Bloomsbury Reader imprint: 830 books

Thieves in the Night : Chronicle of an Experiment was written in 1946. Originally intended to be the first of a trilogy, Koestler later concluded that the book stood on its own and plans for further novels made redundant. Based on the author's own experiences in a kibbutz, it sets up a stage...

The Bride Comes to Evensford, a novella first published in 1943, follows a woman from her arrival in a small town (modelled on Bates's native Rushden) to her work for a draper, her marriage to him, her increasing command over the business and the household, and finally to her infatuation with a young...

First published in 1997, this is Dirk Bogarde's sixth and final novel. The Grayles have lived at Hartleap since Canute. They know this and are proud of the fact. Now they stand around the deathbed of their longest-serving nanny who is about to slip away. Ada Stephens – known as Nanny...

In Plato's dialogues, an idealised Socrates expounds the ideas for which Plato will, until the end of history, be famous. The world of Forms; the ideal Republic with its totalitarian masterplan; the tribute to Eros, god of love (or at least of homosexual love); the promise of soul's salvation - all...

George Verrey Smith, a suburban teacher, is bored. Bored with his wife, his life, his job. He endures each bleak day with his joyless wife named Joy. The only bright spot in George's life is Sunday. On Sunday George looks his best. On Sunday George dresses up. On Sunday, George becomes Emily. Adorned...

Eugen Reichenbach, a 35 year old doctor, born and brought up in Austria, fled with his family to America before WWII erupted. Although he has a comfortable life and a successful career at the Yale School of Medicine, his double identity makes him restless and uneasy. His European roots, which he tries...

"The man who asks a woman what she wants deserves all that's coming to him!" This was Melanie's viewpoint and she always knew exactly what she wanted. Julia was different. She worked in a dress shop and she was often disturbed about her younger sister's morals. Both head strong, their...

'Terrific – when better novels of suspense are written, lead me to them' P. G. Wodehouse Making a threadbare living flying charter cargos of dubious legitimacy around the Mediterranean, Jack Clay's ambition of starting his own chartering company remains a distant dream. All this changes...

Being brought up by an overbearing, competitive mother has left Virginia with an altered view of men and relationships. She rushed in to marriage to escape her mother, but her new husband, Joe, is difficult and unpredictable, but Virginia is determined to make their relationship work. When...

The killer's modus operandi is the same in each instance: strangulation, always with a guitar string, pulled tight from behind until life is taken. And though the murders are happening up and down the country, there is one other similarity that Inspector Wilkins can't help noticing. Each and every...

Fortnight of Fear is one of five in a series of fearsome and frightening collections of short stories. In this volume of fourteen, Graham Masterton will catch your imagination and terrify you until dawn.

Terror and romance go hand in hand in F.G Cottam's new novella, An Absence of Natural Light. When Rebecca shows Tom Harper around a new apartment, the attraction between her and the ex-pro footballer is clear from the start. Getting close to him despite being wary of his playboy footballer...

First published in 1923, this is Margery Allingham's first novel, written at the age of nineteen. Preceding her much adored Albert Campion series, Blackkerchief Dick is a standalone novel that showcases the author's raw and evergreen writing. Centring on a group of smugglers on Mersea Island...

'An honest and skillfully told love story' - New York Times Lydia - shy, sheltered, beautiful and just nineteen - glides into Evensford one wintry day, stirring up feeling amongst the town's young men. But it is the young Mr Richardson that she befriends. As winter turns to drowsy summer, his...