Crime and Punishment

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

'The old woman was merely a sickness . . .it wasn't a human being I killed, it was a principle!'A troubled young man commits the perfect crime - the murder of a vile pawnbroker whom no one will miss. Raskolnikov is desperate for money, but convinces himself that his motive for the murder is to benefit m...

Last Exit to Brooklyn

Hubert Selby Jr.

Few novels have caused as much controversy as Hubert Selby Jr.'s notorious masterpiece. Described by various reviewers as hellish and obscene, it tells the stories of New Yorkers who at every turn confront the worst excesses in human nature. Yet there are moments of exquisite tenderness in these trouble...

A Great Hope

Jessica Stanley

John Clare was a titan in Australian politics. The head of a powerful union, he had long been tipped as a future leader himself. Supporting him in his push for power were his elegant wife Grace, his troubled children Sophie and Toby, and Tessa, the mistress he thought would stay secret. But now John ha...

The Island of Missing Trees

Elif Shafak

Two teenagers, from opposite sides of a divided land, meet at a tavern in the city they both call home. The tavern is the only place that Kostas, who is Greek and Christian, and Defne, who is Turkish and Muslim, can meet, in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic,...