Children
Penguin Classics
Spinebreakers
Penguin Dating
Blog
Read them on screen... Download and print them... Put them on your iPhone or Blackberry... Email them to a friend... With Penguin Tasters, first chapters of ALL Penguin's latest novels are available to download for FREE!
eBooks are Back!
Try out some eBook Tasters here.
Penguin Tasters are in a pdf format
» I Am Number FourPittacus Lore
The door starts shaking. It's a flimsy thing made of bamboo shoots held together with tattered lengths of twine. The shake is subtle and stops almost immediately.
» Think of a NumberJohn Verdon
‘Where were you?’ said the old woman in the bed. ‘I had to pee, and no one came.’ Unruffled by her nasty tone, the young man stood at the foot of the bed, beaming.
» Four FishPaul Greenberg
In 1978 all the fish I cared about died. They were the biggest largemouth bass I had ever seen, and they lived in a pond ten minutes' walk from my house on a large estate in the backwoods of Greenwich, Connecticut, perhaps the most famously wealthy town in America.
» The Old RomanticLouise Dean
People seem to tumble down to Hastings and not get up to go home again. It's where they turn up, every Jack and Jill that ever fell out with the family, lost a job, had half an idea, got a bad habit.
» Oil on WaterHelon Habila
I am walking down a well-lit path, with incidents neatly labelled and dated, but when I reach halfway memory lets go of my hand...
» The Collected Stories of Lydia DavisLydia Davis
An ant can look up at you, too, and even threaten you with its arms. Of course, my dog does not know I am human, he sees me as dog, though I do not leap up at a fence.
» And the Land Lay StillJames Robertson
Mike is at the bedroom window, taking in the view of the water, the road and the scattering of cottages along it, when he sees Murdo's red van come round the end of the kyle.
» Pieces of my Heart Sinéad Moriarty
I examined myself in the mirror. I hadn't worn this black dress in years, but it still fitted, which was a relief. I moved closer and peered at my face – daylight was harsh: all I could see were lines everywhere, mapping out my life so far.
» Dark WaterCaro Ramsay
Emily Corbett flicked the headlights of the Punto on to full beam, highlighting the puffballs of soft drifting grey fog. To either side lay the braes, and high flat bleak moorland, but all she could see was dapples of mist and darkness.
» I'm Watching YouMary Burton
Later he would tell her that their story began at the Royal Hungarian Opera House, the night before he left for Paris on the Western Europe Express.
» The Flea PalaceElif Shafak
People say I have a fanciful mind – probably the most tactful way ever invented of saying "You're talking nonsense!" They might be right.
» FoeJ M Coetzee
At last I could row no further. My hands were blistered, my back was burned, my body ached. With a sigh, making barely a splash, I slipped overboard.
» The Financial Lives of the PoetsJess Walter
Here they are again—_the bent boys, baked and buzzed boys, wasted, red-eyed, dry-mouth high boys, coursing narrow bright aisles hunting food as fried as they are...
» Short GirlsBich Minh Nguyen
After Miles left, Van began checking the security alarm every time she entered the house. She had nightmares of the alarm failing, losing the password of her and Miles's wedding date.
» Age of IronJ M Coetzee
There is an alley down the side of the garage, you may remember it, you and your friends would sometimes play there. Now it is a dead place, waste, without use, where windblown leaves pile up and rot.
» The Salt RoadJane Johnson
When I was a child, I had a wigwam in our back garden: a circle of thin yellow cotton draped over a bamboo pole and pegged to the lawn. Every time my parents argued, that was where I went.
» Adrian Mole: The Prostrate YearsSue Townsend
Black clouds over Mangold Parva. It has been raining since the beginning of time. When will it stop?
» The Left Hand of GodPaul Hoffman
Listen. The Sanctuary of the Redeemers on Shotover Scarp is named after a damned lie, for there is little redemption that goes on there and less sanctuary.
