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117 Days: An Account of Confinement and Interrogation Under the South African 90-Day Detention Law by Ruth First
Category: No Category | Series: Virago Modern Classics Ser.
'In prison you see only the moves of the enemy. Prison is the hardest place to fight a battle.' 117 Days is Ruth First's personal account of her detention under the iniquitous '90-day' law of 1963. There was no warrant, no charge and no trial - only suspicion. This sparsely written and unique record tel ...Show more
84 Charing Cross Road by Hélène Hanff; Juliet Stevenson (Introduction by)
Category: Fiction | Series: Virago Modern Classics Ser.
84, Charing Cross Road with introduction by Anne Bancroft. 'A charmer. Will beguile an hour of your time and put you in tune with [humankind].'
A Weekend with Claude by Beryl Bainbridge
Category: No Category | Series: Virago Modern Classics
An old snapshot shows a group of friends lounging in the sunshine, on a weekend in the country at the invitation of bearded, satyric Claude and his wife Julia. The girl in the centre is dreamy Lily, whose latest failed love affair forms the purpose of the weekend, as Lily's friends set out to help her e ...Show more
A Woman in Berlin - Diary 20 April 1945 to 22 June 1945 by Anonymous; Antony Beevor (Introduction)
Category: Biography/Memoir | Series: Virago Modern Classics | Reading Level: very good
* A startling account of a German survivor of the Second World War. 'One of the most important personal accounts ever written about the effects of war and defeat' Antony Beevor 'One of the most extraordinary and moving books I have ever read' Antonia Fraser
An Angel at My Table - The Complete Autobiography by Janet Frame; Jane Campion (Introduction by)
Category: Biography/Memoir | Series: Virago Modern Classics Ser.
'Janet Frame's luminous words are the more precious because they were snatched from the jaws of the disaster of her early life. It is one of the classics of autobiography. She knew that a writer must search her soul in order to say anything that is essential' HILARY MANTEL'Janet Frame is the greatest Ne ...Show more
An Angel at My Table - The complete Autobiography by Janet Frame
Category: No Category | Series: Virago Modern Classics | Reading Level: very good
One of the great autobiographies of the twentieth century ... A journey from luminous childhood, through the dark experiences of supposed madness, to the renewal of her life through writing fiction. It is a heroic story, and told with such engaging tone, humorous perspective and imaginative power' Micha ...Show more
Angel by Elizabeth Taylor
Category: No Category | Series: Virago Modern Classics | Reading Level: very good-near fine
Writing stories that are extravagant and fanciful, fifteen-year old Angel retreats to a world of romance, escaping the drabness of provincial life. She knows she is different, that she is destined to become a feted authoress, owner of great riches and of Paradise House ...After reading The Lady Irania, ...Show more
Angela Carter's Book of Wayward Girls and Wicked Women by Angela Carter
Category: Classics | Series: Virago Modern Classics Ser.
This bestselling collection of stories extols the female virtues of discontent, sexual disruptiveness and bad manners Here are subversive tales - by Ama Ata Aidoo, Jane Bowles, Angela Carter, Colette, Bessie Head, Jamaica Kincaid and Katherine Mansfield among others - all have one thing in common: the w ...Show more
At Mrs Lippincote's by Elizabeth Taylor
Category: No Category | Series: Virago Modern Classics Ser.
The debut novel from Elizabeth Taylor - shortlisted for the Booker Prize * Mrs Lippincote's house, with its mahogany furniture and yellowing photographs, stands as a reminder of all the certainties that have vanished with the advent of war. Temporarily, this is home for Julia, who has joined her husba ...Show more
Beyond These Walls : Escaping the Warsaw Ghetto - a young girl's story (revised edition 2006) by Janina Bauman
Category: No Category | Series: Virago Modern Classics Ser.
Janina Beauman was a year older than Anne Frank when the Second World War began but, unlike The Diary of Anne Frank, this is a story of survival.When Hitler's decree forced her family into the Warsaw Ghetto, Janina, an intelligent, lively girl, suddenly found herself in a cramped flat, hiding with other ...Show more
Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor; Joanna Kingham (Afterword by); Jonathan Keates (Introduction by)
Category: No Category | Series: Virago Modern Classics Ser.
'How deeply I envy any reader coming to her for the first time!' Elizabeth Jane Howard * A finely nuanced exploration of responsibility, snobbery and culture clash from one of the twentieth centrury's finest novelists. When Amy's husband dies on holiday in Istanbul, she is supported by the kindly but ...Show more
Carrie's War by Nina Bawden
Category: No Category | Series: Virago Modern Classics Ser.
Carrie and her brother Nick are evacuated to a Welsh mountain village in 1939 and become closely involved with several unforgettable characters. Age 12+