Mark Haddon with Katy Brand on the Penguin Podcast

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Podcasts

Michael Morpurgo with Katy Brand on the Penguin Podcast

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Reading lists

7 unforgettable fathers in literature

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Competitions

Win a trip to see Pericles at the Globe and a night’s accommodation in London

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Extracts

The Porpoise by Mark Haddon: an opening to die for

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Features

The History of Hogarth Press

Mark Haddon on the origins behind The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

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Mark Haddon on the origins of The Curious Incident

Vintage Minis

Family

‘Family, that slippery word, a star to every wandering bark and everyone sailing under a different sky’ 
 
Where do you go if you can’t feel at home in your own family? When the people who made you can’t fathom who you become? In these three tales of quarrelling clans and fraught reunions, Mark Haddon shows family in its frank, unsparing yet frequently absurd light, and, in doing so charts a stormy course into the crucible of the self. 
 
Selected from The Pier Falls, The Red House and A Spot of Bother. 
 
VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS. 
 
A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human 
 
Discover the in the Vintage Minis ‘Head Space’ series: 
 
Recovery by Helen Macdonald 
Therapy by Stephen Grosz

Vintage Minis bring you the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human – from birth to death and everything in between

Imagine our joy when Vintage announced that it is publishing a collection of easily digestible books from the world’s most celebrated writers on the experiences that make us human… They look good and read well. That’s win/win in our book.

Literature for the Twitter generation ... there is clarity in the distillation

Mark Haddon is a writer and artist. His bestselling novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, was published simultaneously by Jonathan Cape and David Fickling in 2003. It won seventeen literary prizes, including the Whitbread Award. In 2012, a stage adaptation by Simon Stephens was produced by the National Theatre and went on to win 7 Olivier Awards in 2013 and the 2015 Tony Award for Best Play. In 2005 his poetry collection, The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea, was published by Picador, and his play, Polar Bears, was produced by the Donmar Warehouse in 2010. His most recent novel, The Red House, was published by Jonathan Cape in 2012. The Pier Falls, a collection of short stories, was also published by Cape in 2016. To commemorate the centenary of the Hogarth Press he wrote and illustrated a short story that appeared alongside Virginia Woolf's first story for the press in Two Stories (Hogarth, 2017).

The classic Sunday Times bestseller

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Vintage Children's Classics

A beautiful new Vintage Classics edition to celebrate the 15th anniversary of this wise, blackly funny, radically imaginative novel

Fifteen year old Christopher is about to embark on an investigation... 
 
Lots of things are mysteries. But that doesn't mean there isn't an answer to them. 
 
It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shears' house. Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead. 
 
This is Christopher's murder mystery story. There are also no lies in this story because Christopher can't tell lies. Christopher does not like strangers or the colours yellow or brown or being touched. On the other hand, he knows all the countries in the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7507. When Christopher decides to find out who killed the neighbour's dog, his mystery story becomes more complicated than he could have ever predicted. 
 
'Outstanding... a stunningly good read' Observer 
 
'A superb achievement. He is a wise and bleakly funny writer with rare gifts of empathy' Ian McEwan 
 
**ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY**

Wondrous...brilliantly inventive...dazzling. Not simply the most original novel I've read in years - it's also one of the best

Exceptional by any standards. Both funny and deeply moving

Outstanding. Heartening as well as richly entertaining. A stunningly good read

Superbly realised. A funny as well as a sad book. Brilliant

A remarkable book. An impressive achievement and a rewarding read

A magical book. It's one of those books that makes you feel as though you have been on an emotional rollercoaster.

Brilliantly empathetic. Believe the hype: a brilliant, heart-warming book

In telling a painful story in the voice of a 15-year-old boy with Asperger's, Haddon broadens ordinary minds and helps to understand how they work, too.

Mark Haddon's portrayal of an emotionally dissociated mind is a superb achievement. He is a wise and bleakly funny writer with rare gifts of empathy

I have never read anything quite like Mark Haddon's funny and agonizingly honest book, or encountered a narrator more vivid and memorable. I advise you to buy two copies; you won't want to lend yours out

Arthur Golden, author of 'Memoirs of a Geisha'

Original, moving and entertaining for adults as well as for older children

A delightful and brilliant book. Very moving, very plausible and very funny

A beautifully written book. Haddon is to be congratulated for imagining a new kind of hero, for the humbling instruction this warm and often funny novel offers and for showing that the best lives are lived where difference is cherished

To get an idea of what The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is like, think of The Sound and the Fury crossed with The Catcher in the Rye and one of Oliver Sacks's real-life stories

Beautifully told, and wonderfully poignant. Whenever I read it I feel a little bit sad, and then always much better for having read it.

Mark Haddon is a writer and artist. His bestselling novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, was published simultaneously by Jonathan Cape and David Fickling in 2003. It won seventeen literary prizes, including the Whitbread Award. In 2012, a stage adaptation by Simon Stephens was produced by the National Theatre and went on to win 7 Olivier Awards in 2013 and the 2015 Tony Award for Best Play. In 2005 his poetry collection, The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea, was published by Picador, and his play, Polar Bears, was produced by the Donmar Warehouse in 2010. His most recent novel, The Red House, was published by Jonathan Cape in 2012. The Pier Falls, a collection of short stories, was also published by Cape in 2016. To commemorate the centenary of the Hogarth Press he wrote and illustrated a short story that appeared alongside Virginia Woolf's first story for the press in Two Stories (Hogarth, 2017).

The Red House

From the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time comes a novel about families and secrets 
 
Two families. Seven days. One house. 
 
Angela and her brother Richard have spent twenty years avoiding each other. Now, after the death of their mother, they bring their families together for a holiday in a rented house on the Welsh border. Four adults and four children. Seven days of shared meals, log fires, card games and wet walks. 
 
But in the quiet and stillness of the valley, ghosts begin to rise up. The parents Richard thought he had. The parents Angela thought she had. Past and present lovers. Friends, enemies, victims, saviours. 
 
Once again Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and A Spot of Bother, has written a novel that is funny, poignant and deeply insightful about human lives.

From the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time comes a novel about families and secrets - now re-jacketed with a stunning new cover look

Every bit as charmingly idiosyncratic as his brilliant The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

A hugely enjoyable, sympathetic novel...a tremendous pleasure...we have been absorbed, entertained and moved

Mark Haddon is terrifyingly talented... The Red House is thoroughly engrossing and enjoyable entertainment

Shockingly well-observed, gut-wrenchingly familiar and even heartbreaking at times

A masterly evocation of two dysfunctional, yet outwardly respectable families

With writing as elegant and truthful as this, readers will wish to keep their copies close at hand to savour again

Haddon has a true understanding of the human heart. Whether he is writing about the teenagers...or the adults and their misjudgements, he never puts a foot wrong. The Red House shows that Haddon is much more than a one-hit wonder: he is a real novelist, and he is here to stay

A bitingly honest tale of modern family life

It’s not every writer who can describe everyday domestic trauma with wit and without condescension. It’s a lot of fun to watch these midlife and adolescent crises come to the boil. And what shines is Haddon’s flair for observational comedy

I read it twice, both times with enjoyment

Weaving the stories of wealthy Richard, his meek sister Angela and their families, he draws the strands together to a poignant conclusion

As a fan of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time I was expecting this book to be special - and it was. A unique approach to family life and human relationships. Read it!

Haddon writes superb books for children, teenagers and grown-ups, and gets every voice in this one dead right...a master craftsman

Haddon achieves a remarkable mélange of streams of consciousness, snatches of books, music, TV, private thoughts, lists, letters, all intertwined with sharply observed vignettes of everyday banality, soaring flights of description

He is almost unrivalled at the notoriously tricky task of giving an authentic voice to children, and his ability to pinpoint the comic aspects of the everyday scenarios that arise on all vacations makes for an amusing read

A beautiful object that will grace any holiday home's unfixably wobbly bedside table. The cover feels like a cracked china plate, decorated with a clever re-working of the willow-pattern; like the contents, it is subtle and clever. Haddon writes superb books for children, teenagers and grown-ups, and gets every voice in this one dead right. He is also a master craftsman, so this complicated narrative moves with the speed and certainty of released, unhappy holidaymakers hitting the homeward road. So shove this in your holidaying bag. You may have made a mistake with the booking, but you won't with the book.

Haddon has penetrating compassion for even his least prepossessing characters. He’s frequently acute about the details of speech, response and self-presentation that differentiate people, and particularly so about the weird co-existence in us all of animal instincts and higher yearnings: hunger with grief, physical pain with spiritual need, hot lust with the desire to connect. His characters – the whole befuddling gaggle of them – are unquestionably felt, and felt for, and even loved. Haddon has created a family whose problems feel warmly immediate and utterly contemporary.

CURL UP WITH…The Red House by Mark Haddon. An English family’s holiday – and the midlife and adolescent crises that erupt during it – is scrutinised from eight points of view in Mark Haddon’s warm and witty novel, which showcases his flair for observational comedy.

Mark Haddon’s latest is his most mature work to date. It’s mature in terms of both content and style, and reading The Red House there’s a sense that this ‘growing up’ is quite purposely Haddon’s intention. An effortlessly engrossing and richly rewarding read.

It's an old saying that you choose your friends but not your family and the family reunion has been well-used in literature, but Haddon breathes new life into it. He's never shied away from the difficult subjects and he deals sensitively with a child's burgeoning homosexuality but his real skill, his genius is in his understanding of mental problems, that disassociation between the mind and the brain. It's a book which is so right in every small detail but a gem when taken altogether.

The book gave me the ever-changing, fascinating and the feeling that I was looking through a looking glass. The eight of them have their own secrets, longings and resentments which only make them as human as you and I. The writing zips in montages and sometimes it becomes difficult to figure who is carrying the baton, though once you get used to the writing, it isn’t difficult to figure. The language and symbolism is weaved very well for a story of a dysfunctional family. In some parts, it almost reminded me of Faulkner’s, “The Sound and the Fury”. The Red House by Mark Haddon is a rollercoaster of emotions and all it works surprisingly well and all adds up at the end of the book. I would definitely and most certainly recommend this read for the long summer weekend that comes up.

Haddon can marry extraordinary perception with uncluttered language... He also burrows into the minds of his protagonists with astute precision

It looks like Mark Haddon is about to have a great big success all over again

Brilliantly readable… Comic and bittersweet

Characteristically original, deftly observed...

A beautifully orchestrated novel that gently questions how we define success

[Haddon] shows a knack for portraying family dynamics…

Mark Haddon proves himself a master of the domestic drama

Agent Z And The Penguin From Mars

Pools winner and total wazzock, Dennis Sidebottom has moved next door to Ben - bringing his squeaky-clean kids with him. The Crane Grove Crew - Ben, Barney and Jenks - soon find themselves on the Sidebottom blacklist. Accused of being troublemakers and a bad influence, they decide to shake up the Sidebottom universe with the help of Agent Z, a meteorite and a stolen penguin. It's Agent Z's finest hour! Mark Haddon has a sharp understanding of what makes children tick, and they will delight in the ever more daring, ever more hilarious missions of Agent Z and his three creators.

More totally bonkers behaviour from practical jokers, the Crane Grove Crew. A laugh-till-you-cry book from the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.

Two Stories

Virginia Woolf was one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. With her husband, Leonard Woolf, she started the Hogarth Press in 1917: the list ranged widely in fiction, poetry, politics and psychoanalysis, and published all Virginia Woolf’s own work. 
 
Its first publication appeared in 2017: Two Stories, bound in bright Japanese paper, contained a short story from both Virginia and Leonard. Typeset and bound by Virginia, with illustrations by Dora Carrington, 134 copies were printed by Leonard using a small handpress installed in the dining room at Hogarth House, Richmond. 
 
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of ‘Publication No. 1’ this new edition of Two Stories takes the original text of Virginia’s story, ‘The Mark on the Wall’ (with illustrations by Dora Carrington), and pairs it with a new story, ‘St Brides Bay’, by Mark Haddon, a lifelong reader of Virginia Woolf. 
 
TWO STORIES also includes a portrait of Virginia Woolf by Mark Haddon, and a short introduction from the publisher about the founding of the Press.

To mark the centenary of the Hogarth Press, Two Stories is an exquisite celebration of their first publication, including Virginia Woolf’s original story ‘The Mark on the Wall’ and a newly commissioned story ‘St Brides Bay’ from prizewinning author Mark Haddon.

Charming and entertaining ... Short and sweet

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) was one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. With her husband, the social reformer Leonard Woolf, she started the Hogarth Press in 1917, which published widely in fiction, poetry, politics and psychoanalysis, as well as publishing all Woolf’s own work. 
 
Mark Haddon is an author, illustrator and screenwriter – and long-term admirer of Virginia Woolf. His worldwide bestseller, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time won seventeen literary prizes, including the Whitbread Award, and is now a stage play. His most recent book is a short story collection, The Pier Falls. He lives in Oxford.

The Pier Falls

The first collection of stories from the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and The Porpoise. 
 
'Terrifically compelling' Guardian 
 
A seaside pier collapses. 
An expedition to Mars goes terribly wrong. 
A thirty-stone man is confined to his living room. 
One woman is abandoned on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean. 
Another woman is saved from drowning. 
Two boys discover a gun in a shoebox. 
A group of explorers find a cave of unimaginable size deep in the Amazon jungle. 
A man shoots a stranger in the chest on Christmas Eve. 
 
'The real redemption in these superbly gripping stories comes from their canny human detail, and the vivid, unsettling clarity they bring to our lives’ Sunday Times

The first collection of stories from the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

A superb collection of stand-out stories… The Pier Falls is unique in that every story is brilliant… It is, simply, and ultimately, an absolute pleasure to read

This is a top-notch collection… It veers into unexpected territory, and the evolving surprises are mesmerizing… 'The Pier Falls' leads the collection. It is a perfectly controlled little masterpiece… So chilling that one imagines its author could carve out a second career as a horror film scriptwriter.

Brilliant collection… Seamless prose… It feels as though Haddon is leading you into the deepest underworld of human endeavor and behavior, yet holding your hand gently as he guides you into the labyrinth. Outstanding.

The real redemption in these superbly gripping stories comes from their canny human detail, and the vivid, unsettling clarity they bring to our brief lives.

He writes with the craft of Julian Barnes or, even, Truman Capote.

The title story…is so good and so awful I read it with my hand over my mouth… His global smash hit The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-time...hit the mark. Here, he hits it again, and again and again

A knockout. From the breathtaking first piece, The Pier Falls is powerful and emotional.

Mark Haddon is a master of haunting detail. This title story is a tour de force and the other eight are diverting reminders of just how transporting a perfectly constructed short story can be.

Superb new collection… This impressive collection is both bleak and brilliant and shows a writer at the top of his game.

A sustained set of powerfully told stories... It's as if Ian McEwan had never turned nice.

He is a master of the short form…his imagination is even darker than we had thought.

A masterful collection… Haddon is a consummate storyteller and The Pier Falls reveals a writer at the peak of his imagination. Some of the stories have already been shortlisted for awards and one suspects the whole collection will justifiably follow suit.

This collection brims with incident both curious and exciting, and yet displays a cool, almost detached observance of unfolding drama that is impossible to look away from.

Haddon’s debut collection contains a suite of ambitiously scaled and event-packed tales, self-consciously eclectic both in setting and subject matter… The Pier Falls is a bracing, remorselessly lucid depiction of a sudden and expansive moment of chaos… Each of these stories grip. Like the news at its queasiest, most shocking or grimly inevitable, you frequently want to look away but are compelled to keep reading.

He can pull you into the heart of a new world with just two or three sentences, and deploys this talent with apparent ease… Haddon’s work is easy to relate to because it’s underpinned with razor-sharp clarity about what it means to be human.

Terrific dark collection in which each story is as absorbing and powerful as the last. Not to be missed.

Echoing humanity. The title story is an exercise in style. Staccato sentences, like a ticker tape of headlines, describe the fall of a pier.

The Pier Falls, published May, is a collection of nine brilliant short stories, perfect for dipping into when you have a spare moment.

Diverse in style but united in emotional power… Lyrical new collection… All showcase his virtuoso gifts as a stylist and the deep well of empathy that have made his bestselling novels so compelling... The Pier Falls showcases Haddon’s immense gifts of invention and penetrating insight.

Mark Haddon has become a master of the short story…this new collection intrigues and horrifies by turn

Gripping tale…  Told with forensic precision.

Exuberant, lusty exercises in juxtaposition… Such contrasts not only power each piece but also act as a form of call and response across them… Terrifically compelling collection.

Impressive but forbiddingly lightless collection. There’s no doubt about Haddon’s skill.

Have you ever read a book that made you gasp out loud and nearly burst into tears? The title story…had that effect on me… Haddon is able to give human tragedy the due solemnity it deserves but without being po-faced. A wonderful collection.

Gripping… Packs the action and themes that might power a very full novel into less than 70 pages

Scintillating first foray into the shorter form… Beautifully crafted… A challenging and idiosyncratic talent, with a memorable way with words.

[Haddon] portrays the nightmares of our own society…with astonishing deftness, mixing black humour and pathos.

The Pier Falls had me gasping in disbelief.

[It was] grim and compelling… [A] ripping, gripping yarn – narrative velcro.

I savoured all the atmospheric short stories in The Pier Falls.

An enthralling short story collection; dark, immersive stories with lots of action. The writing is tight and inspiring.

[A] searing collection of short stories that thrill and chill in equal measure.

I was also captivated by the dark A Pier Falls, a brilliantly written collection of bleak and brutal short stories.

I adored The Pier Falls… Each story is wildly entertaining and well written.

[It] proves the capacity of a short story to immerse the reader fully in a fictional world.

This short-story collection is thrilling and exquisitely written. I gave out several copies as Christmas presents.

Mesmerisingly good stories, hugely varied, skilfully written, full of deft touches and narrative shocks... an absolute treat

Mark Haddon

‘Just downright brilliant... a transcendent, transporting experience’ Observer 
 
A motherless girl grows up in isolated luxury, hidden from the world by her wealthy father. She believes their life together is normal – but as time passes, she has a growing sense that something between them is very wrong. 
 
She cannot escape, so she seeks solace in her books. Her favourite tales are those that conjure ancient worlds – of angry gods and heroic mortals, one of whom will some day come to her rescue. 
 
Soon, she will forget where the page ends and her mind begins. 
 
‘A full-throttle blast of storytelling mastery’ Max Porter

Mark Haddon

The Porpoise

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