Books in the W&N Essentials series

The classic World War II trilogy: 'The finest fictional record of the war produced by a British writer' Anthony Burgess

From the acclaimed author of The Last King Of Scotland, Freight Dogs explores the individual consequences of Africa's 'Great War', distilling a world-shaking conflict into the unputdownable story of one man's life.

The brilliantly entertaining classic memoir of one of the century's most extraordinary families, The Mitfords

The star of MAN ON WIRE offers a meditation on the ecstasy of conquering our fears and reaching for the stars, translated and introduced by Paul Auster

An exceptionally powerful novel exploring the themes of betrayal, guilt and memory against the background of the Holocaust. An international bestseller.

'Stunning' THE TIMESCLIMBERS is a novel of life-changing moments, incredible descriptions of landscape and the power of an obsession.

A modern classic about a troubled chess prodigy and her battle to survive --- a coming of age story of feminism, chess and addiction

A classic novel by a Booker Prize-winning author

Winner of the 1970 lost Man Booker prize'A work of genius' GUARDIAN

'For a novel to be witty is one thing, to tell a good story is another, to be serious is yet another, but to be all three is surely enough to make it a masterpiece' New Statemsan

The second novel written by the bestselling author of THE COLOUR PURPLE.

Masterly collection of short stories by an American novelist at the height of her powers

A mischievous story inspired by the real-life Christopher Robin by one of the most distinctive voices in American literature

Fierce, concentrated, and brutal, The Shawl burns itself into the reader's imagination with almost surreal power' The New York TimesConsider also the special word they used: survivor. Something new. As long as they didn't have to say human being. In the middle of winter, weak and starving, Rosa marches to a Nazi concentration camp. She clutches her baby to her chest, wrapped in a shawl. Later Rosa will stuff the shawl into her mouth to stop herself from screaming out at the horrific event she must witness. Thirty years later, in a summer without end, Rosa is in Miami. Her anger and grief have become her dementia and her sustenance, and a shawl conjures the spirit of her murdered child. A modern classic and a masterpiece in both acts, The Shawl succeeds in imagining the unimaginable: the horror of the Holocaust and the unfillable emptiness of its aftermath.

'A surreal, hilarious and dark story of a troubled adolescence deep in the wilds of Scotland' Maggie O'Farrell, Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020

'Readers who've not yet read Jane Bowles are almost to be envied, like people who've still to read Austen or Mansfield or Woolf' ALI SMITH - seven short stories by the author of Two Serious Ladies

'Readers who've not yet read Jane Bowles are almost to be envied, like people who've still to read Austen or Mansfield or Woolf' ALI SMITH - a daring and original masterpiece way ahead of its time

The magnum opus from the author of the much loved classic, THE GO-BETWEEN: 'A masterpiece from the very first image' (Guardian)

Combining a unique setting with universal themes, PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOTHER is a beautifully rendered novel about sacrifice, guilt, and the ties of family love.

A captivating collection of pitch-black tales from one of the most important Japanese writers of the second half of the twentieth century - 'shocking, ominous, and subversive' The Paris Review

'Electrifying. Essential reading' Olivia Laing 'Compelling, shocking, hot, scary' Kristen Roupenian'Horrific, the sexiest book ever, devastatingly true' Daisy Johnson'Extraordinary' Lucie Whitehouse'When I finished I was ready to pass out' Olivia Sudjic'One of my favourite books' Megan Hunter