Hailed as the greatest modern lyrical poet of Germany, Rainer Maria Rilke's genius lies in his passion for perfection, artistic integrity and 'willingness to remain a perpetual beginner'. The verse...

A collection that includes some of Camus' most brilliant political writing This volume contains some of Camus' most powerful political writing as he reflects on moral responsibility and the role...

A classic of postwar literature, a small masterpiece of humour, humanity and heroism from one of the best Czech writers For gauche young apprentice Milos Hrma, life at the small...

A definitive annotated edition of one of the greatest of Terry Pratchett's multi-million-bestselling Discworld novels Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is in hot pursuit of a serial...

From hustling, drug addiction and armed violence in America's black ghettos Malcolm X turned, in a dramatic prison conversion, to the puritanical fervour of the Black Muslims. As their spokesman...

In le Carre's first post-Cold War novel, a night manager at a Cairo hotel helps British Intelligence penetrate the secret world of ruthless arms dealers At the start of it...

New translation by Robin Buss Jean-Baptiste Clamence is a soul in turmoil. Over several drunken nights he regales a chance acquaintance with his story. From this successful former lawyer and...

An unforgettable portrait of a woman bravely confronting loneliness and despair in her quest for self-determination, from the author of Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys was a talent before her...

'The most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat.' - the New York Times On the...

New to Penguin Modern Classics, a moving portrayal of the fragility of the human mind and an acclaimed Norwegian masterpiece This is the story of Mattis, a mentally handicapped man...

The bluesy, gutsy, no-holds-barred memoir of jazz legend Billie Holiday \"I've been told that no one sings the word 'hunger' like I do. Or the word 'love'.\" Lady Sings the...

The dramatic and entertaining account of the revolution in Cuba, from the architect of its success We were an army of shadows, of ghosts, walking as if to the beat...

The second book in le Carre's 'Karla Trilogy', The Honourable Schoolboy is a new addition to Penguin Modern Classics It is a beleaguered and betrayed Secret Service that has been...

Introduction by author Tayeb Salih 'SEASON OF MIGRATION TO THE NORTH-An Arabian Nights in reverse, enclosing a pithy moral about international misconceptions and delusions. The brilliant student of an earlier...

A soaring, sensual coming-of-age novel, by the legendary 'Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet' If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me...

From the queen of domestic horror, this is a masterpiece of domestic comedy Shirley Jackson's 1953 classic about life with her husband and four children in rural Vermont is one...

Witty and nihilistic essays from one of Central Europe's most remarkable philosophers A Short History of Decay (1949) is E. M. Cioran's nihilistic and witty collection of aphoristic essays concerning...

A new translation in the Penguin Maigret series- Madame Maigret takes the lead in this disturbing investigation. When he got to his door, he was surprised not to hear any...

The long-awaited Autobiography arrives. Steven Patrick Morrissey was born in Manchester on May 22nd 1959. Singer-songwriter and co-founder of the Smiths (1982-1987), Morrissey has been a solo artist for twenty-six...

Holly Golightly, glittering socialite traveller, generally upwards, sometimes sideways and once in a while down. She's up all night drinking cocktails and breaking hearts. She's a shoplifter, a delight, a...

Evelyn Waugh's masterpeice, Brideshead Revisted is an extraordinary mediation on a lost world The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh's novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age...

Stella Gibbons' hilarious comic novel of rural life, new to Penguin Modern Classics When sensible, sophisticated Flora Poste is orphaned at nineteen, she decides her only choice is to descend...

The revolutionary Che Guevara's guide to guerrilla war First published in 1961, following the successful Cuban Revolution, this is Che Guevara's handbook for guerrilla war. Che considered that the Cuban...

Mailer's classic account of the 1967 anti-Vietnam War rally in Washington D.C., and one of the best 'nonfiction novels' ever written October 21, 1967, Washington, D.C. 20,000 to 200,000 protesters...

The second volume in Simone de Beauvoir's celebrated autobiography, recalls her formative years in Paris when she began to emerge as a public figure First published in 1960, The Prime...

A gripping tale of espionage and deceit from the master of the spy novel, new to Penguin Modern Classics After a routine security check by George Smiley, civil servant Samuel...