Steve Roud was Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and served as Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore, plus other books on traditional drama and folk song, and the Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, which won the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award in 2004. His publications include London Lore (2008) and The Lore of the Playground (2010). He also compiles the Folk Song Index and the Broadside Index, two internationally acclaimed computer databases of traditional folk and popular song. He lives in Sussex.

Steve Roud

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Günter Grass

To compensate for his unusually large Adam's apple - source of both discomfort and distress - fourteen year old Joachim Mahlke turns himself into athlete and ace diver. Soon he is known to his peers and his nation as 'The Great Mahlke'. But to his enemies, he remains a target. He is different and doomed in a country scarred by the war. 
 
Cat and Mouse was first published in 1961, two years after Gunter Grass' controversial and applauded masterpiece, The Tin Drum. Once again Grass turns his attention on Danzig. With a subtle blend of humour and power, Cat and Mouse ostensibly relates the rise of Mahlke from clown to hero. But Mahlke's outlandish antics hide the darkness at the heart of a nation torn by Nazi violence, the war and its aftermath.

Cat and Mouse

Nevil Shute

When Johnny Pascoe attempts to rescue a sick girl from the Tasmanian outback his plane crashes leaving him dangerously injured. Ronnie Clarke, who was trained by Pascoe, endeavours to fly a doctor in to help but this proves more difficult than he imagined. As he waits overnight at Pascoe's house in order to try again the next day Clarke revisits the past of this unusual man - and reveals the shocking and tragic secrets that have influenced his life.

The Rainbow and the Rose

Jerry Chambers, a fresh-faced young pilot, mistakenly sinks a British submarine. He is reprimanded and sent to a remote posting to test an experimental new bomb, a dangerous mission far away from the girl he loves. While Jerry risks his life, his sweetheart Mona sets about clearing her lover's name...but will she be too late?

Landfall

Thomas Savage

Discover Thomas Savage's dark poetic tale of a small town in early 20th century America that inspired the Golden Globe winning film. 
 
Phil and George are brothers and joint owners of the biggest ranch in their Montana valley. 
 
Phil is the bright one, George the plodder. Phil is tall and angular; George is stocky and silent. Phil is a brilliant chess player, a voracious reader, an eloquent storyteller; George learns slowly, and devotes himself to the business. They sleep in the room they shared as boys, and so it has been for forty years. 
 
When George unexpectedly marries a young widow and brings her to live at the ranch, Phil begins a relentless campaign to destroy his brother's new wife. But he reckons without an unlikely protector. 
 
From its visceral first paragraph to its devastating twist of an ending, The Power of the Dog will hold you in its grip. 
 
WITH AN AFTERWORD BY ANNIE PROULX 
 
'With its echoes of East of Eden and Brokeback Mountain, this satisfyingly complex story deserves another shot at rounding up public admiration' Guardian

The Power of the Dog

**NOW THE WINNER OF THE 2022 BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR AND TWO 2022 BAFTA AWARDS**

W. Somerset Maugham

On his way home from a remote Pacific island, Dr Saunders travels with two strangers: the treacherous Captain Nichols, and Fred, a handsome Australian with a shadowy past. Driven to shelter from a storm on the island of Kanda, the trio meet good-natured Erik Christessen and his fiancée, the cool and beautiful Louise. A tense, exotic tale of love, jealousy, murder and suicide, which evolved from a passage in Maugham's earlier masterpiece, The Moon and Sixpence.

The Narrow Corner

Alexandre Dumas

All for one, and one for all! 
 
The young D'Artagnan and the legendary musketeers Athos, Porthos and Aramis are 'the inseparables' - ready to sacrifice everything in a duel or game of dice in order to defend their honour or that of the King and Queen of France. Handsome and hot-tempered, they dive into raging battles or back-street conspiracies with gusto, especially if by their daring deeds they can thwart the wicked devices of their arch-enemy, Cardinal Richelieu, and his mysterious accomplice, Milady de Winter. 
 
'Pure swashbuckling pleasure' Daily Telegraph 
 
TRANSLATED BY WILL HOBSON 
 
VINTAGE FRENCH CLASSICS - six masterpieces of French fiction in gorgeous new gift editions.

The Three Musketeers

Vintage Classics French Series

Young pilot Donald Ross has little in common with the Oxford don who has employed him on an expedition to the Arctic - and still less with his beautiful but stubborn daughter, Alix.But once the three of them reach the treacherous shores of Greenland their destinies are inextricably bound by the events that unfold there.

An Old Captivity

After Philip Stenning is involved in a near-fatal plane crash, he feels he owes a debt of gratitude to the man who rescued him. However, his mysterious saviour is an escaped convict, and his determination to help him leads Stenning into a tense and dramatic adventure of intrigue, drug-running and murder.

Marazan

Arthur Conan Doyle

The notorious Professor Challenger claims that dinosaurs still walk the earth. When the press and the scientific community ridicule him, Challenger vows to show them proof. And so he sets off for South America, accompanied by a big game hunter, a scientist and a young reporter eager to impress the woman he loves. On a remote plateau in the middle of impenetrable jungle, they discover the impossible truth, but must battle monsters and men before they can bring their testimony home.

The Lost World

Raphael Sabatini

Ready of wit and skilled of blade, the elegant surgeon-buccaneer Captain Blood is ever a jump ahead of his foes. Time and again, he falls headlong into deep peril, and his own motley crew are happy to sail to hell and back at his command. Yet when everything is stacked against him, can he keep his honour until the bitter end?

The Fortunes of Captain Blood

Vasily Grossman

Life and Fate is an epic tale of twentieth-century Russia told through the fate of a single family, the Shaposhnikovs, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Stalingrad. 
 
As the battle of Stalingrad looms, Grossman's characters must work out their destinies in a world torn by ideological tyranny and war. 
 
Completed in 1960 and then confiscated by the KGB, this sweeping panorama of Soviet Society remained unpublished until it was smuggled into the West in 1980, where it was hailed as a masterpiece. 
 
'One of the finest Russian novels of the 20th century' Daily Telegraph 
 
'Compelling... Grossman's portrait is timelessly relevant... Life and Fate is worth all the audience it can find' The Times 
 
VINTAGE CLASSICS RUSSIAN SERIES - sumptuous editions of the greatest books to come out of Russia during the most tumultuous period in its history.

Life and Fate (Vintage Classic Russians Series)

The great Russian 20th-century novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Stalingrad. 
 
Life and Fate is an epic tale of a country told through the fate of a single family, the Shaposhnikovs. As the battle of Stalingrad looms, Grossman's characters must work out their destinies in a world torn by ideological tyranny and war. 
 
Completed in 1960 and then confiscated by the KGB, this sweeping panorama of Soviet Society remained unpublished until it was smuggled into the West in 1980, where it was hailed as a masterpiece. 
 
"Compelling... Grossman's portrait is timelessly relevant... Life and Fate is worth all the audience it can find" The Times

Life and Fate

Hans Herbert Grimm

A GERMAN CLASSIC FROM A FORGOTTEN AUTHOR 
 
Schlump is seventeen, a romantic, a chancer and a dreamer. It's 1915 so naturally he volunteers for war. In France he is assigned an administrative position in a small town and has a marvellous time. But when he gets to the trenches, where death and mindless destruction are the everyday, he starts to understand something about war. Funny, brutal and charming, here’s the First World War from the perspective of the inimitable Schlump.

Schlump

Through a series of mishaps, Henry Warren, a recently divorced City financier, ends up in hospital in a Northern town ruined by the closure of its shipyard. Moved by the fate of the town's inhabitants, Warren risks his fortune and reputation to save the shipyard and restore the town to its former prosperity. In seeking to change the fate of the town, he radically changes his own.

Ruined City

Hammond Innes

When Jim Pryce, a deserter from the army, returns secretly to his native Cornwall, he finds the coast cold and unfriendly. He is soon plunged into a hazardous world of crooks,contraband, madness and mysteries underneath the rocky cliffs.

Killer Mine

Joseph Heller

Discover Joseph Heller's hilarious and tragic satire on military madness, and the tale of one man's efforts to survive it. 
 
It's the closing months of World War II and Yossarian has never been closer to death. Stationed in an American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, each flight mission introduces him to thousands of people determined to kill him. 
 
But the enemy above is not Yossarian's problem - it is his own army intent on keeping him airborne, and the maddening 'Catch-22' that allows for no possibility of escape. 
 
'The greatest satirical work in the English language' Observer 
 
'The most devastating satire ever written about the lunacy of war and military bureaucracy' Antony Beevor 
 
INTRODUCED BY HOWARD JACOBSON

Catch-22

A special edition of the classic world war two novel

During the Second World War, Peter Marshall's crew become one of the most successful bombing teams in their Oxfordshire airbase. However, when Peter falls in love with a young WAAF officer, his concentration begins to suffer and it looks as though his perfect run of missions - and his life - may be threatened.

Pastoral

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ANDY MCNAB 
 
He was a man without hope, until a lawyer and a crazy inheritance spurred him to one last desperate roll of the dice. 
 
The old man was convinced, against all evidence, that there was oil in the Rocky mountains. So his grandson sets off to a godforsaken town of shattered hopes and bitter old men, and plunges into a perilous battle against hostile country, powerful enemies and a ticking clock.

Campbell's Kingdom

Robert Louis Stevenson

'Who can think of a pirate without conjuring up the image of Long John Silver?' Daily Mail 
 
When young Jim Hawkins discovers a treasure map in a pirate's chest in his parents' inn, he is drawn into a world of danger and adventure. He joins the crew setting sail to the Caribbean to seek out the booty and over the course of the voyage confronts mutiny, murder and the charismatic and devious Long John Silver. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ANDREW MOTION

Treasure Island

Karen and Trevor have seen too many oil tankers run aground near Land's End, their poisonous cargo turning the waters black and suffocating all natural life for miles around. The Petros Jupiter is the latest devastating wreck, and tired of local committees that have no effect, Karen resolves on more drastic measures. It is left to her husband to unravel the tragedy and mystery that follow.

The Black Tide

Jules Verne

An adventure classic of deep-sea volcanoes, giant squid and the renegade scientist Captain Nemo. 
 
Professor Aronnax embarks on an expedition to hunt down and destroy a menacing sea monster. However, he discovers that the beast is metal - it is a giant submarine called the Nautilus built by the renegade scientist Captain Nemo. So begins an underwater adventure that takes them from the South Pole to the submerged lost city of Atlantis.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Michael Ondaatje

Booker prize winning author Michael Ondaatje invites you on a brutal, beautiful journey into the American West. . . 
 
At twenty-one years old, Billy the Kid has killed a man for each year he’s been alive. 
 
Roaming the blasted planes of the Wild West, he moves between friends, foes and lovers, fighting to keep just one step ahead of the law. Yet in this twisted wasteland – a country of mad dogs, of sweat and gore and blinding heat – the sheriffs play dirty too.Melding prose, poetry, imagined interviews and ephemeral photography, Ondaatje weaves together a lyrical reinterpretation of Billy’s short, infamous existence, forming a portrait of a young man, and a young country, borne out of violence, threaded through with disaster, yet rich in wonder. 
 
‘Ondaatje’s language is clean and energetic, with the pop of bullets. This is literature, art.’ Annie Dillard 
 
'Ondaatje’s eye for detail is wonderful and he uses it poetically, with superb restraint' Larry McMurtry

The Collected Works of Billy the Kid

The Soviets have cut off food and fuel supplies to West Berlin in a final attempt to force a stranglehold over the city. The Allied response is the Berlin airlift: thousands of planes carrying supplies - a lifeline to the people of the city. 
A chance for heroism perhaps, but not for Neil Fraser or Bill Saeton. One is an ex-RAF pilot on the run from the law, the other will stop at nothing to build the perfect aircraft engine. In an abandoned hangar in the British countryside, tensions rise to boiling point.

Air Bridge

It all begins with a lump of rock. To Bill Gansert, it seems a message from beyond the grave; the legacy of his one-time colleague George Farnell who disappeared in a storm of mystery and suspicion ten years ago. The rock, an enticing hint at a rich, hidden supply of mineral ore, leads Gansert and team of men to Norway and to a glacial labyrinth of mountains, following in Farnell's footsteps to the source of the ore. But others have heard of the rock, and the wealth it promises, and are also hot on the trail...

The Blue Ice

Alfred Assollant

Introducing the Marvellous Captain Corcoran – he is charming to ladies, courteous to true gentlemen, death to pirates and merciless to the English. He speaks several languages, can bend an iron bar with his bare hands, and has adventured his way across the seven seas with his faithful friend Louison by his side. Loyal only to her master, Louison can be a little boisterous, and there’s devil to pay when she misses a meal (she is a tiger, after all). 
 
Corcoran is on the hunt for a lost sacred Hindu text. Once in India, he is soon distracted from his quest by the claims of Prince Holkar, his lotus-eyed daughter, and their daring stand against the English occupying forces. 
 
Beloved by many French schoolchildren (including the young Jean-Paul Sartre) at the turn of the century, the marvellous Corcoran has been too long forgotten. Sam Miller (author of Strange Kind of Paradise: India through Foreign Eyes) has loving translated these wild, funny, unabashedly romantic adventures from the French for the first time so that the Captain and his charming Louison can be embraced by a new generation of readers, young and old.

The Marvellous (But Authentic) Adventures of Captain Corcoran

Rafael Sabatini

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BEN KANE 
 
Oliver Tressilian, a Cornish gentleman, is blessed with 'youth, wealth, and good digestion'. He is betrayed by his half-brother and becomes a renegade and Barbary corsair winning the title of Sakr-el-Bahr - hawk of the sea. This is the thrilling, full-blooded adventure of how a man wronged became the scourge of the Mediterranean and the terror of Christians...

The Sea-Hawk

It is the rainy season. Drunk and delirious, an old man lies dying in the Queensland bush. In his opium-hazed last hours, a priest finds his deserted shack and listens to his last words. Half-awake and half-dreaming the old man tells the story of an adventure set decades in the future, in a very different world...

In the Wet

Graham Greene

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MONICA ALI 
 
The love affair between Maurice Bendrix and Sarah, flourishing in the turbulent times of the London Blitz, ends when she suddenly and without explanation breaks it off. After a chance meeting rekindles his love and jealousy two years later, Bendrix hires a private detective to follow Sarah, and slowly his love for her turns into an obsession.

The End of the Affair

When David Cunningham returns to the Cornish coast to mourn a wartime love affair, he little imagines the mysterious quest that awaits him: it will lead him to the Mediterranean, to danger and a life of adventure, to the dark world of racketeering in Naples, the bleak hills beyond Tivoli, and a woman with a tragic past.

Dead and Alive

Michael Randall flees to the wild seas around the Shetlands to escape an impossible dilemma. There he finds a North Sea oil rig and the unlikely possibility of a new life. But one stormy night this glimmer of hope for the future, and Randall's life itself, is thrown into jeopardy.

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