This selection of twenty-seven stories in a lively new transltion shows Maupassant as his comic, cruel, and brillant best. In addition to the poignant title story, it includes one of the most famous tales ever written, The Necklace , and Le Horla, an account of a disintegrating personality that chillingly parallels the author's own decline into madness.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are one of the most important finds in biblical archaeology, and have profound implications for our understanding of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. Timothy Lim discusses the leading interpretations of the scrolls, and how they have changed the way we understand the emergence of the Old Testament.

Wilkie Collins's fifth novel, The Dead Secret explores the relationship between a fallen woman, her illegitimate daughter and the recovery of a hidden secret. Set in rugged Cornwall, the novel blends romance with Gothic drama, and in characterization and setting, clearly anticipates the qualities of Collins's next novel, The Woman in White.

With its rich and ebullient language, ironic twists and startling juxtapositions, Dead Souls (1842) stands as one of the most dazzling and poetic masterpieces of the nineteenth century. This brilliant new translation by Christopher English is complemented by a superb introductory essay by the pre-eminent Gogol scholar, Robert Maguire.

Pepper Roux has a charmed life, not only because he confounded his mad aunt's prediction that he was going to die at 14 by remaining alive, but also because he can step into any role he likes and have an adventure. Pepper becomes a sea captain and a sausage-seller, amongst other things, creating chaos wherever he goes.

In these six late stories Tolstoy explores human relationships and moral choices, raising profound questions about life in gripping fictional form. 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich' is an existential masterpiece, a harrowing tale of the final illness and death of a bourgeois lawyer. Newly translated, and with a wide-ranging Introduction.

Leading scholars in the field of governance examine the effectiveness of the different non-institutional strategies at the disposal of modern governments in tackling issues of urban decline, public administrations, governmental regionalization, budget deficits and global economics.