Books in Isis General Fiction series

In Greek mythology, Atlas, a member of the original race of gods called Titans, is punished for leading a rebellion against the new deities, the Olympians. Atlas, guardian of the Garden of Hesperides and its golden apples of life, is forced to bear the weight of the heavens for eternity. When Heracles is tasked with stealing these apples he seeks out Atlas, offering to shoulder the world temporarily if the Titan will bring him the fruit. Knowing that Heracles is the only person with the strength to take his burden, Atlas agrees and an uneasy partnership is born.

Berlin, 1942. When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside the house stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance. But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.

Towards the end of the 18th century, two brilliant young Germans set out to measure the world. The naturalist Alexander von Humboldt negotiates savannah and jungle, counts lice on the heads of the natives and explores every hole in the ground. The mathematician Carol Friedrich Gauss, does not even need to leave his home in Göttingen to know that space is curved. A novel of rare charm and readability, Measuring the World brings the two eccentric geniuses to life, their longings and their weaknesses, their balancing act between loneliness and love, absurdity and greatness, failure and success.

"A sharp social comedy" John Mortimer, MAIL ON SUNDAY The residents of the Close were pre-occupied with crime - prevention of it. It was all those out-of-work teenagers on the nearby council estate, hanging around, stealing and joy-riding, that provoked Paul Mathieson to establish a Neighbourhood Watch scheme. Of course, their own minor crimes were harmless - travelling without a ticket on the underground, the occasional experimental use of certain substances, driving home just slightly over the legal limit. These were nothing compared to what went on in the Estate. But then there was Jenny's little discovery when she advertised flute lessons: she found a nice little earner in a rather unexpected way...

In The Odyssey, Penelope is portrayed as the quintessential faithful wife. Left alone for 20 years when Odysseus goes off to fight in the Trojan war, Penelope manages, in the face of scandalous rumours, to maintain the kingdom of Ithaca, bring up her wayward son and keep over a hundred suitors at bay. When Odysseus finally comes, he kills her suitors and - curiously - twelve of her maids. In a contemporary twist to the story, Margaret Atwood has chosen to give the telling of it to Penelope and to her twelve hanged maids. With wit and verve, drawing on the storytelling and poetic talent for which she herself is renowned, she gives Penelope new life and reality - and sets out to provide an answer to an ancient mystery.