Valancourt Books: 178 books

"Kennaway's best book. More than any of his other books, it testifies to his extraordinary poetic talent and the power of his human insight." - John le Carré "If there is any justice at all . . . Kennaway's stock will rise posthumously. He could, after all, write rings around...

"Our only current writer who can induce such terror as the Grimm Brothers did." - Times Literary Supplement "He is certainly the best British novelist in his field and deserves the widest recognition." - Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural "[A]...

Charles Jackson (1903-1968) achieved international success with his first book, The Lost Weekend (1944), a groundbreaking novel about alcoholism that sold more than 600,000 copies and was adapted for an Academy Award-winning film version. Jackson followed this triumph with a novel that was even...

Garnet Montrose returns home from Vietnam to small-town Virginia with injuries so terrible that people become ill at the sight of him. Seeking assistance and companionship in his isolation, Garnet hires two young male caretakers, Quintus and Daventry. His interest and curiosity are awakened by the...

Released from a prison sentence for manslaughter, Sidney De Lakes returns home to West Virginia, where, in order to exorcise the memory of the lover he killed, he must keep his appointment with destiny in the shape of the man known as “the Renderer”. In this story of the powerful, violent passions...

‘I want what I want . . . not what other people think I ought to want.’ What Wendy Ross wants is simple – to live and love openly as a modern, independent woman. The problem is that according to her birth certificate her name is Roy Clark and she is a boy. Mistreated by her father, who is appalled...

Paolo Levin is an accomplished American concert pianist living in Rome. Intensely self-absorbed, Paolo values his independence above all else and has no desire to be trapped in the commitments of a relationship. But he can't seem to shake off the attentions of Ralph, the sinister crippled boy who...

A film company is making a movie about Daphne Moore, a famous actress of the 1920s, but to proceed they must secure the permission of Norman Hartleigh, a former diplomat once deeply involved with the star. So far, the reclusive Hartleigh has ignored all communications, so scriptwriter David Brent...

When Philip Callow’s Common People was first published in 1958, reviewer John Betjeman described it as “a genuine cry from a class usually silent in the literary world” and hailed it as one of the best books of the year. The story of a young working-class man from the Midlands who dreams of...

'[Nelson's] style is swift and straightforward, his narrative gift considerable ... Consistently diverting, this may be the novel about homosexuality to end all novels on the subject .. . [W]ill make many a reader's day.' - Julian MacLaren-Ross, Punch 'Talented, amusing ... the story is told...

'A thorough reinvention of the Gothic landscape . . . Gregory's voice and vision are wholly original.' - Ramsey Campbell 'Admirable . . . a queerly intense, hothouse atmosphere.' - Newsday 'A finely written and truly creepy novel with a haunting feel for decay and corruption.' - Books Andrew...

In the smoke-and-mirrors world of Victorian music halls, two talented young stage magicians vie to be known as the best illusionist in London. Each of them performs a masterful and seemingly impossible illusion, and each is determined to unravel the secret of his rival’s trick at any cost. But what...

"[O]ne of the best writers of horror in this or any other country." - Peter Straub "One of the genre's most underrated writers . . . enjoyably nasty." - Poppy Z. Brite "A must-read for horror fiction fans. . . . Obtain The Amulet by any means necessary."...

En route to their honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands, Paul and Carol Wilson lose their way in an unseasonable blizzard and are forced to take shelter in remote Ardvreck House. But this sprawling, dilapidated Victorian mansion, with its reputation as the scene of violent unsolved mysteries,...