The Screwtape Letters

by CS LEWIS

A timeless classic on "Hell's latest novelties and Heaven's unanswerable answer".

A masterpiece of satire, this classic has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to "Our Father Below". At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, CS Lewis gives us the correspondence of the worldly-wise old devil to his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ornidary young man. The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging account of temptation - and triumph over it - ever written.

Wicked

by GREGORY MAGUIRE

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability, and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West - a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

Marjorie Morningstar

by HERMAN WOUK

In 1930 sixteen-year-old Marjorie Morgenstern lives with her family on the edge of Central Park. She has just come out into New York society. Her mother hopes for a glittering marriage to a good man, but Marjorie has other ideas.

Spending the summer working as a drama coach, she falls desperately in love twice: with Noel Airman, a musician, as reckless as he is talented; and with a dream of defying her destiny as a Jewish wife and mother and becoming a famous actress. Why should she settle for a life as another Mrs Morgenstern, if she can succeed in the heady world of show business as Marjorie Morningstar?

Jude the Obscure

by THOMAS HARDY

Can love safe a life?

Jude is a dreamer, who longs to escape his poor background and go to university. But he is trapped into an unhappy marriage and held back by his class at a time when only the rich can fulfil their ambitions.

When he meets the freethinking, unconventional Sue, however, it looks as though Jude has at last found a chance for happiness. Yet but living together without being married they are breaking all the rules of their society. Their refusal to conform means Jude seems destines to be an outsider. In a world without pity, is their devotion to each other enough?