Books in the Everyman's Library P G WODEHOUSE series

"Deep down in his heart the genuine Englishman has a rugged distaste for seeing his country invaded by a foreign army. But this would be to reckon without patriotic Clarence, 'Boy of Destiny', who alone is prepared to stand up to the foe, and who devises a highly unorthodox plan to restore his country to freedom... The Swoop!

The Little Nugget (1913) is one of the novels in which Wodehouse found his feet, a light comic thriller set in an English prep school for the children of the nobility and gentry. The comedy arises from Wodehouse's favourite topics of Anglo-American misunderstanding and the absurdities of school life.

Gussie Fink-Nottle simply must marry Madeline Bassett or Bertrand Wooster will be obliged to proffer the ring in his stead. In a daring attempt at securing the engagement, Jeeves and Bertie visit a rural leper colony.

The trouble which begins with Gussie Fink-Nottle wandering the streets of London dressed as Mephistopheles reaches its awful climax in his drunken speech to the boys of Market Snodsbury Grammar School.

And so it is that, in the process of telling their story, published early in his career, Wodehouse constructs the critique of Europe versus America, privilege versus enterprise, decadence versus adventure, which was to underpin many of his later tales.

Contains stories that include "The Fat of the Land", "Scratch Man", "The Right Approach", "Jeeves Makes An Omelette", "The Word In Season", "Big Business", "Leave It To Algy", "Joy Bells For Walter", "A Tithe For Charity", and "Oofy, Freddie and the Beef Trust".

From such an innocent beginning Wodehouse weaves a comic tale of suspense and romance involving one of his most distinctive early heroes, Ronald Eustace Psmith, monocled wit and devil-may-care boulevardier. Unusually for Wodehouse, this is not only a light comedy but also an adventure story in which crime and even gun-play drive the plot.

When Jimmy falls for a girl in London and vows to reform himself as a result, the quest for love leads him to his Aunt Nesta's house in New York, where his escapades involve impersonating himself and attempting to kidnap Nesta's odious son Ogden - with the boy demanding a cut of the ransom money.

Mike is a seriously good cricketer who forms an unlikely alliance with old Etonian Psmith ('the P is silent') after they both find themselves fish out of water at a new school, Sedleigh, where they eventually overcome the hostility of others and their own prejudices to become stars.

This is a tactful book - there are no shocking revelations - but an extremely amusing one, with vivid portraits of such stars as Gertrude Lawrence and insights into febrile life behind the scenes.

This is the tale of Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge, one of Wodehouse's favourite protagonists, and his fraught attempt to establish a business farming chickens on the coast of Dorset.

Very Good Jeeves! (1930) is a collection of eleven short stories starring Bertie Wooster in eleven alarming predicaments from which he has to be rescued by his peerless gentleman's gentleman.

Jeeves suggests a small bottle of champagne in the library. Bertie Wooster's happiness seeems to know no bounds until destiny comes in through the French window. When confusion and panic reign, disaster can be averted if you ring for Jeeves.

Always to be found in the bar-parlour of the Angler's Rest where he is a favourite with the accomplished barmaid, Miss Postlethwaite, Mr Mulliner, the narrator of Meet Mr Mulliner, returns for another series of stories about his extraordinary relations, including Lancelot, Adrian, Cyril, Sacheverell, Eustace, Egbert and Augustine Mulliner.

A damsell in distress - an Almost Blandings novel set in Belphi Castle, Hampshire and a two week house party for the son-and-heir's 21st.

First published in 1956, this collection of articles covers Wodehouse's feelings on United States, his adopted homeland all collected into one edition. Features a collection of articles originally from Punch magazine as well as America, I Like You, all with Wodehouse's usual wit and personality

The prime example is man-about-town Bertie Wooster, doing a good turn to Gussie Fink-Nottle by impersonating him while he enjoys fourteen days away from society after being caught taking an unscheduled dip in the fountains of Trafalgar Square.

The Small Bachelor

Much married American movie mogul Ivor Llewellyn depends on his friends at Bachelors Anonymous to keep him out of romantic entanglements on his trip to London.

Psmith helps acting editor Billy Windsor change the image of Cosy Moments magazine and they are stalked by gangsters when their expose of slum tenements angers an unscrupulous landlord.

P G Wodehouse was, by common consent, the most brilliant writer of English comedy in the 20th century, equally celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic. This anthology includes two novels, fourteen short stories and extracts from Wodehouse' autobiography.

When George, Viscount Uffenham turns the entire family fortune into diamonds and squirrels them away, naturally he forgets where he has hidden the loot and finds himself compelled to let the family seat to stay afloat. So it is that Mrs Cork's health colony comes into being, providing the perfect setting for crime and young love to flower.

While staying with his Aunt Dahlia to help out in the election at Market Snodsbury, Bertie Wooster comes up against the familiar horrors of Florence Craye, his former fiancee, and Roderick Spode, head of the Black Shorts, in a plot tangle from which, as usual, only the ingenuity of Jeeves can save him.

Pongo Twistleton is in a state of financial embarrassment, again. Uncle Fred, meanwhile, has been asked by Lord Emsworth to foil a plot to steal the Empress, his prize pig. Along with Polly Pott (daughter of old Mustard), they form a deputation to Blandings Castle, bent on doing a "bit of good".

After winning the Fat Pig competition for two years in a row with Empress of Blandings, Lord Emsworth's ascendancy at the Agricultural Show is threathened by Sir Gregory Parsloe's new sow, Queen of Matchingham.

They and their contemporaries populate a series of vignettes in which the plot-twists keep you on your toes while the jokes keep on coming.