Books published by publisher Vintage Sci-Fi Classics

The author of How to Be Good and High Fidelity contributes an introduction to this classic—a sophisticated mystery, a love story, and a tale of the corruptive power of wealth John Harmon returns to England after years in exile to claim his inheritance: a great fortune and a beautiful young woman to whom he is betrothed, but has never met. When Harmon's body is pulled out of the Thames, all of London is fascinated by the mystery of the murdered man and his unclaimed riches. Scavengers, social-climbers, lawyers, teachers, a money-lender, a dolls-dressmaker, and men and women both honest and villainous will all become embroiled in this tale of love and obsession, death and rebirth.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom encompasses an account of the Arab Revolt against the Turks during the First World War alongside general Middle Eastern and military history, politics, adventure and drama. It is also a memoir of the soldier known as €œLawrence of Arabia.€ Lawrence was a fascinating and controversial figure whose talent as a vivid and imaginative writer shines through on every page of this, his masterpiece. €œIt ranks with the greatest books ever written in the English language. As a narrative of war and adventure . . . it is unsurpassable.€€“Winston Churchill

A glittering portrait of fashionable Edwardian English high society seen through the lives of a brother and sister torn by ties to the past and the lure of the modern era. Sebastian is the heir of Chevron, a vast and beautiful English country estate. As such he is a fixed part of an eternal round of lavish parties, intrigues, traditions and fashions at the cold, decadent heart of Edwardian high society. Everyone knows the role Sebastian must play, but Sebastian isn't sure he wants the part. His sister Viola, meanwhile, scorns every part of her inheritance and is searching for a way out. The brave new world of the twentieth--century offers both escape and destruction.

Marian and her sister Laura live a quiet life under their uncle’s guardianship until Laura’s marriage to Sir Percival Glyde, who is a man of many secrets. Could he be connected to the strange appearances of a young woman dressed all in white? And what does his charismatic friend, Count Fosco—whose white pet mice enjoy running in and out of his waistcoat—have to do with it all? Marian and the girls’ drawing master, Walter, must turn detective in order to uncover the truth and to protect Laura from a fatal plot.

The Baskerville family curse tells of how a terrifying, supernatural hound roams the moors around Baskerville Hall and preys on members of the family in revenge for a terrible crime committed by one of their ancestors. When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead in his grounds, with a large animal footprint near his lifeless body, the locals are convinced that the hound is back. It is up to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to uncover the truth and keep the new heir to Baskerville Hall safe from danger.

Extravagant, inventive, emotionally sweeping, Captain Corelli's Mandolin is the story of a timeless place that one day wakes up to find itself in the jaws of history. The place is the Greek island of Cephallonia, where gods once dabbled in the affairs of men and the local saint periodically rises from his sarcophagus to cure the mad. Then the tide of World War II rolls onto the island's shores in the form of the conquering Italian army.Caught in the occupation are Pelagia, a willful, beautiful young woman, and the two suitors vying for her love: Mandras, a gentle fisherman turned ruthless guerilla, and the charming, mandolin-playing Captain Corelli, a reluctant officer of the Italian garrison on the island. Rich with loyalties and betrayals, and set against a landscape where the factual blends seamlessly with the fantastic, Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a passionate novel as rich in ideas as it is genuinely moving.

With sympathy and care, Trollope observes two controversial heroines in the first of his series of novels about the grand old Palliser family Alice Vavasor should be married to the sensible, kindly John Grey, but despite what her respectable relations might think, Alice cannot quite reconcile herself to this fate. Once upon a time she was engaged to her wild cousin George, and now he stands in need of her money and, perhaps too, her good influence. Meanwhile Alice's friend Lady Glencora has married the rising politician Plantagenet Palliser, but is still pursued by Burgo Fitzgerald, the handsome rascal she loves. In this hugely compelling novel, Trollope shows the two women struggling to reconcile heart, mind, and moral code while enduring the stifling scrutiny of their contemporaries.

"This book has one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met." —J K Rowling This enchanting novel tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her unusual family who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Cassandra’ s eccentric father is a writer whose first book took the literary world by storm but he has since failed to write a single word and now spends his time reading detective fiction. Cassandra’s sister, Rose, despairs of her family’s circumstances and determines to marry their affluent American landlord. She is helped and, sometimes, hindered in this by their bohemian stepmother, an artists’ model who likes to commune with nature. Finally there is Stephen who is hopelessly in love with Cassandra. Amid this maelstrom Cassandra hones her writing skills, candidly capturing the events that take place within the castle’s walls, and her own first descent into love.

Don't miss Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst in the major motion picture Suffragette. Emmeline Pankhurst was raised in a world that valued men over women. At fourteen she attended her first suffrage meeting and returned home a confirmed suffragist. Throughout her career she endured humiliation, prison, hunger strikes and the repeated frustration of her aims by men in power but she rose to become the guiding light of the Suffragette movement. This is Pankhurst's story, in her own words, of her struggle for equality.