A literary quiz book with a difference. Rather than basic sets of questions, the book mirrors the format of Wigglesworth's live quizzes, so there are lots of multiple-choice questions, some amusing answers, clever red herrings, little-known facts about authors, and some of the much-loved Say What You See picture rounds. There are fixed and variable rounds including Blankety Books with one word missing from the title, always with a theme, Literary Links and lists connecting, 2 of a Kind where the name of the character and the author share the same initials. Plus real or made-up Dickens names, Shakespearian insults and a Book Bingo where you identify the correct number. There are also more standard rounds such as First Lines, Working Titles and Banned Books. Which of these was published first: A) Born to Run by Michael Morpurgo, B) What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami or C) The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe? This anagram is an author's name: I am a full wrinkle. 278pp with answers and many line illus.

Contains all 13 books published in 1894. The Jungle Book has become Kipling's most famous work; it was followed by The Second Jungle Book in 1895. The two works contain short stories and poems about the animal world and include Mowgli's Brothers, Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack, Kaa's Hunting, Tiger! Tiger!, Mowgli's Song, Rikki-tikki-tavi, Toomai of the Elephants and Shiv and the Grasshopper among them. We recall fondly the unforgettable tale of Mowgli the man-cub abandoned in the Indian jungle and his animal friends and foes including Bagheera the black panther, Baloo the sleepy brown bear, and murderous tiger Shere Khan, which are some of the most famous and iconic in all of children's literature. Kipling was born in Bombay in 1865 and spent his first six years of life in India, hence the rich affinity with the country reflected in his words. 327pp.

Posthumously discovered in Highsmith's linen cupboard and edited down from 56 thick spiral notebooks by her devoted editor, this one-volume over 1,000 page assemblage of her diaries and notebooks traces the mesmerising double life of one of the 20th century's most conflicted and fascinating novelists. The famously secretive Highsmith refused to authorise a biography during her lifetime but left behind these 8,000 pages of diaries which reveal at last the inscrutable figure behind the pen. They show her unwavering literary ambitions, coming often at huge personal sacrifice, as she reflects on good and evil, loneliness and intimacy, sexuality and sacrifice, love and murder. We feel her euphoria writing 'The Price of Salt' (later adapted into the film Carol) one of the first mainstream novels to depict two women in love, and we watch her in Positano, gleefully conjuring Mr Ripley, the psychopathic and anti-hero that would cement her reputation. She describes her tumultuous romantic relationships alongside her sometimes dizzying social life involving Jane Bowles, Peggy Guggenheim, Carson McCullers, Arthur Koestler and W. H. Auden. In her skewering of McCarthy-era America, her prickly disparagement of contemporary art, and ever-percolating prejudices, we see Highsmith revealing the roots of her psychological angst and acuity. Written in her inimitable and dazzling prose and offering all the pleasure of her novels, these are one of the most compulsively readable literary diaries to be published in generations - unfiltered and an unforgettable picture of this enigmatic trailblazing author. They comprise one of the most observant and ecstatic accounts by one of the finest writers in the English language who died in 1995. 1000 page paperback, 15 x 23cm.

Presented alongside the original text, and overseen by renowned medievalist James Simpson, Pearl is a spellbinding new translation of a classic medieval work. Remaining faithful to the intricate structure of the original, one of our most ingenious interpreters of Middle English Simon Armitage transforms this allegory of grief and consolation into a story that feels hauntingly immediate. Armitage, the acclaimed poet who brought Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to vivid life in "an energetic, free-flowing, high-spirited version" (New York Times Book Review), turns his attention to another beloved medieval English masterpiece believed to have been penned by the same author who wrote Sir Gawain and housed in the same original fourteenth-century manuscript. Pearl describes a heartbroken father mourning the loss of his beautiful and precious daughter "Perle." Returning to the garden where she first disappeared, he observes the verdant shades of late summer, a cruel reminder of the grief that shadows his every waking thought. Succumbing to the afternoon heat, and tormented by images of death and decay, he falls into a trancelike sleep and dreams of a radiant apparition that closely resembles his Pearl. Standing before him across an unfordable stretch of water, the maiden reassures her father that she has been granted a home in heaven alongside Christ. At first overjoyed, then incredulous at the maiden's exalted stature, the dreamer is ultimately convinced of her providence by a series of tense, sorrowful arguments as she, much like Dante's Beatrice, leads him through the throes of grief toward a vision of paradise and divine redemption. At the brief, teasing glimpse of the kingdom of heaven, the dreamer rushes forward to join the maiden, only to be struck awake, his dream shattered and his irreplaceable Pearl lost once more. A beautifully written story with an amazing ending. 153 pages.

Born in Ealing in 1904, Margery Allingham was an eminent crime writer who is today best remembered for her Albert Campion detective stories. Hers was a family with a strong literary tradition, and following pressure from her American publishers, Allingham built an entire series around the unassuming and resourceful amateur sleuth. Her ever-popular gentleman detective features in all these thrilling crime stories - The Case of the Man with the Sack, The Case of the White Elephant, The Case of the Old Man in the Window, The Case of the Late Pig and The Definite Article. The Late Pig is the only Campion story ever told by the great sleuth himself. 255pp in new full price paperback.

Discover why in the theatre the expression 'The ghost walks' means it's payday, why at the last minute Shakespeare scratched out his son-in-law's name from his will and left his second-best bed to his widow; why intervals were unexpectedly introduced into theatrical performances; why Shakespeare's father lost his position as Mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon; how the Box Office got its name; why poorer people in Tudor times painted their teeth black; why Shakespeare himself had to play Lady Macbeth on 'The Scottish Play's' first performance and even why the theatre is called 'The Theatre'. And a great deal more besides. Loosely arranged in chronological order to establish William Shakespeare in his literary and historical setting, and written by the ex-RAF pilot and actor best known as Leonard in the BBC sitcom Butterflies. 433pp.

By the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four, here is a lyrically written and darkly humorous masterpiece of fiction which remains as relevant today as when it was first published in 1936. Gordon Comstock is a man in thrall to his principals. He believes that money lies at the heart of all society's evils, so he decides to trade in his well paid job at an advertising agency for the humble wages of a bookshop assistant. As poverty strikes, he finds that it infects every element of his life. His poetry lies neglected, his relationships with his friend Ravelston and his girlfriend Rosemary suffer, and bitterness threatens to overwhelm him. He is in a one-man war against the 'money-God', much to the dismay of his peers, unhappily accepting every sacrifice it demands of him. Drawn from Orwell's own experiences, the novel exposes the dangers of capitalist society. The deserves a wider audience. 284pp, new full price paperback.

The movie Cats was based on the musical inspired by these wonderful and much-loved cat poems by T. S. Eliot, and this edition, illustrated with lovely monochrome drawings, introduces the reader once again to the Bravo Cat Growltiger, the extremely ancient Old Deuteronomy and the Mystery Cat Macavity ("he's called the Hidden Paw"), together with a dozen other colourful figures both enterprising and deplorable. Growltiger, the "roughest cat that ever roamed at large", together with his bucko mate Rumbuskin, terrifies the people from Rotherhithe to Hammersmith but is captured as he serenades the faithless Lady Griddlebone. The Rum Tum Tugger is one of these contrarian characters who always wants what he can't have, in contrast with the jolly Jellicle Cats who just live to dance at the Jellicle Ball. The cat-burglars Mungojerrie and Rumpelteaser need no introduction, while we all know that if a treaty goes missing from the Foreign Office it's certain that the "master-criminal" Macavity, the monster of depravity, will be nowhere near the scene. Bustopher Jones with his white spats is the quintessential cat about town, and the 11.42 Night Mail can never depart without making sure that lovable Skimbleshanks the railway cat is safely on board. 118pp, paperback, black and white drawings.