Vintage Publishing

VINTAGE CLASSICS MURDOCH: Funny, subversive, fearless and fiercely intelligent, Iris Murdoch was one of the great writers of the twentieth century. He's thinking about Hilda, Rupert, Morgan, Tallis, Simon and Axel, and they will not all survive his malevolent attention.

These 20 first-person narratives portray ordinary people in a language that makes glory of their lives. The narrators are men and boys who come face to face with uncomfortable truths, whether musing on mortality, encountering betrayals, or struggling to understand women and work.

A wide-ranging volume of essays from the Booker Prize-winning author, dealing with matters literary, artistic, political and philosophical. Outlined are some of the influences that led Kelman to create literary art, from music to Russian writers, from the steel industry to the Kurds in Turkey.

Culver has been called off the Korean War reserve list to take part in manoeuvres in South Carolina. Their colonel orders his men to endure a 36-mile forced march to inculcate discipline and this is a searing account of this ferocious ordeal and of the two officers who dare to resist.

Christmas Eve 1944, and six young US soldiers are sent close to the German lines to establish an observation post in an abandoned chateau in the Ardennes Forest. Hearing strange noises, they gradually realise that they are surrounded. But perhaps the Germans are as reluctant to fight as themselves.

In 1960 Joe Brinson and his parents move to the edge of the Rocky Mountains to cash in on the promise of the American frontier. But when Joe's father leaves home to fight the forest fires that have raged since the summer, and his mother meets an older man, Joe finds his life changed too suddenly.

In the aftermath of his divorce and the death of his son, Frank Bascombe struggles to come to terms with failure and tries to find consolation in the arms of a new girlfriend. What he hoped would be an idyllic adventure turns into a succession of calamities.

A guide to the works of Susan Hill for teachers and students. This work offers an in-depth interview with Susan Hill, relating specifically to the texts under discussion. It deals with Hill's themes, genre and narrative technique.