Penguin Classics is proud to welcome William Trevor—"Ireland’s answer to Chekhov" (The Boston Globe) and "one of the best writers of our era" (The Washington Post)—to our distinguished list of literary masters. In this award-winning novel, an informer’s body is found on the estate of a wealthy Irish family shortly after the First World War, and an appalling cycle of revenge is set in motion. Led by a zealous sergeant, the Black and Tans set fire to the family home, and only young Willie and his mother escape alive. Fatherless, Willie grows into manhood while his alcoholic mother’s bitter resentment festers. And though he finds love, Willie is unable to leave the terrible injuries of the past behind. First time in Penguin Classics Winner of the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award

“Dear Readers and Booksellers: If you have not yet experienced the great pleasure of a story by William Trevor, I urge you to read this new novel, and to set it in pride of place in your stores. Because the haunting story of Lucy Gault will not fail to capture you with its mystery, its compassion, and the beauty of its writing.” -- Louise Dennys, Executive Publisher, Knopf Canada William Trevor is beloved around the world as one of the finest writers today -- and with just cause: his new novel is a masterpiece of love and loss, and lives suspended in time. Lucy Gault is nine when her parents are faced with the agonizing decision to flee Ireland to be safe from the violence that privilege and Lucy’s English mother have brought upon them -- or to stay in their home and risk losing it to the threat of arson. Lucy cannot bear the thought of leaving Lahardane’s beautiful pastureland, the seashore below pale clay cliffs, and the nameless dog that has become her companion. So she runs away into the nearby woods to convince her parents to stay. Instead, her actions begin the unravelling of her family when they find two bits of her clothing and conclude she has thrown herself into the sea. Now desperate to be rid of the place where their much-loved daughter has died, Captain and Heloise Gault set off to wander restlessly across Europe. In the Lahardane woods, two weeks after the Gaults have gone, the groundskeeper finds the child lying lame and half-dead. He and his wife become Lucy’s life companions as she keeps a 30-year vigil of love and guilt waiting for her parents’ return.

CONRAD THE GOOD serves as court jester to a most unworthy master: Lord Otto “the Witless,” who rarely appreciates jesting and acrobatics and more often rewards his good fool with a good whipping. So one night, Conrad flees, leaving Otto’s realm in search of a more enlightened master—taking with him only his noble horse, Blackspur, and his beloved, the servant girl Christa the Fair. As they take to the road, they soon learn that along with their quest comes hardship. But for all the hardships they encounter, there are as many unexpected joys and friends in unexpected places, and there is always their love for one another. And always, their destination lies before them: somewhere, a sanctuary where they’ll have the freedom to be together and be themselves.

This book is about a history of the vice in ancient and modern times all over the world and makes an exposition of its alarming prevalence and destructive effects. This work discusses with an unreserved and exhaustive disclosure of such frauds, tricks and devices as are practiced by "Professional" gamblers, "Confidence Men" and "Bunko Steerers", in order to alert readers not to fall into a trap.

Penguin Classics is proud to welcome William Trevor—"Ireland’s answer to Chekhov" (The Boston Globe) and "one of the best writers of our era" (The Washington Post)—to our distinguished list of literary masters. In this award-winning novel, an informer’s body is found on the estate of a wealthy Irish family shortly after the First World War, and an appalling cycle of revenge is set in motion. Led by a zealous sergeant, the Black and Tans set fire to the family home, and only young Willie and his mother escape alive. Fatherless, Willie grows into manhood while his alcoholic mother’s bitter resentment festers. And though he finds love, Willie is unable to leave the terrible injuries of the past behind. First time in Penguin Classics Winner of the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award

In this great historical adventure novel, Ransal Holles, a former soldier in Cromwell’s army, feels like there is no place for him now that the monarchy has been restored and the exploits of the Republicans are being condemned. Desperate for an escape from his hopeless situation and the very certain threat of execution that lingers over him, Holles has no choice but to accept the Duke of Wellington’s commission to abduct a famous actress and bring her to him. Set in London, 1665, ‘Fortune's Fool’ by Rafael Sabatini is a story of love, adventure, villains, and swashbuckling heroes that will be enjoyed by fans of 'The Three Musketeers' and Hilary Mantel’s 'Wolf Hall'. Rafael Sabatini was an Italian-English writer of romance and adventure novels. He produced 34 novels, eight short story collections, six non-fiction books, several uncollected short stories, and several plays, and he is best known for his worldwide bestsellers; ́The Sea Hawk ́, ́Scaramouche ́, and ́Bellarion the Fortunate ́.

William Trevor's Last Stories is forthcoming from Viking. In Reading Turgenev, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, an Irish country girl is trapped in a loveless marriage with an older man, but finds release through secret meetings with a man who shares her passion for Russian novels. My House in Umbra tells of Emily Delahunty, a writer of romantic novels, who helps survivors of a bomb attack on a train to convalesce, inventing colorful pasts for her patients. Two novels, two women who retreat further into the realm of the imagination until the boundaries between what is real and what is not become blurred.